Winter’s log, earthdate 201601.11

Well, we’ve been to see “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, so what did I think of it? Hmm I’m not really sure, yet! Yes, it was a good movie – but was it a great movie; a “gee-whizz! I can’t wait to see it again!” movie? No… I don’t think so… not really. I think I was expecting better, for some reason, and one thing really bugged me! The soundtrack/music! For those of us old enough to have fallen madly in love with the first Star Wars movie, “A New Hope”, the music was so similar – and dare I say it – a lot of it seemed to have just been copied over – that that’s what you expected! You expected “A New Hope” regenerated, and of course, it wasn’t. The entire Han Solo idea just… didn’t work for me – not because Harrison Ford has aged so much (which he has!) but because people’s basic personalities don’t change – you get older, you get stiffer, and you get grumpier – but the basic “you” doesn’t change – and this older Han Solo was… what? too… timid? No, let me put that a better way – his confidence seemed lacking somehow. Seeing an older Luke, now! That was something! 🙂 Very unsettling, too! The new “youngies” – Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), were all very good – especially Finn, as the reluctant Storm Trooper-turned rebel. I would definitely go and see it again, but let’s just say I wouldn’t be breaking my neck to do so. Actually, I think I probably need to see it again – it’s said that you see what you’re expecting to see – and largely due to the soundtrack, I suppose I was more or less “expecting” a newer version of “A New Hope” (and this, by the way, is why I actually like “spoilers” – it prepares me for what I will be seeing, rather than allowing me to see what I’m expecting to see – if that makes any sense!) Next time, I’ll pay less attention to the music and the memories it evoked, and more attention to the actual movie! 🙂 Oh, at one part I grabbed hold of Julian, whispering excitedly and a bit loudly “didya see the guy at the table before? He was in “Person of Interest”! No, no – not him, that guy there *pointing at the screen* – oh, he’s gone now! *pout*” – it was Ken Leung, playing a bit part more-or-less walk-on role as Admiral Statura back in the Rebel stronghold. He played a recurring role in “Person of Interest” for a while, as a petty con-man/swindler with a real talent for hacking computers and getting himself into lots of trouble 🙂 I liked him – I reckoned that they should have made him a permanent part of the PoI team!

We went to the 1.15pm session and had lunch in the theatre – and I’m afraid I probably outdid even my Christmas Day gluttony! *grimace* I shared Julian’s large box of pop-corn, and for lunch I had mushroom risotto. And a piece of New York Cheese Cake, with cream and raspberry coulis. And a flat white, made with almost skinny milk. And three of Julian’s chips (he had the calamari, and as the chips came in a separate bowl, I felt it was safe enough for me to eat a couple… or three…) What? You don’t think that sounds terribly gluttonous? What if I told you that the mushroom risotto came in two bowls… and that I ate both of them? And that so as not to miss out on any of the delicious cheesecake or raspberry coulis (because it really was!) I scraped the plate with my finger to the point where the cinema staff probably thought that they’d given me a clean, empty plate by mistake, shrugged, and just put it away in the cupboard! Anyway, I’ll not be having much dinner tonight – and the two bowls of mushroom risotto were very small bowls – but I just thought “Bugger it! I’m here to have a good time!” – so I did! 😉 (have a good time!) Unfortunately, my stomach is now complaining that it doesn’t feel very good… (it’s probably just a lack of caffeine!)

Last night the Christmas Tree finally came down – well, it didn’t really “come down”, per se., but it was carefully lifted off the camphor-wood chest and gently lowered into a large, clean orange rubbish bag for storage in the front spare bedroom’s wardrobe until next Christmas. All the other bits and pieces of Christmas were also stowed away on the top shelf of the same wardrobe, so with the exception of a small unopened tub of lime roasted pistachios, and an opened tin of Belgian Chocolate Biscuits that someone gave us for Christmas (they’ll probably go stale before we finish them – we allow ourselves one per night as a “treat”, and it’s quite a large box!) the house has finally been completely de-Christmasfied!

This morning I played WoW (as usual) where I’m now starting to sort out setups for my Horde girls – that is, where I put what ability or spell, and in which Action Bars I put the macros to do simple things, like “wave”, and “cheer”, and “snarl” – because I like things to be neat, tidy, symmetrical, and all the same, so that if I play someone else tomorrow, I’m not going to be wildly looking around for the “heal pet” spell, or something equally as vital! Tomorrow I’ll probably go through and do all the Alliance girls – though they’re mostly already done. I must also log on to Rift – Julian says that there’s a reasonably large patch, so I’d better go and download it, and read the Patch Notes (a list of things that have been added or changed with the new patch)

I’m sorry, if the rest of this blog seems a little rushed or disjointed, I’ve just heard that David Bowie has died, and I’m a little dazed… we were the same age, and I always thought he was gorgeous and would always be around… and now he’s gone! When you think of the many times I’ve cheated death… and I’m still going – one finds oneself asking “Why?”

Food stuffz: well, I’ve told you what I had for lunch today, and I’ve told you what I’ll probably have for dinner tonight – a Ryvita crispbread with low-fat ricotta or philly light, with a bit of sliced tomato on top… my jellies have been made, so I’ll probably have one of those (one can always find room for a bit of jelly! 😉 ) and of course, my three prunes. If you’re going to see a movie at Gold Class, and intend “eating in” there, I can confidently recommend the mushroom risotto – mind you, it’s not risotto by any long stretch of the imagination – it’s more like steamed rice with a lot of shiitake mushrooms mixed in with it (though I couldn’t tell you how the mushrooms were cooked) and, with hardly enough of it to notice that it was even there, a few skinny shards of shaved parmesan had been scattered on top. But it’s easy to eat in a darkened theatre with just a fork, and it isn’t sloppy or messy! The so-called “New York Cheese-cake” was to die for – but I’d give their coffee a miss, if I were you – it wasn’t really the best, and – warning! Don’t plan on having anything for dinner afterwards, if you go to an afternoon movie session – you won’t want any! 🙂

Weigh-in this morning. Fairly good, all things considered – I went up one point – from 63.0kg to 63.1kg – which is really rather negligible – but it’ll probably be a horse of a completely different colour tomorrow morning! *gloom* All because I decided to let my hair down today (what little I have left of it!) and have fun! 😉 Ah well, if I’m going to be alive, I might as well enjoy it, n’est ce pas?! Well, we’ll see what tomorrow brings… I think the main calorie villain will have been that scrumptious New York Cheese-cake!

I’m not too sure what’s happening tomorrow – well, I didn’t when I wrote that, before our somewhat sketchy dinner of Ryvita crispbreads, but I do now! My favourite eldest daughter will be over tomorrow – it’s her Birthday, so it will be extra good to see her! Crikey – it doesn’t seem like “XX” years since she was born! (those are not Roman numerals back there, so don’t go thinking she’s only “XX” years old, OK?! 😉 ) In some ways it only seems like a couple of months ago to me, but I guess that’s mothers for you – our children will always be “our babies” 🙂 Although he’s taking her out to dinner tomorrow night, her husband can’t get the day off, so she’ll just have to make do with us for the day – and while we’re slopping around on the couch watching the television, Julian will be busy making hay while the sun’s not too hot, and shifting in some boxes for us to unpack on Wednesday, when we’ll be hunkered down in here, cowering away from the heat with the air conditioning going full blast! And that, gentle readers, is about it from me for this evening! Do call back again tomorrow night, and find out what my favourite eldest daughter and I watched on television, our differing points of view on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”,  and to find out what horrors awaited me on the scales in the morning! But until then, please remember to bee good, don’t forget that what worries you masters you, and remember to drive carefully, to keep cool – or warm – depending on our mercurial weather patterns, and to look after yourselves… but most importantly, please remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂