Prezzies, Escape From The Relatives, Farewell To Thee X-Box, Cinema, and Longing

So yesterday I started my day on the right foot. Called Vero and offered her some musical prezzies which I think she will appreciate. Told me she was sick and I hope she recovers soon.

Also, many relatives descended upon the house for the annual Three Kings Day / Epiphany Bash or Whatever Excuse The Family Gets Together To Eat, Drink, Exchange Gifts and Invade Every Corner Of The House.....

I mean everybody from uncles, cousins, their kids, the kid's kids and other assorted lifeforms get together and have a good time. Being a member of the family initially I made the appropiate noises and the appropiate gestures to every person I was introduced to or I haven't seen in a very long time.

Probably you'll see us together at this party or at a funeral. Anyway, as many people started to arrive in the house, one of my second cousins, little kid whom we shall dub Ritalin Kid started wandering around my room. I do not mind as long as I am there. Kids are curious and they tend to wander, ask questions, no problem with that. The other kids were huddled in the living room and they were watching "Drumline" on the idiot box.

Mr. Cheo Fernandez arrived to take away thee X-box in exchange for hard currency. Sad to see you go, but I need the money badly. So off went the X-box, the three games I purchased, the controller and the DVD plug-in thingie.

So I went back inside, most of the kids were either watching telly or with their parents except Ritalin Kid who kept wandering around the house unsupervised. I yelled at his mother to warn her about it. If I was gonna babysit, they better start paying. It's not my party so I am not playing host either. Leave that to Mom and my sister. Dad was too busy sitting, wearing a nice guayabera and busy chatting with other people. After I warned her, all my cousin sent RK's older sister to watch him.

That lasted for about the better part of 10 seconds.

Ok, more people were coming in, phone was ringing so for about 5 minutes I was playing Trafic Controller to some people who had trouble getting in here. So instead of sending them to some nasty housing project, I played nice, gave directions and earned my brownie point of the day. Anyway, I went back to my room, checked whatever was online and sure enough, Ritalin Kid comes in with his Superman action figure and starts to pace around the room and curiosity kicks in.

First he asked me to "put on some videogames". Sorry man, those are movies. I don't have a game console anymore, then he sees me typing away on ze laptop and the thing is in my desk Joel's desktop is still there sitting next to it (at least the monitor, mouse and keyboard). So he goes over and start typing madly on Joel's. Luckily Joel's computer is turned off. So I politely tell Ritalin Kid to look not to touch.

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Ok let me stop for a moment and write the following disclaimer: Contrary to what you might read in this entry, I absolutely love kids. I play with them and have fun with them. In fact and if you've known me (or read this) for a while, you might recall the fact that one of my exes had kids and we all got along fine. I got to play stepdad for three years and it was a learning and humbling experience. Ok? Now that we've got this disclaimer out of the way, let's continue.

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So Ritalin Kid sort of stops and then starts to tell me about the drawing he made on a computer and asks me to turn on the computer. I politely tell him it's not mine. It's a friends computer and sadly there are no games in it. He takes a look at ze laptop and then I give the 'FOOLISH MORTAL! YOU WILL NOT ASK TO LAY YOUR GRUBBY LITTLE FINGERS ON ZE LAPTOP' look (hey, I could've given him the PETULANT CHILD! look, but I was not in the mood, nor I was gonna be a bigger asshole than I already am). That sort of kept him out of range. His sister comes with some Tostitos and Ritalin Kid goes to his sister and out of my room.

So I figure, it's happy time to take a shower, dress and mingle with the visitors. I mean, I pretty much keep to myself in family gatherings because I despise gossip, most of my relatives have not much interesting to say or to talk about, and frankly, if I want to eat, get drunk and act foolish, I'd rather do that in the company of friends than family. Sue me.

So I pick up some light clothing and a towel, close the door and head for the shower. Shower, take a look in the mirror to make sure I look a bit civilized, head back to my room. Door is still closed but somehow I hear someone inside.

Ritalin Kid is alone in my room with my lovely little flashlight. If this was a Strong Bad cartoon, imagine the techno episode where The Cheat is doing the lightswitch rave thingie. This kid is getting on my nerves. And now there are lots of them, not to mention lots of relatives. A mix of claustrophobia, agoraphobia, plain old misanthropy and righteous indignation at the sight of a stranger running around in the only freaking private space I have in this house starts to sink in.

No, I didn't went into a homicidal rampage and proceeded to kill every living thing within the house.

Instead I politely got Ritalin Kid out of the room, got my sneakers on and locked the door. Went to the back to let Mom and Dad know I would be going to the nearby cinema. Made the appropiate noises to those present and got the hell outta Dodge. I figured the best way to kill at least four hours, would be there.

So I walked down and got to watch "Meet The Fockers" and "The Aviator". "Meet The Fockers" is your standard comedy. You know, Ben Stiller being the usual nice dweeb, this time bringing his fiancee and her family to meet his parents. What's so....disturbing is to see the recent trend of cinema greats doing comedy. I mean, nothing against good comedy, but certainly pedestrian comedy. Oh well, they need to get paid. Dustin Hoffman, De Niro, Barbra Streisand (Babs doind comedy again? People she found her funny bone!) and Blythe Danner, good actors all, reduced to bad comedy times after the prime of their lives. Pathetic? Yeah but hey, they've got bills to pay. Yes, two hours of mindless fun. Ironic that I was watching a movie about relatives when I was avoiding my relatives.

Anyway, Scorcese and Di Caprio team up again in "The Aviator", based on the life of Howard Hughes. Gotta hand it to Scorcese. Good story, great camera work and coaxes good, intense acting. I don't see his films as star vehicles, rather as an ensemble thing. Teaming up DiCaprio with Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda (I think), Treat Williams and Kate Beckinsale makes for good acting. Scorsese pulls no punches and shows us some prime material in his movie. Really cool to watch. I only wished Ms. Lightshadow was there. Her company was sorely missed and I bet she would've enjoyed them flicks.

So after a good five hours of cinema, I decided to get home, pretty sure that most of the relatives are probably gone and it was true. There was only a family there that I didn't know (probably friends of mother) talking with my mom and my sister. Dad already was out for the day sleeping. I made the appropiate noises while I got something to eat from whatever the hordes left.

Came back to my room, settled down for a nice long and interesting chat with Lightshadow full of humor, wit and banter. Last night she made the official claim on the girlfriend title, which I didn't oppose as long I get the claim on the boyfriend title. So in her words "she is territorial" and I replied "as long as you don't piss on me, that is fine". You certainly have to draw the line at the pissing thing.

Meanwhile I was giving her the lowdown on the new season of "24" that started yesterday. Really good start. I missed "Carnivale" but I can always watch the rerun. We kept talking thru a "Nip/Tuck" and "The Shield" reruns but what really freaks me up is that on "The Shield"'s teaser for the new season, someone makes her dayview. Glenn Close. Yes. Glenn freaking Close. Getting the lowdown on Vic Mackey and crew Should make for interesting TV. Lightshadow pointed out I have a tendency for law enforcement shows. I'd say smart law enforcement shows. Then again, it's better than football. Ok, I sometimes indulge in an ocassional peek to "Cops" because of my sick sense of humor. Hakim Bey wrote a good essay on cop shows that you should read. Anyway, yeah sometimes I am a contrary motherfucker. If my hippie peacenik friends engage in all kinds of wartime simulations and whatnot, me, the token angry young individualist (I refuse to subscribe to any dogma or -isms) can certainly afford to watch some good shows like The Shield, The Wire, 24, etc.

Each day I wish to see her more and the thing is that is mutual. We should see each other this Saturday. That's a good start. Counting down the days. Burned two CD's worth of some good stuff and will mail them today. Hopefully, she will like them.

Last night the WWE had a pay per view here. Lots of people suckered to pay $200 for a mediocre show, according to some people. Oh well. Fools and their money.

Slept for about three hours and today is a holiday. I probably have to go to work anyway. Let's see what the day has in store.