And Then…

And then, the CAT 5 finally done, standardized testing lows, and mediums, and the weird high at the end over (“I don’t want it to end!” said H.o.p.), I’m sitting here unwinding, watching Albert Brooks’ “Lost in America” while Marty and H.o.p. were out shopping for groceries and a few things at Ikea for the party Marty’s pitching for me tomorrow.

At first I was thinking, you know, this isn’t very good. But then Julie Hagerty loses all the money in Las Vegas and I’m reminded of how brilliant she can be and I start to warm to the movie, because she was hysterical.

Something in the movie proved almost hypnotic, I’m not sure what. The ending was lame as could be but there was that bit right before the end where Julie Hagerty has gotten a job at a hot dog stand as assistant manager, and this kid, Skippy, the manager, maybe 16 years of age, is going on about how great thirty-something Julie is, that her very first day…well, they had this fryer and none of them knew how to work it so they’d just dump the oil and fries in, but Julie held the fries to the light and said look there are these little frozen bits still inside, and her first day she figured out how to work it, she’s really something!

It reminded me of too many jobs I’d held over the years, the Skippys enthusing, “Wow, you figured out how to work the oil fryer on your first day, amazing!” so it was like falling into a kind of twilight zone, but it was okay because it was funny. Then the lame ending happens and I’m still a bit in twilight zone, as the credits run, mulling over all those fries with the frozen bits inside and I was just kind of glad I’d not made the frozen french fries that H.o.p. had pulled out this afternoon wanting me to make for him

And Marty comes walking in with H.o.p. and he was kind of put out because it seems H.o.p., all excited about the birthday party, announced to the ENTIRE STORE that his mom’s birthday was tomorrow and THEY’RE ALL INVITED AND IT IS AT SUCH-AND-SUCH ADDRESS! And Marty’s shaking his head because H.o.p. did this VERY LOUD in a very crowded store, repeatedly, before being convinced to stop.

Me: “What?”

H.o.p.: “Well, I was just so excited. I invited everyone to your party.”

Me: “You had to shout it to everyone in the world?”

H.o.p.: “Well, I want everyone to come!”