Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Entertainment

So... there I was, sitting in my dentist's comfortably-appointed waiting room about ten minutes before my allotted time with the Lovely Victoria, Queen of Dental Hygienists, exchanging small talk about the weather with Jana, Queen of Dental Appointments, you know... bursting pipes, wind-chills direct from the upper reaches of the North Pole... stuff like that.  Whereupon the Lovely Victoria strides right up to me and sez "What are you doing here, Buck?  Your appointment is tomorrow!"  (That's the Readers Digest version, she was much kinder than that.)

Well.

We made a lame joke about needing to spend the briefest of times with our favorite ladies on Valentine's Day and beat a hasty retreat, noticing the badly-hidden smirks on the faces of those occupying the waiting room.  But NOT the staff, of course, for they are FAR too kind to participate in the needless embarrassment of their favorite semi-senile Old Guy.

Oh, well.  At least we got out for a bit yesterday and it wasn't to Wally-World.

―:☺:―

We returned home to El Casa Móvil De Pennington, mucked about with the water and stuff for a while, and then adjourned to the verandah for an extremely satisfying outdoor Happy Hour.  We had been reading the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 but found all the academic notes and references prior to the actual S. Clemens bits way too damned enlightening for our tastes.  We're much more into entertainment than enlightenment these days so we put the Autobiography on the virtual shelf for later slogging and hied our self off to Amazon where we bought Tom Clancy's latest.  And we ARE entertained now.  It's good to see Mr. Clancy back on form; I thought he'd run his string out with the last thing abomination he put out.

There will be more al fresco entertainment this afternoon.  After I get back from the dentist's, of course.

18 comments:

  1. I feel your pain. In December, I rushed and rushed to get through with a project I had put off working on, but had promised to have done before the next Ball committee meeting. I finished just in time to get to Metairie for the scheduled work meeting. The Ball chairman answered the door in her bathrobe and laughed at me, telling me that the meeting was 2 days later. I handed her the packet of stuff and told her I'd see her Thursday. And I did. But I arrived late, on purpose.

    I think you just wanted to spend Valentine's Day in the company of some of your favorite ladies, appointments be damned! And I'm sure they enjoyed your company, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I guess the dental craze is catching.

    As for the Twain autobiography; The Auto biography starts around page 210 (or so) I tried to muscle my way through the notes but wound up jumping ahead. I'm looking forward to getting volume II and III.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I started to pack a daytimer wherever I go. If it isn't written down, I forget! (and it wasn't age-related Buck, you just wanted to get all shined up for the ladies!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Moogie: It's good to know I'm NOT alone! I think the folks at my dentist's do enjoy my company. Really. You'd have to experience it to understand... but "the office" is a real family place, complete with Dr. Thompson's small children in attendance. It really IS cool.

    Darryl: The craze hits me every six months, without fail. I'll get back to the Autobiography in good time... I just needed something more stimulating, and Dead Terrorists is that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deb: I did the Daytimer thing in the way-back, too. I HAD to do that... And you are too kind!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Buck: I've done that twice, with theater tickets. The first time I had us going to dinner and the show one week early! We still went to dinner, then went to the show the following week. The next time I did it was a little more difficult: I had us going to dinner and then the show; unfortunately I neglected to actually look at the tickets - they were for the matinee on that day. So we get there and someone is sitting in our seats! This was a short run of Phantom of the Opera in our fair city and - gulp - we were 6 hours late! Thankfully the box office was able to hook us up with seats ... one row behind where we were originally supposed to sit.

    Clancy - I tried the new one (Dead or Alive, correct?) and I had to bail. By about 1/3 of the way thru the book there were SEVEN different story lines that had not yet intersected anywhere. Much too much for me to keep track of. I hope you have a better experience.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kris, I found The Sum of All Fears to be that way. The first 500 pages were pretty tough sloggin', but the end result was worth sticking to it.
    And Buck, I find that I can do some pretty deep stuff for a while and then it's time to just put the ol' grey matter in neutral and enjoy the ride that the author takes us on.

    ReplyDelete
  8. By about 1/3 of the way thru the book there were SEVEN different story lines ...

    Hey! Wait! I thought you wimmen were the masters o' multitasking? I'm only 12% through the book and I count five story lines, none of which have confused me. So far. I'm with Deb on this, it's Clancy's style and it all comes together in the end. So far, so good with "Dead or Alive." For me.

    Deb: I hear ya on the deep stuff, and further offer the first couple hundred pages of Twain's "Autobiography" would only be of interest to serious academics. I'll go back to it, as noted previously, but not for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My beef with Clancy, was that he has this love affair with officers.

    A couple of books ran like this: enlisted men were so damned good they got a field commission, etc, etc.

    Remember the book about the war in Iceland? Crap, title escapes me, some "red" thing I'm sure. Anyway, the USAF weather officer joins a team of Marine infantry to lead them to victory. Good Lord!

    ReplyDelete
  10. A couple of books ran like this: enlisted men were so damned good they got a field commission, etc, etc.

    That's a legitimate beef and it's true... about Clancy and about the military in general, too: the ossifers are where it's at. I'm glad both SN1 and SN2 were smarter than their Ol' Man and went over to the dark side. Their retirement checks will be about three times the size of mine.

    re: "Red Storm Rising." I only vaguely remember the book, having read it 25 years ago. But I'm thinkin' a Marine unit would rather frag a USAF WX officer than be led by one. Just sayin'.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hell, Buck, I'm only 45 and I've done crap like that. Don't sweat it. At least you got to be around some attractive ladies albeit briefly.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Its not an age thing. I do that allll the time.

    Glad to read you out on the verandah again. That was quick - I mean is the weather much warmer?

    Im reading Daughter of Time - great read.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Buck - I can normally keep any number of stories straight in one book.

    But with this Clancy, he introduces #7 pretty late in the game. It was just - so annoying. Just when I had begun to keep it all together...

    Normally I do love Clancy; Rainbow Six is my fave (and when are they going to make the damn movie?!).

    ReplyDelete
  14. BR and Alison: Once again, it's good to know I ain't the only one!

    Kris: Movie? I saw "The Hunt for Red October" and came away seething. Hollywood NEVER does right by a book. NEVER.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Buck I agree that Hollyweird usually fails on the book front. That said, R6 will be a great movie - if they'd ever make the damn thing.

    Chavez is the best character Clancy ever created, 2nd only to Ryan.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Buck USAF *PILOTS* would rather frag a USAF WX officer rather than BELIEVE him--let alone be led by him. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think your dental mistake was a Freudian slip. And I'm glad you are reading something fun and exciting like Clancy. My new motto is: if it ain't fun, don't do it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Virgil: Heh. I HAVE heard stories...

    Lou: I like your new motto.

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask.