Tuesday, September 22, 2009

RTT: "I'd like to say 'Thank you' on behalf of the group..."

randomtuesday and I hope I passed the audition.

So let me try to get you a little caught up here:

A couple weeks ago, my wife (the Middle-Aged Woman) quit her job...rather precipitously. She notified me with an email. (No sh*t - I'm not making that up.)

Last week, I had some wisdom teeth out. I had that done in-person.

Over the weekend, a good friend of mine let me know that he was going through such marital turmoil that he was expecting separation and divorce from his wife. He dropped this bomb - in an email. (Are you sensing a trend here?)*

This morning, they announced that the company I work for was entering into an agreement to be acquired by another company for almost 4 billion dollars. No warning - we came into work this morning and read an email with the announcement.

All in all - it's been a slow news month.

In other headlines, I got the stitches out of my mouth today - and auditioned for a part in The Odd Couple**. These events are not related (in any way that I'm conscious of) - but they did both happen today - and so are fair game to be mentioned in the same sentence. My good friend, Roger, was there - and I am hopeful that we will be asked to play the leads (Roger as Felix Ungar and me as Oscar Madison***). The auditions were both enjoyable and brief, so I will probably try to go back tomorrow for Day Two, in case they need an extra person to read lines and help out.

OK - what else, what else...?

I finally watched some new movies in the last couple weeks. I saw Appaloosa with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen (I recommend it) and also W. (the Oliver Stone bio with Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfuss and a great cast overall) - but I can't really recommend the film. It's hard for me to feel the same about Stone knowing how he scr*wed reality over so badly in JFK.

I also watched Good Night, and Good Luck again on my Roku player (the George Clooney film in which he appears as Fred Friendly [who later became the president of CBS News] with David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow) - it is an excellent film which I recommend highly****. The music in the movie, performed by Dianne Reeves, is also awesome. And I also streamed from Netflix to my Roku, the first 8 or 9 episodes of Lost, Season 3. I do like that show; I don't always know where they're going (I'm not sure the creators did in Season 3 either) - but I like how the episodes work emotionally.

Last night, the MAW and I worked out a budget that should allow her to stay home and work as a freelance writer for as long as she desires. The process seemed like it was going to be tortuous at first - but once we got to just crunching numbers, it seemed to go better. I would hate to think that we might upset Ms. Partly Cloudy***** again by having a disagreement. The very thought...

OK, I've probably p*ssed off enough people with my (pretty tame, really) snark in this here post.
I'd better git - while the gittin's good.

Take care.

PS: If you need more randomness in your life (and who doesn't?), I would be remiss not to strongly urge you to visit Keely at the Un-Mom immediately. The Un MomIf not sooner.

PPS: Why don't my Box.net widget or my YouTube videos work anymore? Have I been bad again? You can get the audio for today's post HERE.

* We got a chance to talk at length over the weekend and - well, who knows what'll happen! But at least I gave him a couple new things to thing about before walking away from twelve years of marriage.

** The MAW auditioned as well; but since she has her own blog - and I've signed a rather strict NDA - you'll have to read Unmitigated to see if there is a further disclosure on that event.

*** Felix was played by Jack Lemmon in the film, Tony Randall on TV. Oscar was played by Walter Matthau (stage & movie) and Jack Klugman (stage & TV).

**** It probably should have won Best Picture in 2006. In my opinion, it was considerably better than Crash.

***** I would give you a link to her blog - but she hasn't posted since March.

10 comments:

Missy said...

Nice randomness. Hubby and I figured out that it's actually cheaper for me to stay home.
Which is nice. I have a small business that I work on, PLUS I am here to do all the things that homes need done, AND I am always here for the girls.

Missy

unmitigated me said...

Missy - our children are mostly grown and somewhat independent, so I can't play that card. I'm sure Husband Styro noticed that I happen to be experienced a Mid-Life crisis of sorts, but it really is an adventure. Once I calm the hell down.

And Felix was played by Art Carney on stage.

Anonymous said...

I informed my sister that I had to have a full hysterectomy via text. I put the "ass" in class.

Drahdrah said...

Sounds like you had alot of things going on this week ! Nice that you figured out a way for your wife to stay home.

Jess said...

LOL I enjoyed this one very much! And awesome for you guys for working something out for MAW to write!!

annies home said...

well my daughter presently staying home and taking care of baby she thinks this is great but daily they worry about hubbys job at the factory knowing she may have to go to work anyday

Anne Percival Kruszka said...

I call staying home full time - retirement!

Jim Styro said...

Missy: Thanks for the compliment. I think its great when any couple can arrange things so a parent can be home full-time to focus on raising their children. The MAW stayed home with The Girl and The Boy before they started school - but Motherhood has a way of making a woman crave the company of adults (if not necessarily the workforce) - and she eventually decided to go back to school and get a degree.

MAW: A Mid-Life Crisis, eh? Well, I guess 92 is a pretty ripe old age. If you need a second ML crisis, take mine. I don't plan on using it.

Julie: So the "Dear John" email theme struck a chord with you, eh? Sometimes it's just easier to hide behind technology than face people with our fears. And I bet you've got a nice ass - I don't care what anyone says.

Drahdrah & Jess: Yeah - I'm a helluva man. Thanks for leaving me your comments. Keep 'em coming.

shopannies: I hope hubby's job situation remains stable. I hope mine does too.

TennLady: Well said! Spoken like...a retiree.

Berowne said...

Your comment on Oliver Stone and the movie JFK was right on. I was unable to sit through that entire film; I kept thinking that all millions of people around the world would ever know about the assassination of Jack Kennedy was that lying, distorted -- and distorting -- motion picture.

Jim Styro said...

Berowne: Sorry for the delay in my response.
I have to admit that - knowing almost nothing about the Warren Commission, etc. - I was quite taken in by JFK when I first saw the film. I remember saying that "if even 25% of the information in this film is accurate, it would be a damning indictment of American government and institutions!"

Of course, little did I know - there's not even that much credible information (in fact, just about the whole thing is one big exercise in DISinformation) in the movie.