~Thursday~ I was into work early this morning, and I got a free all-day parking spot as a result of it.
At about 10:10, I hitched a ride with my colleague, Sarah, over to the Avent Ferry Technology Center for our week Google Implementation Team meeting from 10:30 – 12:00. This is the one that I’ve been going to Bruegger’s before for the past couple of weeks, and I missed going over there today to see if they’ve hung my award somewhere like the manager said they were going to do. Not that it’s all about me.
I had lunch back at my office, which was one of the most delicious turkey burgers I grilled out earlier in the week. So yummy!
In news that made my blood pressure rise, I got my next bill from Time Warner Cable, in which I expected all the billing to be straightened out as a result of my conversation with Bryan on the Customer Care Team that you saw, which means it should have said that I had an approximate $20 credit on it. This is what is said instead:
Guess I’ll be trying to reach “Bryan P” on Twitter again tomorrow.
I met Robert in Durham for my first film in this year’s North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, where once a year there’s an opportunity to see movies where, finally, the guy gets the guy or the girl gets the girl in the end.
<Soapbox>
I really wish they’d dispense with the personal introductory comments at the beginning of every film, which involves someone from the programming committee welcoming the audience, advertising other things going on at the festival, and thanking the sponsors. That gets pretty old time after time after time.
Also, this year, at the beginning of the film I saw tonight, they played some (too long) video asking you to turn off your cell phone, to not talk loudly, and to pardon their mess as they’re in the process of remodeling the Carolina Theater. If they show that at the beginning of every film, that’s going to get as old as the human introductory comments.
</Soapbox>
Unfortunately, it didn’t start with a bang, as we saw a collection of short films grouped together with a title of, “Your Daddy Don’t Rock ‘n Roll,” and which contained these short films:
My thoughts on each:
- 52: This was probably my favorite, because it was both quick-sequenced and clever. The fact that it’s about aging as a homosexual and I’m 53 may have contributed something to my liking it, too.
- 4 Pounds: I thought this was going to be about losing four pounds, but it turned out to be more about showcasing the lead’s playing of multiple characters instead. FWIW, I thought the hunky guy playing the straight character was hot.
- Batty Boys Revenge: This didn’t work for me—too much visual, not enough narrative—for my taste. Besides, I’m quite sure an apostrophe is in order somewhere in the word “boys.”
- Who is Candy Bernardino?: This didn’t work for me either—required more suspension of disbelief than I’m willing to offer.
- Domestic Shorthair Underground: This was my second favorite film, mostly because it was traincapades to my buscapades. What didn’t work, in general, were the “labels” they gave to each person or couple. A few were funny—most were not.
- The Queen: I’m not sure why this didn’t appeal to me, but Robert thought it was probably the one he liked the most. I mean it wasn’t bad, it was just meh to me. It had something to do with my not “connecting” with the main character, I think.
- Chico’s Angels: Didn’t care for either of the three short music videos that were part of this entry—bad drag, a little stereotyping, and not really any “catchy” music.
- Tell Me a Memory: I wanted to like this short film more than I did. I think it’s an important thing to explore, but I just couldn’t empathize with either of the characters. I think part of the problem is that it only showed what you would expect in such a situation, instead of exposing something that you might not have thought of happening in such a situation. Too cliché, I guess is what a film critic might say.
We had almost 2.5 hours to kill before our second film, Hollywood to Dollywood was to start, so Robert and I walked down to Geer Street Garden, because I wanted to try their Grilled Pimento Cheese sandwich. I did, and it was good, but it was too much, so I stopped after about three-quarters of it and had the rest boxed up.
I had to use the restroom twice while I was there, and I’m pretty much tired of still experiencing the side effects of what I’m attributing this to in spite of not having take any of the antibiotics since Sunday. So, not feeling well to begin with and still having about an hour-and-a-half to kill before the movie, I decided to just head back to Raleigh. Robert was gracious about it, and I appreciated that.
I transferred my iTunes music from my Thinkpad to my Mac, and then I went up to bed early to read The Hunger Games, which is moving along nicely and still fairly compelling—for science fiction.
I didn’t read long, though, as I started nodding off. Right before lights out, I took two Pepto-Bismol tablets to see if that makes any difference tomorrow. If not, it might be time for a doctor’s visit.