Joe and I checked out of the Charlotte Sheraton Four Points on E. Woodland at about 12:30, stopped at a nearby Drunkin [sic] Donuts for breakfast and then got on the highway home.
It was a beautiful weather day today, so the ride back was ever more pleasant than the ride up yesterday. We only saw remnants of one of the hydroplaning accidents from yesterday—a lone front bumper leaning up against a wire rail in the median between I-85N and I-85S in one spot just outside Charlotte.
Back in Raleigh, I dropped off Joe at his place, and then stopped by the Fool Lion on Avent Ferry for some English muffins and some pretzels. I’m not even going to get into how it took me three times longer to purchase these two items by using a self-scan checkout to save some time.
Next, I stopped at the (award-winning) post office in the same shopping center, where I mailed a package of Donna’s CDs back to her.
At home, I made some clam dip (for the pretzels) and boiled and peeled some shrimp—munchies for later this evening while Robert and I stayed in to watch a couple of movies and ring in the New Year.
I called the Blockbuster both at Mission Valley and Cameron Village in search for a copy of The Turn of the Screw or The Innocents. Nether had either. 
After walking around Blockbuster for about 20 minutes, I decided on two movies, both of which we really ended up enjoying:
| Movie Synopsis: Queens is Manuel Gómez Pereira’s dramatic comedy about five mothers who must cope with their gay sons’ (and their own) romantic problems as they all get ready for Spain’s first mass gay wedding ceremony. The film, made by Warner Bros. Spain, has the look and feel of a glossy Hollywood flick — or of a non-English-language film begging for an American remake. But cheesy commercialism and sentimentality aside, Reinas (Queens) boasts a couple of first-rate performances — Forqué as a nymphomaniac, Blum as a sweet-as-overripe-apple-pie Mom — and delivers more than a few good laughs. |
| Movie Synopsis: Walk the Line—Johnny Cash grew up in Arkansas, and served in the Air Force in Germany, where he bought a guitar. He returned from the war and married. Singing and playing with two other men, he cut a record in Memphis. His reputation growing from airplay and live performances, Cash became a star, touring with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and others. On tour, he suffered the effects of drug addiction. He also met June Carter, who would later become his wife. Responding in part to the fan mail he received from prisoners, Cash played a legendary concert for the inmates at Folsom Prison in California. |
Our viewing of Walk the Line finished at about 8 minutes until midnight, and we spent the next 8 minutes trying to view a live shot of the ball in Times Square—to no avail.
I remember 5 years ago how I tried to do the same thing online and couldn’t find a live broadcast; or found one, but then couldn’t get to it, presumably because too many people were trying to access the site. It’s understandable for back then, I guess, but this day and age, I expected to be able to access www.abc.com in order to watch the event online.
Oh well. We rang in the New Year, watching the numerical, digital, countdown the was shown while my browser “tried” (and tried and tried and tried) to access the live broadcast.
