Labor

I’m three fourths of the way through the Labor Day weekend and just taking a few moments to write whatever pops into my head.

My mother’s birthday was Saturday, so half of my day was dedicated to hanging out with the family.  We had lunch together at Outback in Waipio, a family favorite mostly because it’s a couple of blocks from my sister’s house and therefore easier for half the family (counting niece, nephew, and sister’s boyfriend) to get to, but also because the food is quite good.  I had a lovely ribeye and we all had some pretty good conversation.

My mom was mostly pleased just to spend the time with her family.

Friday I worked a little late but also spent some time preparing for the annual fantasy football draft.  My high-school classmates and I have been playing for more than twenty years, and I have a feeling only a couple of us play seriously anymore, which is probably why I won the title two years in a row and then took second last year.  Everyone’s gotten married and had kids.  The guy who beat me for the title last year, Marshall, was a first-year empty-nester, which might explain that.

Sunday is my usual day to hang out with my folks.  I’m usually there from around 2:30 until 8:00, which means I get home kind of late, with just enough time to get things ready for the new work week and get to bed.  Because the fantasy draft is Monday afternoon and because I have deadlines for the side gigs Monday as well, I went over early this Sunday and got home early-ish.

Then crashed for nearly four hours.  Yikes.  I naively thought I might get the work done and have time for a late movie, but I woke up from my nap at 11 in the evening.

Which means I have to wake up early so I can get the work done and still get to the draft, which will be at Don’s condo in Kakaako.

It’s all a lot of socializing for me for a long weekend, which might explain the long nap.  I was feeling drained and the nap was a pretty good way to recharge.

I’ve said “explain” a lot in these past fifteen minutes.

I swear this is the last thing I’ll say about fantasy football for the next twenty-four hours at least.  I got permission at work to run an out-in-the-open, just-for-fun fantasy football league in the office.  Seven sign-ups so far, with at least one more for-sure going to play.  This would be best with at least ten participants, but eight will work, so I’m pretty excited.  I’m all about team-building at work, and this kind of thing can go a long way toward that!  I directly asked some of our C-level leadership to play, and I have at least one already signed up.

I have borrowing privileges at the library on the university campus where I work, and the a/v library had DVDs of all three versions of A Star is Born, none of which I’ve seen.  So I borrowed them all in anticipation of this new remake with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.  I’m determined to make time for at least the 1937 Janet Gaynor / Fredric March version.

I’m up to chapter 13 in China Rich Girlfriend, which so far has managed to be funnier and more fun than Crazy Rich Asians.  I think it’s the familiarity with characters that does it (ha!  no “explain” there), especially the characters I like.  The setup also feels a bit fresher than in the first novel.

In fact I will wrap this up now so I can spend a little time with the book before bed.  It’s nearly two in the morning and I have to get up early!

2 Replies to “Labor”

  1. “I’m all about team-building at work, and this kind of thing can go a long way toward that! ” — Scrivener

    Ha! That is a good one! Fantasy football requires building teams.

    Know who you should draft? There is some guy who plays for Stockholm Mean Machine in Sweden. It’s like every time he touches the ball he scores a touchdown. Yon Yonson or something.

    Save that [strikethrough] cheap trick [/strikethrough] maneuver for the final round.

    To achieve an even greater level of rattiness, have everyone put twenty bucks in the kitty “to make it interesting”.

    Whenever I have to sit in for one of my mother’s cronies for her weekly bridge game, the minute I hear my mother say “to make it interesting” I can see the cartoon twenty dollar bill sprout wings and fly out of my purse.

    Graduate level: Appoint yourself league commissioner. It’s like being the banker in Monopoly. No way you can lose.

    「A Star Is Born」1937. I’ve watched it aprx fifty times. Frederic March is not my favorite actor but he is in one of my favorite films, 「I Married A Witch」with Veronica Lake. There are moments in「A Star Is Born」that are cringeworthy. And all of them involve drinking. Especially when Janet Gaynor goes to court to bail her husband out from the drunk tank. Or when she wins the Oscar.

    And then there is Lionel Stander as the Judas Iscariot of public relations.

    This film would be a good cautionary tale for ninth graders.

    The Judy Garland and James Mason is very good too. A musical.

    Not a big fan of Barbra Streisand. 「On A Clear Day You Can See Forever」and 「Funny Girl」are pretty alright. But she is always Barbra Streisand and not Daisy Gamble or Fanny Brice.

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