day 02: your favorite movie: "Boondock Saints" 1999, Troy Duffy
For years, she had professed her favorite movies to be the "Lord of the Rings" saga. The sweeping epic was a feast for her then-young mind, instilling in her a strong desire to visit New Zealand. The plot points were balanced by the battle scenes were balanced by the rolling landscapes. But nothing brought more chills to her spine than the lighting of the beacons.
However, upon recent reflection, she discovered the Oscar-winning films had been supplanted by a much smaller cult film.
It always seems to be the beginnings of things that suck her in, and violent vigilante justice was a far cry from a wondrous fantasy realm.
"Boondock Saints," which had seen a resurgence in popularity at the end of the last year with the release of the sequel, was frequently described by her to be "gratuitous violence with Irish accents." It had been largely a flop when it was originally released in 1999 to a one week run in five theaters, it had grown over the next decade into a huge cult favorite. But that wasn't why she liked it.
It wasn't even the accents, which she openly admitted were sexy.
It was the silly brotherly antics, the bartender with turret's, the real Italians and Russians, the violent gunfights, the fiddle-laced soundtrack. It was the sweeping opening scene, the subtle (and not so subtle) religious undertones, the documentary ending, the hint of a past with a promise for the future. It was the hotel massacre. It was the courtroom speech and a cross-dressing Willem Dafoe.
----
not as good as the first one. i had a hard time articulating any specific reason i love that movie. i just do. the sequel was also pretty good, but it had a more convoluted plot than just 'there are bad men that get away with bad things, so let's just kill them.'
the opening scene
the hotel massacre
the trailer
also, the lighting of the beacons
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 14
Friday, November 13
november 7
Saturday. Finally! Eleanor stayed in bed until almost 11:30 that morning. When she did get up she grabbed her camera from where she’d left it the night before and took a picture of her just-woke-up-fuck-the-world face. That day was National “A Day in the Life of ____” Day, as created by a guy on Facebook. He made it one of his life goals to create a national holiday, and he was starting with Facebook. All a person had to do was document in some way (mainly pictures) what they did that day.
Looking at her phone she realized her inbox was getting ridiculously full. So she deleted messages, starting at the bottom. Click.
Finally climbing from bed her feet met cold vinyl flooring. She shivered and decided she needed some nice fuzzy socks. After all, the upstairs wood floor wouldn’t be any better. Click.
She carried several plastic cups from her bedside table up to the kitchen and loaded them in the dishwasher. Click. She put the kettle on for oatmeal, finally having raisins to put in it. Click. She was starving and had a feeling just oatmeal wouldn’t cut it that morning so she popped two pieces of her preferred sourdough bread in the toaster. Click. Syrup bottle in the microwave, just to get it warm. Click.
The kettle was nearly whistling by the time the syrup was done, so she poured the water in her oatmeal bowl. Click. While that cooked she prepared her toast: one piece with honey peanut butter, one with butter and apricot jam. Click. She dropped a pat of butter in her oatmeal, poured syrup all along the edge, and put a small handful of raisins in as well. Click. Breakfast is served. She poured herself a glass of the last of her chocolate almond milk and popped an Aleve to try to head-off any pain before it got ridiculously bad. Click. She went back down to her room and climbed in bed to eat. Click.
--
In no time at all it was 3:30. And Eleanor was still in bed. She had finished her breakfast quite a while ago but hadn’t bothered to do anything else. She checked the (fucking) weather, trying to justify why she was still in bed that late. Unfortunately it was a pleasant 63°. Oh well. Click.
Finally she decided she needed to start the day. After all, as Laura had pointed out, that night there was a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show in the Commons, and she needed to be ready for that. She took a shower (click, click) and sent a text inviting others to join Laura and herself (click).
After finally getting dressed (click) she went upstairs to make herself some dinner. For a couple weeks now she had been planning to make her own gravy fries, knowing that she wouldn’t get a chance to eat any for a while (it had been pure luck that the pizza place she went to with a few friends the last time she was home had some). She set the oven to preheat and covered her baking sheet in frozen fries. Click. After putting the tray in the oven, she set about making the gravy from a mix. Click.
While waiting for everything to cook, she noticed the pomegranate on a container next to the stove. I really need to eat that soon. Click.
Finally all was ready. She emptied the tray of fries into a large bowl and poured the gravy over it all. Click. The gravy-to-fry ratio was a little low, so she solved that by pouring the rest of her parmesan cheese on it all, thus creating a simple and slightly strange version of poutine (a Canadian dish of fries covered in gravy and fresh cheese or cheese curds). Click. She sat down to eat her rather unhealthy dinner.
Friday Yasha had gone up to Boston with his girlfriend and a couple friends to see a show. His friends were going for the opening band, who they knew, while he was more interested in the headliner: Dana Fuchs, of Across the Universe fame. Eleanor received a call from him, asking if she could look up directions to a club they were trying to find. She tried her best, but not knowing exactly where they were her help didn’t do much. After hanging up she took a picture of her computer screen with the map still on it.
While waiting for news on Rocky Horror from Laura, she decided to make cookies. They were her usual chocolate chip ones, though the product was far from store-bought cookies. She used the recipe her mom gave her before heading back to school that summer, which in turn was from her mother. Knowing she was baking history seemed to make the cookies better. Liz certainly thought so.
“So, you’re my favorite roommate ever. Don’t tell Cesley, but you are.”
Eleanor smiled and continued baking. Click click click.
Just as she was plopping cookie dough on the baking sheet she got a call from Laura. She continued haphazardly dropping spoonfuls of delicious dough on the pan with the phone pressed to her ear by her shoulder. The small group of Laura, Anna, Nicole, and Eleanor were going to meet at Anna’s apartment to prepare before heading over to the Commons. Eleanor said she would come when she got to a stopping point in her baking.
--
After putting the second tray in she went down to her room to get dressed. Laura was bringing her a jacket for her, and she was excited to dress up.
The year before she had dressed as Columbia, complete with a light orange tube top and black leggings, slicked back hair, and makeup done in her style. Angela went as Magenta and Nicole had butchered some scrubs to go as Frank after killing Eddie. This year, however, she couldn’t really spare the effort. Instead she was going as a random party guest with her black-and-white (and red, the result of two zombie walks) plaid pants, a tight red top, and her sexy boots. She had been looking for an excuse to wear those boots for a while now. They were while pleather platform gogo boots, and she loved them.
Coming back upstairs, carrying the boots in their box, she sat down to wait for the cookies to finish.
--
It’s just before 8:30 when Anna, Laura, and Eleanor leave for the show. At first the other two had expressed worry over Eleanor’s ability to walk in her massive boots, but she soon showed a mastery of them. After all, she told them, she had worn them to several conventions and even a few random school days in high school. She had plenty of practice, and always found a strange joy in being five inches taller. It certainly threw others off.
Upon arrival at the Commons, they located the ballroom that would be showing the cult favorite and queued up to get their props. Into a small paper bag went a sandwich bag of rice, a newspaper page, a glow stick, a party noisemaker, a piece of toilet paper, a rubber glove, a party hat, and a couple playing cards. They found seats near the front and sat down to wait for the event to begin.
--
Eleanor was quite pleased with herself for remembering several call-back lines. Not nearly as many as Nicole knew, but she was doing okay. She remembered all the cues for the props as least, and managed to not fall over or break her ankles while doing the Time Warp in her boots – especially given the amount of rice on the floor at that point. She left the ballroom with a distinct feeling of rice grains in her pants. Nicole had quite a lot in her hair.
On the way back to Anna’s they passed a restaurant that seemed to be having some sort of party. Out front was a line of about ten scooters. Nothing manly, like motorcycles, or anything hipster, like bikes, but slightly lame scooters. Click.
Not quite ready to go home yet, they ended up at a pizza place for some late night snacking. Nicole bought a pepperoni pizza to share. Click. They continued on to Anna’s, with Laura leaving them on the way to go back to her dorm. Eleanor gathered her things and left the jacket for Laura and led Anna and Nicole to her place for cookies. Click. She had to cut them off at one point before they ate them all.
[1425]
[11738/50000]
God, I'm so behind... I'm going to be spending today catching up.
Looking at her phone she realized her inbox was getting ridiculously full. So she deleted messages, starting at the bottom. Click.
Finally climbing from bed her feet met cold vinyl flooring. She shivered and decided she needed some nice fuzzy socks. After all, the upstairs wood floor wouldn’t be any better. Click.
She carried several plastic cups from her bedside table up to the kitchen and loaded them in the dishwasher. Click. She put the kettle on for oatmeal, finally having raisins to put in it. Click. She was starving and had a feeling just oatmeal wouldn’t cut it that morning so she popped two pieces of her preferred sourdough bread in the toaster. Click. Syrup bottle in the microwave, just to get it warm. Click.
The kettle was nearly whistling by the time the syrup was done, so she poured the water in her oatmeal bowl. Click. While that cooked she prepared her toast: one piece with honey peanut butter, one with butter and apricot jam. Click. She dropped a pat of butter in her oatmeal, poured syrup all along the edge, and put a small handful of raisins in as well. Click. Breakfast is served. She poured herself a glass of the last of her chocolate almond milk and popped an Aleve to try to head-off any pain before it got ridiculously bad. Click. She went back down to her room and climbed in bed to eat. Click.
--
In no time at all it was 3:30. And Eleanor was still in bed. She had finished her breakfast quite a while ago but hadn’t bothered to do anything else. She checked the (fucking) weather, trying to justify why she was still in bed that late. Unfortunately it was a pleasant 63°. Oh well. Click.
Finally she decided she needed to start the day. After all, as Laura had pointed out, that night there was a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show in the Commons, and she needed to be ready for that. She took a shower (click, click) and sent a text inviting others to join Laura and herself (click).
After finally getting dressed (click) she went upstairs to make herself some dinner. For a couple weeks now she had been planning to make her own gravy fries, knowing that she wouldn’t get a chance to eat any for a while (it had been pure luck that the pizza place she went to with a few friends the last time she was home had some). She set the oven to preheat and covered her baking sheet in frozen fries. Click. After putting the tray in the oven, she set about making the gravy from a mix. Click.
While waiting for everything to cook, she noticed the pomegranate on a container next to the stove. I really need to eat that soon. Click.
Finally all was ready. She emptied the tray of fries into a large bowl and poured the gravy over it all. Click. The gravy-to-fry ratio was a little low, so she solved that by pouring the rest of her parmesan cheese on it all, thus creating a simple and slightly strange version of poutine (a Canadian dish of fries covered in gravy and fresh cheese or cheese curds). Click. She sat down to eat her rather unhealthy dinner.
Friday Yasha had gone up to Boston with his girlfriend and a couple friends to see a show. His friends were going for the opening band, who they knew, while he was more interested in the headliner: Dana Fuchs, of Across the Universe fame. Eleanor received a call from him, asking if she could look up directions to a club they were trying to find. She tried her best, but not knowing exactly where they were her help didn’t do much. After hanging up she took a picture of her computer screen with the map still on it.
While waiting for news on Rocky Horror from Laura, she decided to make cookies. They were her usual chocolate chip ones, though the product was far from store-bought cookies. She used the recipe her mom gave her before heading back to school that summer, which in turn was from her mother. Knowing she was baking history seemed to make the cookies better. Liz certainly thought so.
“So, you’re my favorite roommate ever. Don’t tell Cesley, but you are.”
Eleanor smiled and continued baking. Click click click.
Just as she was plopping cookie dough on the baking sheet she got a call from Laura. She continued haphazardly dropping spoonfuls of delicious dough on the pan with the phone pressed to her ear by her shoulder. The small group of Laura, Anna, Nicole, and Eleanor were going to meet at Anna’s apartment to prepare before heading over to the Commons. Eleanor said she would come when she got to a stopping point in her baking.
--
After putting the second tray in she went down to her room to get dressed. Laura was bringing her a jacket for her, and she was excited to dress up.
The year before she had dressed as Columbia, complete with a light orange tube top and black leggings, slicked back hair, and makeup done in her style. Angela went as Magenta and Nicole had butchered some scrubs to go as Frank after killing Eddie. This year, however, she couldn’t really spare the effort. Instead she was going as a random party guest with her black-and-white (and red, the result of two zombie walks) plaid pants, a tight red top, and her sexy boots. She had been looking for an excuse to wear those boots for a while now. They were while pleather platform gogo boots, and she loved them.
Coming back upstairs, carrying the boots in their box, she sat down to wait for the cookies to finish.
--
It’s just before 8:30 when Anna, Laura, and Eleanor leave for the show. At first the other two had expressed worry over Eleanor’s ability to walk in her massive boots, but she soon showed a mastery of them. After all, she told them, she had worn them to several conventions and even a few random school days in high school. She had plenty of practice, and always found a strange joy in being five inches taller. It certainly threw others off.
Upon arrival at the Commons, they located the ballroom that would be showing the cult favorite and queued up to get their props. Into a small paper bag went a sandwich bag of rice, a newspaper page, a glow stick, a party noisemaker, a piece of toilet paper, a rubber glove, a party hat, and a couple playing cards. They found seats near the front and sat down to wait for the event to begin.
--
Eleanor was quite pleased with herself for remembering several call-back lines. Not nearly as many as Nicole knew, but she was doing okay. She remembered all the cues for the props as least, and managed to not fall over or break her ankles while doing the Time Warp in her boots – especially given the amount of rice on the floor at that point. She left the ballroom with a distinct feeling of rice grains in her pants. Nicole had quite a lot in her hair.
On the way back to Anna’s they passed a restaurant that seemed to be having some sort of party. Out front was a line of about ten scooters. Nothing manly, like motorcycles, or anything hipster, like bikes, but slightly lame scooters. Click.
Not quite ready to go home yet, they ended up at a pizza place for some late night snacking. Nicole bought a pepperoni pizza to share. Click. They continued on to Anna’s, with Laura leaving them on the way to go back to her dorm. Eleanor gathered her things and left the jacket for Laura and led Anna and Nicole to her place for cookies. Click. She had to cut them off at one point before they ate them all.
[1425]
[11738/50000]
God, I'm so behind... I'm going to be spending today catching up.
Sunday, November 1
november 1
Eleanor emerged from sleep at what she initially thought was 11:28AM, but was in reality 10:28AM on that first day of November. Daylight Savings Time had ended that night, but it wasn’t until almost an hour later that she remembered.
Blearily checking her phone she found two picture messages from her best friend Yasha. He was up in Boston for his cousin’s 21st birthday and was keeping Eleanor informed of his state of drunkenness. The first was him lying on a sofa with a kid’s plastic fireman’s hat haphazardly skewed on his head. Caption: “i b a fireman.” Received: 1:07AM. The second was two shot glasses filled with what was presumed to be very good cognac on a counter. Caption: “So yea im still good like for reals when i start typing funny then im bad btw that was number 6.” Received: 1:47AM.
Curling up once more in bed, Eleanor tried to remember her dreams. It had been a while since she could actually remember her dreams. She recalled something about dragons coming from the ocean and being extremely vicious until their tamers were found. And the proper ways to brush one’s teeth. And locating a new apartment/townhouse for the next school year and it had a charcoal grill. And being sought after by a jerk-prince who didn’t understand the word “NO!” and would probably not mind raping her at all. But that might not have been the correct order of things.
She found her glasses on the bedside table and made her way upstairs for some breakfast. She pulled out a frozen bagel and thawed it, then toasted it. When the toaster – a white Hello Kitty one, courtesy of her roommate Cesley – popped, she remembered she left her bagel plate in her room. Rather than get a new plate dirty, Eleanor preferred to reuse the same plate over and over until it was noticeably dirty. She made her way back downstairs and brought her plate back up. She buttered one side of the bagel and put cream cheese on the other half. She went back downstairs to eat.
Surfing Facebook reminded her of Daylight Savings Time. She noticed her laptop and phone had already reset themselves, but her watch needed setting. But for the life of her she can’t figure out how to do it. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to remember it’s one hour fast. She set her two other clocks.
--
Realizing it was 12:30 and she had yet to really start the day, she put her laptop to sleep and gathered her things to take a shower. She shared the front bathroom with Cesley, letting Liz have the back one to herself. Their bathroom had an old free-standing tub and a door that didn’t really latch – they had a string tied to the knob and a nail in the frame.
--
She took her usual route to campus: down Clay, up Goshen, down Broad. She took her time, avoiding the puddles in the brick sidewalks because she decided to forego her rain boots in favor of her favorite Chucks. She liked to think she occasionally left a slightly pink footstep from the leftover red paint from the Zombie Walk two weeks before.
The bookstore was having its floors waxed, so everyone was shuffled over to the one carpeted side of the large space. Eleanor browsed a bit, looking for an opportunity to sneak over to the other side where the Moleskine display was. She needed a new journal and for some reason the bookstore had a larger selection of them than the art store two streets farther back did. She also picked up a copy of all five Hitchhiker’s Guide books in one and a small Fahrenheit 451. She had been meaning to read them for several years now, and this month seemed as good a time as any.
Glancing over the humorous book display someone called her name. Turning, she saw Anna and her friend who was visiting for the weekend. They traded Halloween stories: they jumped between friends’ parties, while she took a canal ride and failed to actually get into any of the other places she meant to go to. They looked through the books on display, reading aloud particularly interesting or ridiculous selections – Stuff White People Like, How To Take Over Teh World, Bent Objects.
She gets a text from Yasha.
Y: (picture looking inside a basket filled with candy) Day 2
E: No fair i didnt even go trickortreating…
Y: nor did i … little cousin love
E: Still… Tho im gonna hit th leftover candy sales today
But Eleanor had another errand to run, so she left them to pay for her books and hit the ATM before walking to the grocery store. It was drizzling, enough to notice and fleck her glasses with rain but not enough to make her get out her umbrella. It was cool, and she thought about how it finally felt like fall had come, not that half-assed bipolar weather of the last two weeks, but real fall.
She headed straight for the after-Halloween candy sale, having not had a chance to trick-or-treat the night before. She picked out a bag of assorted Hershey’s for Cesley, another chocolate assortment, and a bag of candy corn for herself. She went through the rest of the store backwards, hitting the freezer first and her favorite organic teas last. She filled her two reusable bags and headed out, six blocks back down Clay to the house. Her shoulders started to hurt from the bags, reminding her of the long trek from the library to the house two weeks before hauling those same two bags filled with free books.
As she was putting her groceries away Liz came down with dirty dishes from her recent lunch. They traded Halloween tales, lamenting the suckyness of their respective nights. Liz opened one of the bags of candy and Cesley came downstairs. Eleanor finished putting her groceries away and started making her own lunch. The other two went back upstairs, talking about the couch Cesley had found and whether or not the seller still had it available since the Craig’s List ad had been pulled.
Eleanor put the kettle on to start heating water for tea while she ate her sandwich. She took the trash out while the tea steeped. She carried it down to her room to drink while checking her email. But the plain English breakfast tea had a bitter aftertaste, even after honey, and she gave up. In the back of her head she kept reminding herself that she really should be going to the jewelry lab to work on her container project, but was kept at home waiting for her roommates to get back in case they needed help with a sofa.
She soon got a call from Cesley, asking her to come out back to help haul a loveseat inside. It was a sleeper loveseat, which the other two didn’t realize when they went to investigate. The three of them hauled it out and to the bottom of the back steps but the handrail made them too narrow and even tilting it didn’t help. So they took it back to Liz’s van and drove it around to the front where the steps were wider. They managed to get it up and into the house.
While Liz reparked in the back, Cesley and Eleanor maneuvered the little sofa in the narrow hall and into the living room. When Liz got back inside they were trying to get it over the edge of the carpet to push it to the far side of the room, facing the door they got it in through. Flipping it onto its back they screwed the feet in. They tested the pull-out part, making sure it functioned properly. Now Yasha will have someplace to sleep when he visits.
--
Later that evening, Eleanor texts Nicole about seeing Where the Wild Things Are.
E: Wild things @ 7?
N: Fucking yes. You gawt Cher’ money?
E: That i do
E: Should i meet u by th stopsign around 630?
N: Yes.
E: Cool cya then
They spent the next two hours reliving childhood and reveling in the freedom it brought.
"I can see why people would think this isn’t a kid’s movie."
"But it was so good!"
"It’s one of those universal movies."
"They didn’t dumb anything down for kids."
"Even parents could enjoy it."
--
A little after 8 she gets a picture from Yasha. It’s a Coors Light can. “Yea couldnt help it.”
--
Over the weekend Angela finally got a new phone to replace her old Razr, which had been on the fritz for several months. She wanted people to text her just so she could use it.
E: This is me txting u on ur new phone. R u back yet btw?
A: Yay now i get to use my phone! And yes i have been back since 8 actually
E: Well then. U missed nicole’s leprosy. & we hav a loveseat!
A: Yay for the loveseat. So was that pic on fb real? Or was that her costume?
E: It was her costume: latex on toilet paper & extremely convincing.
A: Sweet i wanna c better pictures. And for that matter I wanna c pics of all of u
E: I wll get around to putting my pix up at some point…
A: Good. My friend was dean for Halloween nd her friend was sam. I wish i had been there!
E: Nice! Surf mlia, theres lots of epic there
A: Yes!. More distractions!
A: Omg u werent kidding about the amount of awesome on mlia
--
Sometime after 10 that night Eleanor got a call from Yasha. Except it was his cousin Maria calling because Yasha was learning how to properly smoke pot and wanted to call someone to share in his experience. Laughing at the antics from over the speakerphone, she was jealous. The two of them had been planning to try it together, and she felt a little betrayed that he would do it without her, knowing logically that she was being unreasonably possessive of him again. She tended to get jealous of him doing exciting things without her because of how much of a shut in she became when he wasn’t around.
But at least he thought to call me. In a way she was being included without actually being involved. She knew her first time would be mediocre at best, having never smoked anything and likely prone to coughing fits and general failure – though if her first drinking experience was anything to go by, maybe she’d be a natural. Those shots had certainly been easy enough. Although, that may have been because she watched as Liz showed Ces the proper way to do it.
Half an hour later he called again, proclaiming that she had to try this stuff – though not this stuff because it was so strong and she was a small newbie and would likely be totally flipping out way too soon.
[1845]
[1845/50000]
Blearily checking her phone she found two picture messages from her best friend Yasha. He was up in Boston for his cousin’s 21st birthday and was keeping Eleanor informed of his state of drunkenness. The first was him lying on a sofa with a kid’s plastic fireman’s hat haphazardly skewed on his head. Caption: “i b a fireman.” Received: 1:07AM. The second was two shot glasses filled with what was presumed to be very good cognac on a counter. Caption: “So yea im still good like for reals when i start typing funny then im bad btw that was number 6.” Received: 1:47AM.
Curling up once more in bed, Eleanor tried to remember her dreams. It had been a while since she could actually remember her dreams. She recalled something about dragons coming from the ocean and being extremely vicious until their tamers were found. And the proper ways to brush one’s teeth. And locating a new apartment/townhouse for the next school year and it had a charcoal grill. And being sought after by a jerk-prince who didn’t understand the word “NO!” and would probably not mind raping her at all. But that might not have been the correct order of things.
She found her glasses on the bedside table and made her way upstairs for some breakfast. She pulled out a frozen bagel and thawed it, then toasted it. When the toaster – a white Hello Kitty one, courtesy of her roommate Cesley – popped, she remembered she left her bagel plate in her room. Rather than get a new plate dirty, Eleanor preferred to reuse the same plate over and over until it was noticeably dirty. She made her way back downstairs and brought her plate back up. She buttered one side of the bagel and put cream cheese on the other half. She went back downstairs to eat.
Surfing Facebook reminded her of Daylight Savings Time. She noticed her laptop and phone had already reset themselves, but her watch needed setting. But for the life of her she can’t figure out how to do it. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to remember it’s one hour fast. She set her two other clocks.
--
Realizing it was 12:30 and she had yet to really start the day, she put her laptop to sleep and gathered her things to take a shower. She shared the front bathroom with Cesley, letting Liz have the back one to herself. Their bathroom had an old free-standing tub and a door that didn’t really latch – they had a string tied to the knob and a nail in the frame.
--
She took her usual route to campus: down Clay, up Goshen, down Broad. She took her time, avoiding the puddles in the brick sidewalks because she decided to forego her rain boots in favor of her favorite Chucks. She liked to think she occasionally left a slightly pink footstep from the leftover red paint from the Zombie Walk two weeks before.
The bookstore was having its floors waxed, so everyone was shuffled over to the one carpeted side of the large space. Eleanor browsed a bit, looking for an opportunity to sneak over to the other side where the Moleskine display was. She needed a new journal and for some reason the bookstore had a larger selection of them than the art store two streets farther back did. She also picked up a copy of all five Hitchhiker’s Guide books in one and a small Fahrenheit 451. She had been meaning to read them for several years now, and this month seemed as good a time as any.
Glancing over the humorous book display someone called her name. Turning, she saw Anna and her friend who was visiting for the weekend. They traded Halloween stories: they jumped between friends’ parties, while she took a canal ride and failed to actually get into any of the other places she meant to go to. They looked through the books on display, reading aloud particularly interesting or ridiculous selections – Stuff White People Like, How To Take Over Teh World, Bent Objects.
She gets a text from Yasha.
Y: (picture looking inside a basket filled with candy) Day 2
E: No fair i didnt even go trickortreating…
Y: nor did i … little cousin love
E: Still… Tho im gonna hit th leftover candy sales today
But Eleanor had another errand to run, so she left them to pay for her books and hit the ATM before walking to the grocery store. It was drizzling, enough to notice and fleck her glasses with rain but not enough to make her get out her umbrella. It was cool, and she thought about how it finally felt like fall had come, not that half-assed bipolar weather of the last two weeks, but real fall.
She headed straight for the after-Halloween candy sale, having not had a chance to trick-or-treat the night before. She picked out a bag of assorted Hershey’s for Cesley, another chocolate assortment, and a bag of candy corn for herself. She went through the rest of the store backwards, hitting the freezer first and her favorite organic teas last. She filled her two reusable bags and headed out, six blocks back down Clay to the house. Her shoulders started to hurt from the bags, reminding her of the long trek from the library to the house two weeks before hauling those same two bags filled with free books.
As she was putting her groceries away Liz came down with dirty dishes from her recent lunch. They traded Halloween tales, lamenting the suckyness of their respective nights. Liz opened one of the bags of candy and Cesley came downstairs. Eleanor finished putting her groceries away and started making her own lunch. The other two went back upstairs, talking about the couch Cesley had found and whether or not the seller still had it available since the Craig’s List ad had been pulled.
Eleanor put the kettle on to start heating water for tea while she ate her sandwich. She took the trash out while the tea steeped. She carried it down to her room to drink while checking her email. But the plain English breakfast tea had a bitter aftertaste, even after honey, and she gave up. In the back of her head she kept reminding herself that she really should be going to the jewelry lab to work on her container project, but was kept at home waiting for her roommates to get back in case they needed help with a sofa.
She soon got a call from Cesley, asking her to come out back to help haul a loveseat inside. It was a sleeper loveseat, which the other two didn’t realize when they went to investigate. The three of them hauled it out and to the bottom of the back steps but the handrail made them too narrow and even tilting it didn’t help. So they took it back to Liz’s van and drove it around to the front where the steps were wider. They managed to get it up and into the house.
While Liz reparked in the back, Cesley and Eleanor maneuvered the little sofa in the narrow hall and into the living room. When Liz got back inside they were trying to get it over the edge of the carpet to push it to the far side of the room, facing the door they got it in through. Flipping it onto its back they screwed the feet in. They tested the pull-out part, making sure it functioned properly. Now Yasha will have someplace to sleep when he visits.
--
Later that evening, Eleanor texts Nicole about seeing Where the Wild Things Are.
E: Wild things @ 7?
N: Fucking yes. You gawt Cher’ money?
E: That i do
E: Should i meet u by th stopsign around 630?
N: Yes.
E: Cool cya then
They spent the next two hours reliving childhood and reveling in the freedom it brought.
"I can see why people would think this isn’t a kid’s movie."
"But it was so good!"
"It’s one of those universal movies."
"They didn’t dumb anything down for kids."
"Even parents could enjoy it."
--
A little after 8 she gets a picture from Yasha. It’s a Coors Light can. “Yea couldnt help it.”
--
Over the weekend Angela finally got a new phone to replace her old Razr, which had been on the fritz for several months. She wanted people to text her just so she could use it.
E: This is me txting u on ur new phone. R u back yet btw?
A: Yay now i get to use my phone! And yes i have been back since 8 actually
E: Well then. U missed nicole’s leprosy. & we hav a loveseat!
A: Yay for the loveseat. So was that pic on fb real? Or was that her costume?
E: It was her costume: latex on toilet paper & extremely convincing.
A: Sweet i wanna c better pictures. And for that matter I wanna c pics of all of u
E: I wll get around to putting my pix up at some point…
A: Good. My friend was dean for Halloween nd her friend was sam. I wish i had been there!
E: Nice! Surf mlia, theres lots of epic there
A: Yes!. More distractions!
A: Omg u werent kidding about the amount of awesome on mlia
--
Sometime after 10 that night Eleanor got a call from Yasha. Except it was his cousin Maria calling because Yasha was learning how to properly smoke pot and wanted to call someone to share in his experience. Laughing at the antics from over the speakerphone, she was jealous. The two of them had been planning to try it together, and she felt a little betrayed that he would do it without her, knowing logically that she was being unreasonably possessive of him again. She tended to get jealous of him doing exciting things without her because of how much of a shut in she became when he wasn’t around.
But at least he thought to call me. In a way she was being included without actually being involved. She knew her first time would be mediocre at best, having never smoked anything and likely prone to coughing fits and general failure – though if her first drinking experience was anything to go by, maybe she’d be a natural. Those shots had certainly been easy enough. Although, that may have been because she watched as Liz showed Ces the proper way to do it.
Half an hour later he called again, proclaiming that she had to try this stuff – though not this stuff because it was so strong and she was a small newbie and would likely be totally flipping out way too soon.
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