that vision thang

Okay- two posts in two days? Don't fall over in shock.

The Elder Flower is being difficult again. Double sigh.Temper tantrums, trips to the Director's office, biting herself when she didn't get her way hard enough to bruise. I'm too tired and upset by it even talk at length about it. I'm unsure how to deal with her, and so exhausted by it that I know something has to change. Any advice for dealing with a willful, smart, sneaky, immature 4 1/2 year old? Feel free to send it to me.

I have tried to bring my family and the Hubby's into the modern age, and created Yahoo groups for each family. My father's side got off to a rip-roaring start and died down; my mother's side and the Hubby's side are doing nothing. Makes me feel a little silly, and annoyed. Oh, well. I keep posting in the hopes others will. One thing I did choose to share was the picture I took of the Elder and Younger Flowers trying on their Halloween costumes- take a look. I was so damn thankful that this year was NOT another Disney year. And I am going along with the super hero theme, having been assembling my own realistic, plus size Wonder Woman costume for almost three years now (one year of pregnancy and one year of Elder Flower's picking out a family theme interrupted my planning and actual execution. I've had the boots sitting in my closet for years.) I have a red corset, blue dance skirt, clearance ugly boots to sprat paint, a cape (thanks to a friend), a head band, real cuffs (from Ebay), a belt (Target clearance, $3, needs to be spray painted), and a golden lasso (trim from the material store.) I also bought silver and gold material to craft my skirt stars and my chest piece eagle. Well, to attempt to- I'm not sure my sub-par sewing skills will actually be able to accomplish this, but we'll see. A friend of mine is having a Halloween party the weekend before, too, so I will get a bit of use out of the costume. When it's finished, I'll post pictures.

While I was shopping for the metallic material, I found out that the material store in my neighborhood, a Joann Fabrics that has been there for as long as I can remember, is closing. So are all the stores around it to make way for re-development (rumor is its another frigging Wal-mart, that anti-Christ corporation I absolutely hate.) This is bad news for me, but worse was that the Orleans 8 Movie Theater was closing. Not that I go there anymore- if you are from Northeast Philly, I bet you don't go there anymore either, it is not well maintained and the clientele leave a lot to be desired. My last visit there was all of five minutes before I demanded my money back and left, my feet sticking to the dirty floor the whole way out. But this was the theater that we used to go to all the time when I was allowed to go to the movies by myself. This is the movie theater that Star worked in throughout high-school and even into college. Where she met both her first and second fiances (one of whom became her ex-husband.)

This is one of those memories that just sticks with me. I spent a great deal of time at the Orleans, especially after closing waiting for Star or going to employee-only showings. The movie I most remember? Mostly because it was so insane, with morning showings (only for blockbusters- usually they didn't start until after 12) and lines out the wazoo, and Star bitching about the craziness and extra long and extra shifts that it necessitated.

Batman. The original start to the franchise, with Keaton.

I also saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles there with the Hubby (still only the Boyfriend) and Big. Big was with Star and the Hubby, before he was even the boyfriend. He managed to spill an entire soda, ice and all, on his crotch. It was hysterical. We teased him mercilessly about it for YEARS. I also remember after some movie there- a 7 o'clock show, but I can't remember the movie- in the pouring, freezing rain, having to walk most of the way home (quite a distance, even for a younger, more in shape me) with Gina Wink and Star, stopping at every pay phone (no cell phones back then) and trying to find someone who could give us a ride. The bus finally came, after I was almost all the way home. (Star and Gina had farther to go than me.)

And the death of the Orleans marks the death of all the NE Philly theaters that I used to go to as a kid. There was one on Castor Avenue, a single screen, that sometime after Good Morning, Vietnam turned into a fur sales room, and then a Sari Palace. (Now it's a furniture store, I think.) I can't remember the name. Also, there was the GCC Northeast, at Welsh and the Blvd., which has been gone for some years, although the building is still there. And there's the one I never actually went to, although we made plans several times that fell through, the discount Devon Theater )near Frankford and Levick) that has been re-done for the local civic association as a place to hold events, although other than the opening, I don't think I've seen a single event advertised.

All this had combined to make me feel nostalgic and very, very old. I didn't need this the same week that I came to the conclusion in both Asian Cultures and Civics that I was teaching about events (the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act) that had happened before most of my students had been born.

I now know how my history teachers felt when I didn't think what we were learning was relevant because it happened so long ago.

I'm sorry, gentleman. I owe you one.

Karma- however delayed- sucks.

Current Mood: nostalgic