It's called THE RAMBO!!

Kind of a random title this time around. I was thinking about sitting in our next door neighbor's backyard with Andy Haddon (mentioned briefly in our last entry) and Pat O'Connor. Someone else was probably there, but I can't remember who it would be. John Ciafranni? I don't know. But together, they were up to no good. I thought they were kind of troubled kids. Not my regular crowd.

I was sitting on a stoop watching them doing something stupid with fire, and they had one of those big old 1980's Run DMC type boom boxes, which was playing a filthy sounding song about doing something called "the Rambo". It sounded like butts might be involved.

And this all has nothing to do with the fact that I watched RAMBO last night. Sharis was asking to see this movie called "WRISTCUTTERS", which is a comedy about people who commit suicide and then have afterlife adventures. Sounded okay, but as long as she was open to watching something about people getting hurt (which is what all movies should be about) it might be a good time to get her to watch RAMBO with me.

Dad was more of a John Rambo fan than I ever was. One thing I always loved about him was his rapture, his sheer JOY, at watching vigilantes pump bullets into communists, nazis and other ne'er-do-wells. He would laugh that laugh of his, and declare that it was "awesome". He loved Clint Eastwood. "Clint the Flint." None of this was really my thing, but I watched Rambo 2 or 3 with him, just to enjoy being with him when he was in this sort of mood. It was kind of sweet somehow, and also, it was interesting to see Dad in the midst of his dichotomy: He was either a Christlike Man of Peace or he was Audie Murphy. It depended on the day.

So I watched RAMBO last night with Sharis, (it was really quite a good movie) and thought about my dad. I wish he lived closer, because we would have popped some corn or ordered up pizzas (steaks are still out of the question, I'm pretty sure) and watched John Rambo blow the living heck out of the ruthless Burmese military. It would have been an ideal father/son moment.

Yesterday, I almost bought a new truck on a whim. I came very, very close to getting one of these GMC Yukon XLs. It had leather seats, a sun roof, and it was beautiful. As I said in last blog, I've been touring a lot this year, and thought I deserved a treat. But we've only had this Buick Terraza for less than a year now, and it suits our needs. Cooler heads prevailed. Next year I will do it. Sharis is under the impression that gas prices will get way out of control in the next couple of years, and that we should both be riding motorcycles instead. $8.00 a gallon, she fears. No more Art Bell for her.

I've got to mow the lawn in a bit. We've got blue-tailed skinks in our backyard and mowing the lawn exposes them. They look shocked for a moment, like you've yanked open the curtain during their shower, and then they slither into little holes. They're beautiful, cobalt blue and much larger than the kind of lizards and salamanders I'd see in Orlando. Hunter would like to catch one and keep it in his room, but he's settling for having his fishtank reassembled, which is the other thing I've got to do today. It needs to be thoroughly cleaned, which is my job, and then Sharis is going to do all of the filtration stuff that she learned to do when she worked at a pet shop.

And then we've got to go to Home Depot and buy some oak slats to use as framework in our bed for our new mattress set. We got one of those comfort foam space age whatevers that comform to your body and don't disturb your partner when you toss and turn. Which, considering the amount of caffeine I take each day in order to concentrate on drawing little green aliens, I tend to do a lot. We've got a regular spring mattress and box spring now, which rests on the lip of our bed frame. Apparently, this new mattress set will sag in the middle without these hardwood slats. So off we go.

It's fascinating, isn't it, the things I have to say when I'm not talking about superhero comics? I'm a very interesting person in real life.

Thanks to everyone who posted replies...I can't believe how quickly you all found my blog. I thought I'd have to send notice to Jenna or Josiah, and have the address circulated that way, but blammo! Everyone found it at once! :)

Off to start my day.

I Solemnly Remain

Yours,
Ethan VS