Read the comments ONLY if you have seen the movie!!!

So what am I supposed to do on Tuesday nights now?

...you better know what you're getting in to.

Today was the 1st Annual Huntington Christian School Picnic. It was lot of fun. A great day in the park with friends and family. There was all sorts of games for the parents and the kids. Water balloon toss, three legged race, potato sack race, relays, all sorts of fun stuff.

At one point they announced that for the next event they could only take nine teams of one parent and one kid, Gina grabbed Dylan and went for it. Gina is very competitive. Sure enough, she was one of the nine. So she got to compete in "Shave the whip cream off your parent with a squirt bottle.

It was the summer of 1981. I had just finished the first grade. There was only one movie to see that summer. A movie that every kid was begging their parents to take them to see...




So dad packed up the family and drove to the theater to watch the summer blockbuster that started it all.

Now let's fast forward a moment...I am not a fan of crowds. I have a Disney annual pass, but rarely go there during the summer or on weekends, for the sole purpose of avoiding crowds. I do not usually go to a movie when it first comes out, just to avoid the crowds. I hate going to Target in the third week of December, simply because of the crowds. Now, I've never asked my dad if he shares that disdain for the masses, but I think that is where I got it. For I believe that was that reason that Dad did what he did.


The movie had just come out and the lines were very long. Dad took us to buy our tickets and instead of purchasing us tickets for the one and only movie I cared to see that glorious summer, he purchased tickets for a movie that had no line and was sure to be less crowded...

That's right, that timeless classic...
Time Bandits.


Dad ruined my summer. Don't get me wrong, I have grown to love all things Gilliam. But as a seven year old, it did nothing for me. Actually it did. It scared the crap out of me. Sir Ralph Richardson as the Supreme Being gave me nightmares. When they were climbing the stairs in the black abyss of nothingness I was petrified. The parents exploding in the end after touching the bit of Evil was horrific.

I don't remember ever seeing Raiders on the big screen. I think the first time I saw it in a wide screen format was when the box set came out of all three movies.

But now there is a fourth installment...



But now I will avenge this wrong! I will go to the theater this summer (maybe not the 22nd) and purchase a ticket no matter how the long the line. I will go and I will watch the end of this saga on the silver screen. Damn the lines, damn the crowds! I will not back down, I will not be afraid, I will not forgo this movie for something with a shorter line.

I will not waste money on...








p.s. Interesting side note: While tooling around on the internet I found this interesting tidbit relating to the latest Indy movie.

I am now officially Juror #10 on a civil, personal injury case that's scheduled to go until next Tuesday. And I've been instructed not top speak about it. So you'll have to wait until next week to hear about how guilty the S.O.B. is!

It's lunch break here at the courthouse. I was one of the first forty people to be called to a case. We filed up to the fifth floor and and received instructions from the bailiff outside the courtroom. We entered the room and twenty-one people were randomly selected for voir dire. I was number ten. 'Voir dire' is French for OH MY GOSH THIS IS BORING! The judge asked us all where we and our spouses worked and probed a bit further to those whose career might somehow make them bias to the case. Then the attorneys started with there questions and then we broke for lunch.

My Starbucks has worn off and I have forty-five more minuets to kill before I return to the courtroom. As part of Jury Appreciation Week, they are showing I Am Legend here in the jury assembly room. Well, I better go suck down an iced tea and get ready for round two. Wish me luck.

It's 9:15am and I've been in the jury assembly room of the Superior Court of California, County of Orange since 7:45. I'm kind of indifferent to the whole process. I'm not wearing my "Rush is Right" t-shirt to try to keep from getting picked. I wouldn't mind serving on a trial, but then I just think of all the hassles of rearranging my work schedule.

We've seen a couple of orientation videos and listened to instructions for the day. Now we're just awaiting court room assignments. There is free wireless internet, so that's a plus! I've been able to check my email and get a little work done on next month's work schedule. It's "Juror Appreciation Week" so they've put out some free snacks for us. So far so good. We'll see if I still feel that way after my Starbucks high wears off.

One of my servers, Ryan Houlton, is a film student at CSULB. He asked me to help out with a senior project. This short film had to come in at three minutes and could only have three edits. He said he wrote the part with me in mind. Another artistic match up like Scorsese/DeNiro, Speilberg/Hanks or Wells/Cotton in the future? Could be...

I had to run in to Target yesterday and grab a couple of things. It was my lucky day (I thought) because right next to my parking spot someone had left a shopping cart. Megan was really tired so I said she could ride in the cart; which being a big 5-year-old now rarely happens. So we're making our way through the aisles when I smelled it! I thought some little kid near us had soiled their diapers. It was bad. Everywhere we turned there was that smell. It was following us. But there was no child in sight. Megan now noticed and was being as discreet as a 5-year-old can be about the foul odor. I thought surely this would pass. BUT IT DIDN'T! At this point I thought maybe it was us. I checked both of my shoes. Then Megan's. Nothing?!?! I kept asking her if she had gas and she was getting more and more annoyed with me. Then finally the mystery revealed itself. Upon one more examination of our surroundings for the source of this rancidity, I found it! There was poop all over the cart and the seat that I had put Megan in. She was covered. It was if some little kid just crapped themselves, then dumped out the contents of the diaper all over the seat and the mom didn't have the common courtesy to clean it up! So after a trip to the restroom to clean up and put on the entire new outfit I had to buy Megan, we finally could do our shopping. I mean really! The nerve of some people!