Movie recommendations

 This showed up in my FB memories from 10 years ago. This list held up really well.

My movie list. Two important things: it's not my favorite movies of all time, it's my favorites that I thought my friends would like, and it's comprised of movies I thought my friends wouldn't have seen, so it's mostly movies no one's heard of!

Remember the Titans (2000) - obviously sports movies are not my genre, but this is special

Gattaca (1997) - atmospheric exploration of a future world where advances in genetics has led to discrimination against "naturals" - people born without genetic engineering

The Siege (1998) -- terrific political thriller; it's scary how prescient this movie was, about the American government manipulating the situation in the Middle East in order to declare martial law in the U.S.

Absolute Power (2002) - not one of Clint Eastwood’s most celebrated films, but a fine intelligent mystery enlivened by terrific performances; based on a novel by David Balducci

The Interpreter (2005) - strangely under-rated; the subplot involves political developments in the UN and an African country, but the main story is a moving exploration of grief

Signs (2002) - ostensibly about an alien invasion, this is really a meditation on lost faith

The Third Miracle (1999) -- Ed Harris as a priest having a spiritual crisis; based on an equally terrific book

Return to Paradise (1998) - before he was a staple in raunchy comedies, Vince Vaughn gave a few dramatic performances and this is the best; this movie poses the age old question “am I my brother’s keeper” with devastating results

Matewan (1987) - hard to pick a favorite Sayles film, but this one really shines; about a coal miners’ strike in West Virginia; amazing performances and stellar writing; everyone I recommend this to becomes a fan

Coupe de Ville (1990) - terrific road movie and family dramedy about feuding brothers taking their father's treasured car across country, bickering all the way

Funny Bones (1995) - dramedy about family relations and the roots of comedy's soul, with Jerry Lewis, and Oliver Platt in one of his best roles ever

Safe Men (1998) - quirky comedy about a group of bungling burglars; stellar cast includes Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, Michael Lerner and Paul Giamatti in an early role that suggests he’s destined for greatness

The Imposters (1998) - offbeat comedy with Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt as hapless comedians stowing away on a cruise ship

Zero Effect (1998) - odd but super entertaining comedy about “the world’s greatest private investigator”

Who Am I This Time? (1982) -- based on a Kurt Vonnegut short story (though you'd never guess) with Christopher Walken (in a rare sweet performance) and Susan Sarandon; they fall in love during a community theater performance of A Streetcar Named Desire.

wtaf

This is the quality of men I'm getting now

 

Why?

This is the exhausting part. I sent a message to the guy at the top and the guy at the bottom. Both of them came and looked at my profile and I didn't hear from them - no response of any kind. Because I guess they think they're Brad Pitt and they think they deserve Cindy Crawford. I assume I'm 20 years too old too. This is a bummer. 

 

More concerning medical care outcomes

 The GP I saw at the UND general practice blew off several concerns that I raised, including the fact that I was diagnosed with and treated for osteopenia a few years ago. I just wanted a follow-up scan to put my mind at ease (it's not a complex or involved test). Since the GP ignore my concern, I raised it with the new gyn doctor (in Syracuse, the scan and the medication were both instigated by my gyn doctor). She happily referred me for the scan, which I was able to schedule about a week later. I got the results almost immediately, which were that I now have full-blown osteoporosis. Yippee. Good thing an actual doctor listened to me and referred me for the scan. The bad news is that she says she can't prescribe the medication, as it is out of her practice area (or something like that). Weird, since my gyn in NY did it. Whatever. I'm definitely not going back to Dr Ashley, who is a hack. Back to the drawing board for an actual doctor who will provide actual care. 

Oops

I was supposed to go to (my very first UND) hockey game tonight with a guy I met on the new seniors dating app that I joined, but the weather did not cooperate. So we were talking on the phone instead, and everything was going great until he started bitching about critical race theory, and I was thinking "oh boy." What I said was, "I don't think it's authoritarianism to read Tony Morrison." If I ever hear from this guy again, I will be truly shocked. 

It wasn't gonna work out anyway if he was some Fox News watching Angry White Man. Also he seemed like he was very freshly divorced - he just moved into his own apartment in December. Also, he said something about his 3 grown daughters are on their mother's side. Not sure I want to be somebody's rebound. Though, I don't know, maybe that angry sex would be worth it.

But seriously, he's just another guy who talks endlessly about himself. In a 45 minute conversation, I don't think he learned anything about me other than that I moved here from Syracuse, and that's because I said it - it's not like he asked. Oh well.

UPDATE: Quite surprisingly, I did hear from him again, and we went to the hocky game. He was pretty good company and quite cute (though certifiable, tbh, and not even actually divorced, just separated). I thought he liked me, but I haven't heard from him since, so chalk that one up to experience.

Why did I do this to myself?

Why am I taking this coding class? I don't need this and it's stressful AF.

More dating aggravation

I really thought with Silver Singles I could narrow the field to a more appropriate pool of possibilities, specifically, eliminating men who are looking for younger women. I don't know what to think about the surprising number of profiles that state they want kids. Maybe they don't understand how biology works, but women over 50 are not likely to be having kids, especially not "eventually" or "in the future"!

Staying connected

So fun to play games online with my kids (though Matt and Cal almost never join us, sadly). I'll be forever grateful to the game group at my job for introducing me to these platforms. Note that I won this particular game, but that's not at all typical - tonight Logan won most of the rounds.

More banking woes

I am still trying to figure out how to manage 2 personal bank accounts and how to move money between them: I am only allowed 6 transfers per month from Bank of America, which is more than one a week, but I routinely transfer money to Alana's account, so I need to watch how often I do that. Now I found out that I can only use mobile banking at Gate City to deposit a total of $500 in a 30 day period! Yikes. That's only for the first 30 days, I guess to discourage using new accounts from being used for nefarious purposes. I'm learning more than I really wanted to about how banks work. And a new piece of information: a transfer between banks is called an ACH and many banks allow you to do that for free, but some banks charge a fee. Guess which category BofA falls into? That's right, the latter. $3 each time I was to transfer my own money. %$#@&*!

Nailed it

 

    It's both sad and reassuring that this perfectly describes my experience of my marriage.