missed goals, popsicles and vampires named jerry

I tend to make goals and not see them to completion. Many times, I get part of the way there, and then have a misstep, finding myself struggling to get back to what it was I was doing and then just forgetting the whole thing.

A short list of a few things I've set myself up to do, and have failed miserably include:

• Watching all the movies on the AFI Top 100 Movies of All Time... I've still only seen maybe half of them. Three are on my DVR, and have been for a year.
• Listing my Top 100 Favorite films, one by one, on this here website... I got 19 movies into it, then left the project, returned, re-did it, got four movies in, then stepped back again
• Doing a virtual "bike tour", meaning riding enough miles on a stationary bike to get me from my home (then located across town) to New York City--I biked enough miles to literally get me on the campus of Atlanta's Georgia Tech University
• Watching all the movies in Disney's Animated Canon... I got about six movies in, and forgot to blog about any of them.
• Cleaning The Cabana up
• Cleaning our back room
• Scanning about 300 pictures that I need to put away
• Listing my Top 100 Coolest Things from the previous year... in my defense, this usually gets accomplished, but over the last few years, its not been completed in January or even March, but sometimes mid-summer, and last year, for 2010, in December. And I'm only 20 things into 2011's list.

Now, this isn't a "self-help" post, nor do I plan on making any commitments to you about how I'm going to change my life and get better at such things... when I can get a project done quickly, I'm like a madman sometimes, letting myself be consumed by the project itself until I've found a satisfactory conclusion.

So, I'll continue to blog, I'll continue to do what I do, and yes, one day I will see all the films on the AFI list, one day I plan on not only listing my 100 favorite films of all time, but my actual list of 500 films of all time (and that list does exist), I will see all of the animated films in Disney's canon, I'll get that back room cleaned up, I'll get The Cabana spic and span, those pics will get scanned, and my 100 Coolest List will be revealed, little by little. The biking may or may not happen.

And since I've got your attention...

I had Steel City Pops a few days ago. This is another reason by the terrorists hate us... someone felt the need to combine two words that apart were probably just fine: "gourmet" and "popsicle". Did we really need this? Probably not. Am I glad we have it? Abso-stinkin'-lutely. I had a couple of coconuts, complete with flakes in it. The peanut butter popsicle, while not life changing, was still very good. There is a pineapple jalapeno flavor, but I had none of it. Not a jalapeno fan, but others that had them told me they thought it was great--very pineappley, with just a bit of heat.

Got Campbell on my own tonight... first Friday of every month, The Lovely Steph Leann goes off to Estrogenapalooza, or "Hobby Night" at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship).  That means Campbell and me hang out until about midnight before Mommy comes home, I can hand him off to her and go to bed.  I try to find that fine line between handing him off as soon as she comes in the door versus giving her a few minutes to breathe before I give him over.  Now, when she comes home at 430p, I try to give her at least 30 minutes, maybe 45.  At midnight, when I have to be at work the next morning at 430a, all bets are off... the door opens, she says, "Hey, I..." and she has a baby in her hand, and my head is on my pillow in the next 50 seconds.  I'm such a good Dad.

Getting Campbell means he goes to four different places... from the bouncy seat to the swing seat to the floor playmat to my arms and back again.  This also means that I try to take in some movies, with sometimes a 2 hour movie taking me 4+ hours to watch.  When I watched the TV mini-series version of Stephen King's "The Stand", which was 4 parts at 2 hours each, it took me about 3 weeks.



I would not say such things if I were yoooooooouuuuu....

I also watched the remake of "Fright Night" both last Thursday and this Tuesday (no, not as in I saw it twice, but as in, it took me those two days to watch the whole thing.)  And frankly, the movie is pretty terrible.  I vaguely remember the original, with Prince Humperdinck as the vampire who lives next door to Charley, played by B-List C-List D-List M-List actor William Ragsdale and future "Married: With Children" neighbor Amanda Bearse.  I do remember that movie being really scary, funny and engrossing... Charley knows Jerry, the neighbor, is a vampire, but can't get anyone to understand or believe him.  I enjoyed it, albeit I was 12. 

The new one?  It was stupid.  Its got Colin Farrell as the vampire neighbor, with Anton Yelchin (that kid from Star Trek) as Charley.  It starts out well enough, but quickly evolves into a predictable mess where no one is interesting, the story isn't engaging and frankly, you could care less if anyone lives or dies. 

Okay, so today's post check-list... missed goals, check... Popsicles, check... keeping the kid, check... bad vampire movies, check... You ever tell stories that start out one way and end up in a completely different direction than what you thought?  Yeah.  Me too.

Now, excuse me while I continue watching "Eat, Pray, Love".  I wish I were kidding.  Not sure I'll make it through half of it, because Julia Roberts has spent the first 30 minutes of this movie whining incessantly.  Its like I'm watching "Hope Floats 2: Destination Europe", with James Franco replacing Harry Connick Jr.

The July 31 Day Six