smacky and bucky

(Thanks, yet again, to Al Green for today's entry title...)


A relaxing weekend at the river. The weather was gorgeous, sunny with a nice breeze. I got out in the kayak on Sunday morning.

We returned home, however, to a strange sight. One of our cats was missing her collar, and she kept hissing at her brother. I looked all over the house, and I can't find her collar anywhere. Where the hell could it be? It's red, and it's got a breakaway clasp on it, so if she snags it on something, which she must have, it will pop off, rather than strangle her to death. I suspect she was crawling around in some small space, got caught on something, and freaked out. Her brother came along to see what was wrong, and now she equates him with the trauma of getting her collar caught. Either that, or they were fighting and she lost her collar in the fight. I think I'm going to buy her a new one after work tomorrow, after which time it will mysteriously appear in the middle of the room on the floor, as if it had been there all along and I just hadn't noticed it.

Her hissing is clearly directed at her brother, by the way. It's not one of those general "freak outs" cats sometimes go through during which they hate everything and will claw you if you look at them funny. No, she still jumped onto my lap and wanted me to pet her. She just growled when her brother approached. The only reason we leave them alone over the weekend is because they both hate riding in the car so much now that they whine constantly if you try to take them somewhere. They're happier to stay home and sleep all weekend. Except when they're fighting now, apparently. It's sad, because the boy cat clearly wants to make up and the girl kitty is having no part of it. We've all been there guys, am I right? (Imagine that last comment in bad stand-up comedian voice, and you'll understand why I had to say it.)

We watched Sideways Friday night. Good movie, but I think Paul Giamatti is a little too good at playing the pissed-off shlub. (I know that's a sign of good acting, when I imagine that he's like the character in real life. I just hope he's not like that miserable bastard.) I like the ending too. Spoiler if you haven't seen it:















Ending when it did, with him knocking on her door, was perfect. I was afraid it was going to end with the student reading and him looking like he wanted to kill himself. Then I was worried it would end with him listening to her message, and you'd never know if he had to courage to go after her. I'm also glad they ended before she answered the door. We didn't need to big "music swells, actors embrace Hollywood ending" either.

On the other hand, seeing Thomas Haden Church's ass as he went to town on top of Sandra Oh (who scares me a little with her lazy eye) was awkward, since we were watching the movie with my wife's parents. There should be a warning on these movies: "Contains a comedic sex scene that may make you uncomfortable if you watch with your in-laws." I'd have appreciated that. Would have been a good moment to leave the room for a second.