Monday, January 19, 2009

Life is good

Son is in kitchen eating chocolate chips (which came as a topping on yogurt).

Daughter is sitting at dining room table with an empty carton of yogurt (which came with a topping of chocolate chips).

Son throws a chocolate chip at Daughter.

Daughter protests and appeals to Mom.

Mom tells Son to stop, which appeases Daughter.

Son then throws another chocolate chip at Daughter.

Daughter protests louder and appeals to Mom... louder.

Mom tells Son to stop again and threatens loss of Xbox.

Son ceases chocolate chip throwing.

Daughter ceases protesting.

About a minute goes by.

Son walks into dining room and spits a chocolate chip onto Daughter.

Mom tries to conceal laughter but fails miserably and braces for Daughter's reaction.

Daughter looks at Mom and breaks out into laughter.

Life is good.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

But still

I had the neatest experience the other day.

I read my cousin's blog, as I do daily, and it was about a "quirky" object she owned and would never part with. That "quirky" object was a silver drinking cup given to her by her grandfather who had originally received it from the famous playwright Harold Pinter, who recently died.

My cousin's grandfather is famous too. His name is Paul Rogers and he is British. His first wife married my mother's father. Confused? He is my step grandfather once removed by all logical purposes... not actually related.

I have heard about Paul Rogers since I can remember but have never met, much less seen a picture of the man. Still it's a very cool feeling to know that someone who is sort of step-related to me is famous!

Famous for doing plays... or so I always thought.

I was reading my cousin's blog and she included a clip of him in the movie "The Homecoming," (1973), which was also a Broadway play.

It was too much. Finally, I had a chance to see what he looked like and how exciting is that!! I watched the clip with the same anticipation of a child sneaking out to get her Christmas stocking in the middle of the night.

After I saw the clip I had to show it to my coworkers, one of whom had actually taken a class about Harold Pinter when she was in college. I felt so proud showing him off, which is totally weird since he doesn't even know I exist.

But still.

I then Googled his name and found out that he has appeared in many movies, with many classic stars such as Laurence Olivier, Catherine Zeta-Jones [okay, work with me], Anthony Hopkins, Peter Finch, Liv Ullman, Rod Steiger, Anthony Quinn, David Janssen, Dame Judi Dench, Peter Ustinov, Terence Stamp, John Hurt, Stuart Whitman, Burl Ives, Maureen O'Hara.

OMG!!! Do I need to keep going???

I wish I could meet him just once. Just to ask him about his experiences. How great they must be. How great. But he is about 92 now and in England and has no clue who I am so I know that will never happen.

But still.