33 and a Third

TheOneRing.net put up a facility for people to organize themselves when seeing Lord of the Rings. You can set up a “Line Party”, centred at a theatre in your city. I noticed there was a Line Party set up for the Paramount in Toronto. This was where I planned to see it anyway, thinking that I would go with Jeff and Debbie (of course, Reid would be coming despite the fact that he hasn’t read Lord of the Rings, and Michael is coming too! Yes, I’m taking him out of school for it!!) So I signed up, hoping the administrator would set up events, or provide information.

After a while, and a change of administrators (which meant things actually started happening!) I offered to set up an event where people could meet and chat about the movie. (Most of you reading this know me well enough — I can’t resist setting up these things.) We also set up a forum where we could discuss events and the move, it’s available here.

Some of us met last Sunday at the Starbucks within Chapters, next to the Paramount. I was amazed at how quickly everyone became comfortable with each other. Everyone was a big Lord of the Rings fan, of course, and we just launched right into a conversation about the movie. Starbucks was kind enough to supply pitchers of water and a plate of yummy cookies. (augh! Which I couldn’t eat because of dietary restrictions. But they sure looked yummy!)

The only disappointment for me is that most everyone is going to see the movie at different times. I had to complain: Don’t people understand the concept of a LINE party? It means you LINE UP for the movie. Perhaps line ups don’t make sense any more because of advance ticket sales. But I’ve lined up for enough movies to know that if you’re a big fan, half the fun is found in the line itself with fellow fans. And there is NOTHING like seeing the first showing of a major movie with fellow fans. Everyone gets every little joke/nuance. The whole theatre laughs when you know, at some other showing, you’d only hear a titter from a couple of people who got the reference. Ah well, I’ll have to be content with the 10 to 12 people I’m going with as it is!! (I think we’ll be lining up at 8 or 9am for the noon showing. A far cry from the 6 hours before we’ve done!)

And now on to a completely different subject.

Didn’t know whether I should put up this ugly picture of me - but in the end I had to. You see — when I look at it, it’s completely me. Yup. And when I see it, I see “Perrella” in the sense that I’ve taken after my dad in many ways. Yup. I’m a slob. Just like him. (Well, maybe not that bad.) And my brother is, too. Sometimes, I’m a little proud of it. Okay, so most of you don’t see me at my slobby best, but really, I’m a slob. There’s a larger version of the above picture, along with all the others Reid took on eaves cleaning day, available here (just in case you want to see how really horrible it is!)

Why is it that NO OTHER WOMAN on my street can be found wearing icky clothes, on the roof, cleaning out the eaves? Why don’t I see other women traipsing about in their bright orange boots, dirty sweat pants and gross shirt, digging up plants, trimming hedges, and climbing the tree to attach a rope for the swinging chair? I guess I only see them in their nice clean clothes, tenderly putting in the occasional garden plants. Not me, I’m a slob. I know I shouldn’t care, but I do wonder if they ask themselves why Reid isn’t on the roof, or why he doesn’t climb the tree? (Because he’s 100 lbs heavier than me, and it’s bad for the shingles, or because if he uses the ladder to climb half way up the tree, I can’t hold the ladder up if it starts to teeter.)

Plus, I actually LIKE doing this stuff.