Two Weeks

It's done. Or I'm done. Either way, two more columns and I'm no longer a movie critic.

It's going to be weird. That's the longest job I've ever held, just two months shy of 11 years.

I won't sit here and lie and say some of the events of the past two or three months haven't colored my perception of the job. They've actually had a major impact in making the decision. Without, I might have drug it out for another year or two. I hate most the feeling that I let someone run me out of a job. But that feeling's there.

I have no doubt I'll miss it. Being a "movie critic" has become part of who I am. It's something I took a lot of pride in, something I tried to do well. Certainly, I'll always be a film critic in my mind. I might even try to get back into it at some point on a website somewhere. Hell, I might even start reviewing movies for 2o2p when I go to them. I am "site editor" over there, after all.

Thing is, I haven't had a weekend off in about five years. Used to be, UT shut down the week in between Xmas and New Year's, but they stopped doing that about four or five years ago. So in the last 11 years, I've had... six weekends off from reviewing films. One of those was my wedding, and that was eight years ago.

You know what it's like to have to schedule your weekend around the movies every goddamn weekend? Ask Steph. She'll tell you how awesome it is.

And the movies themselves just aren't worth it anymore. Most of them suck. At this point, I pretty much know what's going to be good and what isn't, so if nothing else, the last 11 years has taught me how to judge the proverbial books by their covers. I'd much rather just watch what I want to watch instead of having to sit through shit like Bruno or some shitty horror film.

Having this job taught me a lot about writing, a lot about being a "public" figure and enduring "public" criticism. It's let me keep a byline and, oddly, kept me writing when I probably would've just stopped altogether. It is a form of creative writing, I think, and I'd like to think I got to be pretty good at it.

Ah well. Things have to end, right? I'll still post mini reviews here on the blog when I go to the movies, that way you guys can still have some if you want them. Hell, most of you will probably read me more often that way. lol.

So anyway, stay tuned. I'll probably try to do a Top 20 list of my favorite films from my tenure for part of my last column. In the end, you know what I'm most annoyed about? The fact that the last "mainstream" movie I review is going to be a romantic comedy.

Yay for The Ugly Truth. /eye roll

Other Things
So today we drove to Edmond and looked at a house. First time we've done that together. Steph's looked at two others on her own during her lunch break.

I actually liked the house, and loved the neighborhood, but there were probably too many little interior features I'd rather have passed on. We both gave it a 3.5 outta 5. We're making notes of things we like and don't like about specific houses.

The truth is we'd both be much happier if I were to get some new job out of state so Steph could bail on hers and we could live somewhere else for awhile. It's just that I've no bites at all, and there aren't that many jobs for me out there to apply for to begin with. So we're being realistic and going ahead with the move-to-Edmond/OKC plan. It'll be a much better commute for Steph, and if my boss actually lets me do the work-from-home thing a couple days a week, it'll be awesome for me. I can handle a 50-minute commute three days a week.

Plus, we'll be getting the fuck out of Stillwater, which'll be awesome. We only ever meant to stay here for two years. It's turned into nine and counting. I'm ready to live somewhere where there are more than 10 different places to eat and the internet company doesn't suck Bruno-balls.

Meanwhile, while we were in OKC, we stopped and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. I've had the cheesecake before, but I've never actually eaten there. I wasn't expecting $16 entrees and an 80-page menu, either.

In the end, a burger caught my eye. Specifically, this one:

TONS OF FUN BURGER
Yes, It's True! Double Patties, Double Cheese, Triple Sesame-Seed Bun
with Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Pickles and Secret Sauce.
Served with Fries

That sounded an awful lot like Le Big Mac to me. I felt some sort of strange compulsion to order it almost as soon as I read the description. I won't lie to you. One of my guilty pleasures is a Big Mac. I don't get them very often, but sometimes, there's nothing better than a Big Mac and McD's fries.

Now imagine, if you will, a Big Mac made by someplace that actually used real ingredients. How would they make the Big Mac? They'd make it like this:














To put that into scale for you, that's a good five inches tall, and those are probably quarter pound burgers (each), and the beef was good quality stuff. The waitress actually laughed at me when I ordered it.

When it finally got there, it was even bigger than I thought it would be. I cut the thing in half, then worked on the "little" half. I could not take a legitimate bite of it. I had to smash the damn thing for probably half a minute before I could come even close. Would've helped, perhaps, if I could've unhinged my jaw.

However, that bite, when I finally got it, was insanely good. I highly recommend sharing one of these with three or four of your friends.

No, I did not finish it. I didn't even come close to finishng it. I ate that half, took two bites of the other half, then tapped out.

Last But Not Least
Kaia's almost back to normal, though she's going to take some behavior modification to get her back to where she was beforehand. Tonight she basically ran about the living room destroying everything and generally annoying her mother. Fortunately for me, I was working on the column (hehe).

Anyway, it's back to daycare for her and back to work for me tomorrow. Feels like it's been forever.

Better still, I'm taking off Friday and Monday so Steph and I can go see Diane in Denver. We were planning to take Kaia with us, but the trip to and from Dallas was not pleasant, and we've decided this would be a good time for her to spend her first weekend at Grandma's house. I'm sure it's going to be difficult for all involved parties, but we'll manage. It'll be like a mini-vacation, and we haven't had one of those since our fifth anniversary (three years ago for those playing the home game).

That's all I got for now.