Back... to the Future!

Well, at least back to something.
Last night I went to a sold-out performance of a show that's been off the air for ten years.
"In the not-so-distant future, next Sunday A.D. ... "
Recognize it?
It's the starting line of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (or MST3K)!
That's right, the whole MST3K cast was in town to do 3 different live shows, Thursday, Friday and Saturday! People came down from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana to see the show - and judging from Friday's first show (they did repeats on Friday and Saturday nights) it was totally worth it!
Calling themselves Cinematic Titanic now, and ditching the robots from MST3K, the six MST3K alumni ripped a film called "House of Vampires!", a Filipino movie thankfully free of copyright. The film was set in Mexico, and it really isn't that important what the plot involved (a House of Vampires?) but the comments came fast and funny.
It's quite different seeing an MST3K show "live" and in a theater (The Lakeshore Theater - hoo hah!) than on tape or CD. The whole audience is laughing at the jokes, making it easy to enjoy the craziness.
I got everyone to autograph "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" for me - you may recall that MST3K did a takeoff on "SCCTM" already, THAT version meade me roll on the floor in hysterics, so this version should be good.
Afte that, I went to a chili restaurant called Chili Macs (whose specialty was.... chili mac!) for some chili (sans mac) and walked up and down Broadway, enjoying the pulse of that part of the city. It was so... alive! So... New York City! Stores were open and video shops and theaters and Chili Macs!
Needless to say, the MST3K - Cinematic Titanic bunch left me in a great mood, and so too many of the other audience members, who I got to talk with while waiting in line to get my car out of the garage.

All in all, an excellent night!

October ball

Well, I can't help but stare at the television and wonder "what if".

If we hadn't won a record number of games, for our team at least, I probably would have given up long ago.

You see, I believe it's much less painful to come in fourth or fifth... than second. In virtually anything.

Second means you had a chance. Second means you were this close. Second means you can taste it.

No one really remembers who came in second, anyway. Or third or fourth or fifth. We remember the winners.

It's good baseball. I guess I'm rooting for the Phillies but either team's got a good story.

Sigh.

It's gonna take me some time to get over this one.

Well... that certainly sucks.

Oh, really? ;)

The National League playoffs have begun, and it's the Dodgers versus the Phillies.

Not a Cub in the bunch.

Maybe the Cubs shouldn't have rested after clinching so early. Maybe they shouldn't have rested their pitchers. Maybe the Dodgers were that good.

Maybes aside, it's all for naught.

Why did they discombobulate right when it mattered most?

I guess we'll never know.

I guess we'll just have to say it, like we've said it again and again and again.

Wait til next year.

Stroke... what an ugly word

It figures.

I had my total physical (EKG, blood work, tetnus shot included) and came out fine. Diabetes under control, blood pressure under control, weight under control. I'm feeling pretty darn good.

Cubs are due to start playing their first game in what hopefully will be a long series - wow, I'm feeling pretty darn good!

I get to my cell phone - and have eight messages.

I NEVER have eight messages.

Turns out, my father had a stroke and is in the hospital.

Coming back from San Francisco, he started driving erraticly - swerving in and out of lanes. My mom thought he just was a little under with his diabetes, and they stopped and he ate something...

But later that night, he started talking goobledegook and it went downhill from there. Luckily my brother-in-law was there to flag down the ambulance (my parents live far back off the street and it's DARK there) and my sister was visiting from Atlanta so she got to take care of my grandmother while my mom and other sister followed the ambulance...

Sigh.

I mean, we had seen this coming, kind of... but not so soon. My Dad hasn't reached seventy yet.

He doesn't take care of himself. Doesn't go to sleep until early morning and then sleeps in until noon or so. Just sits and watches TV. What happened to my Dad?

Look, I know bad stuff happens.

To a lot of good people.

Heck, I caught up with my sister at the pulmonologists for a three year old, just got out of the hopsital - again. Breathing problems, collapsed lung - you know, the usual.

It's just... well, until fairly recently, my Dad was a big, bold man who lived life heartily and all, and now he's... old. Rapidly growing older.

Who knows, it maybe a transient ischemia - that means it just goes away.

But it never goes away entirely. Life is going to be changing in big ways for not only my parents, but for Shannon and Ben and their three kids (live only eight miles away) and my grandmother, who's got her own set of problems but hey, she's 95 :) .

I know there's really no sense complaining about it - although I hope I'm venting, not actually complaining. You deal with what life deals you and go on, I know that.

You can't do much else, really.

It's just, well... he's my Dad.

Aw, heck, it's probably too early to post this, but there's a little tune that everyone's been singing after a Cubs win (literally - the whole stadium gets into it)... and I've been humming it all morning, so here goes...

Go, Cubs, go!
Go, Cubs, go-o-o!
Hey, Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today!
They got the power, they got the speed
To be the best in the National League.
Well this is the year and the Cubs are real
So come on down to Wrigley Field!
We're singing now
Go, Cubs, go!
Go, Cubs, go-o-o!
Hey, Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today!
Baseball time is here again.
You can catch it all on WGN.
So stamp you feet and clap your hands -
Chicago Cubs got the greatest fans.
You're singing now
Go, Cubs, go!
Go, Cubs, go-o-o!
Hey, Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today!

:)

Oh, you just knew I'd have to mention it...

Cubs clinched.

And Maggie and I went up to Cedarburg, WI, for their Wine and Harvest festival.

Cedarburg is one of those small cities that you don't think really exists anymore. Downtown is eight blocks ong, anchored on one end by a church and the other by an old mill winery. In between is full of little restaurants (I do mean little) and gift stores and florists and meat markets (home of the damn BEST apple brats you ever tasted!) and ice cream stores (where you can still get an apple dumpling with ice cream for two bucks. Can't get a cone for that around here!).
It has more than a downtown - it has many neighborhoods and an ice rink and even a McDonald's and a Dairy Queen (so it's a reasonable sized city, I guess).
You have to understand something here - even though I always lived in the suburbs, it's always been in the suburbs of a reasonably large city. I guess South Bend was the smallest city I've lived aside, and even that was reasonably large. San Jose, Sacramento, Buffalo, Chicago? Definitely large!
Maybe there are a lot of those towns out there - just sitting in the middle of nowhere, still operating and not slowly dying... but color me pleasantly surprised that Cedarburg, the Smallville of Wisconsin, is still there and still kicking.
Nice to know.

Oh, and the night the Cubs clinched we went to the play Damn Yankees. Not only was it baseball oriented? It starred -

The Washington Senators!

Americana would approve.

Oh-h-h-hh, man!

Cubs were down four runs, bottom of the ninth, two outs, nobody on.

They won.

They won?

Four runs down, one out left and they won?

It's never over until it's over.

This is the year!