Off to Hayesville

After two relaxing nights at Katie and Brian's house, we're heading off to Hayesville this morning to celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday. Yesterday we went to the Georgia Acquarium, which was a wonderful experience. We were able to make our reservations early in the morning, so the otherwise packed attraction was relatively empty. It made for a fun time.

Last night we had dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse and my niece Laura was able to join us. Afterwards Laura headed off to pick up Catherine and the rest of us headed back to the house to have fun and get ready for our trip this morning.

Just before dinner, my brother Charles called me on my cell phone. He said that he, along with three of his son's, was about three hours outside of Atlanta. I tried to rub it into him that we were having fun and already here and that we will have gone to dinner and had dessert and come back home and he'd still be stuck in the car near the end of an eight hour drive. Charles responded by asking "Is your wife with you?" I looked to Dea, "Yeah." He said with a chuckle, "Mine's not. So who has it better?"

We shared a big laugh. My wife didn't think it was that funny.

Atlanta

Last night we spent some time with Dea's sister, Dawn, and their family. We had a great time and a wonderful dinner. After dinner we hopped over to my niece Katie's house to stay.


This morning we spent the day at the beautiful Georgia Acquarium. A great place. I'll have more pics from the trip later.

Valdosta

9:39 a.m., Thursday, July 27th.

I'm typing this from the hotel room in Valdosta. After work my wife and I decided to get the hec out of Dodge and start our journey north toward North Carolina. We made it as far as Valdosta, where we crashed at the Country Inn and Suites.

We had a good nights sleep and are about to hit the road again. Our goal is to meet up with Dea's sister first, then spend the night at KT's house later this evening. Tomorrow we're heading to the Georgia Aquarium and spend more time with family.

Well, we're packing up and are ready to go.

Until later...

More 3-D

Okay, my eyes are getting a little buggy looking through red and blue glasses for the last few days as I play around with this 3-D stuff. Below are some more pics... I'll bring up some glasses to mom's 80th birthday weekend so people can see them as they were intended.

You can click on pics below for bigger pics. There's an art to getting a good 3-D pic and I'm slowly figuring it out.

Goin' Out To Cally – Part 57, Succumbing To Fate

“What if he got out?” I asked.

“Yeah, what if someone dropped him off and now he’s on foot out there?” she replied.

“That’s frickin’ great!” I exclaimed.

Now our panic ramped up a couple of notches. Sure, being stranded in the middle of nowhere with a maniac after us, well, that was one thing, but at least the only thing we had to focus on was the headlights approaching us. With the darkness that blankets a desert during a new moon, the glow of headlights was about the only thing we could see. But now, under Sunday’s theory that our potential attacker was on foot, we now had to focus on everything… in a desert… in the dark!

Our eyes darted back and forth. We looked through the side windows and the back windows and the rear view mirrors and out in front of us.

“I can’t see anything!” I said.

“Me either,” Sunday agreed.

The length of the day was starting to get to me. Frustrated and angered from the events in San Francisco, I did not sleep well in the car. My shift behind the wheel started in a state of exhaustion over seven hours ago. Now the toxic combination of fear and fatigue had me near an uncontrollable collapse.

Just then Sunday screamed “There he is!”

My head swung to the right and I looked past Sunday, spotting a cow standing next to her window.

“Sunday… it’s a cow,” I sighed.

“Sorry…” she said with understandable embarrassment.

The sight of the cow and the momentary release from the pressure cooker of fear in our car that resulted from it put me into a state of exhaustion from which I could no longer recover.

“I… I can’t keep my eyes open anymore,” I said as I released my grip from the keys in the ignition and leaned the driver’s side seat back.

“If I die tonight at least I’ll die in my sleep,” I continued as I closed my eyes.

“Me too,” Sunday followed.

I looked over to her and our eyes met, both red from weariness.

“Good night, Sunday,” I said with a smile.

“You too, Pete,” she responded with a half-smile, then turned and closed her eyes.

It did not take long for me to fall asleep in the deep dark that night. I was so tired I didn’t even dream.

I awoke the next morning to find a sight I never expected. Somewhere between the maniac at the hotel, our drive into the rest area, our near death experience at the hands of a cow and finally going to sleep… somewhere in the night our rest area became one of the most populated spots in Eurkea.

As I pried my eyes open in the morning sun I looked to my left and, out of the driver’s side window, spotted a large recreational vehicle parked next to us, through which I could see the driver cleaning himself up from a morning shave.

“When did he get here?” I said to myself? I propped up the car seat to an upright position and looked around the rest area which now looked like a parking lot at a used car dealership. There were numerous cars and trucks and motorcycles and semis.

“Were they here all night?” I said with disbelief. “I don’t remember seeing any of them when I pulled into here.”

“See who?” Tim asked as we awoke from his fulfilling night’s sleep.

“Nothing,” I said.

About one hundred yards away, passed the cars and trucks and motorcycles was the now lit sign of the gas station… it was open.

I started the car and pulled into the gas station. Wanting to quickly change positions with Tim and Beth so I could get some quality shut eye, I offered to pump the gas if Tim paid the attendant.

The morning air was extremely cold. I shivered in my shorts and t-shirt as the cold wind whipped through my oily hair, the metal gas hose clanking repeatedly against the gas tank in the Acura. As the gas flowed into the arid, empty tank I looked over toward the hotel where our adventures in Eureka began.

The pickup truck was gone.

It made me wonder if the truck that stopped and stared us down only a few hours earlier was indeed our angered drunk. I would never know. All I cared about now was sleeping and waking to find that this once-hopeful trip would be finally nearing its end.

********

Part 57, (Text, Audio) - Part 56, (Text, Audio) - Part 55, (Text, Audio)
Part 54, (Text, Audio) - Part 53, (Text, Audio) - Part 52, (Text, Audio)
Part 51, (Text, Audio) - Part 50, (Text, Audio) - Part 49, (Text, Audio)
Part 48, (Text, Audio) - Part 47, (Text, Audio) - Part 46, (Text, Audio)
Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)

Playing with 3-D

I've always been a big fan of 3-D movies. Yes, they're usually hokie in content and cause eye strain over a long period of time, but the next great barrier the film can overcome is the third dimension. I read a very interesting article where James Cameron, Titanic director, states that his research has shown that eye strain from watching 3-D comes from the fact that films are projected at 24 frames a second and that, with digital projects, that frame rate can be increased to just about any number per second, where the eye strain would disappear.

Imagine watching a sporting event at a stadium seating theater in 3-D? Pretty cool idea. Unfortunately there are no easily implementable 3-D home video options right now, so I decided to look at an old fashioned 3-D technology.

I've been looking for a simple way to take 3-D still pics, using the old fashioned Red-Blue glasses concept, called Anaglyphs. I had a pair of the Red-Blue glasses from when Spy Kids 3 came out and I found a free program that will convert pics into these 3-D pics. The end result is really cool.

What you have to do is take two pictures about 2-3 inches apart (eye distance) and then merge them using this program to create the 3-D image. It's basic, but the 3-D images are pretty amazing, to be honest. You have to play around with how close some of the items may be and how many levels of depth you are trying to capture at one time... it's a hit or miss proposition, but if you can make it work, it's really cool.

Below are some pics from my experiments... if you don't have a pair of Red-Blue glasses (Red on the left side), then these pics won't work for you. If you do, click on pics below to make them larger and enjoy.

Goin' Out To Cally – Part 56, Enveloped In Fear

With a near empty tank of gas stuck in the small bump of a town called Eureka in the middle of Nevada located on a stretch of Highway 50 with a large, drunk verbally threatening to kill us… well, things could have been better.

Our only hope was to wait until morning when the gas station would reopen. I pulled the car into the apparently vacant rest area on the other side of this small town, turning it around so we would be facing the direction of our potential attacker who would be coming from the hotel a few blocks down the street.

If the maniac was going to try and kill us, we wanted to keep an eye out for approaching cars. I sat with my left hand on the wheel, my right hand on the key in the ignition, one foot hovering over the clutch, the other gently placed on the gas pedal… if the maniac got anywhere near us I was ready to start the car and bolt out of there for as long as the gas would last.

Exhaustion eventually forced Tim and Beth back to sleep. Sunday and I were too afraid to relax. Our senses were heightened, our eyes piercing the dark night focused on the road, waiting for a set of headlights to approach.

“That guy was scary!” Sunday exclaimed.

“I know! It freaked me out!” I replied.

As I waited, keys at the ready, I kept trying to work through my options. There weren’t a lot. If the maniac drives up, shotgun in hand, what could I do? Drive away… to where? We don’t have enough gas to get us anywhere. Then we’d just get hunted down in the middle of a desert instead of at a rest area in a small town.

The only other option was to drive away and honk the horn, hoping someone would wake up and help us out.

Neither solution was a good one. So, Sunday and I sat and waited, our breath shallow with fear, our eyes focused, yet red with exhaustion.

“Oh my God!” Sunday yelped as a pair of headlights approached.

“Is that him?” she asked. I looked intently at the approaching headlights, trying to discern the possible motive of the driver. Was it a car or a truck? Was it a small truck or a semi? Was the vehicle slowing down or maintaining speed? Was it turning into the rest area or continuing down the highway?

“I think it’s a car, not a truck,” I said as the headlights continued passed us. Sunday and I took a collective sigh and enjoyed the momentary respite before our flight or fright instincts encircled our psyche again.

We continued searching the dark for a hint of growing illumination from anything resembling oncoming traffic. A few minutes later the white dotted lines in the middle of the road began to glow slightly as another vehicle approached.

Sunday and I again gasped and our muscles involuntarily tightened as our heads turned with the moving headlights as they grew brighter. We found ourselves literally holding our breath while watching the car draw near, then continue on down the road.

Our bodies again relaxed as the intense fear within us temporarily dissipated.

“How much longer until the sun comes up?” Sunday asked.

I checked my watch, it read 2:53 a.m. “Four or five hours, at least,” I replied.

Visibly shaken and with her voice trembling a bit, Sunday looked at me with wide eyes and said “I don’t know if I can make it that long.”

“We’ll make it,” I said, trying to reassure her, but inside I was just as frightened as she was. I had never felt so trapped before in all of my life. This great expanse of the Nevada landscape had suddenly collapsed into the small space inside of the car. There was no escape, there was no way out, there was just waiting to see if the maniac was going to live up to his angered threats.

I found myself empathizing with the kids in the movie Sunday told me about who were stuck in the mall. My mind was racing with fear and panic and overwhelming helplessness.

Just then, another car approached. This time the headlights belonged to a pickup, a pickup truck that matched the size of the maniac’s.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Sunday uttered in quick succession. “Is that him?”

“I don’t know,” I said, fearing the worst.

Our hearts stopped when the lights from the truck slowed as it neared the entrance to the rest stop.

“He’s slowing down!” Sunday yelped in a panic.

The faint outline of the pickup truck illuminated by the dim light from the new moon was visible as the truck slowed to a stop. It just sat there, the engine idling, the truck motionless.

My fingers tightened around the key, my hand reset the gear shift into first, my feet readied above the gas pedal and clutch. I was ready to take off in any direction on a moments notice.

The pickup truck continued to sit there as if it were staring right at us, right through us. We felt so exposed, as if the driver was purposefully taunting us.

Sunday’s and my eyes were glued to the truck only thirty yards away, waiting, each second passing with pain and enveloped in fear. Just when the burden from the weight of our increasing fright was about to overtake both of us, the pickup began to slowly pull away and then disappeared into the distance.

The emotional toll of the evening was about to break me. I could barely stand the pressure any longer. I leaned my head back against the head rest, trying to recollect myself when Sunday, in moment of clarity and paranoia, looking passed me to where the pickup was sitting idle only moments earlier, then leaned close to my ear and whispered...

“What if he got out?”

********

Part 56, (Text, Audio) - Part 55, (Text, Audio)
Part 54, (Text, Audio) - Part 53, (Text, Audio) - Part 52, (Text, Audio)
Part 51, (Text, Audio) - Part 50, (Text, Audio) - Part 49, (Text, Audio)
Part 48, (Text, Audio) - Part 47, (Text, Audio) - Part 46, (Text, Audio)
Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)

Goin' Out To Cally – Part 55, Evil In Eureka

After struggling with sleep deprivation and its associated hallucinations causing random, erratic driving situations, my exhausted brain was tightly focused on the quickly fading gas gauge as it fast approached Empty. After forcing Sunday awake to keep me from killing us by plowing into the occasional head of cattle, she too was growing concerned.

God only knew how the delicate, volatile balance between tired friendship and uncontrollable rage would have tilted were to we have run out of gas at this point on our journey.

“Ten more miles!” Sunday exclaimed, spotting a sign showing the small town of Eureka possibly within our limited gas range. I unknowingly rung the steering wheel with my hands like a soaked wash cloth, my growing anxiousness getting the best of me.

Where, while crossing the Texas desert time seemed to adjust and slow from boredom, here, while riding on fumes as we approached the only gas station within a hundred miles, time seemed to almost stop from enveloping fear. My ears reacted in an almost bionic sense as I zoned into the variations in the hum of the engine. Was that a sputter? Did the engine slow slightly?

Every second felt like hours until we could spot, only faintly in the distance, a small collection of lights that formed the one stop light town of Eureka, Nevada.

“Almost there,” I said to myself, as we approached the quaint town, slowing the car to match the decreasing speed limit signs. The change of the vibrations of the wheels against the road and the softening hum of the slowing car engine pulled Tim and Beth from their back seat sleep, half-aware of the car’s decreasing speed.

“Where are we?” Tim asked.

“Some place called Eureka, Nevada,” I replied. “And just in time too, we’re almost out of gas.”

As we pulled into the small western town, it was after two in the morning. Almost everything was closed. We drove around the small town, but could not find an open gas station.

“Ask someone,” Beth chimed in.

“Ask someone what?” I replied, confused.

“Where the nearest gas station is,” she followed.

“I think we passed it and it’s closed,” I answered.

“Just ask someone,” Sunday interjected.

I looked at her with utter surprise. Did I hear that right? Did Sunday and Beth, now bitter enemies, agree on a course of action? And was not this the same course of action that almost had a fatal outcome in south Los Angeles?

“You want me to ask someone? At two a.m.?” I sarcastically replied.

Beth and Sunday answered in unison, “Yes!”

“Fine!” I said as I immediately found myself at the end of Eureka city limits, as the town itself was only a few blocks in size.

“The only place open was that bar back there,” I said as I turned the car around in a rest area and headed back toward downtown Eureka.

I pulled the car up to the tiny bar located in a small brick building with windows painted black. I turned the car off and sat there.

“Well?” Beth asked.

“Well what?” I replied.

“Well, go ask them,” she continued.

“You want me to go into a bar in the middle of nowhere at two a.m. asking anyone still sober enough to understand if they knew where we could get any gas?” I asked.

“Yes,” she stated with certainty.

“Then go ahead,” I said.

“You’re a wuss,” Sunday chimed in.

“Yup,” I said as many uneasy images raced through my mind, most of which consisted of me getting my ass kicked. I may be many things, wuss included, but I am also very pragmatic. I don’t do anything that has unnecessary risk. That’s why I never got drunk. It’s why I never did an illegal drug. It’s why I’m completely boring on many levels.

So, the idea of wandering into a strange bar located in the middle of an open range in a town I’ve never been in to tell the remaining inhabitants of the bar that I was from out of town and out of gas… well, that seemed fraught with disaster. Why not just tattoo “take advantage of me” on my forehead… the end result would be the same.

As the discussion on who would enter the bar grew more heated in the car, a large, intimidating man stumbled out of the bar. Sunday quickly rolled down the window, turned on the flirtation motors and said, “Excuse me, do you know where we could get some gas?”

“Gas? For your car? Well…” the man thought for a long time, “… the gas station is closed until morning. But, I have some extra gas in the back of my pickup. I’ll sell it to ya.”

We quickly discussed the option in the car and, despite my growing concern, Beth leaned forward and said “Okay.”

“My pickup is across the street at the hotel,” the drunk, big man said.

He stumbled and weaved across the street and we slowly crept behind him in the car, following him up a small hill to the parking lot of the undersized, cheap hotel.

The big man stopped by his pickup truck and examined some containers in the back. He then entered his hotel room, only to return a few moments later, making his way back to our car. He leaned in, his breath laced with alcohol, his eyes focused with penetrating invasiveness.

“Look, before I can sell ya the gas, I need to get my boss’ okay. It’s his gas, really, but he doesn’t believe me, so I need one of ya to come back to my hotel room…” he said, his eyes never leaving Sunday’s face.

Everyone’s discomfort rippled through the car as we realized just how vulnerable we were.

“No thank you!” Sunday said and rolled up the window as I put the car in first gear and raced out of the parking lot.

The man screamed at us at the top of his lungs with a deep and evil tone.

“Get back here! Get back here you bastards! I’m gonna get you! I’m gonna get my shotgun and kill all of ya!” he screamed as we screeched onto the main drag of Eureka.

We were all upset. Frightened, I looked at our gas gauge then back to my travel companions, saying “What are we going to do? We don’t have enough gas to get to the next town. We’re stuck here until morning with that maniac after us.”

Everyone in the car remained silent as our options were limited and our fear was growing with each second.

********

Part 55, (Text, Audio)
Part 54, (Text, Audio) - Part 53, (Text, Audio) - Part 52, (Text, Audio)
Part 51, (Text, Audio) - Part 50, (Text, Audio) - Part 49, (Text, Audio)
Part 48, (Text, Audio) - Part 47, (Text, Audio) - Part 46, (Text, Audio)
Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)

The Last Drop

When I was in Scotland in 1999 for work, I was staying in the town of Livingston. About an hour away was the town of Edinburgh, which has a tremendous and historic castle at its center and has beautiful, aged buildings and streets surrounding it.

After work one evening I joined a couple of coworkers to visit Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-borough). While there I was determined to experience life in a pub. As we walked the streets we eventually found ourselves in a place called The Grass Market where there was a pub called The Last Drop. The logo for the pub included a hangman's noose. After about an hour at the pub drinking a pint of local ale, I went up the old bar in the back of the small room and chatted with the burly bartender.

"I'm an American," I said, "and, when it comes to business, we're all about marketing. So, I'm wondering why your logo is a noose? I can't imagine that's an easy sell."

The bartender pointed past me, through the window, out to a large section of raised cement about fifteen yards from the pub entrance.

"You see that?" he said in his naturally thick Scottish accent.

"Yes," I replied.

"That's where they used to hang criminals. Before they were hung, they were brought in here for a drink. So, they got their last drop (referring to the ale) before they took their last drop (referring to being hung)," he chuckled.

"Really?" I said, intrigued. "How old is this place?"

"The pub's been here for over four hundred years," the bartender replied as he took my empty pint.

"Four hundred years?" I exclaimed. "That's older than my country!" I sat quietly and tried to comprehend the fact that I was sitting in a bar almost twice as old as my country. As my mind muscled it's way through the effects of the ale and tried to fathom the age of the pub, I noticed on the bar itself a small trough running from one end of the bar to the other, sloping down, wrapping around the end of the bar and continuing into an adjoining room.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Well," the bartender said as he handed me another pint, "back when no women were allowed in pubs the men would get so pissed drunk that when they had to take a piss, they didn't want to or couldn't stand up. So they would just unzip and piss right into the trough."

I laughed as I followed the now unused trough around the bar and into the adjoining room, which was now a bathroom, appropriately enough.

It was just one of the events on that trip, relaxing with friends at The Last Drop, which made the trip across the pond worthwhile.

Goin' Out To Cally – Part 54, And Then They Got Him

As the gas gauge quickly approached Empty, my heart began to quicken and my palms began to sweat. I was now struggling fiercely with intense sleep deprivation and had slowly veered from one side of the road to the other on various occasions.

I was left with no other choice.

“Sunday!” I intensely whispered.

She remained motionless, comfortably asleep.

“Sunday!” I said louder as she slowly stirred awake.

“What?” she asked, still more in dreamland than reality.

“I need to talk to you! I need you to help me stay awake!” I said urgently.

“Okay…” she fumbled. “What… what do you want to talk about?” she asked, her eyes still closed.

“I don’t care. Anything!” I exclaimed.

“Okay…” she said as she drifted back to sleep.

“Sunday! Sunday! Talk to me… tell me, what’s you favorite movie?” I asked desperately.

“What’s my favorite…” her voice drifted off.

“Movie!” I said. “What’s your favorite movie?”

“My favorite movie?” She repeated.

“Yes, what’s you favorite movie?” I asked again.

“My favorite movie? What’s my favorite movie?” she again replied.

“Yes!” I said, getting frustrated. I spoke a little louder and more slowly so she could grasp my question through the haze of exhaustion. “What-is-your-favorite-movie!”

“It’s… it’s….” she faltered.

I finally leaned over to her and with a very clear voice said “Sunday, if you don’t talk to me right now we’re going to die!”

Sunday bolted up. “What?” she asked, suddenly aware. “My favorite movie? What’s my favorite movie?” she asked quickly. “I… I don’t know.”

I rolled my eyes and tried another question. “Okay, then what was the last movie you’ve seen?”

“The last movie… oh! I don't remember the title, but iIt was about those kids who get stuck in the mall,” she responded.

“Can you elaborate?” I prodded.

“Yeah, it’s about these four kids who skip school and they do to hang out in the mall. You know, one’s the jock and he’s with his girlfriend and then there’s the jock’s friend and the girlfriend’s nerdy brother.”

“I haven’t seen that one. What happens?” I asked.

“Well, they sneak into the back halls of the mall, fooling around, spying on girls, shoplifting and stuff when, before they know it, they find themselves locked into the mall overnight,” she explained.

“That’d be cool.” I said.

“Noooo!” she said cautiously, “See there’s this guy, this freak who’s stuck in the mall with them. And they're trapped. They can't get out! They have nowhere to go! And this maniac, he follows them and hunts them and scares them and tries to attack them and…”

Her words hung in the air like a feather floating on unseen winds.

“And?” I pleaded.

She shrugged and said simply, “And then they got him.”

“And then they got him? That’s it?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah,” she stated. “Then they got him.”

I laughed to myself, partly because of Sunday’s retelling, but also because I was slap happy with exhaustion.

"Okay," I chuckled. "And then they got him."

I looked to the road and swerved sharply in a panic.

“Why’d you do that!” Sunday yelled.

“You didn’t see… something… in the road?” I stumbled as I tried to visualize what I had just seen... or thought I saw.

“No. There wasn’t anything in the road,” Sunday said with concern.

“Boy, I hope we reach the next town soon!” I said.

As I looked down at the gas tank, it had better be really soon or else we’d find ourselves stranded in the dark of night in the middle of Nevada.

********

Part 54, (Text, Audio) - Part 53, (Text, Audio) - Part 52, (Text, Audio)
Part 51, (Text, Audio) - Part 50, (Text, Audio) - Part 49, (Text, Audio)
Part 48, (Text, Audio) - Part 47, (Text, Audio) - Part 46, (Text, Audio)
Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)

Proof (2005)

Proof is a film about Catherine, the daughter of a brilliant mathematician, who recounts the struggle of taking care of her father and his mental deterioration over the last few years of his life. Catherine, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, also an excellent mathematician in her own right, fights the emotional turmoil of seeing her father's demise and fearing that she will someday follow his path. Her father, played by Anthony Hopkins, is seen in the film through flashback and dreams.

Catherine has had to sacrifice a lot to keep her father from spending his final time in a mental facility. She's had to drop out of school and take care of him as his once brilliant mind slips into instability. She's become isolated and fearful and depressed. After his death, one of her father's teacher's aides, Hal, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, asks to go through her father's numerous writings during the last years of his life to see if, among the incoherent ramblings, are any more mathematical gems to be found and published. During his investigation he comes across one notebook with a new mathematical proof that is groundbreaking. Is it the father's or is it Catherine's?

Proof, written by David Auburn, is based on his play. I was fortunate to see a local production of Proof at our local American Stage playhouse, with my friend and actor Brian Shea playing the role of Hal. The play was very well done and extremely effective. Shea, who's appeared in my feature The Box and my short film The Business Trip, was wonderful as the excited, nerdy and charming Hal.

The film, directed by John Madden, who previously teamed up with Paltrow for the excellent film Shakespeare in Love, tries his best at expanding the play's claustrophobic surroundings so the film will seem bigger, but the film still struggles from the inherent problem of converting a play to film... it's still too wordy.

However, for those of you who have not seen the play, the film will be enjoyable. The performances are solid and the story interesting. It's a small film, but still has some punch.

Goin' Out To Cally – Part 53, They Hit Horses, Don’t They?

The tires screeched loudly, jolting everyone from their sleep and throwing them forward as the car shuddered to a stop.

“What’s wrong!” Beth exclaimed. She looked over my shoulder from the backseat to spot a group of wild horses standing in the middle of the highway.

“Do you guys see that?” I asked cautiously.

“Horses?” Sunday replied.

“Yup,” I followed.

“Uh-huh,” Tim confirmed.

“Good!” I sighed with relief.

After so many hours on the road I thought I was seeing things. I looked passed the horses to see another Highway 50 sign.

Sunday squinted and leaned forward. “Does that say The Loneliest Road in America?” she asked.

“Loneliest or Loveliest?” I interjected.

Tim looked over and spied the sign. “Nope, that’s Loneliest.”

“Loneliest? Well, then how are we on gas?” Beth asked.

“We have about a quarter of a tank left,” I answered.

“We’d better stop at the next town and fill up,” she replied as she and Tim leaned back and tried to get back to sleep.

By the time the horses eventually cleared so that we could pass even Sunday was back to sleep. I swigged down the remaining caffeine remnants from my warm can of cola and continued down the road.

A few miles later I saw another sign labeled “Open Range.”

So that’s why the horses were in the road. That explains it… we were driving through an open range with no fences. That also explains why this is the Loneliest Road in America. If it were more popular, they’d have to put up fences to protect the animals… and the sleepy drivers.

That means I’d have to be more careful. Who knows what other animals would end up appearing on the road. Having learned how to drive in Florida the most I had ever had to avoid was road kill, not live, breathing, large animals. I knew I had to remain alert.

As the hum of the car reached its normal level, however, and the white lines of the road continued to hypnotically pass in front of the headlights, my eyes began to close uncontrollably. I slapped myself in the face and changed my seating position to the most uncomfortable place I could find as to try and overcome my sleep deprivation.

And I was growing nervous. As the tank crept slowly toward E for Empty I realized it had been miles without any sign what-so-ever. No Highway 50 sign, no Open Range sign, no Next City in So Many Miles sign… no sign of life… no nothing.

Could we really end up stranded in the middle of The Loneliest Road in America without any gas and no idea of the distance to the nearest town?

It would turn out that if things didn’t change in a hurry that would be the least of our problems.

********

Part 53, (Text, Audio) - Part 52, (Text, Audio)
Part 51, (Text, Audio) - Part 50, (Text, Audio) - Part 49, (Text, Audio)
Part 48, (Text, Audio) - Part 47, (Text, Audio) - Part 46, (Text, Audio)
Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)