I spent a good deal of my weekend working on applications for graduate school and employment, but still found time to see a lot of my friends and family.
I spent Friday afternoon helping SMA and his mother, BCA, clean his home in Knoxville as it was his first day back as a full-time Knoxville resident. Our job was simple - we were too transport one truckload of discarded furniture to a Goodwill (pictured), take a mattress and its accessories to the dump, and sell some unwanted CDs/DVDs. I arrived at 11 am. If you think these chores did not take the entire day, then you do not know us.
The Goodwill donation truck had moved, so we went to a Goodwill in Bearden as SMA has an aversion to the closer one in Farragut. Despite choosing an unorthodox location, this went off without a hitch. Then the real tangents began.
We decided we were hungry, so we ate at the Colonel’s Deli (located at 4909 Newcom Avenue). Though I have never discussed it on the blog, it is a favorite of both SMA and myself. I ate my usual roast beef on wheat with three deviled eggs. He also stuck to his usual of a turkey and a sweet roll.
The Deli has Asian food as it is owned by two delightful immigrants. They have owned the place for as long as I can remember and always remember my order and ask about my father. (His old office building was close and he often brought home food.) It is one of those great hole-in-the-wall establishments. Nothing in the restaurant has changed since I was a child, save for the fruit that adorns the ceiling. One of the many businesses that has gone under next door sold them these decorative fruits a few years ago. They are hideous but kind of fit the place's vibe.
Another note from our travels is that the previous location of McKay Used Books & CDs (at 4931 Kingston Pike) has been leveled.
We then brought BCA a take out order back to the house, where she had been working all along. We retrieved the mattresses and lugged them in the back of her pickup truck and were off to the dump. This was the dumpiest dump I have ever seen. It is also where Michael Gerald King, 42, was found shot in the head on January, 9, 1995. It is a great location.
This should have been easy, but it became far more complex when a dump truck pulled in behind us. The driver kept honking at us, indicating we were placing our junk in the wrong part of the dump. He made us walk through a veritable swamp and hoist the mattress and items over a barricade taller than both of us (not that we are Manute Bol, but it was difficult.) I am not sure why we listened to him, other than the many tons of steel he was driving. Dump truck drivers are not usually high on our list of authority figures. I guess this was his domain though.
Amazingly, some items BCA had given to charity the week before were in the dump. Hmmm...
We then made our way from West Knoxville to South Knoxville where SMA was to sell many of his old CDs and DVDs at the Disc Exchange. They are the store that pays the most in Knoxville for used items, but are far more selective than any other similar business.
SMA was very embarrassed as one of the CDs he was returning was a Creed album. This meant that he had to acknowledge to the music connoisseurs who work there that at one time, he listened to it. Of all of the things he has done in his life, I am not certain that this is the fact he is most ashamed of.
We arrived and the employee who would be inspecting SMA’s mass of goods, told us that it would awhile. (He was not kidding.) So we decided to hit up two other South Knoxville haunts since we are seldom in the area. For us, the Disc Exchange represents the outer limits of civilization, but we decided to brave our way up the highway. Despite its sparseness, there is always traffic going that way. Where are they going?
We then drove up the street to another "exchange", the Comics Exchange (3711 Chapman Highway) as SMA was in search of some Lost action figures. Though they did not have the Lost merchandise, they did have a life-sized Darth Maul and a flier detailing when the next comic book blockbuster movies would be released.
We then ventured further south to a treasure trove known to the world as Big Lots. Though this location had more good merchandise than any we had been to, we did not buy anything. SMA did sing Ambrosia’s 1980 hit “Biggest Part of Me” which was playing over the p.a. system. It is a catchy little ditty and at least it was not a Creed song.
We then returned to the Disc Exchange where they were not even close to completing our order and seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace. At one point, a customer needed to use the restroom and it was the employee who was filling our order that escorted her, as opposed to the numerous other people on duty. We are pretty sure the Creed CD made them prejudiced against us. SMA did not blame them.
Seeing that we had a long period of time, I went next door to the Book Eddy. They have some of the best selection of Biblical commentaries, but their prices are outrageous for a used store. I bought nothing.
When I returned, they had completed only half of our order! (It was not all that big.) We stayed there so long that we exhausted our shopping capacity which says a lot. The time was well spent. I noticed that an Oompa-Loompa action figure from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory greatly resembled diminutive television star Gary Coleman. We also made note of a 1989 movie called Countdown to War in which Ian McKellen plays Adolf Hitler. We have longed planned to have a Hitler movie festival. Is that weird?
It was worth the wait as SMA made a killing - $187 in store credit. (Get it, 1-8-7?) Oh, they did not take the Creed CD.
In other Disc Exchange news, the local band 10 Years will be performing a free live concert in the store on Tuesday, May 13. My old friend SLOW (her real monogram, not an insult) dated guitarist Ryan "Tater" Johnson for sometime.
We contemplated selling the unapproved items at McKays, but remembered that back at the house, BCA was still cleaning. We had her truck so she was not going anywhere.
We pulled into SMA's driveway at 4:47 pm. He was pleased with the day's accomplishments - “All in all it’s been a good day for bartering and commerce.” He debated with himself what other methods of discarding unwanted goods could be done and burning was the only thing we had not done. Thanfully, I had no time for that. This is your typical day with SMA.
On Friday night, KL, WAM, KLTW (highly uncomfortable due to a migraine), MPW, RAW,and I went to see Iron Man while KJW was kept by her "Nana" in Seymour.
My friends and I met at my house. Unfortunately, a hail storm knocked the power out. I realize this picture is hard to decipher (it was very late), but we actually had hail accumulate on the ground. The storm was so severe that the restaurant I ate at the next day still had it's credit card system down.
WAM, always prompt, was at the house the longest. If you have ever been around him, you know that he always seems to be drinking an obscure highly caffeinated beverage. On this night, he was sampling Bawls Guarana. He had just bought a case (24) of the excessively caffeinated root beer, marketed as "geek beer." I did not have to worry about whether he had enough energy for the late film.
We went to the 10:30 pm showing at the Regal Riviera 8 downtown. Though the theater has been open since August 31st, none of us had ever attended. It is a very nice theater and on this night it was all but empty as the storms kept most people home. This is proff that most people are smarter than us.
We all enjoyed the film. As much as I liked it, I must confess that my favorite part of the experience was the trailer for the Batman Dark Knight movie which arrives on July 18. My review of Iron Man is posted under "A Veiled Tell: Nil Soli."
We had all been advised to stay after the credits for an additional scene. At nearly 1 o'clock in the morning we faced The Clash's timless dilemma - "Should I stay or should I go?" We stayed. Afterwards, only WAM agreed it was worth it. If you wish to know the additional scene, it is detailed in the review under the "Cast" heading.
I spent my Sunday afternoon in Newport with my father's family for Mother's Day. This marks the second consecutive Mother's Day that I did not see my mother. She, not I, has been out of town both years. This year she is in the Boston area. Without my mother in town, the extended family is the next best thing. This also marked the first of a five Sunday strecth that will have me in Newport three times (with sermons on May 26 and June 8).
We met at 12:30 for lunch at Lois' Country Kitchen in Newport. Well, most of us did. My uncle JHV and his crew were last as baby WCV overselpt. He (JHV, not the infant) picked up the tab for the group which more than made up for his tardiness. Thanks, JHV.
Lois' is a family-owned restaurant that offers country cooking. Most patrons eat from a buffet. My grandparents eat there religiously. I ate a mass quantities of turkey and dressing. The dressing was good, though my aunt MCVD's is far superior. Though I enjoyed the food, I was especially pleased that we sat in chairs adorned with leopard prints. I felt so classy.
We had a group of fourteen. In addition to the family. Edna Payne (ELP) and her daughter Susie (SPM) joined us. ELP is a recent widow who eats with my grandparents each Sunday. Her daughter lives in Michigan (the base of the thumb for Michigan experts) but is staying with her mother for a month. Said thought that I appeared to be just out of high school. I liked her.
We were one short of our expected head count as my cousin's friend Joey Scarpino (JS, aka "Buttafuoco") could not attend. I will be making a presentation to my cousin on the benefits of dating him soon. I gave her the sneak preview. Among his other good traits (like caring for my cousin and her son) is the fact that her father eerily resembles Gene Simmons. That would be great for the Gene pool. Get it?
Most of our crew came bearing gifts for my grandmother. I came with a greeting card and gift certificate to the Beauty Box from my parents and I. My aunt MCDV brought her two pairs of red shoes. My aunt LAMV brought her a piece of Jeremiah Jewelry. (I will not even pretend that the husbands had anything to do with the gifts.) Her racking up almost made me wish I had kids. Almost. Since all of her gifts had to do with personal appearance, I made sure to assure my grandmother that she looked good just the way she was. Am I a great grandson or what? Actually, technically speaking, CWV is her only great grandson.
Amazingly, much of the family news revolved around my typically taciturn grandfather, WCV (Jr., yes another one). My grandmother and I had a discussion about his eyes inexplicably changing to bright blue (they had once been hazel). He also received his first speeding ticket EVER on the way back from a recent Knoxville hospital visit. The speed limit inexplicably drops to 55 MPH just outside of town and he was pulled over without realizing the change. In fact, he was driving slower than most around him but his slower veolicty made him easier pray for the police. There are few things that I am better than my grandfather at, but accruing speeding tickets is one of them.
My grandfather also wrote a letter to my cousin from her infant son. The premise of the letter was that CWV had asked him to transcribe the letter as he is illiterate (hey, he’s only one.) This is interesting on several levels. First, I have never seen my grandfather’s handwriting as my grandmother handles all of our correspondence. Second, I am still trying to determine whether I find this sweet or creepy. I am leaning towards both.
It was a good day. The place was filled with senior citizens who moved slower than a Disc Exchange employee scanning a Creed CD, but the food was worth the wait. CWV made a new friend at a nearby table. Perhaps most impressive was the fact that my uncle ECD stayed awake throughout the entire event. We can call this our Mother's Day Miracle. I love you, ECD!
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