In Eckleburg's Eyes - 3/25/2009, Part 3

News & Notes from Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

-I spent Tuesday night with my aunt LAMV, uncle JHV, and cousins JEV and LAV. When I first arrived at the house only JEV was there. After discussing his college course work, JEV shared his latest film find with me: For Y'ur Height Only. The Filipino movie from 1980 is a spoof of the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only released in the same year. Hence the tagline “Bigger than Goldfinger's Finger - Bigger Than Thunderball's (. . . . . . .)”

-The film stars Weng Weng as Agent 00, who is sent to stop drug trade and its mysterious warlord Mr. Giant. Mr. Giant is a dwarf, while Agent 00 is a midget. At 2'9", Weng Weng is known as the shortest man to ever be a lead in an a martial arts film. Mondo Macabre released the movie on DVD in a two-pack with Challenge of the Tiger and my cousin naturally jumped at the chance to own it. We watched the film until the rest of the family arrived.

-The family returned from Blount Memorial Hospital where family friend Wisam was celebrating the birth of his child. LAV’s son Weston (CWV) was briefly with us. CWV looks eerily like my cousin JEV when he was the same age, just with darker hair. Sorry for the grainy photo. It was dark in the room. It does look like the same photo quality of me at the same age because cameras were in their infancy then.

-Everyone is doing fairly well. JHV is preparing for a trip overseas on March 31st. LAV has about 45 hours left before she graduates but has yet to select a major which could add to her time at UT. She is still likely to graduate faster than I did. That is not an accomplishment.

-Their cat, Inga, is also well, though she is annoying the family by doing a lengthy ritual every morning. We suspect that even Vinson cats are OCD...

-We also discussed mutual spiritual interests. When the topics of generational bonding, soul ties, etc. emerged my aunt and uncle introduced me to Sylvia Gunter and gave me a free booklet. I will definitely check her out (in a I will read her material way not a "hey good lookin'" way).

-It was good to see the family. I hope to be back on April 5th as JEV plans on watching three exploitation films for his birthday. I suspect that I will just be able to handle one of them.

-I had about a half hour before I was to meet friends at Applebees so I stopped by RAW’s to visit him and KJW. I think that is called using time wisely. KJW was negotiating to watch cartoons. The issue was not whether or nor she could watch but where. She lobbied, “I want to watch on the big tv.” In her argument she referred to the television as hers. This was a mistake. RAW quickly corrected her, “Who’s tv is it?” KJW replied, “Keira’s tv.” This went on for minutes.

-My favorite line of the night was a classic non sequitur from KJW: “I think Chan’s gonna paint me a picture.” Really?

-After visiting at RAW’s, I joined GAB, JTH, and JBT at Applebees. We watched Penn State eliminate Florida 71-62 from the NIT. I also learned that JBT bought into the Applebees NCAA tournament pool. After the first weekend, JBT is in the top five of a very large pool with 52 points after picking fifteen of the Sweet 16 correctly. The leader has 55 points. The winner receives 75% of the pool while second place gets the remaining 25%. Our beloved server AFH is actually one of the few ahead of JBT.

-Caroline, another server, came and sat at our table briefly. (That is a common occurrence.) After noticing JBT ordered something new, she referred to me as “Predictable Patty”. I am going to take this as a term of endearment.

-Finally, on Tuesday I submitted my application to work at the Central Baptist Church of Bearden. Only at my church does one submit the application after getting the job.