Highs and lows, Oct. 3rd edition

Highs:

My family member becoming famous for his feat. It's still surreal and amazing, all at the same time, especially when I hear him on NPR. He is such an inspiration and a huge act to follow. I can only hope that one day I achieve so much notoriety from my hard-earned accomplishments.

Also this week, somehow, blissfully, I came to work on Monday and my computer refused to let me log on to our office network. It just did not recognize me after numerous failed log-in attempts (if this isn't a sign from someone upstairs that I don't belong there then I don't know what is). Normally these kind of computer issues would be an annoyance, but with tech support working all day on the problem, I couldn't do anything but surf the net on my personal smart phone, happily reading Mad Men recaps. This was completely fine with me, though I had to put on a face when my boss would mutter, "they still haven't fixed your computer yet?! It's been five hours now!" To which I'd retort, "Yeah!" and then, feigning frustration, "Geez...I wonder what's taking them so long so long..." (as I'd peruse $3,500 Ferragamo coats and television recaps from my beloved TV critic Alan Sepinwall on my phone). 

I was overjoyed; it was like this for the entire day. And there was really nothing I could do. All my work revolves around things being done on a computer, and there were no other available computers for me to jump on to temporarily, so my bosses were out of luck. Then, in what I assume was a stroke of good luck, I came in the following morning and my computer STILL wasn't working! Heaven!!! I was silently ecstatic in my office chair, happy to continue shopping online using my phone, but a couple hours later tech support finally managed to fix the problem (long, drawn-out sigh from me) and my mini-vaca was officially dunzo. 

I just wish that whatever happened could be replicated. Wouldn't that be fabulous? To figure out how to give my work comp a virus so this happens on a weekly basis? Though then I suppose my "weekly highs" here on this blog would be redundant (my high consistently being "work comp was on the fritz again!"). Oh, Desperation: you entice me so.

Lows:

Well, my husband's grandfather accidentally shooting himself was no walk in the park. We have yet to hear about what services are going to be held. 

Also, on Saturday night my husband and I watched Splendor in the Grass. You know, the classic with Warren Beatty (swoon) and Natalie Wood playing Bud and Deannie, two high school lovers in rural Kansas just before the stock market crash of the late-'20s. Splendor in the Grass has always been one of my favorite films (Woods' performance in it was just breathtaking, not to mention it was Beatty's first feature film), but after the credits rolled my husband didn't seem that impressed. 

"That was interesting," he said, as though he'd just watched a sub-par documentary on the mating habits of houseflies in rural Oklahoma. 

"What do you mean?" I asked, piqued by his unenthusiasm.

"I don't know...the characters and writing just seemed...flat. It was like it was trying to be Gone with the Wind meets Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

I dramatically scoffed at this off-handed remark, though I also love both those films. 

"How can you say that?" I asked. "The characters were so rich and the writing? Right, the writing was flat. That's why Splendor in the Grass only won an Academy Award for best screenplay that year."

To which he had no response. Hopefully that remark put him in his place. Either that or he wasn't even listening as he padded away down the hall to brush his teeth for bed. Sigh.

Song of the week: 

"Please Don't Go" - KC and the Sunshine Band. (On Saturday my husband pleaded with me to "stop listening to that song on repeat." My response? "Never.")