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Handsome Devil - "Love and Kisses from the Underground" (2001 - RCA records) pop-punk from Orange County, Ca.



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Friday, Mar. 07, 2003 - 10:12 p.m.

�The Van�....plus- When do we reach retirement age?�..

First off- thanks to all for explaining what a �reflective pronoun� is, and why my entry yesterday freaked out my Microsoft Word program.

I think I have it- plural nouns have to have plural pronouns. Singular nouns need singular pronouns.

Right?

In other words�my mistake was I used the typed the following: �Every nation involved in the Security Council debate has their own country�s interest at stake.�

The problem?

�Nation is singular. �Their own� (hey, the �reflexive pronoun� box popped up again!) screws the sentence up. If I had typed �their�, it would have been fine. But by adding �own�, I made it plural.

Right?

Thanks again, but I think I will still murder the English language, no matter how much Word� and y�all try to help me�..


�The Van�?

What is that , right?

Well, in my vision of the world, �The Van� starts out as a book that I read back in 1993. This book is the third part of author Roddy Doyle series that Doyle named the �Barrytown Trilogy�.

You might have seen the movie �The Commitments�, about a group of unemployed Irish youth who decide to form an American rhythm and blues band. That movie was an award winner, and the soundtrack from it made the Billboard top twenty album chart..

When I picked up the book at the Mohall public library, I thought it was just another tale about the working class in Ireland. What I didn�t know was that Doyle had written this novel in true Irish slang. Conversations were totally written like one of my entries. Sloppy, fully of cursing and local color, and without ANY PUNCTUATION MARKS OR PROPPER GRAMMAR!

I think it took me twice as long as usual to digest his writing. When I was done, I realize how much I enjoyed his tale about a pair of unemployed blokes who decide to by a van and sell chips and spicy burgers out of it. The story includes the 1990 World Cup soccer tourney (Ireland makes it to the semis, losing to Denmark (I think- soccer isn�t my bag, after all), punk rockers trashing their van, pasty-skinned beach comers, too many pints of Guinness Stout consumed, and a single deep-fried diaper (nappy, in Irish slang).

Hard to explain, but a great tale none the less.

The book was made into a movie back in 1996. It didn�t receive major release, even thought the critics loved it. Needless to say, it didn�t make it to Mohall.

It never made any of the big movie channels, either. The local video stores never stocked a copy of the video.

I remember it being listed as a feature on the Independent Film Channel (IFC), but I could never remember to set the VCR up to record it.

That was around 1999.

I had forgot about this movie until last Sunday morning. Lease and I were enjoying a lazy, slow wake-up then, and she was clicking thru the various pay channels, looking for something to watch. When she landed on IFC, I noticed that The Van was about to start.

In like, 2 minutes!

I run down the stairs, and tossed a tape into the vcr.

Tonight, we watched it.

Great movie. Just as enjoyable as the book. Lease said she enjoyed it, too.

It takes you about 10 minutes to adapt to the Irish brogue.

After that? Sit back, and enjoy the great story�.


Lease is a little under the weather.

Gee, working 60+ hours a week wouldn�t be the blame for that, would it?

Another of her coworkers quit today. That makes 5 in the past 6 months, with NONE of them being replaced.

Is it any wonder that she is reaching the burned-out state? Can you understand why her coworkers are dropping like flies around her?

I told her to put in her 2-weeks notice today. If the job is dragging her down this much, no amount of money is worth it.

She won�t do it. Codeman will be entering college this fall.

Enough said.

I still wish she would look for something else. We both have to work until he leaves the nest.

When he finally flies the coop?

She can quit being yelled at by Cableco customers as soon as Codeman graduates. Hopefully that will be only 4 years form now. No reason why she can�t find something she actually LIKES to do at that time.

I have to work until I have 32 years in at the NDDOT. I can retire at full pension at that time. I will be all of 54 years old. Lease won�t have to work any more at that time. The house should be paid off, and monthly bills can be paid with my pension pretty easily at that time.

Think there might be a garden center out there that would hire me as a part-time, old-timer?

Antique - Futuristic


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