Sigh. Another loss....

Hello Stephen,

I hope your weekend is going better than mine is so far...yesterday, we got a call from the son of Florence's best friend Gladys....apparently Gladys passed away. We were planning to go visit Gladys in October for her 90th birthday, but she just couldn't make it that far I guess.  Florence had been best friends with her since the age of 9, so you can imagine the horrendous bipolar mess we had to deal with all day yesterday...she was grieving, but couldn't quite connect why she was so upset, which made her angry about everything and just having a very bad time of it.  I felt badly for her, it broke my heart to know that she had just complained the night before about all of her family being gone, and "at least she still had some friends who were still alive..." and then she finds out right before HER 90th birthday that her best friend is gone.  But, even though I felt awful for her, at the same time, I had to get the hell away from her.  She was driving me bonkers.

So Pete and I took off later in the evening, to go to the downtown casino...I like going there once in awhile, but I never win much...I play the penny slots, that's about it.  It's just a nice diversion, something to do.  (They've got a GREAT buffet dinner too).  Well, unfortunately, everybody and their butt-fuggin' brother who lives in or near Pittsburgh decided to come out and go to the Heinz Stadium (right next to it), for the ribs festival and some "kick off football season" party....I swear to Allah above, Pittsburgh people find ANY REASON to have a party---and it's always about sports.  So, all the roads around it were closed off, police were directing traffic, everything was jammed, it was a total zoo.  So, we said, "SCREW IT," and turned around.  Pete suggested we drive about 45 minutes away to a movie theater, but when we finally got there, the damned thing had been torn down!!  It was just a pile of rubble!! There was a construction machine sitting there, in a pile of rubble. Unbelievable.

At this point, we were both annoyed, so I said, "Let's just go buy some groceries and go home, since married people who don't like sports apparently aren't ALLOWED to go have fun anywhere in this stupid town," But, he decided to drive to an ice cream place, (ice cream calms my savage beast within), and then he mentioned there might be a drive-in movie place nearby. Luckily, we found it, and though we missed the first movie (Spy Kids, wow, yeah, big loss), YES, we did go to a drive-in movie last night, to see the new Planet of the Apes movie....which was filmed in San Francisco, right on the bridge mostly....I'm sure THAT was fun for everybody who lived there....but, it was a pretty good movie though.  I've always loved those movies!!  And I have always loved going to the drive-in movie theater!

When I was a kid, (and in my hometown, there is still a 4 screen drive-in movie theater in business), we would put on our pajamas with the feet in them, pop a brown paper bag full of popcorn, grab our pillow and our blanket, and head to the drive-in. Then, we would play at the playground in front of the screen for awhile, until it grew dark enough for the movie to start.  Once the movie began, we'd be engaged in it for, oh, about a half hour or so, and then ZONK, we'd be out like a light. To this day the only movie I remember vaguely seeing as a kid there was part of JAWS...but it was too scary. I don't remember a single title of any other movie that I was able to stay awake for there!

Anyway, so we got some popcorn, and watched the movie, and it was pretty good.  So the night was not a total loss, thankfully.

Today Pete is at a play rehearsal, so I'm going shopping. Yay!! (I just like to look, I don't actually BUY much of anything...this is just a habit from my days of being poor...window shopping, you can look, but don't touch, and do NOT spend your grocery money on buying it either, young lady)!!  So, I'm taking my mom, and we're off to Cranberry for the day....it's about a half hour north of here, and it's a nice shopping area.  I worked there when I first moved out here from DC, so it's a place I am familiar with.

I have photos for you...but I'll add them later.

Go out and have a fun day today, Stephen, you deserve it. Wish I could go with ya!!

Love, Rebecca