Ah, the carefree life of the bachelor...

[sinanju]

So yesterday my office had an all-day off-site retreat for the whole staff.  (This would be the part where I roll my eyes.)  It wasn't awful, but it wasn't terribly useful either in my not-so-humble opinion.  On the other hand, following the retreat we had a barbeque.  Attendance was mandatory.  ("Nothing builds rapport like a mandatory social event," as one of my cow-orkers said to me when we were commiserating about the command performance.)

Not that the BBQ was awful.  Yeah, it was a hot day, but the food was good.  It's just...I'm an introvert.  Being social isn't fun, it's work.  My lovely wife and I and some friends were discussing that very topic last weekend and I mentioned that I've been with my current employer for over a decade, yet I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I've had lunch with a coworker.  That's not my thing.  I like to spend my lunchtime reading or otherwise doing something solitary which requires no interaction with other people.  I have occasionally been taken out to lunch for one reason or another, and while it's generally intended as a celebration or a treat, most often I view it as a chore.  I can't just sit and eat and read (or daydream or plot a story or an adventure for a game); I have to pay attention and hold up my end of the conversation.  I enjoy hanging out with friends at a time and place of my choosing; but my lunch hour--or after work--is not that time.  And being told that I must attend really destroys any possibility that I'm going to start out in a good mental place.

But it's behind me now.  Moving on.

I'm living the carefree bachelor lifestyle this evening.  My lovely and talented wife is off cavorting with friends and won't be back until sometime tomorrow afternoon.  I have the house to myself, which of course means only one thing:  donuts and whores!  Well, not really.  But that's what I always tell my lovely wife I'll be up to in her absence.*

The reality is that left work and went to see Fantastic Four (about which more later).  Then I came home netsurfed a while, then watched Stargate: SG-1 and then Stargate: Atlantis.  I ate dinner (tuna salad on crackers--do I know how to live, or what?).  I still have Battlestar Galactica on the Tivo, as well as seven more episodes of Dead Like Me on DVD ready to go whenever I'm in the mood.  I've been enjoying the second season set I bought a week or two ago, and snippy has enjoyed what she's seen of it.  I'm a little surprised by that, but pleased too.  It's nice when we share an interest in something.  The only other show we both look forward to at the moment is The Closer.  (There are others we also both enjoy, but they're all in reruns at the moment so don't count.)  snippy has a little difficulty suspending her disbelief for Dead Like Me, but I can't blame her; the logistics of the set-up really don't hold up to analysis.  But I enjoy the characters and the situations enough that I'm willing to cling to my WSOD and accept it for what it is.

About Fantastic Four.  I'd been warned off it by dtaylor and her husband, but I'd also heard reviews from various folks (including theferrett) that suggested that I'd like it despite its flaws.  And it turns out that I was right.  Yes, the movie was flawed.  Reed Richards was pretty bland and boring.  I remember Jessica Alba as being vastly hotter in Sin City; and she wasn't plausible as either a genetic scientist** or Johnny's older sister.  Julian McMahan was his usual handsome, slightly sinister self (Look--it's Demon Boyfriend Guy from  Charmed!).  None of the plot events surprised me.  Some of the special effects weren't very special.

And yet.  I enjoyed the movie.  I particularly liked the guy playing Johnny.  Both the writing and his performance were right on the money for my image of Johnny Storm.  Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/Thing was excellent as well.  I'd have been happy to see more of either, but especially of Johnny.  I repeat, nothing of the plot surprised me--I've seen it all before, often in the pages of Fantastic Four.  But watching this film was a lot like watching a Bond film.  You know what you're going to get; you're not there for the surprises, you're there to see it done (one hopes) reasonably well and with a few nifty wrinkles, like watching a familiar play for the umpteenth time.

So, yeah, I enjoyed the movie.  I'd watch it again.

*There's a Kids in the Hall sketch wherein the line is heard, "We'll be up to our knees in donuts and whores!" and it was just too amusing an image not to make it my own.  My lovely and talented wife indulges me.

**But an Oscar-winning performance compared to Denise Richards in that Bond film....

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

We are looking forward to seeing you and your lovely wife tomorrow night. Should we bring the donuts, or the whores?

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

I'd say that either would be fine, but probably donuts would be safer.

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

OMG donuts and whores! I had the pear dream again...

I thought of you when watching S1 Dead Like Me. It is pretty spiff.

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

I had to go look at your LJ user info to figure out that it was you. I was going to ask why the change, but having looked around, I see that you answered it already. Carry on.

Yeah, I like Dead Like Me a lot.

[aquamarcia.livejournal.com]

If you haven't read this article (http://www.learningplaceonline.com/relationships/friends/caring-introvert.htm) about introversion, do so. It won't tell you anything you don't already know, but it's nice to know someone who's in print knows it too.

My opinion of Fantastic Four echoes yours almost perfectly, though I may have liked Reed more than you did, mainly 'cause I dig Ioan Gruffudd.