We’re off causing trouble at blogger’s breakfast.

– Debbie was late so poor Dawn was too.
– Dawn brought eggs.
– I’m hung over and expecting bacon.
– Joy’s admiring Debbie’s new camera.
– We miss Drew and everyone says “hi”.

My former office mate D has accepted a new position today and will soon be moving on to bigger and better things. It’s still at the college so she doesn’t have to worry about having to learn her way around a new office. I’m very excited for her as I know she’ll do awesome in the new job.

Two of my former co-workers ended up resigning a few days before the layoff date. The rest have less than two weeks to go before their time in their current positions ends. I hope they all find something soon.

I head into my first day at work as a gov’t employee on Monday and am really looking forward to it. The contact I’ve had with my new boss and dept HR is well beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my working life before. It really makes a person feel wanted and appreciated. It’s certainly motivating and making my desire to excel in the new job even stronger.

Things are slowly starting to look up around here.

There’s a lot of things I love about my neighbourhood. My house. My awesome neighbours. Our summer gatherings. The closeness to the LRT, Collesium and Northlands.

Of course, that closeness can also be a major drawback. As if alley parking weren’t annoying enough, people are frequently parking in our driveway and blocking our garage doors whenever there’s a concert, hockey game, or major event (i.e. Capital Ex).

We often offer our parking spots to friends attending events because parking can be hard to find and expensive. Our friends, however, all know the rules. They contact us before they park so we know when they’re coming and so we can move one of our vehicles out onto the street to park in case we want to go somewhere.

To park on the street in my neighbourhood you need a parking pass from the city. It’s only available to residents and we have one for both our vehicles. Aside from when the new garage was being built and when the alley was torn up for water main/sewer repairs a few years back, we dont normally park on the street. Why would we when we have parking at the back of the house in a nice new garage?

Tonight I opened the garage door to go to the grocery store and discovered two vehicles parked across the garage door blocking me in. Neither of the vehicles was familiar to me. None of our friends had contacted me about parking tonight. So, apparently I have two strangers parked in front of my garage making it impossible for me to drive out.

Good thing for me nothing I wanted tonight can’t wait until tomorrow. Good thing for the ignorant morons parking at my house that I’m not Drew. He has no qualms about towing stranger’s vehicles as soon as he finds them parked in our spots – especially if they’ve blocked our garage!

To sum up today’s ranting & raving:
1) Friends always ensure we know what their vehicle looks like and let us know they’re planning on using our parking spots.

2) I’m nicer than Drew when it comes to strangers parking in front of my garage. I won’t have you towed unless I NEED to leave the house.

3) Drew isn’t as nice. He tows. And doesn’t care who or what you think you are. Or even if you can afford to get your vehicle out of impound after being towed. None of that is our problem. We’re not the ignoramus who chose to block off a resident’s garage to save a few $$ parking.

Ignorant parking strangers: consider yourself on notice. I may not always be so nice.

*Addendum: If you get drunk and don’t use Keys Please to get you and your vehicle home it will be towed in the morning so we can get to work. While we congradulate you or your decision not to drive after drinking, we won’t be late to work and Drew isn’t going AWOL just so you can come pick up your vehicle hours (or days) later. My suggestion? Always travel with a designated driver.

Went to the tailor’s today (finally) and discovered that sometime over the past few months they’d closed up shop. Not good. Not good at all.

Now I have to search the Edm yellow pages – oh, who am I kidding, I’ll just use Google – to find a new tailor.

Finding a good tailor is not easy. Especially if you want a suit jacket adjusted. Many corner tailor shops can hemm pants, but not everyone can deal with modifying cuffs and darts in lined jackets.

So, if any of my readers in #yeg know a great tailor, I’m accepting recommendations in my comments. Please.

Drew and I saw Saving Private Ryan (SPR) when it first was released in theatres many years ago. At the time I thought the cinematography and direction were amazing but I wasn’t that impressed with Tom Hanks’ acting. On the heels of Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, it seemed to me at the time that Hanks was just wandering aimlessly through SPR and was capable of so much more.

I recall being annoyed when Hanks was nominated for an Oscar for the performance. At the time, I’d felt he received the nomination not because of his work, but simply because of who he was. I didn’t have the appropriate context to understand just how nuanced his performance was at the time.

Years passed and I never felt the urge to see the movie again. There exists a number of powerful, well acted movies – each outstanding examples on their own merit – that I believe it’s important to watch at least once. After that I rarely have any desire to watch them again. Large chunks are permanently imprinted on the brain. Movies such as Bastard Out Of Carolina and Schindler’s List come to mind.

I’ve always considered SPR to be one of those movies because of it’s vivid and frank portrayals of the brutality and often senselessness of war – even if the ultimate cause is considered to be of benefit for the greater good. Unlike many Hollywood war movies, SPR (and, to a degree, Platoon) doesn’t have a shiny happy ending. Even in survival there is a continual sense of loss and conflict. Of wounds that haunt and may never heal.

This semester I’ve spent significant time studying stress, fatigue, combat stress reactions (CSR) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in my Mil Psych class.

This has provided me with a new context in which to view the acting in SPR. It is as if I’d watched the film years ago without my glasses and now have seen it, for the first time, in all it’s bare and naked glory. Based on my readings and research Hanks, and many of the other actors in the film, provided realistic portrayals of both positive and negative elements of CSR – sometimes periodically, sometimes for the entire duration – in the film.

Bravo Mr. Hanks et al.

I now wonder if the cast members suffered some symptoms of trauma from their experiences? While any symptoms would be unlikely to be lasting as the actual “fear of death” associated with post-traumatic reactions, symptoms can be developed psychosomatically.

Whatever the case for the actors, elements of the movie’s portrayal of battles and D-Day did have an impact on others who’d experienced war first hand. We know that many WWI and WWII vets, along with other service members, suffered flashbacks and re-newed trauma and required counceling post movie viewing.

With context has come appreciation. Despite this new illumination, I think it’ll be another 10+ years before I watch the movie again.