My younger brother spent last evening with his girlfriend Bev, and stayed at her home overnight. This freed me up to watch a Christmas movie while indulging in a few ounces of Appleton Estate Signature Blend amber Jamaican rum. Supposedly, the rum ─ which until 2015 was known as Appleton's VX ─ is a blend of 15 rums "of varying types with an average age of four years old."
My 1.75-litre jug of the rum was a birthday present from my brother this past October.
The movie I selected was 2007's Holiday Switch.
I had some trouble finding a source for it, finally having to settle for what was available through the DailyMotion 'app' that I have downloaded into our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box. Usually YouTube carries these kinds of movies, but evidently not this one.
The issue I had about using Dailymotion was that the movie was only available as two separate videos rather than one complete video file. However, the movie ─ both parts ─ did play flawlessly, so I have no complaint about that. It was just a little annoying to have to locate and start the second half of the feature ─ the second half did not automatically kick in when the first half completed.
I surely must have seen lead actress Nicole Eggert acting in something before this, but she was wholly unfamiliar to me by name and visually.
And as it happened, I even remembered having watched the movie at some point in the past. However, something else must have been going on at the time and I didn't pay it much attention, for I could only recollect occasional small portions of it.
Initially Nicole's T.V. husband was irritatingly juvenile for my tastes ─ even the looks of the actor didn't appeal to me.
I felt sorry for Nicole's character, married to the idiot Pollyanna character that was her husband. She seemed to be the one who had to constantly manage the numerous bills that were not getting paid, and always calling the creditors over "past due" billings that she and her husband just could not pay. She had to spin lie after lie.
The stress was eating her alive, and I could see that she felt alone in bearing all of the worry associated with the desperate fix her family was in. Meantime, the fool she was married to kept grinning and declaring that everything has always worked out before, and it will do so again.
"What, me worry?" comes to mind.
My sympathies were extremely strong for the poor woman.
And then she entered the alternative reality where she was married to another former boyfriend who was to become extremely successful (i.e., wealthy) ─ a man she had dated around the same time that she was dating the chap who was to become her unsuccessful handyman husband who made his living scrounging repair jobs with his close friend as a partner.
Once Nicole's character started accepting her newfound status in her alternate life, I quickly found her to be repugnant. She was nothing but a hedonistic wastrel who seemed to care about nothing but status.
Eventually, she was to find that her dream husband was involved with his attractive co-worker. And when she challenged him about it, he then became outraged because she (his wife) had demanded a divorce a year before, and had ever since refused to seriously try and save their marriage.
He was actually a very nice guy ─ Nicole's character's rich persona just happened to be something of a bitch who was not even friends with her hardworking, middle-aged Latino domestic helper.
Nicole's character was not someone who deserved to have wealth ─ and that stood true for the poor version of Nicole's character, too, as was evidenced by how profligate she was when she first found herself with access to lots of money.
I am glad to have rewatched this movie with more care than I exercised whenever it was that I first saw it years ago, but the movie is not one that I care to see again at any point in the future.
Christmas movies take a heck of a lot out of me, as a rule. This one ended with time enough left in my evening that I could have squeezed in one more, but I had undergone enough of an emotional workout.
Instead, I used the YouTube 'app' that I have downloaded into our Android TV Box, and I began auto-playing a succession of Christmas music videos while enjoying two cans of the strong (8% alcohol) beer that I try to keep myself stocked with.
I didn't want my evening to end yet, for I had the outdoor Christmas lights blazing for only the second evening this season. The first time was the previous Saturday when I was home without my brother.
Some of those music videos cut me deeply, and I was often in tears as I reminisced about my life. It was as bad as if I was watching another Christmas movie ─ I went through the emotional ringer! After all, I am 70 years old, so I have a lot of life to reflect upon... and most of it involves poor choices, alas.
Fortunately, my two stepsons keep to themselves; so even when they are home, I am not usually ever bothered by either of them.
I would have had a third can of beer, but I realized as I worked my way through the second can that I had reached the point where my emotions seemed to have become numb.
And so I at last went to bed ─ it was probably into the midnight hour. I left the Christmas lights on, but I went to bed fully clothed in case of an emergency (some of the strings of Christmas lights outside have been up for at least 15 years, so I suppose that the potential is there for a fire hazard).
I wanted to get out early this morning to hike over to Save-On-Foods about 1½ miles distant in Whalley (Google map), so when I awoke and checked the time just after 5:00 a.m., I decided to get up and start work on the post that I am putting together at one of my six hosted websites.
The store opens at 7:00 a.m., but I didn't want to get there any earlier than 8:00 a.m. because the store seems to only have self-service during that first hour ─ I hate using those units.
It was actually 8:00 a.m. before I got out of here, and I walked because I do not drive.
My cashier was familiar enough to me, an attractive Asian lass whose name on her name tag never seems to stay with me. This morning, I finally asked her about her name ─ Dolma. She informed me that it was Tibetan, so I suppose that her heritage must lie there.
Dolma the cashier has such gentle, kindly features! I know that I would feel really good if I knew her and got to enjoy her presence occasionally.
After getting back home, I squandered a lot of time here at my computer in utter nonsense until my brother finally got himself home, and then I returned properly to bed for a good nap (by "properly", I mean that I actually undressed this time).
I rose in the latter half of the noon hour, finding that my brother was readying to already leave for the afternoon.
I have been curious about Christmas Eve, so I came out and asked him if he planned on being kind to his girlfriend Bev and spend Christmas Eve at her home with her (as opposed to spending it here at home).
Apparently that is the plan.
Poor Bev has to work that day, and also on Boxing Day ─ she works in a bar.
For a number of past Christmases, she has been coming here for a two-day Christmas movie binge, along with lots and lots of drinking. I was very much looking forward to her presence yet again.
But my brother had his driver's licence suspended nearly three weeks ago, and now he cannot ferry Bev about (she lives two miles from us).
Since to come here just for Christmas would involve considerable drinking that day, it would be almost hell for her to have to get up on Boxing Day here with us and try to ready for her workday at the bar ─ which is also about two miles away from here.
It might have been feasible if my brother could have driven her, but that is no longer in the cards.
I will miss her this Christmas.
And if I have to spend Christmas Eve by myself watching Christmas movies and drinking, I know that I'm going to find myself in the doldrums.
Okay, I must finish up this post. I want to have some bed rest, and then possibly make another ─ much longer ─ hike to buy my brother's traditional Christmas bottle of booze, and perhaps also buy two or three bottles of different brands of merlot for my wife.
I have no idea if she will be working on Christmas Eve, but I suspect so ─ she's employed at her friend's Thai restaurant, so not only might it be open, but it might even be quite busy.
However, if she has any kind of Christmas parties to attend, then I won't be seeing her.
Merry Christmas ─ yeah, right.
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