Lost Ollie

It's been a long time since something I watched drove me to tears, but that's what happened when I watched the end of the series Last Ollie on Netflix this weekend. Lost Ollie is similar to Toy Story because it's about a kid's toy (Ollie, a rabbit) who's separated from his kid (Billy) and goes on a quest to be reunited with him. But Ollie's journey to be reunited with Billy wasn't what made me cry. I cried because of the other plot line that involved Billy's mother's illness. No spoilers, but watching Billy try to handle his mother's illness from cancer and his reliance on his little toy bunny Ollie made me cry. Having lost my own mother to cancer many years ago (although I wasn't a child when it happened) and then witnessed the characters in the series deal with this brought back a flood of emotions for me. I didn't expect to be so moved by Lost Ollie. I started watching the series because I'd read about it on NPR and knew that Jonathan Groff was voicing the character of Ollie. Being a Groff fan, I tuned in. 

In addition to being a tear-jerker, this series was also dark in a way I didn't expect. It's not really for young kids. But the overarching message of still having memories of lost loved ones is universal and can be appreciated by many people across many ages and other demographics. I was also surprised to see Ollie and his pals Zozo and Rosie board the Belle of Louisville boat during their travels. I saw that same boat when I was in Louisville a few months ago.

Pressing Problems

This has been a bad week for my blood pressure. Every day so far has seemed to be filled with one annoying thing after another. Mainly, the annoyances have come from my day job. For example, I sent a Zoom meeting notice to a number of people, and one person (let's call her Beth) sends me a note that says, "I forwarded your invite to (let's say Joe) since he needs to attend." Beth is Joe's manager. However, Joe was invited to the meeting just as Beth was. I told Beth this and sent her a screen shot of the meeting invite that showed Joe's name right next to hers on the email. She said she didn't realize he had been invited. No apology for her mistake either. She's annoying and I feel like she's the kind of person who just wants to start some shit with me. It's unfortunate because we used to be friendly, but now we barely speak. Whatever. Leave me alone, Beth! Worry about your own unhappy employees and get out of my life!

I keep getting fliers in the mail from some Realtor for the woman who used to live in my apartment. The fliers are addressed to the former resident (let's call her Beth also) Beth or to the Current Resident (me.) Okay, Beth hasn't lived here in almost four years and I'm not interested in this guy's services. The post office keeps leaving this junk mail for Beth in my box. I normally just throw it away, but I want my address removed from this guy's mailing list because I'm sick of getting his mail. His fat little face and beady little eyes are on every single piece of mail he sends and it annoys me. I've contacted his office via mail, email, and phone and asked for my address to be removed, yet the mail keeps coming. What do you have to do to stop the junk? Frustrating. I know there are more pressing problems in the world, but this is pressing to me.  

Every freaking day, there's news about someone getting robbed, stabbed, shot, run over, etc. in Chicago, yet Mayor Lori Lightfoot seems to be in denial about the problems in the city. She's lobbying for the Democrats to have their next convention here. Really? Clean up your house, Lori, before inviting others over for a visit! And when is the police chief going? He should have hit the bricks a long time ago. Lightfoot strikes me as the kind of person who won't admit that changes are needed because her pride is in the way. That's why she turns a blind eye to criticism and refuses to believe that she made a bad choice in selecting the current police chief. I don't even live in Chicago, but I work there, I go there on occasion (not much lately due to crime and the fact that I'm largely working from home), and I'd like to see the city thrive. I want people (myself included) to feel safe while visiting the city and riding public transit. Changes are needed, Lori! 

So Long, Saul!

As Better Call Saul  (BCS) wound to an end last night, I thought about how much I enjoyed the series. I didn't even watch Breaking Bad (although I'm trying to now), so I came into BCS pretty blind and that was fine because I was able to get by despite not having watched Breaking Bad. What I really enjoyed about BCS was the acting and how the show had a cast of older people, something you don't see too often on TV. Most of the main players on the show seemed to be over 40 and that was great. It wasn't a show that matched a 20-year-old woman up with a 50-year-old guy and expected everyone to just ignore the age difference. I really loved Howard Hamlin and Lalo Salamanca (played by Patrick Fabian and Tony Dalton, respectively). These guys were great and quite attractive, I might add. No spoilers for the final episode for those who haven't watched it yet, but Kim, don't go down that road again, girl!

With BCS over and done with, I guess I'll go back and try to tackle the rest of Breaking Bad. I'm only on Season 2 and I really do find the show incredibly depressing. I'm going to try and get through it, but I gotta say I'm not feeling it. A friend of mine swears it's great. Maybe to her it is, but it's not working for me right now, but I'm willing to hang in there and see if things improve.

Not the Road Dog I Used to Be

I drove to my home state of Michigan this past weekend for a family function. I left Friday and came back to Illinois Sunday. Both drives were terrible. Going to Michigan, I ran into a lot of construction in the Great Lakes state. Around Niles, someone's car had stopped in a section of I-94 where construction was going on and no shoulder lanes were available, so everyone had to move from two narrow lanes to one narrow lane. Oy vey! After that, once I hit metro Detroit, I-275 was down to one lane due, again, to construction. I ended up getting off the freeway and making my way to my hotel via side streets (Ford Road to Telegraph). My old school knowledge of Detroit area streets kicked in. The drive back to Illinois on Sunday was even worse due to heavy rain around Paw Paw, MI, construction in Indiana, and basic backed-up traffic in Chicago. I'm done doing any long-distance driving for a while. It's stressful and I'm just not the road dog I used to be. I don't like being in the car for over about 5 hours. Later for that. If traffic is moving and the weather is good, I can deal with it. But when there's a lot of construction and bad weather comes into play, forget about it. I did have a great time in Michigan and saw family members I had not seen in some time (including one cousin who told me, "Covid is a hoax!"). Whatever, cuz. This same cousin breeds pit bulls (Detroit, folks) and has named two of his dogs after our uncles, Bob and Ralph. Really, cuz? Okay. Bob has been deceased for some years, but Ralph is still alive. (He's quite elderly, but still around.) I wonder if anyone's told him his nephew named his pit bull after him.