(Number Fourteen) GOOD LIFE

I had a bad feeling about ending the year with 13 posts.....


Just got back from a week of visiting my dad at "GOOD LIFE" a resort for active seniors...(seniors meaning 55+!) in Mesa, Arizona where the gum chewing drove Vince crazy.

Twelve hundred, 400 square foot trailers 5 feet apart and if there were neighbors that hated each other, I wasn't aware of it.

Dad pretending to understand everything Vince is telling him about his (Dad's) new tablet.

Dad (cane) and me (crutches).

Dad pedaling at level 10.

I met Harris, 90, from Balaton, Minnesota. He'd ridden his bike with a basket to the fitness center then ridden the stationary bike for 30 minutes before riding to the post office to mail his lavender enveloped Christmas cards.  I mentioned something to Dad about Harris's degree of activity and he said "Yah, but he only has the exercise bike at level-one." 

This sign, posted at the Good Life fitness center, must have been effective because I didn't see anyone wrestling the whole time I was there.

On the flight back the flight attendant acted like the plane couldn't take off until I put my Galaxy Bookshop bag, holding a sandwich, under the seat in front of me.  Meanwhile, the woman beside me had an un-anchored one year old in her lap.   That doesn't make sense to me.

For Sale, One Seed-Sprouter

"I forgot to lock the car," said Vin as the plane's bulkhead door slammed shut. Our car was in the Bradley/Hartford airport parking lot with my passport and two heirloom diamond rings.  It would be there, unlocked, for a week while we were in Phoenix visiting my dad.  (Before you ask why I would keep diamond rings in the glove compartment...have you ever moved something from a place it's always been to a 'better' spot, never to see it again?)  I had just enough time, before I screwed up the planes navigation system with my cell phone to call the number of the Toyota dealer on our key chain.  Good news.  He said you could lock the car without the keys.  Now all we had to do is find someone who would drive two and a half hours to the airport to see if that was actually possible.  In the meantime our best bet was to point the automatic door locking gizmo at the car as we flew over the parking lot and push the lock button.  We were transferring in Charlotte and as soon as the plane landed I called Jay, one of our best friends ever, who thought the situation was epic/funny/typical enough to drive the two and a half hours to the airport to lock the car for us.  We told him that there was a chance it may already be locked which to him made the situation even more epic/funny/typical.*

I spent two entire days learning how to list a few things on ebay.  I figured out if I sold everything at the 'buy-it-now' price I would walk away with $46.97. 
Example: I had the starting bid for a 'seed-sprouter' (are you wondering what a 'seed-sprouter' is?) at $1.99 with a ' buy-it-now' price of $3.99.  It had 34 hits and 7 watchers (ebay language)....what I wondered was....why didn't someone just buy it for the $3.99?  In the end, no one bought it which was good because the amount I was charging for shipping was a lot less than it would actually cost me to ship it so for me to get rid of my 25 year old never-used 'seed sprouter', it would have cost me $2.40.   I'm taking a break from ebay for a while.

I remember 25 years ago, how excited I was, when I realized there was such a thing as a seed-sprouter.

Vin and I are applying to a few more film programs.  Florida State is the only application we've sent in so far.   The 'Statement of Purpose' (where I used the word 'thus' for the first time in my life) is the letter where you tell the people that require a 'Statement of Purpose' everything you've done in your life and how it relates to being the ideal film student.  Being 55, it was hard to keep my life to the 1000 word limit...the same number of words a 20 year old applicant is allowed.  How is that fair?

*Jay and Denise (Jay's wife) drove to the airport.  They found the car (they said "because it was the dirtiest one there") and it was unlocked.