Else what's a heaven for?

Weds afternoon, I heard EAHPhD putting on his coat to leave. I asked him a quick question when he walked past my cube, and he commented he was going to see a movie. I asked which, and he told me he was going to see Quantum of Solace. Bc I'd tried to see that last Monday, I said, "Oh! At the Ziegfield! at 4:45!" "Yes, y'wanna come?" So I did.

I liked it. I'd heard vague lukewarm things about it, so my expectations were low, but I liked the continuation of the origin tale, along with the to-be-expected lush locations. The bit at the opera was cool and I liked that they had a car chase, a motorcycle chase, and an airplane chase all one after the other. Didn't like the new Bond chicks nearly as much as Eva Green and I don't remember having any clothesgasms. oh well. My one complaint is the thing schrathe noticed, ( spoiler ) That bit is getting old.

Thurs, my mum served turkey, ( and other food ) A Vietnamese friend of my mum's explained the concept of cooking the stuffing IN the turkey (with an orange). Most years, I take an obligatory taste just to see if I like it (and don't); this year, my brother and I came to literal blows over the leftovers.

We watched the new Indiana Jones afterwards. I liked it, perhaps bc my expectations were very low. After discussing it with Bbro, I realized the reason it was so universally panned is that it was all fan service, esp for Yalies. (My sister was pleased to see Berkeley go by during the motorcycle chase and my dad kept saying, "I used to study in that library all the time!" during the, uh, library scene.) Me, I liked all the little bits - Indy saying, "I have a bad feeling about this," and the straddling the two jeeps bit, and the sword fight. All that. We also realized that if you removed ( spoiler ), the movie would be vastly improved. Also thought Cate Blanchett was completely wasted.

I was starting to think my critical movie watching skills had been damaged or something, but I wandered over to where my brothers were watching Get Smart, saw the last 15 mins, and thought it was so incredibly stupid, I'm forevermore avoiding it. Also can't stand Anne Hathaway's "work".

Fri night, we watched The Forbidden Kingdom. My fave martial artist warned me it was a kids flick, which kept me from hating the movie, but I still found the action sequences far less thrilling than a fight with Jackie Chan and Jet Li ought to be :( Some of that might've been the supernatural elements. My favorite bit was the evil chick's hair - my sister and I had a long discussion about what I could do if my hair behaved one tenth as well.

I guess four day weekends are long enough to require a two-parter :)

I continue to find tipping annoyingly confusing. This year's ponder: why do we tip rock climbing instructors after a fun day at the cliffs, but not fitness instructors? My mum commented that she's never gotten her NYSC instructor who teaches her multiple classes a week for the past three years a Christmas present. On the other hand, I've gotten the impression that my failure to tip appropriately lowered the quality of instruction at the Manhattan stables. ( nowadays ) I think the distinction is that rock climbing and riding is personal instruction by people who don't own the business.

Anywho, I'm trying to figure out if I should get a little something for my aerial instructors. I didn't see anyone do anything last year. My mum suggested getting them chocolate. (She clearly doesn't understand aerial.) I feel like I should give them something, as I've really enjoyed the last 15 months of instruction and this is the end of the line. I was planning to give C0 and Mi- the cost of a single class, in cash in a card, and maybe give So- about 60% of that. C0 and Mi- aren't my current instructors, but they taught me for most of my aerial career and I'm grateful for their efforts. I suppose it might be nicer if I knew what they like and could give them something more gifty and less "I pay your salary", but I don't know them socially. What do you think?

I'm not giving anything to Su-, my current silks teacher. I'm actually trying to figure out if I should say something to the head of the school, bc I don't consider her to be safe. ( example ) It's a small school and times are hard, etc., but on the other hand, I have no confidence in even her spotting abilities.

Originally I was planning to give R-, my riding instructor, a Christmas present of the cash value of a lesson, even though I tip her each time, bc she's a cute kid and means well and teaches better than the fancy-pants "I studied dressage in Italy for a billion years" instructor I had at Claremont. On the other hand, I'm not as pleased with her these days, so maybe not.

I think with both aerial and riding, part of this is that I'll be done with lessons at the end of the month and want to leave on a happy note, esp. just in case I someday have time to come back to these activities.