I have to say...

1) I don't know why The Dukes of Hazzard got such horrible reviews. I looked forward to it, then put off seeing it when I heard how bad it was. Maybe it was lowered expectations, or maybe it's because I was a fan of the original, but I was somewhat surprised when it was over to realize I'd actually enjoyed it, and felt like I watched an episode of the show. Everything from those freeze-frame moments to allow a narrator to ponder “How are the boys gonna get out of this one?” to the car chases and jumps to those Daisy Dukes took me back. Sure, there were some modern references thrown in and some odd casting choices, like Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg, but somehow it worked. Another plus for me was the fact that it's an unofficial Broken Lizard film, with the leader of that comedy troupe Jay Chandrasekhar directing and all five actors making appearances. They even threw in a gratuitous reference to Super Troopers that cracked me up. The real star of the film was The General Lee, and the stunt drivers gave that car a hell of a workout. The jumps were bigger, the turns were wider, the drifts were awesome and the chases were longer and I think it was the wild ride and pace by the end of the film that bumped it from a three-star movie to a four for me. Considering how Starsky and Hutch was sort of a letdown and The Mod Squad(which I saw earlier this week) was a genuine waste of my free time, it was nice to see one film based on a television show get it right.

2) A rare evening gig allowed me a few free hours beforehand to go to a barbecue celebrating my friend's daughter's first birthday. I had an amazing array of food, was amazed by the life-size Winnie the Pooh characters my friend painted and cut out himself, and I can't believe his daughter is one already. I remember going to her christening not that long ago it seems, and his wedding doesn't seem all that far in the past either. Also at the party was another college friend with his family, and his daughter celebrated her fourth birthday a few weeks ago. Seeing my buddies with ambulatory offspring is surreal. I remember when I was a kid and I'd be somewhere with my folks and run into some of their friends and I'd get that, “I remember when you were this small” line and not remember who they were. My friends babies are already running around playing, so I think the next time I blink they'll be even older and I'll be the one saying “I remember when you were this small.” If I don't have Baby Cloaked Figures of my own by that point, hopefully I'll at least own a house.

3) Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing with my life, and other times I'm reminded that things could always be worse. At the feast I played on Saturday night, our band leader's son dejectedly informed me that he had broken up with his girlfriend this week, moved out of her apartment and back in with his parents. The notion of moving back in after finally getting out is a scary one, probably for parents and children alike.

His track record isn't a great one, though. After his last girlfriend suffered a miscarriage from an unplanned pregnancy, he got into a fight with his boss and lost his job. Since I've known him, I don't think he's held any job for more than a few months to a year. Her nagging him to find a new job was the straw that led him to say “we're done.” As I said though, things could always be worse. His previous girlfriend committed suicide, and while the one before that married him and moved in with him and his folks, he dumped her after a year or so. He had a son with the one before her, but he only recently acknowledged him when she brought the 10-year-old boy to one of our jobs and he bought the kid a bunch of stuff. He couldn't understand why that upset the mother and why she felt his spoiling the kid would be something she'd have to deal with.

He's got a lot of spirit though, and after sabotaging each job or relationship he always bounces back and never lets any of it get him down for long. I think that's the problem, and it mystifies me that he doesn't see the pattern that he keeps making the same mistakes over, and over, and over again. My dad thinks that people in a loop can't see the loop, and that it's just clearer to those of us on the outside who can see someone going in circles. I silently wondered if he was speaking on a broader level, and saying I shouldn't throw stones from my glass house. He probably wasn't, as my dad is fairly direct when he talks, but the comment still made me think about it. What circles and loops am I caught in, that I can't see?

4) Yesterday I wrote about giving a coworker a ride to work. I've helped him in the past, and he always offers to throw in gas money or buy me coffee. I usually decline, since he lives nearby and I'm not going out of my way, but I appreciate the gesture. I like helping people. At the end of the gig on Saturday night, our band leader's son paid me and started to say he'd see me on the next job, corrected himself, and added “Oh what am I saying; I'll see you in the car.” When I asked for elaboration he said, “Oh, daddy din't tell you? You're drivin' us to the train station.”

The train station for these guys, neither of whom can drive, is located several miles to the South, while the job we played was in the North and not far from our house. Again, I like helping people and wouldn't want them to be stranded, but I didn't like the way they assumed they'd have a ride. Even though we've given them a lift in the past, it's only proper to ask. At the end of the ride we got handshakes. I'm not saying I would have taken gas money from them; they did hire us, after all. But they didn't even offer gas money, let alone any of the zeppoli they had purchased before leaving the feast. In the end, though I might not have accepted compensation I would have been thrilled to receive the gesture. A big part of my faith is doing good deeds for their own sake, and not expecting any reward. But as a flawed human, it still irks me that they don't even offer. Why do some of us feel inclined to be charitable while others feel a firm sense of entitlement?

5) I just remembered: I saw a child behead a pig on Saturday at that birthday party. My friend told me that it's a Filipino tradition to have a roasted pig on special occasions, and I do remember one turning on a spit at his daughter's christening last year. I got some pictures of the intact pig, before my friend's brother began instructing one of their younger cousins, who was brandishing a wide blade. His brother works in a morgue, and described in cold, medical detail where to feel for the soft spot on the neck that would guarantee a clean break. The kid raised the cleaver, and I turned away as it came down and pig bits soared into the air. A few minutes later I got a great shot of my buddy holding the pig's head on a styrofoam platter.

6) I'm having a very interesting weekend so far.