Memories are always with you...

I have two health goals these days, the first one is to lose 20 then 25 pounds and get down to a weight I haven't been to since college, 1978. The second goal is to be able to comfortably run 2 miles with the Army unit I work for on September 26th. I am down 15 pounds so far and today I ran next to an Army unit (not with them) and only 1.5 miles. I can and will meet both of my goals!!

Today I met the people I work with on Camp Parks. That is about 30 miles from where I live and I used to work there when I was in the Army Reserves, 1990. I had some time so I drove around the installation and looked at the places I knew before. The buildings I worked in were down, and there was construction in that area. The chapel I used to go to was still there, that is how I knew where the place I used to work was supposed to be. I drove around a little more and then went to the track where I was supposed to meet everyone. I had some time to kill so just sat in my car. At 5pm there was bugle music. Everyone that has ever lived on an Army installation knows what that means. It means you stop what you are doing, get out of your car if you are in one, face the flag, and wait for the flag to go down. As the bugle music was playing I got out of my car and faced the flag and the music kept going but the flag wasn't going down. Seems like they kept some of the tradition, but not all of it. I can remember doing this since I was 5 years old, and I'm sure it was done since I was born, since I was literally born on an Army installation. I can remember when I was young and the kids would stay in the car as my dad stood outside facing the flag. I can remember living in Germany and everyone hurrying to get outside the gates before 5pm. I can remember driving slow so they couldn't hurry out of the gate. I can remember when I lived in Korea in the Army and being the commander and insisting they play the bugle music when the flag came down. It was interesting to me tonight that these things came back to my memory as I was standing there watching the flag NOT go down.

Movies

Dragon in a SF window

I went to the movies today. I saw two movies, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Change-Up. I was expecting Apes to be good, and it was great, you can always tell if the movie was really great when the audience stands up and applauds at the end. Change-Up is one that I didn't think would be very good, it was an old story line of people changing bodies with someone else and having to live their life. The actors were very very good and I was surprised how good they portrayed the opposite of the characters they usually do. I guess that is what actors are supposed to do! I was pleasantly surprised at how good this one was, I was very happy that I saw it. Both movies were good. What makes a movie good? Some people think a movie is good if the scenery is good, and Apes was definitely that, with the forests and redwood trees. Some people think a movie is good if the acting is good and believable, as I mentioned with Change-Up. I like movies that bring out emotion. Not like "chick flicks" that are about romance and make you happy at the end, I like movies that bring out a variety of emotions. Both of these movies made me laugh, first time in a long time I laughed out loud in a movie theater. Both movies made me cry and feel happy and sad for the characters, I always do when the little daughter says she loves her Daddy. One of the movies gave me suspense and drama and fear, the other gave me touching scenes and family warmth. When you feel like you are really watching life is when I think the movie is good!!