Enjoying the World...and Movies...and Horny Toads?...and Tiny Computers

SUMMARY: A brief interlude on movie credits and making people look

Source: My comment on a friend's blog post April 8, 2025.

Me in theater with End Game 
ticket stub. Marvel sure
figured out how to keep 
people there thru the credits!
(April 2019)

I don't remember when I started staying in the theater through the credits. Maybe when there were a couple of films where I heard that someone I knew was listed. (And someone was!)

But vaguely remember always wanting to know the source of the music, and the locations where it was filmed, and, yes, all the fascinating jobs that people had, so many of which I had to go home and look up afterwards (back before we were all carrying little portable computers with us). I don't remember the definitions of most of them, but I still think I see something new every time. 

When I had some regular movie-going buddies, we'd all sit and watch and comment on the job titles or the people or the little entertaining things that they sometimes decorated the credits with. A team activity.

But even outside the rare occupation of waiting to the end of movie credits (PS pisses me off when I see one streamed and they cut it off before the credits are done!), I love taking the time to look around  wherever I am and to enjoy where I am. I forget to do so too often these days, but having my camera along helps.

I love taking photos, and so often when I stop to take a photo of something that catches my eye, other people slow down or stop to see what I'm so carefully focusing my mighty camera and lens on. "Oh I've never noticed that before, and I come here often" is not uncommon. Not sure that's the exact equivalent of running around the prairie behind my parents' new home as a kid, turning over rocks looking for horny toads or shooting cap pistols as we played cowboys and rustlers, or whatever. But it's the adult equivalent? Maybe?

These days, I find myself often tired and sore and I rely far too much on my tiny machine to provide entertainment. This is a good reminder to cut it wayyyy back.

where are all my spoons?

SUMMARY: summarytext

source : Title is  from a friend's March 28,2025 Facebook post, which also blamed teenagers for it.

for about a year and a half, I had 3 renters living in my house who were post college and working for Americorps to try to make the world a better place, I suppose. it was a great thing for them to do.

in the manner of my personal property, they were more like neglectful teenagers. (Although I don't remember that I or any of my sisters ever did things like make off with spoons.)

Every time I emptied the dishwasher of clean dishes, I counted my silverware. Because I found that I had to ask multiple times over their residency why I was missing two spoons. Or a knife. 

Or the time that drove me nuts related to my nice set of measuring spoons– – sturdy, metal, they just looked and felt nice and of course I thought they were pretty accurate.--and one day I needed the tablespoon measure for something. And I could not find it. I could not imagine where they had put it away. I looked in all the drawers and cabinets and took a glance into their rooms because they weren't home at the time. 

One of them was on a long trip to somewhere like Africa. The other two said that they had no idea what I was talking about. But when the guy came back from Africa, I asked, and he dashed to a cabinet and revealed that he kept it in a bag of some sort of food supplement because he used it frequently and always needed the tablespoon. Left it in his bag. My tablespoon. With three other people living in the same household who might want it at some point.

then there was the woman and her teenage son. He was a very responsible young man, going to college and working full-time at the same time, was promoted to manager of the store where he worked, etc. etc. She also worked, with children. But during their maybe two year residency, I lost something like four forks and two spoons and a knife and the butter knife – – This was from a set of silverware that I had finally bought because it was beautiful after I moved out on my own and I had always wanted a beautiful, complete set of silverware. 

also, my favorite Tupperware containers vanished. Even though I told them, repeatedly, in fact I think it was in the rental agreement, that nothing of mine should be taken from the house ever. Yes, I took it out of the damage deposit when they moved out (fortunately the manufacturer was still making The silverware  and I was able to replace the individual pieces) (Along with... dang, now I don't remember. They had lost or damaged more things than the  damage deposit would cover.) They were very nice people and we were, you know, rental friends. Sigh.

I could think of worse things that a couple of other renters did, But nothing to really write home about. Like any relationship, one takes the good and the iffy Together.



>>  Visit the Wordless Wednesday site; lots of blogs. << >>  Visit Cee's Photo Challenge blog; lots of blogs. <<

recognizing faces and Overreacting about your own

SUMMARY: summarytext

Source:  My response to a friend's blog post. Not sure whether you need a Sub space subscription to read it, but here's the link anyway:

https://myphoneboothphase.substack.com/p/small-things-like-big-noses/comments?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=post_viewer

I sometimes panic about not recognizing even people I know well. There was that one trip when my husband was out of town for two weeks and I was sitting in the airport waiting for his flight to come in (back in the days when you could do that), and the stress level went up, what if I didn't recognize him when he got off the plane? This was a man whom I had seen and spent considerable time with for several years.

I did recognize him immediately, but the fear was real.

Or when a good friend moved out of state and we decided to get together for a girl's weekend at Yosemite. She also flew in and I had the same panic--it had been probably 2 years since I had seen her.

I did recognize her immediately, but the fear was real.

Hair color & style is the main thing I notice. Like the first week at a new contract, when I accosted a young woman with shoulder-length straight blonde hair and started dumping info and questions. She finally said, bewildered, why are you asking me--I know nothing about these things--and directed me to the proper woman elsewhere in the building, who also had shoulder-length straight blonde hair.

I have read that most people have some degree of Prosopagnosia. Some research indicates that a majority of people can't recognize many famous faces with the hair removed from their photos.

Another good friend stopped smiling a few years back. Last time I visited, she complimented me on my ability to summon up a happy smile for photos at any time. I said surely she could work on that, too, since she has a lovely smile. But that's when she told me that she had a missing tooth (I think one 3rd from the front) and knew that people would judge her on that so she would never smile with open lips. I said, this is the first I knew that you were missing a tooth. 

people – – including me – – worry about what other people think about how they look. Truth is, they're just trying to figure out whether you are the woman with the shoulder length straight blonde hair that you met yesterday or someone else entirely Who has exactly the same sole feature that you noticed.