As an impromptu part of our anniversary evening out together Cowgrit wanted to stop by the jewelry store and get her rings cleaned. We went to the store where I bought her a new, bigger diamond ring a couple years ago. At 8:00 in the evening (yeah, we were out late!), the big store was almost vacant.

A salesman greeted us immediately when we walked in, and he graciously pointed us to the jewelry repair/cleaning section of the store.

The security guard, a 50-some-year-old man that looked nine months pregnant, had his back to the front door while he talked (read: flirted) with a 50-some-year-old woman employee at a back counter. A single customer was seated at a glass case talking with a saleswoman about diamond rings.

Cowgrit turned her rings over to the jewelry repairwoman, then the woman asked me if I’d like to have my ring cleaned as well. “I guess,” I said, “sure.”

We wandered about the store for the several minutes it took for them to clean our rings. We looked briefly at some jewelry with pearls, and then I meandered on to the left side of the store where they had a children’s room. That’s a pretty good idea for a jewelry store — let mom and dad look and talk while the kids play or watch a movie.

While Cowgrit looked at some more jewelry, I watched a minute of Cinderella and then tried to play a Nintendo game. Unfortunately, the game introduction is so long that I didn’t get to play even a second before the rings were finished.

Cowgrit brought our rings over to me. “They look great,” she said, holding her hand out for me to see the sparkling gold and gems.

“Yeah,” I agreed, while pretending to shield my eyes from the glare beaming off her hand.

When she handed me my ring, I really was surprised. My simple gold band was seriously gleaming. I slid the ring back on my finger and said, “Daddy’s got some bling.” I could actually see my reflection in my ring. I hadn’t realized really how dull it had gotten over the years. I don’t remember the last time I had my ring professionally cleaned.

I took off my ring again and laid it on a wood table in the store. I took a picture of it, but getting close enough to really see the ring resulted in a blurry picture, as the camera couldn’t focus that close. Staying back far enough to get it in focus was too far away to really see it. So, sorry, but I don’t have a picture to show you of my ring. I know you’re sad about that.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary. Thirteen years of marriage after five years of dating. Cowgrit and I met in our college town the week before my 23rd birthday; she was 21. Two days before my birthday, I asked her if she’d go out with me on my birthday. She already had plans, so had to say “no” for that day. But we managed to make a date for a couple days later, and we’ve been tight together ever since. She became, and still is, my best friend.

I would love to give some advice in this blog post for keeping a marriage going, but really, I’m just happy that Cowgrit continues to put up with me.

This past weekend, Cowgrit spent some time in the backyard planting flowers while I did some stuff inside the house. At one point when I looked out the window, I saw her holding the water hose, spraying water for the boys to run through and play in. She was wearing old sneakers, jeans, and a white t-shirt, all streaked and spotted with mud and clay. Even dirty, she’s just darned cute.

I’m a lucky man.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I was in my car, approaching a “T” intersection when I spotted something I wanted to take a picture of. It was a bare, almost white tree sticking up like a giant skeletal arm and hand. The light ahead was red anyway, so I slowed down and turned on the camera in my phone.

I ran my window down and held the phone out to snap the picture. I knew it probably wouldn’t look good, as I had rolled too far away passed it, and I wasn’t holding the phone steady out the window.

A car had come up behind me by this time, and the driver honked his horn. Oops, I thought. The light, about 30 yards ahead, was still red, but I still shouldn’t have slowed down so much in the middle of the road. I was in the wrong, so I gave up on the photograph and drove on up to the light.

The light was still red when I stopped at the line. I was putting away my cell phone when the guy behind me blew his horn again. Crap, I thought. I looked up and saw the light had changed to green. But it must have just that second turned green, because the car in the lane beside me also hadn’t started moving before I looked up.

I thought, Wow, that guy behind me is in a hell of a hurry. I pulled on out just a half-second after the car in the lane beside me. The first time the guy blew his horn, I deserved it, barely. The second time, the guy was just being too impatient. I mean, come on: I held him up from getting to a red light faster, and then I was what, a second late noticing the light had changed to green.

As I got a couple hundred yards down the road, I thought I should pull over and just let the guy get past. I sure as hell didn’t want to hold him up another second. There was very little traffic on the road at that point, so I pulled off to the side to let him past. As he went past, he laid on his horn for a few seconds. OK, then he was just an asshole. I flipped him the finger, and pulled back onto the road.

A couple miles down the road, he pulled into the left turning lane to turn at an intersection. I continued straight, and I laughed well when I went past him and noticed the dozen or so cars ahead of him and the heavy traffic coming from the other direction. He’d probably have to sit through another red light. That jackass needs to learn patience.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I just tried watching what I thought would be a fun action movie: House of Flying Daggers. Unfortunately, I found it so just bad that I turned it off after 30 minutes. I know some people like or love that movie, and I rented it based on some reviews from them, but it just wasn’t good to me. There have been a few other movies I found so bad that I turned them off before the end, for instance: Death Proof.

I’ve had someone (not a friend) say that stopping a movie before the end is immature. Movies don’t always give you the good stuff all right up front, and they have to lay groundwork to support the better stuff coming after.

I don’t expect a movie to give me all the best stuff right from the beginning. I understand some things need to build up over the course of a story. But I do expect a movie to be interesting and logical (within its world) from the beginning. I don’t want to watch an hour of watching the grass grow to get to the part where the lawnmower comes through to make it exciting.

I want to be at least entertained while waiting for the great stuff. I want the build up to be interesting. My free time is too rare to sit through an un-entertaining movie. I don’t think it’s immature to give up on a movie before the end if the first part isn’t good. I see it as just good sense not to throw a good hour after a bad hour watching a crappy movie. After all, there’s no guarantee that the second hour of a movie will be any better than the first hour. I figure if the writers and director can’t make the first part entertaining, they probably can’t make the second part good.

I can be immature in many other ways without wasting time.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com