Christmas Card Musings

--- GB1 Wrote: > G--, It is cold in Bosnia but meetings here are > going well and people are uniformly friendly. I saw > your car before I left and it is very powerful. > Congratulations. George Hello, George... I meant it's freezing HERE, Ambassador. Cold snap. I now undertand why, when I was of a kid, some of the adults I came across wanted to keep the heat down to a bare minimum. You know, where the tip of your nose is COLD. Heating oil is EXPENSIVE...God help me. I'm becoming one of THEM. Glad that you like the card. I had that idea in my head since last year. As must as I liked LAST year's card, it was edging a bit too much into soccer-mom territory for me. Needed to do something DIFFERENT. So I plumbed the pop-culture ephemera in my head and came up with that. It almost didn't happen, I got so frustrated with it at one point. But I'm glad I soldiered on and worked around some of the logistical problems... And now in "the passing something onto the next generation department"---At the Y, I have an acquaintance with someone at the Y who has a four year old child...appropriately named Luke. Appropriate because he LOVES the original STAR WARS movies. He sees in them the same magic I did when I was ten. Anyway, since I have any number of them on VHS, I bequeathed the Special Editions onto Little Luke during the move...(These were the editions where George Lucas started to digitally alter some scenes to fit what he was seeing in his head. I kept the original versions...just so I could see them as I originally remembered...but I digress...) Anwyay, Little Luke has worn the tapes out. So his dad is going to have to buy them on DVD. Recently, the laddie was wondering if he could just hear the music to them. So Craig, his dad, asks me if there are soundtracks available. Not only are they available, they're in my friend's iTunes program...because I put them there. So we can burn the little guy a copy. I'm choosing THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK because I wore out the double-vinyl album when I was a kid myself. Film-composer JOHN WILLIAMS has one of the most recognizable soundtracks going. You know little Josiah. His dad is a HUGE Star Wars fan. So I look forward to the day when all three of us can sit down and just watch the entire six films together. The Force will definitely be with us... Whoa. Look at the time. Must get on with some physical fitness. George, thanks again for making the time to keep in touch. I know how ridiculously busy you are on any given day never MIND over there. So it IS appreciated, my friend... All the best...GaP