202000

Instead of pennies from heaven to reassure me of right place, right time, I'm receiving cool odometer readings of late.
For example, when las tres amigas de mi arrived for the "Thugs Of Hindostan" film in Pooler, the odometer in my car read 201958! Nice combination that included my birth year! I took that as a very good sign... and it was! The Indian film turned out to be a boisterous bit of Bollywood, filled with swashbuckling bandits and swishing swords and such a plethora of deceit from a guy named Firangi! Surely that was a pun on the name of the mercenary shysters of "Star Trek"? If not, it should have been!
Some of the other odometer readings have perhaps not been so remarkable, but just very timely in their delivery. For instance, I had 208170 on September 27 when I arrived home from seeing "The Diary of Anne Frank"... and I still had 208170 on September 28th when I left home to meet Emily and Boone at the Flying Fish Grill. They were on a rare trip to town to clean out Bev's house for the market and I just happened to be home on a Friday night, after being home all day. Amazing couple of circumstances, right?
Then there was 198600 on August 15, between running errands (WW meeting, trip to the bank, filling the gas tank) and having fun (PFS' birthday movie featuring Robert Culp [the hilarious "Hitler's Gold" from 1975], followed by Betty Bombers with Jim, Will, Carolyn, Axelle, and Jordan). Maybe that reading was to confirm I'd gotten my 'work' done so it was okay to go 'play'!
Then there was 197197 on another Wednesday, June 6. Again, I'd taken care of 'work' (actually speaking with Aaron Cramer about my Utility Patent application, then to WW) before 'play' (birthday lunch from Jason's Deli, then a hilarious Joseph Cotten romp from PFS ["Latitude Zero", a 1960's farce with elements of Captain Nemo, flying monkeys of Oz, and Cesar Romero reprising his Batman's Joker). Most excellent!
201060 greeted me when I was home from "First Man" and Carey Hilliard's with Carolyn on October 13. That means it was still there when I set off to my first God On Broadway show-sermon the next morning. So glad I was there for "My Fair Lady" - and yes, I mean both Carolyn and all of that familiar music of my youth!
There followed several days of memorable mileage!
October 16 saw me home with 201080 after my 'Tina Tuesday' - the second one that month - with Kevin. We'd dined at Jason's Deli again (a choice he'd called 'brilliant' on October 2!) and watched "Venom", with Stan Lee as "Dapper Dogwalker" - LOL! The mileage remained when I drove off to WW the next day, with my first loss on the scale in a while. (smile)
By the end of October 17, the odometer was set at 201102 a palindrome reading! That was upon my return home from "The Day The Fish Came Out", a 1967 PFS nuclear-bombs-on-the-loose flick that combined those fun 1960's beach-blanket comedies with science-fiction and nearly-nekkid men in most of it. Gotta love those Greeks!
Gotta love that first niece of mine, too! On October 18, she contacted me about lunch plans... and off we went to Carey Hilliard's... in her vehicle! We ended up spending five hours together - what a blessing! After buying some blue suede-ish tennis shoes at Sears, I was still with her when she picked up her daughter. Boy, did we confuse the little girl when Christina took me to my house and I got out. Miyah stopped what she was doing to look at me incredulously, as if to say "Where do you think you are going?" (On the other times I've been present when she was picked up from daycare, we have then gone on to Hinesville for me to spend the night with them.) What a hoot!
So, my mileage was still 201102 when I buzzed off to meet the physicist for dinner and a movie! We found out the hard way that his card had been burgled, so The Noodle Bowl and "Bad Times At The El Royale" were both on me this time. But I did get a treat - Elvis Post-Its that he'd seen on an Atlanta trip! That made my night! Plus his lovely company, of course... and a odometer bonus of 201112 in my driveway again!
So, now I'm up to Friday, October 19. The 201112 led to an auspicious outing to the former Bamboo Gardens to meet the local chemistry nerds, as I've already detailed.
October 22 saw me on another 'work' then 'play' cycle, much like my laundry. Hahahaha hahaha! I'd gone to wash clothes at Nami's, fortuitously as it turned out. She was going to be closed the rest of the week! She had house repairs to do and her sister Juni was in town to help. Good thing I could post that on the fb page for Wash Plus! Right place, right time! My odometer confirmed that with its 201222, which was the start point for the trip to Pooler with Barbara and Carolyn! Dinner at Jalapenos, movie at the Royal! Not quite Bollywood, but "Badhaai Ho" was delightful tale of a middle-aged couple with nearly grown children suddenly being pregnant again - we all laughed and laughed!
201360 popped up four days later, after a trip to the grocery store. I'd even had time to put them away when Mister Willie called me for his 80th birthday! We had talked about the World Series and he'd expressed his hopes that the Dodgers would win the third game, to be played that evening. Lo and behold, they did exactly that... and I saw them do it!
I also realized that day that I may have helped Thomas and Danielle build their relationship. How so? Well, she mentioned on fb that October 26 marked nine years together for them. That means they had their first date after the spring and summer of 2009, when Thomas and I had been corresponding via our blogs. I had been posting about touch and snakes in my head and real irony and then, amazingly, first kisses. Those were some intimate topics I discussed in those posts, allowing him access to my thoughts... to a woman's thoughts. I'm sure that helped demystify the feminine sex for his self-proclaimed nerdy self.
(smile)
Then SamJ died, followed a week later by my Daddy.
Thomas didn't appear again in my comments section until I took up the gauntlet of the Kiwi writers in May 2009. We had a steady 'conversation' after that, about characters, about how those characters behave, with steady encouragement throughout the writing process to the end and beyond, out of the dark net and into the bright world of social media.
He basically stopped blogging by the fourth year after he started dating Danielle. He started up a new blog, to change direction, but that had its last entry in October of 2013. Between his love life (and their marriage!), his job, and his Odd Lot work, plus his active voice on fb, the man has a very full plate these past nine years. I'm truly delighted for them both!
Oh... I have digressed mightily, haven't I?
(smile)
Okay, back to odometer speak, in particular to 202000.
Today, I had seen last week that the Coastal Empire section of ACS was to have a meeting tonight. I had not responded, as I knew I was going to be eating out... and so I did. Then I had decided to go after all, to discuss SERMACS 2019 and what our group was planning. As I parked, I saw the mileage - right place, right time! Marvelous!
I ended up talking to Brandon amd Ryan about the diversity groups and how I thought they needed to be more inclusive... and they agreed! Ryan had attended many of the same talks I had, so he had seen firsthand the redundancy of the message and the lack of diversity in those audiences. Hooray!
I've sent Lea an email about the high school section and given her a contact, too.
(smile)
Now, off I go to Golden Corral, in the rain, to join some veterans at Golden Corral!
i thank You, God, for these 'pennies' from heaven.