hungry like the wulfe

Finally I had the chance to finish off this dish!

It's fish and it's been waiting in the fridge since Saturday...

that's three days...

so I needed to polish it off or let it swim off.

Nope!

Mahi Wulfe is my absolute favorite at Carrabbas, so no way was it going to go to waste!

Artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, basil...

such delectable flavors!

(smile!)

Bet you're wondering why I hadn't eaten it yet, right?

Ordinarily, I probably would have scarfed it right up at the restaurant, but I had an appetizer.

You know what that means, right?

I didn't have room for my dinner.

But I hadn't wanted my DineRewards freebie to expire, so, as there were three of us for supper, I trotted out that treat to share.

Let me just say that Barbara and Kaye ate it up!

No, not just the calamari, but the sheer delight of having someone gift them such a treat.

(smile!) 

That certainly made me happy, too, to be able to share that with them.

(smile!)

We'd all gone to the matinee at the Savannah Children's Theatre on that lovely afternoon, which gave us the option for an early dinner, before the dinner rush.

That was very nice!

The place had been packed with folks waiting to be seated by the time we left.

Yes, yes, that was definitely good planning on our part!

I do hope this experience bodes well for more matinee shows in our future!

I do hope mi amiga Sandy will be able to join us, too.

She enjoys these plays at the SavChTh, but wasn't quite up to this one.

That's okay, we all laughed and had fun with "Mr. Popper's Penguins"!!!

I would have enjoyed it if it hadn't been a musical, but that pushed it over the top!!!

No, I am still not familiar with the children's book, but I had adored the Jim Carrey movie (back in 2011), so I knew I wanted to see this.

I'm so glad to have had friends with me this time...

it's no wonder that I wanted to share my lagniappe with them!

(smile!)

And why did all of that come rushing back to me today?

Well, it's because of the Bill Nighy film I watched yesterday afternoon.

Titled "Living", the 2022 film is actually a near-copy of "Ikiru", a 1952 film from Akira Kurosowa, with the locale changed to England instead of Japan.

So why had that brought the penguins to mind?

It hadn't; it brought Mr. Popper to mind, and his dealings with City Hall.

You see, he'd phoned to get a license to have the birds as pets.

That launched a truly hilarious song in which the three receptionists gleefully - but oh-so-politely - transfer his call from one department to another, each time greeting him with "hello, it's City Hall, we're so happy that you called" before he would speak just a few words of his request and have it translated as more appropriate for some other department to handle, not the one he'd reached.

Hahahaha! Hahaha!

Sure, I realize that isn't so funny when you're the one calling in... 

but dealing with bureaucracy is one of the rites of passage to adulthood, n'est-ce pas?

For real.

Well, in the movie yesterday, the main character is Mr. Williams, who has served in the Public Works department for decades, maintaining stacks of unprocessed requests for this building permit or that construction project, without any of those ever making any progress off his desk or the desks of his colleagues.

Enter three women, trying to get the eyesore trash dump in their neighborhood transformed into a playground for the area's children.

The folks in Public Works, when the ladies' petition arrives to them yet again - as it seemingly has on a regular basis - dutifully sends them around to the other departments - Safety, Parks and Recreation, Children's Affairs - and then, when the threesome again arrive at day's end right back to them, the petition is taken in by Mr. Williams and filed away for later.

Again, it's funny to watch because it wasn't happening to me and because I've gone through similar rigamaroles numerous times in my life, right?

Then, Mr. Williams receives news from his doctor; the cancer has progressed and is terminal.

That's when he realizes his life "as a gentleman, waiting on the train to go to his office", the life he had thought was so grand as a child, has no meaning.

After a couple of false starts at living, he determines to help the three ladies in their quest, even though it means much of his time will be spent waiting in others' offices for the sign-offs from their departments.

Quite a touching performance from Mr. Nighy.

I just may have to see it again.

(smile!)