Sometimes one just has to laugh

I choose to think of this event, in retrospective (I mean this in the sense of observing something in the past with perspective - heck, maybe that's what the word really means...), as funny. I was working at the Smith for an event - more on that later - and wanted to also maintain contact with mom and get her in her zone - watching BBC news and such. So I called her and warned her about half an hour before the show started. I called again at 6, which is when the BBC begins to check in. Well, she couldn't figure out how to turn on the TV. I tried walking her through it - from getting the remotes - she was confused and thought that the phone and the TV were somehow the same thing - she kept telling me "it" said "in use." Took me a while before I realized she was talking about the phone and not the television. (Which is terebi in Japanese - the weird things we remember...) Anyway, she couldn't get the remote - or any remote - to work on the TV. I was working, so I told her to forget about it (hahahahahaha) and to read her book instead and I would fix things when I got home. Well, I got home and found that the correct remote was not anywhere to be easily found. She had found two remotes - one for the blueray player and one for the stereo. Obviously neither of those would have ever worked to turn the television on. I tore the living room apart looking for the third remote. Nothing. Nada. Rien, even. Then I had an epiphany-let and sure enough, the remote, according to mom, had walked upstairs to her bedroom all on its own! Wow, what a clever remote! Are we laughing yet?

I was at the Smith for a longish while yesterday. We had a kick-off event to some sort of fundraising. Yay! (Ok, I know more about it - just not going to talk about it). I went early so that I could help Kelly to feel more comfortable and supported. Good thing I did. The stage needed some re-arranging so that we could make it presentable for the presentation portion of the program and to be able to bring the movie screen in. Lights needed to be focused - which I did - on the podium - which I had forgotten I had put behind a big door - but David found (because that is where he has often stashed the podium) and sound needed to be finished setting up and tested - Amp on last and off first - have to remember that! And there were also sundry other things to take care of. Table and chairs for an acting bit - and to top it off, we had to work to get a nifty presentation, made by one of the staffers operational. The laptop we use to present things has an outdated version of Powerpoint on it. So we used another staffer's mac laptop. I am not a Keynote expert - so getting things to work took a bit of mental sweat. Sigh. But eventually everything came together - as it often does in a production - and life was beautiful.

Last night was movie night at Chez Schoen-René and we watched Warm Bodies. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be - many of the best bits had already been shown in the trailers. Still, it was fun. Mom said she was going to have nightmares - let's hope that isn't/wasn't the case.