Lady Brunches and Jumanji: The Next Level

My social life---such as it is---occurs every two weeks when my Gathering Girls pals meet for brunch. This week we had a good time laughing and catching up on each other’s lives and talking about the Golden Globes and fashions. I wonder how much money those movie stars spend on tape to keep their bosoms from falling out of their dresses. Cleavage at the Golden Globes was so unnatural you couldn't help wondering what the heck they were thinking. And the makeup. I guess I'm not someone who should be judging in that department, given I only wear Burt’s Bees Lip gloss. I did buy a lipstick at a Mary Kay party one of my gal pals hosted last fall but it’s too expensive to wear/waste on an ordinary outing. And that, dear friends, is why I have a drawer full of rancid, outdated makeup that will be purged out of my life on one of these long, winter days. I’m getting old. I should look an everyday outings as events worthy of the wearing the good lipstick, the Joy perfume, the like-new underwear that I save for doctor appointments. My friends do. Well, I don’t actually know about their underwear but they always smell good and look polished from head to toes.

And several of my gal pals enjoy shopping for new clothes, something I hate doing. One I call the Queen of QVC and another is such a classy dresser I love sitting next to her hoping her fashion sense will “jump ship” and come live with me for a while. They still all enjoy putting on jewelry. I still enjoy seeing mine all lined up in its box. Sometimes I’ll actually take something out to try it with an outfit but it ends up right back where it came from because I can’t bring myself to wear jewelry with my orthopedic tennis shoes. My whole wardrobe revolves around those shoes because I can’t walk without them. A year or two ago I actually did buy a pair of Mary Janes with orthopedic guts, made in Israel and costing as much a car payment but like the Mary Kay lipstick in the drawer, they sit in my closet waiting for a special event. 

At one point during our long brunch we turned our conversation to Trump’s latest headline grabber…the killing of Sokiemani. Our resident Trump supporter wasn’t present so we could compare our thoughts openly and I admit I got a bit fiery. We all fear we’re seeing the beginning of another, long war and we questioned whether he did it to take the attention off his upcoming senate impeachment trial. He lies so much how could anyone trust what he says or does? Needless to say, none of us were happy about what happened over the weekend like one of my in-laws on Facebook was. She posted a meme saying, “This is what a REAL president looks like.” How could anyone support a president who whines/brags on TV that he’s not going to follow international laws against destroying ancient wonders and cultural places in Iran? Does he not understand that if we target their Hyrcanian Forests it's not only a war crime but they’ll come after our Redwoods? And if we destroy their revered places of ancient Persian culture it doesn't make us any safer, it just makes targets out of our revered museums. Trump is undermining and destroying our country from within with his thumbing his nose at domestic and international laws. I wish he would quit waving his penis around and start using his other head when making decisions that affect us all! 

Rant off and back to our 1^st Monday’s brunch. Afterward two of us went up to a little town north of the city to see the Movie, Jumanji: The Next Level. We saw the second one in this franchise and wanted to see this one even though I doubt we're in their target demographic, being that neither one of us would know one end of a gaming joy stick from the other. We had a great time but thought this one was a tad harder to follow than the other one. Or are we just getting older and slower? Either way, it helped that I’ve had a thing for Dwayne Johnson and Jack Black’s style of humor for a long time. And Nick Jonas is eye candy for all but the dead. He had me wishing I had a great-granddaughter I could hook him up with to keep the guy just one family gathering away at all times. Of course, he'd have to bring that black horse with him and wear that old pilot's jacket to make the eye-candy thing work for me.

IMDb says the following about this action-comedy: “the gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to rescue one of their own, the players will have to brave parts unknown from arid deserts to snowy mountains, to escape the world's most dangerous game.” It was entertaining but dragged a bit at the beginning when they were setting the characters up but once they entered the game it was so fast moving and funny you didn't want to take your eyes off the screen. Danny Devito was added to the cast, playing a grouchy grandfather who in the beginning of the film often said, “Getting old sucks!” but after they’d all won playing Jumanji when he started to say, “Getting old---“ his grandson cut him off saying, “I know Grandpa, getting old sucks.” “No," came the reply, "I was going to say getting old is a gift. I forget that sometimes.” And that’s a good note to end this post on. ©