GAAH!

If I make it through the next two weeks without having a heart attack or a nervous breakdown I'll be greatly impressed.

Things are falling apart at work. My boss' daughter who has been trying to get a liver transplant FOREVER is now critically ill so NOW they're going through the whole process of finding donors for her.

Her mother, my boss is going through the process of becoming a live donor, which is where they take a piece of your liver and put it in the recipient and then it grows back for both of you. Fortunately, it looks like they have some openings for tests and surgery this month but that means that my boss will be away one way or the other either to be the donor or to look after the kids for her daughters.

Unfortunately, that means that the weight of tax time will fall on my shoulders. Plus I have this one deadline that I'm supposed to be meeting but I have barely had a chance to work on it since all this other stuff is happening. PLUS, I've been running around doing a zillion other little things because my boss is in the middle of an audit with one of her clients.

I'm stretched in ten different directions and wondering when I'm going to snap. Even rubber bands as resilient as they are, can be stretched too far.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Old Movies

I had forgotten how much I love old movies. Every time I manage to catch one on TV, I realize all over again how much the movie industry has lost. Especially in the area of leading women. There are very few actresses today that I would put next to the leading ladies of the past.

Last night I happened across The Big Heat. A 1953 B&W movie starring Glen Ford and Gloria Grahame.

Ford plays a cop who is trying to solve a case where everyone seems to be on the mobster's payroll. It was subtle and classy. Two of the many things that seem to have disappeared from movies today

Yes, they're making way more money than they used to but the quality of most Hollywood movies today is poor. This old movie had violence but it wasn't the 'hit you over the head' kind of violence movie makers today seem to favour.

The cop's car blew up with his wife in it; one of the gansters groupie's got a cigarette ground out on her hand and the ganster's girlfriend got her face scalded. But you didn't see it. Instead you got to see the reactions of the people around the characters.

I liked that. This movie was two hours long. And although by today's standards it would be considered quite tame and boring, I found myself throughily involved.

Hurray for Hollywood.... Fifty years ago.