Movie Going and a Class Reunion to Remember

Last Thursday night (4 Oct.), I was at the Great Escape Gravois Bluffs Cinema in Fenton to watch a special 50th anniversary screening of one of my all-time favorite movies, "Lawrence of Arabia." The movie was digitally restored to the latest high definition standard, with great images and sound. There was a mini-feature on the restoration process before the movie was screened, along with introductions by Martin Scorsese and Omar Sharif (Sharif Ali in "Lawrence"). It's a long movie--about 4 hours long, including a 15-minute intermission--but well worth it for me. The only other time I saw "Lawrence of Arabia" on a movie screen was in 1988, when the film was first restored to its original form.

Earlier that day, I canvassed for Claire McCaskill's re-election campaign. I did so last Monday afternoon and will do again today.

Saturday (6 Oct.) was quite a day for me. First, I was at St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia, Illinois for the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum's Fly-In. I helped staff a model display for IPMS/Gateway in the display hangar. Four club members brought 27 models for the display, which was well-received by the visitors. (Unfortunately, the dreary weather that day kept the turnout low.) During the noon hour, I took a break from the display to phone in my co-host segment of "Writers Block," the monthly Naturally Autistic Radio program. Host Tim Pylypiuk and I discussed music lyric writing, offering up our perspectives on this genre and playing examples of music we particularly like for the lyrics. (In my case, it was Billy Joel's hit "My Life.") You can download that show from the website http://www.naturallyautistic.com/radio-show.

Back to the display, I met two gentlemen who had interesting stories to tell: one with a collection of hobby-related motion pictures, the other about his time working for McDonnell Douglas. Both are candidates for speakers at an upcoming IPMS/Gateway meeting or banquet.

That night was the one I was really looking forward to: the 30th year reunion of the Mehlville Senior High School Class of 1982. The event was at the Upper Deck Sports Bar & Grill of the All American Sports Mall in Mehlville and we had a great time all around. Well over 100 classmates and significant others (in a few cases, the significant others were classmates) attended and I heard nothing but praise from classmates I talked to regarding how this event came together. It was so neat to see many classmates I have not seen in person for years--in some cases, 30 years. In a way, I wish it could have lasted all night, so I could spend even more time with them. At least now we can touch base more with classmates online until the next reunion.

Sunday afternoon (7 Oct.) found me at St. Louis University High School for Premier League soccer matches. I worked three games on SLUH's soccer pitch, with two middles--back-to-back. One of my crewmates had begged off his middle, as he already had worked a lot of games that weekend, so I said I would. Fortunately, the matches all went well.

Last night (10 Oct.) saw me working the phone bank for Scott Sifton's state senate campaign. Hard to believe that Election Day is just under four weeks from now.

Later.