Potpourri 11

Mom

Mom, who is also referred to as Dr. Brunt throughout my pieces, is the #1 fan of Bellview. Mom is also the moral center from which I operate, so even though I normally would prefer to hose the good people of this world, doing so would make me look bad in Mom's eyes, and we just can't have that. Also, the reason I see so many matinees is because my mom used to be the biggest supporter of the dollar theater in her old neighborhood; even when they raised their prices to a whopping $1.99, Mom still gave them the love all the time. But, even at $1.99, she's right--if you see a lot of movies, you can't afford to go dropping $9 a pop for flicks, especially since about 80% of movies ain't no good.

The Doctor, who runs her own educational consulting business out of her home, will always be one of my heroes because of what it must have taken to raise two ruffians alone while working and earning her Ph.D. at night...this is probably why I am always inwardly irate whenever people bitch about being "busy", because I have seen "busy" first-hand and 99% of the people I know that don't have kids are rarely what I would call "busy." (Don't let me get started again!) But, it has made my management of time spectacular, growing up in that kind of environment, because I know that when my time comes to raise little Bobby and little Sally, I know that I will have to be diligent in order to get everything I want to do done.

On the flick front, Mom has taken me to many movies over the years, but I will never forget that she took me to see R-rated action films before I turned 17; my first R-rated flick was the Schwarzenegger flick "The Running Man", which is still near the top of my Schwarzenegger list after my fave, "Total Recall." Mom also took me to see "Die Hard" when I was 14...man, what a great movie.

My brother...

Dave Bell

...came with me to see "Die Hard", and while Dave and I only see flicks once or twice a year now, we spend most of our time talking about movies we have seen years ago. Dave's favorite film of all time is also my favorite comedy of all time, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka", a film that Mom and I think Dave has seen over 100 times all the way through. Dave--who is always referred to as Dave Bell because that's how he still signs birthday and Christmas cards--has the best laugh of any person I have ever met; it's the only truly infectious laugh I have ever been around. Dave also goes out more than I do, which I am always amazed at. In the cold of night last weekend, we hit a couple of bars in downtown Rochester, and Dave had this posse of about 15 people that were out for his birthday. Apeshit, just the way I like it! The good times machine is always rolling when Dave Bell's in town.

My brother is also the guy that seems to remember everything that has happened to the family during the weak moments in our lives; whether it's somebody saying the wrong thing (like when my dad blew the name of one of his favorite artists Steve Winwood years back by saying Steve "Wilson" about a half-dozen times without realizing the error), or doing the wrong thing (like when my dad drove his Saab forward over a parking restrictor), Dave has an uncanny ability to remember everything you have ever done wrong ever. It's frightening, really, especially when you are the one that has blown stuff over and over again and then Dave has an audience to entertain.

Dave, a former college basketball player and now a JV basketball coach up in Rochester, NY (aka "Snowchester"), is nearly impossible to catch on one of his two cell phones--amazing, when you think about that--but every time he does show up, he is the epitome of Not Fuckin' Around. A loose cannon that shoots from the hip when he's around friends and family, he's just about the opposite of...

Anne

..., my stepmother and the silent-but-deadly type that keeps my kid sisters and my dad in line whenever possible. Anne insists that she does not want her goods spilled onto the online edition of Bellview, but when you've been in the family this long, you almost don't have a choice!

Anne married my pop in a ceremony 20 years ago, and one of the best things about Anne is her family, who love playing card and board games almost as much as I do. In fact, every time I come up to Snowchester for either Turkey Day or Christmas, I know I can count on a heated match of either Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Rummikub or any other game in which I get the chance to blow her family members away for my once-a-year appearance. Man, who doesn't love board games with the family???

However, the best memory I have of Anne growing up is of her now-legendary attempts to "watch TV" during the week when she finished dinner and moved from the kitchen to the pink recliner we used to have in my father's living room. Like clockwork, sometime between 9:30 and 9:45, we would look over at Anne and she would be out like a light, and she has this real light (but not so light that we couldn't hear it) snore that would sometimes overtake the living room, so normally, everyone would clear outta there and watch TV in the Dad Room, that special place that Dad thought was his own but was regularly invaded by Dave and I to watch games or talk smack to...

Dad

...about his pitiful Chicago Bears or his lowly Los Angeles Dodgers. Dad, who still lays claim to the fact that his trademark Big Breakfasts were the precursor to the current state of Bacon Party, instilled the value of a good meal early on in the family. Be it conversations about ribs, a chores session where he made me clean the entire Weber charcoal grill one day growing up (took about eight hours; we STILL make jokes about this), Big Breakfast--where Dad would provide Brown 'N Serve sausage, dollar-sized pancakes, Wegman's glazed donuts and the occasional round of bacon--Tony's Pizza on Friday nights or wings from any number of local restaurants, my love of food probably comes from my dad because growing up, he could never seem to cook anything that wasn't bad for me.

But, Dad's greatest food accomplishment? The Late Night Snack, which Dave and I used to think was literally invented by the man 25 years ago. I can still remember nights where--and I mean, we're talking 11 o'clock during the week, a lot of times--Dad would go from his office to the kitchen, where he would make the most elaborate cheese-and-cracker platters a man had ever seen, pour himself either a lemonade, a tall glass of water or a Cutty Sark and then proceed to meticulously pick off bite after bite, all the while enduring laughter by my brother and I as we sat baffled watching the man eat food this late at night all the time. (It should come as no surprise, then, that I have carried the torch of the Late Night Snack in lieu of Dad by regularly hitting diners after club trips with anyone willing to glutton themselves.)

Dad's temper is legendary; Dave and I knew growing up that at any given moment, the man could snap, and luckily, he has stayed consistent over the years even if he is getting ever more chilled out as he advances in years. Dave seems to have captured memories of nearly every time that Dad has flipped out; for me, it's moments like the one where he lost it at a McDonald's drive-thru where the attendant had much-less-than-perfect-English but still tried to take Dad's order, leading him to criticize the state of the American fast food industry in one four-minute tirade. I always wonder how many of these great tirades my kid sisters have had to endure.

You didn't know I had kid sisters? Well, there's...

Cate

..., the 16-year-old that has gone alternative, in direct response to her stuffy, normalized environment up in Rochester. It's funny, Cate would look right at home back in San Francisco, but in Rochester, her personality and attitude are a bit out of place, but she'll make the adjustment sooner or later. Cate's a lot like Dave Bell; she's normally a bit more reserved around people she doesn't know, but she is intensely loyal to those that are close to her. But then again, Cate's a lot like me, in that she loves movies almost as much as I do. We usually talk shop about flicks that I have seen every week or two, and Cate is also the one that--with two friends at camp months ago--started the Secret Bacon Society, an act which alone has gotten her into the Bellview Hall of Fame.

Cate, who's almost as tall as I am, also seems to have fallen in love with instant messaging; it's usually the only way to reach her each day, and she changes her screen name more often than you change your underwear. I'll give her credit, though--multitasking comes quite easily for her, as evidenced by the last time I was in Rochester, last week: with ease, she manipulated eight different conversations while watching music videos and playing solitaire. It's weird to me, seeing kids using technology now; I'm so glad I grew up without a working PC, so that I would go out and play every day, or at least hang out with friends in person each afternoon, instead of doing it over the Internet. Weird.

Which brings me to...

Sydney

..., the weirdest girl I know and my other sister. Even growing up, when Syd and I were constantly running around the house or re-enacting bar fights, which featured Cate, Dave and I as brawling cowboys and Sydney starring as "Cookie", the piano-playing bartender that always jumped into each brawl, I knew that Syd had class-A weirdo potential.

But, that's why we love her, because with Syd, you really have no idea what she's going to say next until she says it. Although, she does consistently tattle and give up secrets with reckless abandon; if you tell Syd something in confidence, you can pretty much guarantee that in the next 20 minutes, the person you had tried to hide details from will know your exact plan because your cover's been blown by her.

Syd is also the resident diva in the household; she sings in the chorus, she performs in the drama club at her high school, she's the more athletic of my two sisters, and she is by far the more extroverted of the twosome...and, she has the knack to be the eager beaver in the group at every turn. I still tell Syd that growing up she used to always be the one in the car on the way to/from activities that she could literally talk her way to sleep--she would tell stories incessantly (that's "non-stop", kiddo) and sometimes, exhausted by the experience, she would literally be wiped out after a long day and 30 minutes of talking, converting her to the prone position in the backseat of the car. Truly hilarious to watch this in action.

I'm convinced that one day, Syd will be the one that will star in her own TV show; she has a zest for life that I wish I saw in everyone if they could summon the energy for it. If so, hopefully she'll remember to make fun of the family while doing it!

Random Bellviews, courtesy of Bell and Longer Community Trust:

Earth, Wind and Fire: Opening Weekend
Cheeburger Cheeburger: $9.50 Show
Having three legs: Matinee
The 2004 Syracuse football team: Rental
Drinking outside at night, temperature--40°: Hard Vice

bellview--i love to nibble

Potpourri 11: Family of Bellview