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i woke up early. partly because i was too angry to stay asleep, and partly because i wanted to press the idea that the couch isn't a bed because it means i can't use my living room. 10am i was surprised to find my roommate actually awake. he waved to me from the couch, i waved back expressionless. he went back to sleep. his bedroom door was open but his friend was still inside snoring. i made as much noise as possible, to give them the hint that maybe they should be waking up as well, but after a night of heavy drinking, they wanted to sleep in. i made myself an omelette and blended a smoothie, eating it in my bedroom in front of the computer, waiting for my roommate to get up so i can use the living room. he didn't wake up until almost 1pm, and by that time i'd already rehearsed what i was going to say to him a hundred times in my head. i even went on craig's list and did some apartment research on his behalf. instead of embarrassing my roommate outright, i decided to wait until his friend left, whenever that was.

there was a lull in the minor snowstorm around 2pm and i figured that was the best time to return to belmont, a temporary reprieve from my k-infested home. there was still an ongoing flurry, big chunks of snow floating from the sky. nothing was sticking to the ground though, so there wasn't any difference in riding. my mother was home, doing some laundry and watching streaming videos on the computer. hailey was out in the backyard when i made her come back inside. it was her first snow experience but it was still business as usual, digging a few new holes in the lawn. she was hyper but eventually i did manage to get her to sleep for a while. she did wake up a few times while i was watching a nature program on television featuring bird chirps and wolf howls. our old dog never knew how to watch television, or even acknowledge his reflection in the mirror. hailey is the exact opposite. maybe it's because she's not too clever that she will stare at her own reflection or become alert when she sees or hears something on television. not sure if all labrador mix are like that.

i'm beginning to notice that my mother does practically everything in the house, from laundry, to cleaning, to cooking, even feeding the dog. my father does some stuff too, like mowing the lawn or pruning a tree, but most sundays when i return to belmont, he comes home from work and surfs the web until dinner is ready (sometimes he'll help with the cooking). my sister doesn't seem to do a thing, sits on the couch watching television until dinner. ever since she got her annoying blackberry, that thing is always beeping with messages, and she's always running away somewhere to answer them, or she's not around when it beeps and we have to tell her somebody called. those things should be banned from dinners.

it wasn't going to be a fun ride returning home. although it'd stopped snowing/raining, the temperature was now below freezing with a strong wind that felt like it was in the teens. i borrowed a scarf to keep my neck warm, but i knew the biggest problem would be my hands. knowing they'd hurt from the biting cold almost made it less painful. when i finally got back, i felt like i spent the past 5 minutes in freezing temperature of outer space. my hands were so frozen that running them under cold water actually felt warm.

my roommate's friend was still here, having practically spent the entire weekend living in my house. when he finally did leave after 11pm, i heard my roommate fumbling with the washing machine dial. "are you washing your clothes?" i asked him, "it's kind of late, and it's going to be pretty noisy." he hesitated. "i didn't wash them because my friend was here." so now that he's left, it's perfectly okay to run the washer, which is right next to my room so i'll be able to enjoy the noises. i told him if he really didn't have any clean clothes, that he should wash them, so he did. i spent the next hour listening to the washer followed by the dryer. i figured it was too late for me to give my roommate another talk, saving that for tomorrow.

tried watching single room furnished (1968) last night but it was so painfully boring i decided to move on. the movie is famous for being the last film jayne mansfield ever made before she was killed in a car accident. i've always thought that JM was the poor man's marilyn monroe.

next up was van nuys blvd. (1979), a late 70's teen sex comedy. the teen sex comedy is a lost genre, now that the rating board has a PG-13 middle ground. but back in the heydays, a movie was either PG or R, so you had the type of films geared towards a teen market but with a lot more allowable raunch since the subject matter would be too much for a PG film. the irony is although these movies were made for high school aged kids, most of them weren't old enough to see R-rated movies anyway (but many did, it was a badge of honor sneaking into an R-rated film, or knowing an older "guardian" who would vouch for you).

van nuys blvd. starts with a bang as bobby (bill adler, a multi-ethnic actor who can look white, hispanic, and asian all at the same time) visits his nympho girlfriend who can't seem to keep her clothes on. all she wants to do is make out, while bobby seems more concerned with finishing his beer and reading a magazine. when he sees a television news story about drag racing in van nuys, he wants in on the action and decides to head down there with his sweet ride, dumping his girlfriend in the process. a muscle car you think? no way, a muscle van! and believe me, the van is always a'rockin! when bobby arrives in van nuys, his first stop is to a burger joint featuring carhop waitresses. bobby can't seem to keep the nymphos away and soon he's doing it with waitress wanda (tara strohmeier) in his love van (kinky burger sex ensues). bobby is then challenged to a drag race by a girl name moon who is driving an equally impressive muscle van. moon is played by playboy playmate miss february 1973 cynthia "cyndi" wood who is probably better known onscreen as the playmate of the year in apocalypse now (1979, although in fact she was PMOY 1974). unbeknownst to them, the police is cracking down on racing and sets up a speed trap that lands everyone in detention at HQ, including a young woman named camille riding with moon (played by melissa prophet, former beauty pageant queen who becomes a high class call girl later on in life, so goes the rumor). because of the overcrowding from so many arrests, the holding cells are coed, and that's where all our main characters meet. veteran drag racer chooch (david hayward) is taking it easy, having been locked up numerous times and knowing they'll all be released in the morning. greg (dennis bowen) is the last member to get tossed into holding. although he doesn't know anyone, he claims camille is literally the girl of his dreams (they met before, at a gas station, before getting into a fight with her now ex-boyfriend) and she seems to be charmed by his heartfelt claim. greg suggests they should all go to the amusement park the next day to ride some monster rollercoaster. chooch thinks amusement parks are for kids but agrees to come along anyway after being called a chicken (he is in fact very much afraid of rollercoasters). it's at the amusement park where they all becomes friends, as greg pairs off with camille and bobby with moon. chooch gets a girlfriend too when he picks up a girl hitchhiker flashing her boobs on the side of the road. turns out she's wanda the waitress bobby met his first night in van nuys, but the two of them pretend to not know each other when introduced. she ends up making an honest man out of chooch, who swears off drag racing and reverts to his given name. camille sort of has a fantasy about doing it in her bedroom while her parents are in the house, which results in all sorts of hijinks as red attempts to sneak inside undetected. and what's a 70's movie without a disco dance scene? bobby acts like he can't really dance but channels his inner john travolta once he's out on the dance floor. the movie ends in a drag race between bobby and moon. bobby beats moon, which makes her think all he cares about is his van, so bobby decides to drive the van off the side of the highway to prove his love to her. works like a charm!