Deborah Woehr

I’ve been keeping tabs on the X-Files movie since Chris Carter began dropping hints about it six months ago. He told the media that the movie wasn’t going to have aliens or the underlying mythology that made the TV show so popular. If the movie wasn’t going to have these elements, what was it going to be about? That he refused to tell anyone.

The movie previews started airing earlier this week. While my husband’s reaction was indifferent, I was still curious to see what Carter had produced. I went with a friend, who also was a former fan. Is the movie as spectacular as Carter promised it would be?

No, but it was a very good movie. Carter made good on his promise not to rehash the old themes, save the classic tug-of-war between Mulder and Scully over their beliefs. Neither one is working for the FBI, but they are called to assist in the disappearance case of a young FBI agent. A psychic (who also happens to be an ostracized priest and sex offender) leads the search for the missing woman.

His visions are hit-and-miss enough to create conflict between Mulder and Scully. He still wants to believe in unexplainable phenomenon while she thinks they’re working with a sick crackpot. Meanwhile, another woman gets kidnapped when a snowplow knocks her off the road. That’s when the plot kicks up several notches and things get decidedly weird.

While there is plenty of suspense, there were no jump-out-of-your skin moments. Maybe because I’ve watched too many horror and suspense films. That said, I enjoyed the movie very much and would recommend it to any X-File or crime buff fan.

I remember my childhood summers as periods where there were short bursts of fun, followed by long bouts of restless boredom. Summertime isn’t much different for my boys. Today was my first flex day since I returned from my vacation, so I thought I would treat them to a movie and some lunch.

They had no interest in seeing The Hulk, WALL-E, or Iron Man. So when I saw that Hancock starred Will Smith (an actor we enjoy very much), I decided to take them to see this movie. Based on the trailer I saw, I figured this movie would be a comedy about a reluctant superhero. Fifteen minutes into the movie, I debated with myself whether to take the boys out of the theater because of the adult themes and language. Hancock is a drunk with an attitude and supernatural abilities. Nobody likes him because of his attitude and inappropriate behavior.

At one point, he tells the son of a struggling PR man (played by Jason Bateman) how to deal with the bully on his block, using explicit language. He winds up getting thrown in jail because of all the damage he’s caused to buildings, cars, etc. While there were some funny parts, the gist of Hancock was about a man who was trying to come to grips with being different and unpopular because of his supernatural abilities. Overall the movie was good, but I wouldn’t take little kids to see it.

After the movie, we went to lunch, amazed that we were able to get a table during the lunch rush. I can thank the Apple store for that. We shook our heads at the long line of people who stood outside the store in order to buy the new iPhone. For all I know, they’re still standing there, waiting to get suckered and frustrated. My oldest subscribes to a blog from a man who stood in line for three hours, only to experience problems activating his phone once he got it. Here’s an article about today’s bumpy launch.

This year, we visited Monticello, which is the home of Thomas Jefferson. The grounds were quite impressive. Jefferson was a farmer, among many other things. Before our tour started, an older gentleman led us through the backyard and told us about the hurdles Jefferson had to face with cultivating his crops on top of a mountain. That part was interesting, but when he started delving into flowers and horticulture, we quickly became bored.

It also happened to visit on one of the hottest days with matching humidity, so we were very glad when we got to go inside the mansion for a tour. Almost everything in the house was in its original state. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the rooms, so all I have is the outside. Virginia is a beautiful state, but I didn’t like the humidity.

Also, I noticed another thing. People around there drive so slow. Being from California, where everything is rush-rush-rush, it was hard to get used to. The friendliness of the people on the East Coast was a welcome change, however.

Next, we visited the National Space and Air Museum, which is an annex of the Smithsonian. I was good for the first five minutes, long enough to take some snapshots of my family in front of the space shuttle. Then I bailed for the cafe, where I wrote in my journal while the men looked at old planes and such. From there, we went to see my husband’s family.

We spent the Fourth at my husband’s aunt’s place in New Jersey. The kids swam all day while the adults visited and played cards. Last year, we got rained out by a thunderstorm. It rained again this year, although not bad enough where we had to cancel the festivities. My husband and brother-in-law went crazy with the fireworks because we have restrictions in our state.

Everybody had a great time. None of us wanted to go home because we were so relaxed out there. We got out of Philadelphia with no problems, however there were two men in the airport that really freaked me out. My part of the country is such a melting pot of race and culture. It isn’t unusual to see an Arab man dressed in his native clothing walking down the street. But there was something about those two strangers that made my hackles raise.

I looked over my book at the man sitting kitty-corner across from me. He was dressed to the hilt in Islamic clothing, complete with the long square beard and the hat. I started to turn my attention back to the book when I noticed a large Mr. Coffee box sitting on the floor next to him. There was no way that he could stow that box in the overhead compartments.

I watched him text message something, and then noticed that his associate, who looked just like him, was doing the same. He also had a Mr. Coffee box sitting next to him. At that point, I got very unnerved, but kept my mouth shut. My family and I boarded the plane. They stayed behind for whatever reason.

We landed in Chicago without incident and went to the airport version of Chili’s to pass the time. Shortly after we gave our order, my husband looks at me and asks if I had seen those two men. I told him that I had. We voiced our feelings about them and wondered what were they doing inside that airport. He told me that another woman was eyeing them as well, so we weren’t the only ones being paranoid and suspicious.

All of us were grateful to sleep in our own beds that night.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. Mine was spent back East, with my husband’s relatives. We left Friday, June 27 and came back late last night. I wasn’t sure what we were going to come home to, due to all of the fires we’ve been having. This shot was taken from my backyard, two weeks before we left.

The air wasn’t much better when we left that Friday morning. In the sky, we saw the smoke trailing all the way into Nevada. Then, when we were in Philadelphia, my mother-in-law announced that 1,400 wildfires were blazing up and down the state. That wasn’t big news back there, so we heard snippets here and there.

Thankfully, our home was still standing when we got home. We welcomed the cool night (and smoke-free) air when we got off the plane. It was so refreshing after dealing with the heat and humidity all week. We all had a great time. I’ll write more about my trip later, when I’m more coherent.