Hi all,

I hope everyone's doing well! 

I'm doing pretty well following my first week back to work after a week-long staycation.  I got a lot done during that week so am hoping now I can focus a little more on JABB.  I really have missed writing and even updating the web site!  But more on that in a bit. 

God bless,
Jenni
The Friends and Barbenheimer

So as I mentioned last time, I went and saw Barbie for my birthday.  It was great!  I have not, however, seen Oppenheimer which means I did not successfully complete Barbenheimer opening weekend.  But the whole phenomenon made me wonder how various characters would have responded.  So... below are my guesses on the movie viewing choices assorted Friends would make.

1.  I think Andrew and JenniAnn would feel like they should see Oppenheimer, the latter mostly cause she knows Andrew experienced the bombings… but they’d end up at Barbie.  They'll most likely wait to see Oppenheimer when it's available for streaming.  I think they'd probably plan an overnight at their cabin sans kids so they could deal with any resulting feelings in peace.  Meanwhile, JenniAnn is just happy that she has the very bestest Ken who happily moved into her lavender dreamhouse without even attempting to turn it into a mojo dojo casa house.  Scratch that.  Andrew is not a Ken.  He is an Allan because Allan is way better than Ken.

2.  Steve and Ed were committed to seeing Barbie from the get-go.  They took their entire household and everyone wore pink.  In all seriousness, Steve and Ed likely will eventually see Oppenheimer because as a once (and future?) principality, Ed probably feels like he should in solidarity with all principalities who were impacted by the bombings. 

3.  I think Takoda and Joccy would successfully make it through Oppenheimer and then use Barbie as a palette cleanser. 

4.  Peter and Emma will see neither because they're too busy chasing around two little ones.  They haven't seen a movie in the theater since pre-COVID days.

5.  Shelby would want to see Opennheimer but then probably flake out because Violeta was acting jittery so they’d wind up at Barbie.

6.  I think Max and Rose and Catherine and Vincent would be the only couples fairly strongly in the Oppenheimer camp due to their interest in history... although seeing Vincent in a pink feather boa a la George R.R. Martin would be loads of fun.

7.  I think Aziraphale and Crowley are pretty strongly Barbie just cause they’ve seen enough destruction.

8.  Jamie saw both movies because she thought she should be prepared to deal with any of the Friends' resulting emotions.  Weird Barbie was definitely her favorite part of the experience.

9.  The Albany contingent took turns babysitting each other's kids so they could have date nights.  They all went to Barbie except Adam who saw neither because he stayed home every time.  But don't feel too badly for him because he got to actually play with Barbies with the kiddos.

10.  Joshua didn't need to see either movie because he already knows exactly how they both play out but Maryam wanted to see Barbie so he and Yosef took her.  Joshua proudly held the camera as his parents posed in front of a "She's everything.  He's just Ken" poster... but Maryam continues to insist that Yosef is not just Ken.
A Message from JABB's Home Office

So I've come to realize that part of my writing block was due to dissatisfaction with my writing environment.  My office/guest room is where 99% of JABB is written but it was not in a great state.  Leo had completely sullied the guest bed.  I think I could have planted a small plant with the amount of dirt I found in the sheets!  However, since my overnight guests are few and far between, it felt like a waste of water and detergent to keep washing the bedding only for Leo to be the next occupant and muss it up again.  On top of that, towards the end of her life, Danika had had a few accidents on the carpet and despite shampooing the carpet, it still looked quite bad.  Thankfully, over my vacation and into this weekend, I was able to pull up the carpet and wash the bedding.  Everything looks so much nicer now!  Wood floors!  And I have hopes the guest bed will stay clean until I have an actual guest because Leo can't jump quite as well as he used to so I don't think he'll be going up there much, especially when my bed is lower to the ground and, thus, more accessible.

Anyway, here's a resentful Leo glaring at me because he was mad I took the carpet out.  He's since warmed up to the new rug.


Another thing I did that made me feel better was revamping Danika's old chair.  I didn't have the heart to get rid of it but it's also too small for Leo.  So... now I have an axolotl chair. 



When I first bought and moved into this house over fifteen years ago, I didn't have enough money to furnish all the rooms.  So while I bought stuff to give myself a nice bedroom befitting a grown-up, I just re-used all the stuff from my high school/college bedroom at my parents' house for the guest bedroom given I knew it wouldn't be used terribly often.  In fact, it didn't even have a bed for a few years.  I guess I thought I could just throw an air mattress in there in the interim.  Even with the improvements, it still very much has the look of my adolescent bedroom but I'm actually fine with that.  It seems appropriate since that's how old I was when JABB began. 

Anyway, here's hoping my mind will be a lil clearer now so I can focus, finally, on "The Advocate"!


This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye for giving me something to look forward to after all the cleaning and such!

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(Photo Credits: The photograph used on this page is from Touched by an Angel and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions.  It is not being used to seek profit.)