Monday, September 08, 2008

It's Britney's redemption, bitch!

Hello, everybody, as I'm once again in beautiful (and rural and tiny) Rocky Mount, Virginia for the rest of the week before returning home to Fairbanks on Friday. I'll get to my final goodbye to Grandma Mildred over in North Carolina in a bit, but first...

A year after we were mortified over her so-called "comeback performance", Britney Spears at last night's MTV Video Music Awards from the Paramount Studios in Los Angeles (yes, they've returned to California for the first time in ten years) didn't even sing or dance this time around. She was there with a purpose: to finally collect her first moonmen after years of losses, which she did; three including Video of the Year
for "Piece of Me". And you can tell the Britney we've known, loved, and lusted has returned: she decked out in a shiny silver gown.

But the person to still feel sorry for after last year's show? Kanye West, who went home with no awards but had something to be proud about as he closed the show after Britney's third award.

I have seen portions of it (I am out of town, but you know MTV will repeat the whole damn thing gillions of times this week), but I'm sure things went smoothly for the VMAs this year after that Las Vegas mess, all thanks to Britney Spears still well on her way to being Britney Spears yet again.

It looks like we're not the only ones heading to the polls this fall to decide a new leader. Canada's getting in on the fun as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday set the election date for October 14 in an attempt to strengthen his rule in the wake of a dying economy here. Whatever the outcome will be, this will no doubt be a preview to our big one in November...except that there's no attention-grabbing politician from some cold U.S. state who's still getting all the glory after last week's Republican National Convention and her daughter's pregnancy and that she's not related to one of the cast members of "Monty Python"!

And last but not least...me and the rest of the Allen family bid a final and fond farewell to our grandmother Mildred on Saturday with a funeral at the Red Bank Baptist Church in Germanton outside Winston-Salem. I was among one of the pallbearers handling the casket.

The funeral -- a "homegoing service", according to the church's pastor -- started out quietly, but became a bit more livlier than Larry Conley's Fairbanks funeral later on (and looking back, it was very serene). Of course I had something to say about grandma, stating that in the 87 years of her life, she was indeed the glue that bonded our family together. I even ended my remarks with the "so long and stay strong" phrase that I always close this blog with.

After the funeral, burial at the nearby cemetery, and some food and fellowship back at the church, it was over to Sue's house back in Winston-Salem (Sue being Mildred's daughter) where, after a change of clothes, we really let loose! I don't want to go over the details.

I was hoping there would be little threat by Hanna as I was watching the weather, but the final goodbye to Mildred Louise Forrest Allen still went without a single drop. The sky was clear that Saturday afternoon...clear enough for Grandma to see forever in heaven. So long and stay strong.

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