I have 2 stories left to write. Will I write any today? Waiting for my tea to be ready. I guess I’ll have some tea and then take a nap eventually. I’ve been reading for about 45 minutes and I was beginning to zone out. The Dave Eggers book is entertaining. Emotionally, though, I feel at arm’s length, sort of detached from what I’m reading.

Do I really want a digital camera? Do I want something else? Do I really want anything else? I feel apathetic about birthday presents.

“Ghost World” was sure a great movie. It’s so low key that you might mistake it for just a casual movie. But it’s not casual. There’s a lot of serious observation going on. The entire cast was excellent. Sometimes the best thing you can say after a movie is, “I sure hope the director gets to make another one.” That’s how I felt after this one. Terry Zwigoff really impresses me.

Tea is done. But too hot to drink. I totally need a better chair for this desk. This one kills my back. I wonder if it’s still raining outside. Nothing but junk mail today.

Had a great dream last night. I was visiting New York. I got there and someone introduced me to Rob Reiner. He shook my hand and seemed really glad to see me. “I’m happy that you’re finally here!” he said. “You know you look just like my dad, Carl.”

“That’s funny,” I said. “You and I both have the same names.”

“Wow, you must be really hungry after your trip. Please have some of this … I made it just for you.” He showed me a skillet with potatoes and cheese and eggs, a sort of casserole, and offered me some.

Later on I was at this Roadhouse-type bar at the top of some building, sitting inside on a high barstool around this table. David Byrne was there, we’d been introduced, and I was telling him how much it meant to finally meet him, that I’d just met Jim White a few weeks before, etc. We talked about his work a little. “Is it really true that you’re going to be writing the score for the new Raul Ruiz film?”

“Well, maybe,” he said. “I might. But at this point, it’s just a rumor. They really like to stick rumors in the news about this stuff.”

Then Philip Glass came in and we talked with each other, and he and I went elsewhere and had lunch together and talked … I don’t remember our conversation, but after lunch he took me back to the bar and dropped me off there. David Byrne was still there and he was talking to Laurie Anderson.

I went over to Laurie and told her how great it was to meet her and how wild it was to be meeting all these people in the same day. I wished that someone could have taken a picture of all of us together. Then I asked her, “Is it true that your new album is coming out August 21st, the day before my birthday?”

“Well, yes, at least it’ll be available at some of the big record stores then.” She paused and sensed what I was thinking and said, “Why, do you want to me to run up to my office and get you a copy and autograph it for you?”

“I guess you wouldn’t want me to play it for anyone until the 21st …”

“No, you wouldn’t be able to.”

“Maybe we can make a deal …”

“I could just mail you a copy on the 21st. But you could get that done anywhere else.”

I don’t really remember how the dream ended except that I don’t end up getting a copy of her new album. This is the first time I’ve had a dream with all 3 of them in the same dream.