I woke up early this morning so on the way to work I went to Dunkin’ Donuts on State and sat there for awhile with coffee and donuts, reading the new Hitchock biography. Right now he’s working on “Shadow of a Doubt” with Thornton Wilder. I need to see that again. Andy is a complusive listmaker, and yesterday he compiled a list of every film he’s seen in 2003, whether on TV, DVD or at the movies. And it was well over 100. Since he started keeping track in 2001 (we started dating in 2000), he’s seen over 400. Which I guess means that, yes, we do watch a LOT of movies.

One day I want to get back into making films. I’m waiting for the right moment. Until then I will keep writing, which is cheap, fast, and easy to share. Mel Brooks once said that Goya could draw a masterpiece for 10 cents, but it takes $1 million to make a movie.

Tonight is the NYE party with Andy’s old Barnes & Noble friends. I’m strangely looking forward to it. I have no hesitation to get a little sauced tonight. Andy has no idea who will actually be there, so there’s a bit of mystery in the air.

My old college friend Dylan will be in Chicago this weekend, visiting from NYC. So we’ll pal around on Saturday and visit some of the old haunts. He wants to see what Wicker Park is like these days; he live d there in 1999 before moving to NYC. I told him on the phone last night, “Well it’s really different but it’s the same.” I think he’ll get a little sentimental over Chicago, being back for the weekend, but he won’t think about moving. People who move to NYC almost never move away. Wallace Shawn once said that NYC is the perfect prision because it’s a prison where the prisoners never try to escape. They talk about leaving sometimes but they never seem to actually do it.

Supposedly there is a rumor that today will be a half day here at work but the Big Boss hasn’t made any announcements yet to that effect. We’ve been told that FedEx won’t be coming today because they’re closed. Which means we can’t ship out any orders until Friday anyway. But I think the Big Boss just sees this as an annoyance rather than as an opportunity to take it easy. I dunno; I just want a nap when I get home so I won’t peter out shortly after midnight this evening.

There’s a pretty interesting interview with a cranky Gore Vidal at http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17442