RandomCha

I went to the tiki paradise Monday night, and wow. It’s where I want to be. Got some pictures. Very tricky though, because the lighting is purposefully dim and mellow. Certain photogenic friends of mine, ahem, couldn’t make it. But when they do go I bet they’ll get some great snaps.

Andy made it to Indianapolis safely on Monday. Since then his dad has continued to improve. However it’s been diagnosed that he now has arrhythmia and needs to have a pacemaker installed. The docs want to wait until tomorrow to make absolutely sure that there’s no risk of infection (he has no fever but does have a slightly elevated white blood cell count). Once the pacemaker has been installed he’ll need another two days of recovery before being released. But there’s no major reason why he’d have further complications. I told Andy to tell his dad that if Dick Cheney can do it, he can do it too.

All this means that Andy probably won’t come back to Chicago before Friday, if not later. But that’s okay. I miss him terribly; but on the other hand, having the run of the apartment ain’t bad.

Surreal. Surreal.

The secret lives of mass-produced objects

Home just now from Trader Vic’s.

The Trader
Toronto Sour
Dr. Funk
Hot Rum Cow
Siboney

The place is dynamite. Everyone was so nice, the drinks were fantastic, the food was scrumptious, the atmosphere was heavenly. I’ll be back soon. So many flaming drinks in one sitting! I really miss Andy. I wish he’d been here to experience it. Can’t wait to go with him when he’s back in town.

When politicians talk about small town America, they’re talking about Bedford Falls.

Some of my thoughts about the greatest movie of the season.

Andy’s father is in critical but stable condition. The cardiologist will be back tomorrow to see how he’s doing and (hopefully) begin to give us a clue as to what could happen from here on out. Meanwhile, Andy has bought a bus ticket to Indy for tomorrow. I’m staying behind. This is partially a terrible reason, but I have no vacation time left; and things at work over the next week are all about wrapping things up for the end of the year. Beyond that, although it would be really great to be there with Andy while all this is going on, it would also add to the commotion. His uncle can be a bit frantic. Andy has to be picked up from the bus station, will most likely be spending all his time at the hospital. He’s taking his laptop with him, so he won’t completely be off the grid. It’s hard to let him go alone, but it’s the way things have to be. He’s not sure how long he’ll be staying. Hopefully only a few days. But who can say?

I know if he was writing this Andy would thank everyone for all your kind thoughts.

Boy, Christmastime can be screwy. We just have to take this thing one day at a time.

Southland Tales [2006]

1. Justin Timberlake’s porkchop sideburns.
2. Boxer’s nervous habit of tapping his fingertips together.
3. Wallace Shawn’s combover/painted face combo.

I wish I could be more witty in dissecting this movie. This movie is a mess. But it’s a gargantuan, flamboyant mess. Somehow it combines all the worst elements of David Lynch’s Dune with the last half of The Magic Christian and, dare I say it, Judge Dredd and The Apple. This description makes it sound a lot better than it is. It’s pretty much an utter failure as a movie, yet it’s completely bizarre wrongheadedness ensures that it’s never dull. Instead it has a hundred interesting ideas, all of which are shallow and go nowhere. This will go down as one of the most unique cinematic disasters of the early 21st century. It should have stayed a graphic novel (or perhaps just a treatment).

Last night I was sitting on the couch listening to "The Nutcracker" and starting on my Christmas cards when the phone rang. It was Andy’s dad. Yesterday morning he had a heart attack. It was amild one apparently, because he was able to get himself dressed and ask Andy’s uncle to drive him to the hospital. He’s resting comfortably there now. He’s due to have further consultations with his doctor today and may stay another day for observation. It was thrombosis. We really don’t know much more than that, other than that there doesn’t seem to be any immediate danger. And we’ll have more news soon. The fact that his dad was able to call us from the hospital and even joke around about it are good signs.

The eerie thing is that Andy had just gone down to Indy to see him over Thanksgiving, and two evenings ago they’d had a long phone conversation. Taking about job woes. So scary to think that only hours later he was having a heart attack.

Andy’s dad doesn’t think there’s any reason why he won’t still be able to come to Chicago for Christmas, as was our plan.

I had been writing Christmas cards and putting things in them like, "What a surreal year it’s been." Yes, it has. The extremes of good and bad have been so extreme that sometimes it’s like "Once in a Lifetime." How did I get here?

Thanks for all your kind thoughts.
 

Holy moley!

Chicagoist just got linked to on Andrew Sullivan’s blog.

If only it had been one of my posts 😦