RandomCha

Last night I took part in a 2-hour ‘focus group’ (i.e. market research session) about air travel. Yadda yadda yadda, I now have a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the continental U.S. that Southwest flies! Portland, here I come! (In January).

“Umm, James {IT dept head} is out sick today … do you guys need to print today?”

Finished a new draft of the novel! 43.5K words! What does it mean? Not … too … much. Needs work.

from Daily Kos:

“Republicans will no doubt continue to wail about the criminalization of politics, faced with a truly remarkable array of investigations, indictments, and, well… felons. But if you don’t want politics to become criminalized, the answer would seem to be transparently obvious — don’t commit crimes. Not really sure why that never occurred to them.”

A Rob-invented cocktail that’s delightful at any time of the evening.

TRANSBLUCENCY

1 1/2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. blue curacao
3/4 oz. dry vermouth (Noilly Prat)

Shake ingredients vigorously in an ice-filled cocktail shaker until very, very, very cold. Strain into a frosted cocktail glass and serve immediately.

The latest CBS News poll has Bush’s approval rating at an all-time low of 35%. Nixon’s lowest approval rating was around 27%. So let’s get to work!

If people would like to come a bit early for DVD night, I think there’s talk of ordering some pizza …

I have been banished from the apartment this evening because there is a take-home cataloging mid-term in progress. Anyone wanna hang out?

MY TEN FAVORITE HORROR MOVIES
(listed alphabetically)

“Alien” (1979, Ridley Scott)
“The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935, James Whale)
“Dawn of the Dead” (1978, George A. Romero)
“The Exorcist” (1973, William Friedkin)
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1955, Kevin McCarthy)
“Psycho” (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
“The Silence of the Lambs” (1991, Jonathan Demme)
“The Shining” (1980, Stanley Kubrick)
“The Thing” (1982, John Carpenter)
“Village of the Damned” (1960, Wolf Rilla)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Yesterday after lunch I had a delightful walk by myself, through streets strewn with leaves and warm autumn sunshine. I wandered to the White Elephant Children’s Hospital resale shop and found some treasures, including a hardback copy of “My Other Life,” by Paul Theroux, for 50 cents. It’s arguably my favorite novel by him.

Andy and I made a wonderful dinner consisting of broiled jerk chicken, steamed carrots, and warmed crusty roasted red potato & rosemary bread. Accompanied by a delicious red Spanish wine and Shostokovich string quartet. Damn near felt like a Woody Allen movie. So “grown up.”

Then we watched two rather disappointing Halloween flicks. Specialty Video was picked over, so I rented what we could. First off was “The Masque of the Red Death,” directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price. Very stylish, pretty good script. Not scary though. Next up was “The Howling,” directed by Joe Dante. I know it’s a cult movie, but … I just think it’s mostly dumb. It should’ve been done as a farcical comedy. Then it could have worked. The best things about it were the cameos by Roger Corman and John Sayles, and Dick Miller’s hilarious turn as an anything-for-a-buck occult bookshop owner.

I think that this upcoming weekend could bring the finish of a new draft of the novel. If only I can come up with enough inspiration for the last page. I’m close. I’ll be watching my dreams this week. That’s where the best ideas come from: the subconscious. I need that ending.

At the moment I’m sick of politics. I really am. Maybe I’ll dig into the whole topic a bit later today. Still daydreaming about Canada.