July

About that E. 58th St. building collapse: Why is no one writing about this? There was only one really short article out of all the newspapers I checked. Why are all the interesting/important-sounding news stories dropped so quickly?

My mind was racing last night as I was trying to fall asleep. I thought about taxes, state governments, federal government, economics & politics in general, and a dozen other topics I don't remember this morning. I got out of bed twice when I briefly gave up on trying to fall asleep. I eventually got to sleep, and the alarm came very early this morning. For once the traffic did me a favour though. I would have easily gone back to sleep after hitting snooze a few times, but the honking horns are in full force this morning, so they got me mad enough to wake up enough to get out of bed.

Except for a few minutes of trouble getting the left one out, I got my contacts out last night quickly. And now they're back in. I love my contacts.

I think the math test went really well last night (could have gotten 100%). But I'm nervous. Until this summer, every math test I've ever taken I thought I did well on but when I got the test back, I had a failing grade. This summer, I didn't think I did well and then wound up getting an A and 2 high Bs. So I sort of wish I didn't think I did so well, but we'll see.

And in not so good school related news: The film instructor is absolutely clueless about how to teach. Last night, he decided that we would look at 2 film movements (experimental and probably Italian neorealist, he's not sure yet) and then have a test on Thursday. How does he expect us to keep up with his constantly changing schedule? All of us plan our lives down to the hour (sometimes minutes), and reading 4 chapters in the book and digesting the movies (which are not movies that are easily understood) will be extremely difficult to do without a weekend to study all of the complex material. I'm really surprised no one complained. I was thinking about saying something to him tonight but don't really know how to approach that in the best way. I'll think about it later this evening.

I had a song in my head last night that Harvey used to sing when he was taking voice lessons. I decided to send him an email and have him guess what song was in my head. I gave no clues- just said "guess what song I have in my head". He guessed right on the first try. I was in shock! This was his second big coincidence in a week and my 3rd. He's not ignoring these coincidences and thinks something odd is going on. I don't know what I think about coincidences anymore (maybe I'll think about that on my road trip during one of the many hours I'll be alone in a car).

I forgot to mention a while ago, that when I went to my bank, there was a sign up saying something like "if you're not an HSBC member, we can not change currency" (and I think there was another sign stating what else they will no longer do, but I don't remember that one). I thought all banks were supposed to do this. I know they charge a fee, so what's the problem with my bank? Just one way to make things more complicated. I wonder if other banks are doing the same thing?

Okay, I just wrote this entry in record time (15 minutes, including linking all the articles, but I did write notes for most of the entry last night), and now it's time to go do the dreaded clothes shopping and then read my damn film book. At least there is no math class tonight.

One word- SNOWBALLS. Okay, a few more words- snowball stand on 3rd @ 71st St. And the guy working there said he would be around the whole summer (not that I will be). This was the most exciting part of yesterday. Unfortunately, the day went downhill from there.

After the snowball, I did have some success in the shopping expedition (3 interesting shirts and 2 boring shirts for under $50). That was the second good part of the day. Why can't these good things stand out when I'm dealing with the crappy things? As much as I tried, I couldn't really remember the snowball a few hours after I had it since so much happened after.

I had issues with Duane Reade not having what I was looking for (and this was a Duane Reade "super store"). I also had issues with Staples. After going up the broken escalator, I saw a line of 25 people and 2 cashiers. I left without picking up what I needed. By this point, I was exhausted after walking several miles in the heat with school books and shopping bags, so I decided to go see a movie since I had the time and was right near a movie theatre. I wound up seeing "Alex and Emma" because that's what was playing when I got there. I was so looking forward to sitting in an air conditioned theatre. Movie theatres are always freezing, right? Not this one. They didn't have the A/C on at all until we complained. It did eventually get freezing (after 30-45 minutes). I didn't really like the movie, but it served its purpose (relaxing in a cool room, watching a mindless movie after being exhausted and dehydrated from my long day). My biggest problem with the movie was that every time Emma went to wait for the bus, it was just pulling up. ;-) And this was in Boston.

The evening continued to go downhill. After taking the time out of my busy day yesterday to start reading the chapters for the film test, our instructor decided last night that rather than have a test on Thursday, he would just have more information on the final. I could have saved the reading for over the weekend when I'll have more time. I'm glad I did decide to stop reading the film book yesterday (I was going to read the rest today and tomorrow). And I don't like the book. Not only does it do a terrible job at explaining abstract concepts, when it analyses a film, it gives away the entire thing. We started watching "Breathless" the other night and finished it last night. Well, when I was reading about it in the book yesterday afternoon, it gave away the ending. I really did not appreciate watching the end of the movie in class last night, knowing how it ended.

So problem number one with the film instructor was more about how he never sticks to anything. Problem number 2 also relates to his constantly changing his mind. He told us that when writing our film review, to not look at specific techniques, styles, cinematography, etc. but to just write a response on what we thought of the film. Well, I did just that. His comments on my paper stated that it was a very well written review but adding more information on the style would have improved it, and he gave me a B+. Now, a B+ is fine, but not if the only critique was something he told us NOT to include. I am definitely going to say something to him after class tonight. Right now, I'm nervous about both the grade he'll give me on the midterm and about how to go about taking the final (especially since he's given us no clue about what material it will cover). Meanwhile, never in a million years did I think I'd have a higher average in a math class than in a film class.

Every night I leave the film class pissed off. Not only his teaching methods (he's not even a good teacher- he doesn't supplement the book with any of his own information- I don't think he even has any of his own information- I think he's a slacker who is just teaching this class for extra money) but the choice of movies we have to watch. Right now we're watching "Mean Streets", the last movie we'll watch. Except for the first 2, which he only showed so we could get a sense of how movies are made, everything we've seen has been depressing and/or violent. This class is called "Introduction to Film", NOT "Introduction to Violence in the Movies". This is partly the book's fault though, since it mentions all the movies he's shown. This guy thinks teaching is repeating stuff out of a book. If he went with his own methods, he'd be much better. I don't remember anything he's told us that came from the book, but I remember almost every detail of the story he told us about trying to pick up his car when it was towed. And I liked the 2 movies he picked for the beginning of the class- the ones that dealt with making movies. He did that part on his own; they weren't in the book.

I remembered my dream when I first woke up, but I went back to sleep for an hour after that, and now I can only remember that Abby was in my dream, and I'm not even 100% sure about that.

I couldn't get my left contact out last night, so I just slept in it, put the right one back in this morning, and will do my best to get them both out tonight.

If I wanted to simplify my psychological evaluation of my film instructor judging by the films he shows (and the little he mentions during class), I would say he's a naive, unambitious guy who has issues with his father. Enneagram? I'd say he's a 9.

Today I'm going to try a different Duane Reade (only because it's near the snowball stand, so it's a good excuse to get a snowball today) and then eat my snowball while reading more of the film book. Then I get to see if I really did as well as I think I did on my math test. If I get an 89% or above, I'll have an A- average AND don't have to go back after tonight. I was talking to the woman next to me (who is also doing well) before the test the other night, and she said that she ran into the professor that afternoon and asked if we had to finish the class if we liked our average without the 5th test and final, and she said no, we could just disappear. I'll actually miss this class. Still can't believe it.

I figured out why I'm particularly bothered by traffic noise when I'm trying to fall asleep. I don't fall asleep easily. Every night, I try to lay quietly and try to focus on feeling tired enough to doze off. Every time a motorcycle roars by or someone sits on their horn for a ridiculous amount of time, I lose my concentration on trying to fall asleep and have to start all over. There is traffic noise at least twice per minute. It usually takes me 2+ hours to fall asleep. If I wasn't interrupted as often, it would probably take 1-2 hours (sometimes even less). Last night, I got so frustrated from the noise, I angrily got out of bed and did a couple mindless things before trying to fall asleep once again. Then this morning, it was the traffic that woke me up. When it's the same noise keeping you from falling asleep and waking you up earlier than planned, it's like nothing happened in between the 2 noises. It really feels like I didn't sleep at all. I think I'm going to try putting foam in front of the windows and hope that blocks some of the sound. I don't care if I can't look out the windows in my bedroom. I'll just go into the living room if I want to see something going on outside. Paula and Harvey will be up here a few times while I'm gone, and Paula said she would have Harvey look into it while he's here. So if things go well, I might have everything all set when I get back. This seems way too convenient, so I'm not getting my hopes up, but it would be amazing if it works out.

More about traffic: At 4:00 yesterday afternoon, I was waiting for the bus and decided to do a vehicle census while I was waiting. On 3rd Ave between 54th & 56th, while everyone was stopped at the light, I counted: 2 buses, 3 commercial vans, 4 commercial trucks, 2 cabs, and 29 regular passenger vehicles (this includes the creeping along side street traffic- about 4-5 passenger vehicles). And taking the bus up 3rd, we inched forward until all the individual cars and SUVs turned to take the 59th St. Bridge (at least the traffic thinned out after that). Not that I blamed them. With the shrinking availability of public transportation, even with heavy traffic, driving is probably the most reliable way to get to your destination on time.

I got another snowball yesterday and actually found a bench only a couple blocks away to enjoy it while reading more of the film book. Love it and will do it again today.

As I was walking over to Hunter, I saw the film instructor closing his car door (he got his car back the other day)- an old BMW. I ignored him. Then as I was about to walk into the building, I saw the math instructor walking the other way (didn't say hello to her either). I've never seen any professor outside of the classroom and yesterday I saw 2 of them.

Math: I was all ready to get my test back and find out what my average will be without taking the last test, and she didn't have them with her. I have a feeling she knew everyone would leave if they were happy with their grades (most people would be thrilled just to pass and since most people are passing, most people would leave). It's really just postponing the inevitable and pissing off a bunch of people who were ready to be finished with this class, but oh well. So we had a regular class, and she said she would bring the tests the next day (today).

While watching the end of "Mean Streets" (which I liked only slightly more than "Taxi Driver", and that was mainly because I like Harvey Keitel), I realised that Allan Katz reminds me of Harvey Keitel. Probably wouldn't have noticed if Allan wasn't just in my dream the other night.

While waiting for the film class to start, I found out that the instructor wrote the same comments on several other people's reviews that he did on mine but also crticized a guy for having too much analysis. What is this guy? Diana got an A+ though (I read it, and it was very well written but didn't include much about style). Anyway, I talked to him after class and no matter how much I tried to explain that I wasn't only upset about the grade but was worried about what he would expect for the final, he only seemed to want to explain why he gave me the grade he did. He kept saying that he doesn't give out many As and he doesn't always grade fairly because there are so many papers to read. When I kept asking about his expectations for the final, he just told me that it would be mostly essays that we could choose from and as long as we read the book and came to class, we would be okay. This makes perfect sense for any other class, but not his class. He takes 2 minutes to mention a few points in the book, we watch a movie, and he takes 2 minutes mentioning the innovations of the movie. I don't know what I've really learned in this class. I guess I'll try to look at my notes and try to find more information on those points online since the book doesn't expand on any one point. And then I'll look for reviews of the movies we've seen to see if they mention more about the innovations used. So I gave up on trying to figure him out by reading through his vagueness and just accepted the fact that he's going to take my review with him to read again to see if it deserves a better grade.

I don't know what to wear to Brian & Rebecca's wedding. I can't call Rebecca right now since her father is in the hospital and she's up in Michigan with him, but I guess I can call her in the middle of August and hope that leaves me enough time to find something if I can't wear the dress I got last fall. I decided to call Jon tonight and ask him what the dress code was, but he didn't understand. He said people would be dressed as they would at any wedding. I don't have much to compare, but when I went to Daniel & Naomi's wedding on a winter evening, it was dressy casual. Bob and Pam's wedding during a summer day in a park was wear-whatever-you-would-wear-to-a-casual-day-at-the-park. Rebecca told me that Rose's wedding was in a park but people were pretty dressed up (she sent me pictures). So I don't see a pattern to go by here. I don't think I've ever felt completely appropriately dressed for anything though, so maybe I will just wear what I got last fall since that's easier than trying to find something slightly less dressy. It's better to be overdressed than underdressed. And I'll still be carrying my bulky purse and my hair will be in its this-is-how-I-decided-to-look-today look, so I won't look appropriate no matter what I choose for a dress.

And now for my yearly tradition of listing searches people have done to find my site (I'll only include the more interesting searches- the majority of searches were for cities, restaurants, and other businesses):
- obsessive list maker compulsive
- facts about why people like basketball
- blind in my left college
- molassas boston history alcohol
- my boyfriend is a homebody and wont go anywhere
- medical school admissions redeeming bad grades
- halucination pictures
- who is david loshak i need some information on him
- stigmatas in the 2nd century
- shannen dougherty and criminal
- wwi+plane constuction
- show lyrics of ti new song 24s
- mourning sunshine craig bierko
- kiss me kate gangsters terminology
- customer service lyrics lack of service
- naked pictures of jk rowling
- live show audience participation other men
- where is the flying j's restaurant in st george utah
- medicine doesn't effect me
- snapping turtle in swimming pool
- robitussin picture
- conceirge service for teachers
- jpgs of trash cans
- panic giantess movie
- the weather underground 60's radicals
- stretched hummer for midtown madness 2
- sudbrook teachers nude
- matt holden from catonsville and drinking
- eric lewis jazz piano dc 2003
- trash shute rental portland
- back scratcher producers in asia
- denis leary french croissant
- revco setting cold alarm
- dead or alive beach volleyball tracklist
- ifrane the wonderland of the middle atlas
- red scotish checks pants
- john barrowman + sexuality + family
- craig and george crazy
- indian roommates cockeysville maryland
- cheap plane tickets to morocco from either boston or new york on the dates of june 28-july 5
- tucci's mushrooms
- +smoking ban +new york +bars +noise +200 am
- boston molassas accident
- catchy titles for research papers about cinco de mayo
- lugano hostess bars sex
- dog mating movies
- horse mating movies
- greyhound incidents
- violent j's autograph
- smithsonianrandall nix
- vault bank memorise and destroy london
- organising a messy home - cleaning schedule
- what workout did cameron diaz have to get her body for charlies angels 2
- sylvia sherry buffalo ny home woman
- activities or evalution after a space shuttle lesson
- explosives fires practice questions
- average attendance yankees tuesdays
- show pictures of trees in baltimore md
- pictures of scottsdale business buildings
- edinburgh amsterdam transportation
- waking up angry
- rules for mao-card game
- she peed on him
- going to sleep too late
- differences between aquaintences and friends
- find kramer's lobster shirt for sale
- hollywood parking stuctures
- portgual wedding
- hooka seattle
- funny farm hotel in interlocken
- narrowing of vessles in eyes
- pictures and infomation on the pefect schools around the world
- translation brahm's lullaby
- metrocard read error

Now I have to get to work. I actually have a website consulting job, believe it or not (haven't done this in a while).

My to-do list for tomorrow is tremendous since I pushed a few of Tuesdays things and almost all of yesterday's things to tomorrow's list. Hope I can get it all done and still have time to read the rest of the film book so that on Saturday and Sunday I can start looking online to supplement (which will actually be to get most of) my information.

Now I'll try to finish 1-2 things on my to-do list for tomorrow and then head up to school.

I heard super loud motorcycles all night last night. At one point I looked out the window and saw a pack of 10 of them all racing down the street together. And they were not cops. WHY?!?

So traffic kept me up for a while last night, but the most amazing thing happened this morning. It was quiet. I didn't hear a single honk or motorcycle or loud truck (and only 1 emergency vehicle) all morning. I love July 4th!!!!!

We got our math tests back last night, and I got 100%!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't feel like I did anything wrong, but couldn't imagine doing everything perfectly, especially on problems I'd never seen before. But I did it! We all stayed for the class since it would be rude to take our tests back and leave, but I didn't really pay much attention. I'm finished with math!!!!! And... I have an A average! I really will get a better grade in math than in film.

So math is done. Wish it was the film class that was finished instead of the math. I really would have thought that a film class would make me want to rent a ton of movies. This class has not made me interested in even one.

Last night, the film instructor did a better job of explaining his grading policy. Bottom line: he does not give out As. If a paper is publishable and goes above and beyond what he asked, he'll give an A+; otherwise, he'll give an A- or B+. What's wrong with an A? And as another woman in the class said, "How do you expect people in an INTRO TO FILM class to write a piece that could be in the New Yorker?"

The strange part was that after this little speech, he gave us our midterms back, and the few people I talked to, along with myself, got As. He didn't read our essays though. There was no way he would have gotten them back to us by the end of the term if he had actually read them. Instead, he just marked the multiple choice and true/false with checks or Xs and then put checks next to all the essays (unless there were some that we didn't answer- in which case he put an X). So I got 2 of the multiple choice wrong, which is still an A. This makes the final somewhat less daunting, but not enough. I still have no idea what I've learned in this class and have no idea what we'll need to know for the final. It would be nice if he told us to write an essay comparing & contrasting the last 2 films and then another one comparing & contrasting the 2 documentaries, but I'm afraid that would be too logical. When he doesn't decide until the night before what to actually have us do, who knows what he'll wind up with? He's too wishy washy and vague to teach anything.

Oh, and yesterday I searched for information on him and found 2 reviews he wrote of theatrical productions in Toronto as well as a play he wrote. All were written on the level of an adolescent (and not an adolescent with a gift for writing). And now that I think about it, in all of the movies we've seen in class, the main characters have had similar adolescent qualities.

Neil called today so I could play travel agent for them. They're up in Boston with their friend Laurie & some of her family for the holiday weekend. Eight+ hours in a car with 2 little kids and a teenager? Must have been a LONG ride.

I feel pretty good about completing my to-do list for today (and also completing some of the "sometime before trip" items on the list as well). I got a good start this morning, which makes me feel more relaxed about the rest of the day.

I haven't heard from Brie or Stephanie about my staying with them. Stephanie just got married and said she would be away the first 2 weekends in July, so I'm not really worried, but hopefully I'll hear from her on Monday or Tuesday before I leave or at least by Thursday when I'll check my email in Pittsburgh. I'll call on Thursday if I don't receive an email, and if I can't get in touch with her, I guess I'll just bypass Chicago and find a quieter route to Grand Junction. That would be sad though. As for Brie, if I don't hear from her by the time I'm in Grand Junction, I guess I'll have to figure out an entirely different route back east since I don't really want to go through rural Arizona and New Mexico.

Okay, I just looked at the map, and I think I'd actually prefer going through rural Colorado to Oklahoma and them drive straight across Oklahoma than do the route I had planned if I went to Phoenix. Now I'm actually hoping I don't hear from Brie, since even though I'd love to see her and I'd like to do a few things in the Phoenix area, I don't think it's worth going that far off my prefered route.

After the crowds leaving the fireworks last night, causing much noise in the traffic scene, the streets got quiet, and they remain quiet today. I LOVE holiday weekends in the summer!!!!!

My to-do list is continuing to shrink. I really feel that the amount left will be easy to complete by the time I leave, and I won't feel rushed doing it. The hardest thing to do before I leave is get a parking spot outside my building to make the loading of stuff slightly easier.

The other day, a cousin of mine called. I met this woman once, sometime in the 80s, and don't know anything about her. She lives on Long Island and will be coming into the city tomorrow with her husband (they're seeing "Thoroughly Modern Millie"- I will try to refrain from giving my opinion) and wants to get together for lunch. I decided to say yes. Don't know why. If I wanted to leave my apartment to eat on a Sunday afternoon, I would go to a Lunch Club lunch. But since I said yes, I will use tomorrow to do some more clothes shopping rather than go out another day next week like I was originally planning. I'll figure out where I should go later tonight. And I'll cut and colour my hair tonight instead of tomorrow.

I thought about everything I knew about "Breathless" and "Mean Streets" today (since I'm pretty sure we'll have an essay on the final asking us to compare them), and I think I know enough to write an essay. It will be a crappy essay because I can only write one sentence on each point, but at least it will include a lot of information. Now I just need to think about the 2 documentaries we saw since I think he'll also include an essay asking us to compare those as well. I read all the chapters he asked us to read, and I'll look over them again on Tuesday and Wednesday. And that's all I can do for now. Who knows what he'll throw at us on Monday and Tuesday though. I can just see him asking us to read some more chapters or show another movie or both, rather than review everything we've "learned" for the past 5 weeks.

Not a bad day.

First I met Sharon & Michael for lunch at Marlowe's. Not a place I would have picked, but they did have a delicious chilled fruit soup as a first course and the omelette I ordered was fine. Sharon was irritating but having Michael there made it more tolerable. She likes everyone and everything (meaning she obviously doesn't think too much) and Michael was more realistic and I think had a dry sense of humour (but he didn't let that shine through often enough). And Sharon is the kind of person who just likes to hear themselves talk. Every story has the same intensity, whether it is interesting or not. I really felt like a springboard. She'd ask me a question, I'd start to answer, and when she heard the beginning of my answer, she had a more interesting related story and cut me off to tell it (and of course I never had the chance to finish my answer). After we ordered, I got to see pictures of family members I've never met, and once again, the male looked more interesting than the female. Their daughter married a religious Jewish man and is now religious too. They live in a proper house in Silver Spring, MD and have at least 3 kids (I couldn't tell how many there were from the pictures since they all looked the same, but since there was 1 picture with 3 kids, I assume there are 3 but there could be more that weren't in that picture). Their son has worked all over the world for Accenture, is currently in Montreal, and married a gorgeous French Canadian woman and they have an adorable daughter. Their house and style in general seemed pretty neat. After seeing the pictures, I got to learn about more family members, and Michael reminded me of the wealthy Bennetts (the ones who started Caldor). I really wish I could have known that part of the family just to see how the other half lives (lived? I don't know if they had children or if any are still alive). I'm still not even sure who they are exactly. I should call Harvey tonight to find out more details. Although he barely knows or remembers anything- he doesn't even remember where in the Bronx he was born. The other annoying part of the lunch was hearing all the age-related comments- "you're too young to remember", "you never saw (fill in a number of things here) back when it was nice", "it doesn't matter at your age"... They get so old! Why do people assume "people my age" don't read or talk to people who were around when (fill in a number of things here) happened to learn about these things? I mean, they weren't around during the Battle of Hastings, yet they are able to discuss it without having their age be a problem.

After lunch, I tried clothes shopping in the East 20s. I found a semi-interesting shirt at O M Saree Palace (it's the kind of store with everything being one-size-fits-all (or what I call, one-size-fits-none). Then I found another semi-interesting shirt at Housing Works.

Then I was hot (the stores didn't have A/C, and trying on clothing after walking all over the hot city was not fun) and tired and even though it was a perfect time for a snowball, I decided I didn't feel like walking home from 73rd and didn't feel like waiting 20 years for a bus, so I just went home.

Now I should be looking for information on the 2 documentaries we saw in the film class, but I'm just too tired to deal with anything like that. I'll deal with it tomorrow and/or Tuesday.

Instead, I'll clean up my inbox (which has gotten to be quite a mess in the past few months) and then watch SATC. But first I'll call Harvey just to see if he can tell me anything interesting about the wealthy side of our family.

Oh, but first, 2 slightly negative things from today:
- my left knee (my good knee) was really bothering me. I guess I slept on it the wrong way or maybe I wasn't sitting properly enough yesterday. It's still bothering me now.
- I have some kind of eye infection. I noticed my eye starting to feel strange 2 nights ago. Last night, it hurt and itched. Today I can see a small bump. Hopefully, it will go away in a few days. I'm determined to wear my contacts on the road; even if it means pouring half the bottle of artificial tears in my eyes before taking them out so I don't hurt my eyes trying to peel the stuck-on contact out. Then when I get back from my trip, I'll buy a humidifier to see if that helps (although I don't understand why that would work since I didn't have any problems when I lived in the super-dry-climate of Phoenix, but it's worth a shot).

I have no idea if this entry makes sense since I'm typing in a blur (semi-dehydrated which is making me semi-out of it), but I don't care to read and fix any of it.

Yesterday, when I was walking by the convenient (but crappy) movie theatre near me on 3rd, I saw a closed sign. When I moved here, there were 5 movie theatres within a 5 minute walk; now there are 3. I never understood why this was mainstream-movie-theatre-central, and apparently neither did anyone else. Oh, and there's the Paris Theatre which is also a short walk, but I think they show 1 movie every few months, which is particularly frustrating when you don't like half of what they show.

My good knee (I hope I can still call it my good knee) is still bothering me. If it doesn't get better by tonight, I'll start doing something about it.

Manhattan Theatre Club likes to make things really complicated, especially with their subscriber services. It's almost making me not want to subscribe to their next season. Too bad I really want to see 2 of their shows. I'm not going to deal with it anymore today though; I need a break from them. I'll do it tomorrow.

But I did get a ticket today to Ian Anderson's Rubbing Elbows show at Town Hall in November. The seat is pretty far from the centre, but it's not too far from the seat I had there last September and it was fine visually (the problem I usually have in theatres with my terrible eyesight). I did have to strain to hear some of the dialogue (a problem I've never had in theatres- and I thought Town Hall was supposed to have great acoustics), but hopefully I'll be able to hear enough this time. I know I'll hear the music, but I might miss some of his stories. It'll be worth it.

This afternoon, before I get a snowball and study for film (which involves reading the chapters again in hopes that the material will be useful for the final), I'm 90% sure I'll go see Vendredi Soir. I think the main reason I want to do this is so I can prove to myself that there are still offbeat options in an area that is convenient to me (and Hunter- since that's where I'll need to wind up this evening). I'm still doing well on my to-do list and I don't have much work to do right now, so taking the time for this wouldn't be a problem today. And once again, typing my thoughts helped me make a decision. Now I'm 100% sure I'll go. Why not?

Vendredi Soir was okay but nothing special. It did the job though- proved that there are still things like this to do in my neighbourhood (or close enough).

It was raining when I left the movie theatre, so I figured there wouldn't be any snowballs and didn't want to take the time to go up there and check. I will get a snowball today though. Right before I go to Lens Crafters as a last resort to find clip-on sunglasses (since prescription sunglasses take too long to make and the clip-ons at drug stores [which I've never even see at the drug stores in the city] makes vision even worse. I'm getting nervous about not being able to wear my contacts for the whole trip, especially with this recent eye infection (which I'm assuming is from spending way too long these days trying to get my contacts out). What I'm hoping is that by a week from today, my eyes will be ready to handle my contacts again, and then I won't take them out every night. I've always worn these for long periods of time without trouble. The problem my is dry eyes. I will have the same problem trying to take out my contacts whether it's after wearing them for 3 hours or 3 days. And I just searched for information about my contacts and learned that they're specifically for dry eyes and 9 out of 10 people have fewer problems with these than other brands. So I don't know. Maybe being out of the city for an extended period of time will help. And maybe not. Maybe if I get another infection or have some kind of eye trouble on the road, I'll have to drop off the car at the nearest airport, ship my stuff, and fly home. I'll just play it by ear (or by eye).

I got to class a little early last night and wound up talking to Evan, a guy in the class. He's taken good film classes and thinks our instructor is a joke. He thought he felt that way because he's had such good professors, but I assured him that even if he didn't have those good professors, he would feel the same way about this guy. Anyway, Evan seemed like a cool guy.

Last night we learned why it's always so hot in the room where we have film. They turn off the A/C on those floors at 4:00. Lovely. It was particularly hot last night.

He told us that he would talk more about the final tonight, but I'm still not expecting any clear answers. I'll just try to remember everything I can about all the movies and try to use the terminology from the book in writing my essays. And I will definitely look over my notes. Last night, he put a ton of notes on the board. He still didn't know what he was talking about though. Before every term, he would say something like "the book says..." or "I'm not really sure but..." or "this is just more of the same..." and then give an extremely vague description of what the terms were all about. What a moron. Some of the information was on lighting. I think I know more about lighting than he does, and I don't know much.

Then we started to watch "Daisies". I really enjoyed what we saw, but unfortunately, there was something wrong with the tape and it got stuck about 20 minutes into it. Maybe he'll miraculously fix it, and we can finish it tonight. More likely though, he'll have no idea what's wrong with it, and we just won't get to see the rest of it. Sad, since I'm sure it's next to impossible to find a copy of this movie to rent (I'm not paying $30 so I can own a copy of it). I really enjoyed watching something so different and quirky. And watching the 2 girls on their "adventures" reminded me of when Stephanie used to hang out. So glad I'll get to see her soon (even though it won't be the same as it was when we were younger). One coincidence about the movie: the other day, I bought a scarf on a whim. I've never bought a scarf before and only bought it since I felt like doing something different and it was only $5. Yesterday, I was playing around with the scarf, trying to figure out how to wear it. I never did figure out a way to do that, so I just gave up. In "Daisies", there's a scene with 2 girls in a bathroom and one girl is helping the other one try different ways of wearing her scarf. Maybe there are a lot more coincidences recently.

And I got my review back last night. He stuck with the B+ because I didn't include anything about what the band sounded like. That's true. I included information about their lyrics and only mentioned that the music was perky. I still don't think that one little thing was worth the B+, but I'm done arguing. At least he figured out that he didn't give me a B+ because I needed to include more on the style of the film (which I had included some of after all).

I felt so carefree last night (I still have a ton to do in the next week, so I don't know why I felt that laidback). I sang and played guitar for over an hour- didn't pay attention to the time and felt more carefree than I've felt in a LONG time! It was amazing!

I've had songs from "Spinal Tap" and "A Little Night Music" in my head for the past few days.

My knee feels better today. Thank goodness for the occasional positive thing.

But I've been thinking too much about joint pain and lack of vision and illness in general. There's so much of it. But I don't like most modern medicine (and most of it doesn't work for me anyway). Most modern medicine masks the pain rather than fixes the problem (this is the way people like to "solve" most modern problems- solving the short term is so much cheaper and easier than solving the underlying problem). It just bothers me that there are so many problems a living creature can have. We're all going to die from something eventually; the only thing that differs is how long we'll suffer with our respecitve problems. I really have to stop thinking about this (and the media makes this almost impossible) since I haven't found a way to cope with this fact.

And on that note, I'm off to have a snowball, study, and (hopefully) find some clip-on sunglasses.

Last night, after answering a zillion questions from Bank of America customer service, I learned that I had fraudulent activity on my credit card- mainly a $300 charge from Bell South (no idea how that came about). So, I won't have the card to use on my trip. I'll just have to pay off more of the balance on my other card so I can use that one on my trip. And when I get home, I'll have to organise my finances. Just one more annoyance.

I went to Lens Crafters yesterday since they said they had clip-on sunglasses. Then didn't have any that fit my frames (they only had 5 pairs), but I decided to order prescription sunglasses since they can do them in an hour (I'm going to pick them up today) and I happened to still have the copy of my prescription in my purse. I know this company has a habit of screwing up prescriptions, but at least I have a few more days to keep going back there if they screw up mine.

I heard from Kim last night. Supposedly, she never got my emails about getting together. We chatted for a little bit, and I didn't bother telling her that I would be in Baltimore in the middle of August. If I wind up having extra time when I'm there, I'll give her a call. I just didn't want to make tentative plans that may or may not work out.

The film instructor put extensive film notes up the board last night. He was going to do chapers 7 & 8 but only got through chapter 7, so he said chapter 8 wouldn't be on the final. His notes were only helpful in seeing which terms he considered important, and hopefully those will be the only terms on the multiple choice and true/false questions. If we really wanted to know more about this stuff though, this instructor would be useless. A few people asked questions to clarify some of the information, and the instructor flat out said, "I have no idea what it means"- lovely.

At the beginning of class, he had us write up evaluations of the class. It wasn't the standard fill-in-the-bubble-choices that all the departments do for some of the instructors, this was his own thing. He gave us blank paper, and had us answer 5 questions on what we thought of the class. I'm surprised he did this. I was polite but honest in my answers, and maybe he'll even take our suggestions if he ever teaches this class again (hopefully for other students, he won't be teaching this class again).

It was stifling in the classroom last night. I asked him if it was possible to take the final in another room since the lack of A/C makes it almost impossible to concentrate. He said he didn't think another room was available (I know the theatre is air conditioned, but he might not want us to take the final in a theatre), but he said he would see if he can get a fan. The rain is cooling things off a bit, so maybe it won't be that bad tonight.

I talked to Evan again before class. He's really a cool guy to talk to (he's intelligent, he listens, he's a little offbeat, not to mention gorgeous)- wish I could have found that out earlier. And I talked to another woman next to me while waiting for the class to start. What a nice, sensible, funny, knowledgeable woman. That's why this summer session has been so great- for the first time since the Fall of '98 semester at Scottsdale, I've liked several people in one of my classes. It's just too bad that I didn't find out about the other 2 until the last week of classes.

And last night I reminded myself that it doesn't matter how I study for this final. He always tells us not to worry about anything and makes everything sound like it's not a big deal, and then it is, in fact, a big deal. Who knows what he'll decide is important to include on the final. But I'll go somewhere to study my notes and read the parts of the book that discuss "Breathless" and "Thin Blue Line". Then I'll go pick up my sunglasses and then look over my notes once more before the test.

I just realised that this month I'll tie my record for the longest time I've lived in one place since I moved out of my parents' house- 2.5 years (I lived in my apartment in Phoenix for the same amount of time). I wonder when I'll move out of this apartment. Even though I don't like this neighbourhood, I love my apartment and am in no rush to move.

I have a ton of energy today which is great for getting things done. I'm trying to get almost all of my to-do list finished today so I can do some fun things over the weekend. I already have plans for dinner tomorrow (with Paula and Harvey) and Saturday night (with Paula only). I have plans for shopping and tea with Marcell tomorrow afternoon. I have plans on the first sunny day to see how my sunglasses work in the sun and go back to Lens Crafters if I need them to darken the tint. I may or may not have plans with a guy I've been corresponding with via the Lunch Club (it would be great if he wanted to get together for a drink or something in Union Square before I meet up with Paula Saturday evening- if not, hopefully we can figure out another time that will work). And on Sunday afternoon, I want to check out the Bastille Day Festival on 60th (don't need to stay there long though and it's close, so it will be a quick activity). And what about reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"? I'll try to do that before I leave as well, but I have a feeling I'll be taking that heavy thing with me on the trip.

So I picked up my sunglasses yesterday, and they seem to be okay prescription-wise. They do have a glare problem though. They have the kind of glare I have with my current glasses- I see my eye, eyebrow, etc. reflected in the inside of the glasses. It's distracting to look at something and also see a ghostly, magnified image of my eye and surrounding area. But I'll just deal with that. Now I'm just hoping that they are indeed dark enough for the sun not to bother me. I tried staring at the lights in my bathroom to see what kind of difference the sunglasses made and it wasn't much of a difference. Hopefully it will be sunny on Saturday or Sunday and then I can go up there on Monday afternoon before I have to train David that evening (I hope that evening works for him as I don't have too many other options, although I guess I could go there on Sunday after the Bastille Day Festival- just have to stop back home on the way to pick up the computer).

The film final last night wasn't that bad, but it was too short (the complete opposite of the midterm). If I get 2 multiple choice wrong (there were 2 I wasn't sure about) and 2 points off my essay (the essay was only worth 10 points), that give me a B. In a perfect world, he'd give me full credit for the essay and I'll either get 0, 1, or 2 multiple choice wrong and wind up with an A, which should give me an A- for the class, but this isn't a perfect world. Maybe he'll still be nice to me and give me an A- for the class. I should remember to check my grades when I'm on the road at some point.

I got home to discover that the A/C isn't working in my bedroom. Fortunately, it was cool last night and cool today. I probably should call them on Monday morning to get them to fix it before I leave. I could call them tomorrow but I won't be home for most of the day, and I don't want them coming in here when I'm not home. I'll just have to hope that they can make it on Monday or Tuesday and they can find there way to the unit through the tornado that will be caused by me trying to pack. Or maybe they can come one day when I'm gone, but I won't be around to make sure that happens, so hopefully Monday or Tuesday will work. If not, I guess I'll just try to get them to fix it when I get back, even though I won't need the A/C much after that. But I think the problem with the unit will also effect the heat (I'm pretty sure the filter just needs to be changed, although I don't understand why this problem only ever happens in the bedroom unit and not the one in the living room- I have them both on the same amount of time), so I'll need to get them up here anyway.

On a good note, I had good luck with buses yesterday. I took 3 of them and never waited more than 5 minutes. And they were all crowded- even the new big buses. Isn't that telling the MTA that we need these buses more often? Sure, but what do they care? They're too busy covering up their scandals. Speaking of the scandal- I haven't been keeping up with that (or any news, for that matter, local or otherwise). Maybe I'll catch up over the weekend. Or maybe not. Being "informed" isn't really important to me these days (as is obvious by my lack of articles in this month's journal entries). The world will continue to function whether I'm paying attention or not. And I get upset enough about the things I see everyday- I don't need to be irritated by all the problems of the world.

Today feels like a Friday. At least this time my confusion with the days of the week makes sense, since for the past 6 weeks, I've had to go to classes at this time Monday through Thursday but not Friday. So, this Thursday feels like a Friday.

Okay, time to go back to being productive (which at this point involves finishing burning CDs- definitely not complaining about some of the things on my to-do list).

My computer crashed last night. Wound up buying a new (ridiculously expensive but it was the quickest option) computer this morning. Don't think I should spend the money for my road trip now. I'm 80% sure I won't go or I'll take a shortened version and just go down to the NRV or something, but I'll make my final decision later tonight after the sick feeling from spending money unnecessarily (or what I consider unnecessary) goes away. I think part of the sickness is also from not knowing what they can recover off of my hard drive. If they are able to recover most of my files, I'll feel slightly better about the $75/hour they charge for transfering the data off of my old computer onto the new one. But spending extra money just because it's retail really makes me sick. I almost lost my breakfast (not that I had breakfast) when I walked out of the store. I think what I need to do is think about all the things I've gotten a good deal on or for gotten free, add up what I've saved, and tell myself that the extra money I spent on the computer balances out with the deals. I mean, I did get a free DVD player a few years ago. Surely, that covers the cost of the $75/hour service charge. And I flew business class to Spain using miles (not technically free but it was a good deal), so that should at least cover the $200+ sales tax (wish I could have bought this before the raised the sales tax in the city). And I've gotten plenty of free tickets to Broadway shows... Yeah, that makes me feel slightly better. I'm meeting Marcell in an hour to go to HousingWorks and then get a bite to eat. Maybe I'll find a good deal on some more clothes or I won't find anything which means not pulling out my wallet again today. And tonight I'm having dinner with Paula and Harvey and tomorrow night is dinner with Paula, so that's 2 free meals this weekend. If I could do this road trip without staying in hotels, I'd definitely do it, but there's so much of the country where I don't have friends to stay with, and hotels even in rural areas are NOT cheap. It's a shame to waste the great deal I got on the car though. If I could drive at night, I would take naps in my car during the day and drive at night, but that's not an option. But enough spending money at Kinkos. I'll think about all about this more tonight.

Oh, and I started reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" last night, and between that and thinking about computers/road trips/fate/coincidences, I only got to sleep from 7-9 this morning. Think I'll get some coffee before meeting Marcell.

I just checked IBM's website and learned that the retail markup really wasn't that bad. The main reason it cost more was from having them copy the files from my old computer (something I would have had to pay for even if I waited and got a Dell) and from NYC sales tax. The same computer offered by Dell is cheaper though, which was the main reason I got the Dell when I first bought a laptop.

So, why am I going on my trip? I decided that if I paid retail and didn't go on the trip, I'd be pissed off that I didn't just wait and order from Dell. The whole point of paying retail was so I could have a working computer with access to my files before I went on the trip. Also, I am stubborn, and having all these snags is making me more determined to overcome them all before I leave. I just need to get rid of the feeling that these "little" problems are really taking place to stop me from making the trip, since if I did make the trip, an even bigger problem would happen.

So after I went to Kinkos this afternoon, I met up with Marcell and had a successful shopping trip (a neat shirt and a semi-neat skirt- they don't go together). I really feel better about my wardrobe these days- something I thought I'd never say. Yea.

Then I went to pick up the computer and brought it home before meeting Paula and Harvey for dinner. Dinner was average (my favourite Italian restaurant in the city has gone downhill. Sad, but not surprising.

We took a taxi after dinner, and the taxi had a little accident. The battery died and could only stop at the red light by banging into the taxi in front of him. Fortunately, he was already slowing down because of the light, so no one was hurt (although, my neck did hurt slightly, but that's because it was already hurting from carrying computers back and forth several times today). I tried to get us out of the cab quickly since we weren't hurt and didn't need to stick around to see the big fight (I've seen many taxi accidents from my window recently and they are pretty scary, so I didn't want to get caught in one), but Harvey wanted to see what was going on and wouldn't get out of the cab. That scared me but fortunately, when he saw we were being ignored and the two taxi drivers continued to scream and push each other, Harvey eventually got out and we walked the rest of the way (which was most of the way).

I think I have more to say, but I'm scared to type anymore before figuring out how to disable to stupid back/forward browser keys and I have a ridiculous amount to get through on my to-do list, so I'll stop here.

I wound up calling IBM last night about the horrible placement of the back/forward browser keys, and the guy agreed that it was a stupid thing but there was no way to disable those keys. Not happy.

I'm getting used to XP, but I still don't like a lot of it. I mean, it is still Windows; I didn't expect to really like it. I'll get used to some of the annoying things though. By 1:00 AM, I was having fun with my new computer but really should have been going to bed. Instead, I didn't go to bed until around 4:00 AM. Bad.

I've completed over half of today's to-do list, and it's only 12:30. Feeling good about being able to tackle the to-do-before-I-leave list again. Losing yesterday really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Being the smart person that I am, I decided to call Los Dos Molinos to check their summer hours, and sure enough, they're closed for the month of July. Not surprised- they are owned by a French family.

Short entry- not much to say, and I should to go back to being productive anyway.

Harvey's coincidences and my coincidences are coinciding. I can't remember any of them right now, but it was strange. I would have something coincidental happen and he would have a coincidence related to my coincidence. I think one of them was travel-related. We also have been sharing coincidences. Yesterday he heard a song on the radio he hasn't heard since it was popular in the 80s- The Romantics' "Talking in Your Sleep". I hadn't heard or even thought about that song since it was popular in the 80s. But I just happened to download the song the other day.

Last night with Paula was nice. We had drinks (well, she had a drink, I just had water) at Maya (since Paula really wanted a margarita) and then had dinner at Merchants NY (which was my suggestion and a coincidence for Paula since she read a cookbook last week that mentioned the restaurant). I had one drink with dinner, and it bothered my stomach. I do not understand my deal with alcohol.

Jeff (from Lunch Club) called while I was at dinner, so I called him back when I got home and we talked for an hour. That's why I was surprised today when we met to check out the Bastille Day Festival that it was uncomfortable and boring. We had nothing to talk about. Everything we tried to talk about lasted for 2 sentences. And the festival was beyond crowded. That's what happens when you put a festival in the middle of tourist-land (60th between 3rd & 5th) on a nice summer day. I wanted to get a crepe but did not want to wait in the line that had 25 people in it. There were several food booths and each one had at least 25 people in line. The non-food booths were less crowded but nothing special. We spend about 30 minutes trying to push through the crowds and then walked on another less crowded street back to 5th Ave. Neither of us could come up with anything to do, so he made up some lame excuse about having to be in Queens at 3:30 and decided to just leave a little early. I'm glad he had a lame excuse so I didn't have to come up with one myself (although I could have used the I-really-should-get-back-to-getting-ready-for-my-trip excuse). Oh well, at least I tried. And this way I had more of the day to be productive.

I want to start packing this evening. Every time I think about packing, I don't want to deal with it. It shouldn't be a big deal to throw almost all the summer clothes I own into bags, but for some reason I have a block against doing it. I really should do that tonight though, and then tomorrow I can start packing all of the little things (CDs, checkbook, umbrella [yes, I actually bought a compact umbrella the other day]...). Then on Tuesday, I can pack the last minute things, and I'll be all ready to leave early on Wednesday.

And there are other things I need to do before I leave as well- call MTC to finally order tickets for next season, get my sunglasses darkened (I tried them yesterday when it was sunny in the evening, and I barely noticed the tint), tie up some stuff for a couple work projects, look into getting a VISA for Vietnam (since I decided that I would do the Vietnam excursion)... And that is why I need to pack tonight. Tonight I should get all the things done that I can do after regular business hours- that way I'll have more time during regular business hours to do the things I can only do during regular business hours. In other words, I shouldn't be taking the time on Tuesday morning to pack.

And if I get a lot of packing done tonight (including the music and stuff), I'll let myself read "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" tonight after letting myself watch SATC.

I forgot to mention yesterday that judging from the amount of people at the Bastille Day Festival, people are not as upset with all things French as they were earlier this year. Although, more likely, many people there did not know it was a French festival and probably didn't know that it was for Bastille Day (and they probably don't even know what Bastille Day is all about).

I'm doing very well with my to-do list. I feel almost ready to leave, and after today, I'll feel very ready to leave (minus the last minute things to pack tomorrow).

I'll still have my missing emails in the back of my mind, but hopefully when I get to the top of some rocks in Utah and look down at the peaceful landscape, the email thing will be in the very depths of my mind.

Knock on wood, but I think I'm getting used to avoiding the stupid back/forward browser keys on this keyboard. I hope typing this statement doesn't jinx it.

Time to get packing.

I got my sunglasses darkened today, and they're slightly better. They're multi-tinted, so if I don't need a strong tint, I'll look up and if it's really sunny, I'll look down. The darkest part isn't too dark, but it should work well enough. It's certainly better than nothing.

In slightly annoying news: I went to get a snowball today before going to Lens Crafters, and they weren't there. I forgot to mention that they weren't there the last time I went either. So frustrating. Why did the guy say he'd be there all summer? Maybe something happened with his vendor license or something.

In exciting news: in 1991, I randomly bought a tape called Future Circus. In 1994, all of my tapes were stolen, including that one, when someone broke into my car (in a secure park-and-ride in rural-ish Baltimore County of all places). Since then, I've been looking for and asking around about the group but have had no luck in finding anything out- not even that it's out of print or something. Well, I just found this guy's site, who turns out to be one of the guys who was involved with Future Circus (persistence pays off). I just sent him an email in hopes that he has some kind of early 90s recording I could buy.

And in other old-band-related news: I got an email back from Geoff (of GSO). So, I was right about it being the same guy. He's not playing any shows while I'm in Chicago, but they're working on recording a new album, so at least I can hear some new music in the future.

Have I mentioned recently how much I love the Internet? I love being able to search for things from my past. If this many people were online back in the 80s and early 90s, I wonder how much more random stuff I could find from my past?

Now I'll go get back into the world of Hogwarts.

Emergency vehicles woke me up this morning. Hopefully tomorrow will be the last possible morning for that to happen for a little while. Instead, I'll have noisy hotel guests and housekeeping providing unwanted wake-up services.

I was mistaken about being able to finish "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" before I leave. I thought I was on page 300 and there were 700 total. Instead, there are 900 total and I was only on page 200 (now I'm around 400). So there's no way I can read 500 pages today and still be ready to leave tomorrow. But I will read some more tonight. I'll just have to start reading early so there is less of a chance of me staying up too late reading. I really need to get an early start tomorrow. It's a 7 hour drive to Pittsburgh.

And it's a day for emergencies- 8 emergency vehicles have gone by since I started this entry a few minutes ago.

Today I need to: deal with the mail, pack my music, figure out the best way to Pittsburgh, finish up a few odds and ends, and have dinner with Paula and Harvey (they're back for a New York minute before going who knows where- it's hard to keep track of them).

I put in my contacts this morning, and they feel fine. Here's hoping they still feel this way by the time I get to Chicago- after I get past Chicago traffic, I'll feel comfortable wearing my glasses for the rest of the trip until Baltimore. But maybe my eyes will be happy on the road and will like wearing contacts for the majority of the trip... I won't get my hopes up though.

On that note, a bientot, dear readers.

I made it to Pittsburgh, no thanks to the construction, rain, and traffic. It took a good 8 hours with only a quick stop for gas. But I made it. I knew this part of the drive wasn't going to be great.

I had a relaxing evening, reading some more "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and watching some crappy TV. TV- I'm really disgusted by the shows, news, and commercials that the public watches religiously. Most people watch way too much TV which means they're being brainwashed by things like: reality shows, the news, and commercials (especially those advertising drugs). Some of the stuff I saw was funny, as in the kind of funny you find in B movies, but most of what I saw was horrible and wish there were more options of channels in hotel rooms. I know the other channels will be just as bad, but if they just had channels like Comedy Central and movie channels (like Turner Classics, IFC, and the Sundance channel), I'd be happier. But it's not a big deal.

The Radisson Greentree (as opposed to the first Radisson I went to which was not the one at which I made a reservation) is a very nice hotel, minus one problem- the thinnest walls I've ever come across. I could hear the guy in the next room blow his nose, I heard all of their conversations, and of course I heard their TV. I'm curious to see what the hotels in more rural areas will be like.

Tonight is "My Fair Lady". I'm not really looking forward to it and am only going because I got a free ticket. Why did this sound like a good idea at the time? I have no idea. But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

People are pretty helpful here. The hostess at the Eat N' Park where I had breakfast stopped what she was doing to give me directions and then made sure I understood the directions when I was leaving the restaurant. This morning, I asked a guy who worked at the Radisson about getting a cab to the theatre tonight, and he gave clear information as well as warned me about the unreliable cab service and what time I should ask for them to pick me up. It really is refreshing.

I'm now at Kinkos. When I pulled into the parking lot, I thought the strip mall looked familiar, but I then I thought that all of these type of places look the same and there was no reason it should look familiar. But it really looked like the shopping centre I visited briefly when I got stuck here a few years ago. Sure enough, I looked around, and there was the Microtel where US Air put me up for a night. Now I have memories of the 2 times I got stuck in Pittsburgh (walking to the shopping centre from the Microtel, playing pinball at the airport, getting yelled at in the TGI Fridays at the airport because I was talking on my cell phone...). This is the first time I'm in Pittsburgh by choice, and it's not a real choice. The only reason I'm here is because I got a free ticket to "My Fair Lady" and it's on the way to Chicago.

After much effort, I finally found this Kinkos and the Target in the same general shopping centre. The shopping centre was easy to find, it was getting around the shopping centre which was the problem. I HATE suburbs!!!!! These huge, spread out strip malls with intersections that, if they were regular roads, would have traffic lights. I waited 5 minutes at one intersection during one of my many wrong turns in the shopping centre. And of course every huge parking lot was almost full. I really don't understand the appeal of these things. I should ask Sherry about it one day. She goes to the mall 4-5 times a week. A WEEK!!!! Why would anyone want to do this?

On that note, I'm off to Target to get a few odds and ends for my trip, and I hope not to encounter another suburban shopping centre for a long time.

I'm now in Ft. Dodge, IA.

Chicago was perfect- fun times (White Sox game, street fair...), relaxing times (420, watching TV...), and catching up with Stephanie was great. The worst part was taking 2 hours to go 5 miles- I guess the traffic was partly from the toll to get out of Indiana and partly because of a tiny section of construction.

Plan on having a relaxing ride today mostly on US 20, but hopefully I can make good time and wind up in Wyoming.

I have a ton of little things I want to write about, but the library where I am typing this is extremely picky about computer usage, so I don't really have the time to write a lot now. Perhaps I'll write a lot at Josh's. Or maybe I'll wait until I get home and have a little free time. None of what I want to write is earth shattering- just some observations.

I'm now in Grand Junction, CO.

I stayed in North Platte, NE 2 nights ago. It was more built up than when I stayed there in '99.

The ride from North Platte to Grand Junction was mostly gorgeous and fun. I took I-80 to 789 in Wyoming and then 13 down to I-70 in CO. The landscape is absolutely breathtaking, and I remembered why I wanted to move to the southwest in the first place. But now I'll just enjoy it for a quick visit and get back to New York where I belong. Manhattan may be getting more suburban (the businesses and the people), but it's still more unique than most other places in the US, and after this time away, I'll be happy to get home. I don't miss home at all right now though. I'm surrounded by the gorgeous, vast landscape and I feel relaxed! Life is good!

I finally finished "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" last night. When is the 6th book going to be available?

Yesterday was a good mix of productivity and relaxation and fun. I did some work and took care of some odds and ends, read, walked around Main St. with Josh (and got a snowball!!), and watched "Cannibal! The Musical" (Josh had been wanting to see it, so I brought it with me). Today I plan on being productive in the morning and going out to Colorado National Monument (especially want to go after seeing it in "Cannibal" last night- it looks gorgeous up there) in the afternoon.

Interesting fact: KMART sells firearms here in Grand Junction. I went to get an extra key made for Josh yesterday, and behind the desk where you can get keys were all kinds of guns and accessories. I've never seen firearms sold at a store like KMART.

Friday night, Josh and I karaoked (well I did anyway, Josh couldn't find anything he wanted to sing). I did White Rabbit which was horrible. I could only hear myself, not the music. Oh well, at least we tried.

Saturday, Josh and I went to Moab and Canyonlands. We hiked around for 7 hours and watched the sunset over Grand View- gorgeous!

Yesterday was a fairly relaxing day. Last night we went to see "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" which was hilarious (but I don't think they were trying to be funny). Somehow Josh and I wind up seeing movies like this a lot.

Today I'm heading back east. It's been a great time here in the west. The only thing I didn't get to do was see the stars (it's been cloudy at night). I know I'll bw able to see stars on the rest of my trip, but it's not the same as looking at the sky here in the southwest. Oh well, maybe I'll make it back to Arizona one day and can see stars then. I actually have extra time and could make it down to Phoenix, but it's too far to justify doing that. I'll just take my time heading back east instead.

I'm now in Springfield, MO after stopping in Lamar, CO and Bartlesville, OK as well as a few other little stops along the way. Nothing too exciting. Too much traffic, nothing unique. Springfield is gross- one huge commercial area with every chain known to man (and some have 2-3 locations). I'm only staying here because I needed to stop to use a computer, I'm ahead of schedule, and it was a convenient stopping point.

I forgot to mention about driving back from Canyonlands to Grand Junction at night. I wouldn't have done it if Josh wasn't with me. I needed him to tell me once in a while how far ahead certain cars were in front of me and a few times convince me that the headlights up ahead were not coming at me in my lane but indeed in the opposite lane. Guess I'll always need to live in a city with great public transportation or live elsewhere but always have someone to drive me where I need to go. Frustrating.

I haven't mentioned the biggest problem of this trip. THIS COUNTRY IS TOO GENERIC! All businesses sell the same products no matter where you are. I was looking forward to being in rural America, where you can go into a store and buy things you can't buy at home. Not possible. Unless you go to a farmer's market, you cannot buy anything unique. In the southwest, I had salsa from Vermont and Wisconsin. The gas station in Little Snake River Valley, WY sells Coke products, Pepsi products, Starbucks products, Hershey products... nothing I can't get in New York. And it's at New York prices too. I thought things would be cheaper in rural areas of the country, but except for real estate, prices seem to be mostly uniform across the country. But wages vary, don't they? How can people afford things? Is that why credit card companies are doing so well? So my main reason for this road trip has been crushed. Except for Blacksburg and possibly western MD (to see if rural Alleghany County has Starbucks), I'm really ready to be home.

But I like where I'm staying. It's one of those suites hotels that are kind of like woodsy cabins. And not too many people are here right now, so when I walked on the path from my suite to the office with the business centre (where I am write now), I felt like I was taking a (brief) quiet walk in nature. It's much appreciated, especially in overcrowded Springfield.

Owensboro, KY.

I've actually been enjoying Kentucky. I went through a couple of small towns with unique businesses, I'm enjoying US-60 through here since it goes by towns, houses, farms, and trees (nice to have some variety), and I even had a good experience checking into the Ramada. I stupidly closed the trunk with my keys in them, but the car was still unlocked. I went in and told the lady at the front desk (who was very chatty when I was checking in), and she said her mother had a Grand-Am and proceeded to call her (in Florida) to see where the trunk button was (I had looked all over the car and couldn't find it). The trunk latch wound up being underneath the door handle- guess someone decided the button should be hidden. The lady at the front desk went out with me to show me where the button was. So nice. And she was cute too.

This morning, I made a reservation for Louisville. I still don't understand how a 3-4 star hotel in a city can be the same amount as an extremely basic motel in the middle of nowhere. I'm closer to Louisville than I thought I'd be (the 2 towns before Owensboro didn't have any lodging, so I drove around 2 hours longer than I had planned), so I'll have more time to explore the city and relax at the nice hotel.

I'm also thinking about adding North Carolina back into my plans, but I don't know if I want to deal with huge lines of RVs before I get to the more secluded areas. I'll figure it out later. And I might check out Cincinnati since it's close and I have time before I can stay with Kendra in Blacksburg since she's in the process of moving. But I can still probably do brief visits to Cincinnati and NC and spend one night in B'burg in a hotel before staying with Kendra. I just didn't realise how quickly I could get around. I thought that between not being able to drive at night and hardly driving on Interstates, that it would take much longer to get places. But even with the slow idiots in front of me that sometimes takes 5-10 miles to pass, I'm still travelling much more quickly than I thought I would.

Quick observation: I turned on the tv here in Owensboro and saw a commercial for a car sale. It was a sale for July 4th. Umm... a little late, I think.

I can't believe I have to start the August file next time I update.

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