‘Twas very blustery last night, to the point that I found it hard to sleep. New, unfamiliar sounds. Sleep-hazed concerns about the house. It sounded like there was a freeway close by; I guess the wind was bringing the sound of Oxnard Boulevard closer.

I’m happy to report that the house survived, though; at one point during the night, I reminded myself how long it had been here and how many winds and storms it had weathered. We do have a few small eucalyptus branches in the backyard, which I’ll gather up after things calm down. More leaves for potpourri! (When life blows down the eucalyptus… Hey, I didn’t see any lemons falling off our tree.)

My latest schedule has been to do upstairs work in the morning, and write in the afternoon and evening. Upstairs work includes e-mail, bills, Black Oak Lodge stuff, ordering presents, that sort of thing. This has been working reasonably well, but I discovered the flaw today. With the cash flow being a little scary, we’d rather go to a matinee than an evening movie. (We went to see “Kinsey”,* finally.) We got back and puttered with a few things, but then it was time to have dinner with our tenant, Deborah. Now, of course, it’s late and I’m pleasantly full of roast beast and apple pie, and in no mental state to _start_ writing.

*A fine movie, definitely recommended. It’s fiction, of course, not a documentary, and I’m not up on the life of Kinsey enough to give a critique of its accuracy. However, it’s certainly piqued my interest—can anybody recommend a good biography?

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Uh, wow. WOW.

We just watched the first episode of “Lost”. We hadn’t seen the second hour of it for some reason, and we wanted to watch it all the way through. Because I’d seen the first hour, I was able to step back and watch it with a somewhat more critical eye—not as in criticize, but to analyze it.

Holy crap. What an amazing piece of writing. Yes, fine acting, great effects and direction, etc., but the writing is outstanding. I can’t recommend it enough for writers to watch and learn from. The opening is twenty minutes long. Twenty minutes before the first commercial, and I’m willing to bet that most people watching were sucked right in and never noticed. The excitement/pace just kept ramping up, even as they were showing characterization of multiple characters.

They’re calling it the best show this season. I agree. I’d say it’s definitely in the top five or ten of the past decade or two, too.

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And for those of you who watch “Lost”, a question:

When Kate, Jack, and Charlie return from the nose of the plane, someone asks if there were any survivors, and they reply “No.” No mention that the pilot was alive when they got there and was killed by the mysterious creature.

But, later, when the band of six is heading up the mountain to try the transceiver and they’re attacked by the polar bear, Boone asks, “Is that what killed the pilot?”

Blooper? Or a subtle piece of the greater puzzle?

Analyse and discuss.