Words Written: DFL notes

To recap the weekend:

By Friday afternoon I realized I was developing a cold. Blah! I was seriously displeased. I had Ken bring various cold meds when he and E&M picked me up at the chiropractor’s (where Kirk, carpool driver extraordinaire, had kindly dropped me). The doctor was running late so we didn’t have time to eat before the movie, so we grabbed hot dogs and pizza and popcorn at the theatre and settled in.

Hitchhiker’s Guide totally rocked! Now, earlier in the week I’d read a review that listed all of the things that were left out, and I was concerned. But then I realized the ridiculousness of being a purist about the TV miniseries version, when that was the third version—the radio show was first, then the books. So if you’re going to be a purist, you’ve got to compare to the radio show…I also found an interview with Douglas Adams, in which he talked about the script and how he intended for this to be a fluid story and that the movie was deliberately different (for example, he invented Humma Kavula for the movie). So I went to the theatre with as open a mind as I could have.

Was it perfect? No. There were flaws, which I won’t talk about here, but maybe I’ll ramble about it in a spoiler entry if I can find the time. The biggest drawback may very well be that it’s a very British movie—even the American actors delivered their lines that way. British comedy has a very different rhythm from American comedy, which is why many British comedies don’t translate well over here. (It’s more subtle, there’s less telegraphing, etc.)

The British-specific jokes made all of us (Ken and I, E&M, and Thomasina, who’d joined us at the theatre) howl with laughter when the rest of the audience was just chuckling.

The weirdest thing was, Zaphod looked like a taller, younger Tommy Shaw, with Tommy’s current hairstyle and facial hair. I mean, really, really like Tommy. The voice, too. The grin. Oh, it was totally messing both Ken and I up. When we got home, we looked up the actor online, and he looks nothing like that! Truly creepy, I’m telling you.

Anyway. Kick ass, as Cartman would say.

Saturday, we got up and headed out towards Lancaster, meeting up with Morgana & Brian and Janice & Darren at a Mexican restaurant and then toddling off to the Cat House to ooh and ahh at the pretty kitties. Doc the Jaguar was in fine form, roaring and growling and pacing, and the panthers lolled in the sun, and they even brought out a baby fishing cat for us to see! (Alas, we didn’t have enough people to schedule a tour like I’d hoped, but we’ve got our fingers crossed that two friends’ joint birthday party won’t be scheduled on the same evening as the Twilight Tour in June.)

Unfortunately, Marian hadn’t brought a hat, and the heat was a bit much for her, so she declined to go out to dinner later, and Ed stayed home with her. (I feel bad about this. I grumped around for quite some time that morning because I couldn’t find my sun hat, and finally grabbed a straw SCA hat; we had another one, but I’m ashamed to say I never thought to offer it to her.)

So Ken and I toddled up to Santa Barbara and met up with Morgana & Brian (because we missed carpooling with them by mere minutes) and had dinner at a Persian restaurant where Kelly was dancing. We ended up staying for both shows, succumbing to the Persian ice cream that turned out to be Best New Crack (rose and pistachio and oh so yummy!). Kelly was, as always, stunning. The SCA woman I’d met at work, Elisabeth, also had dinner there on my suggestion, with her boyfriend and some other friends, and she got to exchange phone numbers with Kelly, because she’s interested in a Turkish persona and Kelly is, well, an expert in that.

On Sunday, Ken and E&M went to fighter practice. I, however, need a day of rejuvenation, to nurse my cold and catch up on my life. I watched two episodes of “Enterprise”, started a new small cross-stitch project, cleaned my desk, and mostly cleaned out my e-mail, plus dealt with various other small projects. A good catch-up day. In the early evening, we took E&M to an outlet mall where he bought Levis (about half the price as in the UK) and she bought shoes (ditto). Then we took them for their very first sushi experience, which had been about the only thing they requested on this trip. We went to Cho-Cho San in Thousand Oaks, because it has the revolving bar. We had a bit of a wait, in part because even though I told the host that we wanted to sit at the bar, he apparently heard that we wanted to sit in the bar area and first tried to take us to a booth. It was busy, and the sushi must have been put out at the other end of the revolving belt, because we never saw basics like California rolls until the very end, after a large group left. No biggie. I had the chef make Rock-n-Roll handrolls for everybody (rice and scallops with a warm mayonnaise sauce to die for, in soy paper), and Ken later found a similar dish of the scallops and mayo over California rolls, so we had that too. Very messy. Oh, and I ordered Philadelphia rolls, because cream cheese is sooooo Japanese. So much yumminess.

We decided to rent a DVD, and all agreed on The Incredibles. It was quite amusing, although I’d heard such raves about it that perhaps I expected more. I was also pretty tired, and ended up going to bed before it was over—but it’s a week rental, and I do want to watch the end. Several times in the past I’ve watched movies and found them amusing or okay but not brilliant, and when I’ve watched them later, I’ve found them better, and it usually comes down to tiredness or distractedness the first time. Plus some movies are better seen first in theatres. So, we’ll see.

<><><>

Carpooling today, but it was just me and Kirk, and I feel rude if I put on headphones and write, so instead we chatted about movies and TV and ducks and other such things. And sat in traffic, getting us to work about 25 minutes later than planned, because of three (!) earlier accidents.

That said, when I woke up this morning, several key points for DFL struck me, and I did type them up while making breakfast. So I shouldn’t have a problem hunkering down tonight and getting a few more words done. Ed & Marian are planning to go up the coast and spend the night somewhere tonight, so I won’t feel bad about ignoring people I won’t see again for several years!

My cold seems mostly gone already except for some residual stuffiness. I’ll try to sleep without Nyquil tonight. Nyquil has made me sleep deeply the past few nights, which is wonderful, but it’s also made me want to sleep for 12 hours, which I didn’t do because it would throw off my whole schedule, and has given me some strange dreams.

<><><>

Great Neil Gaiman quote, in answer to the question, “Why do you write your, or any books/novels?”

“I write my books/novels because if I don't, I can't guarantee that anyone else will.”

Of course, then he goes on to add:

“I write other people's books and novels because... actually, I have no idea why I write other people's books and novels. Until I read this question, I didn't even know that I did.”

[giggle]

<><><>

Today was a little rough. I felt like I was having a relapse on the cold in the morning; I got all stuffed up, and my right eye kept watering even though I re-cleaned my contacts. Things mostly cleared out later in the day, except my eyes still hurt. Kirk dropped me off at Home Depot because Ken was there (rather than Ken picking me up at Kirk’s house) and Ken and I grabbed dinner at Pick Up Stix before heading home. I’ve done a wee bit of computer work, but I’m seven layers of toast. We watched a “Desperate Housewives” and now I’m going to fall over, early, in the hopes that I can not feel this wretched all week.

G’night, pets!

----

Currently Reading: Buried Deep, Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Lately Listened To: uh…the voices in my head?

Recently Watched: “Desperate Housewives”