2008-01-20

While the cold weather reigned outside, cozy warmth awaited Mick and me inside as we awoke to the Sabbath. Still feeling distinctly below par, I again eschewed church and stayed in all day.

We relaxed with the Sunday paper – Jim with sports and I with the puzzles – and then he cleaned house while I came upstairs and edited the last new transcript in my Inbox. I was eager to clear the Inbox of recent sessions to edit, as I will dedicate this week to coming up with a detailed outline of my Laughlin speech on channeling to leave with Ian and Gary so they can work on images for the Power point presentation to go with it.

I have recently chosen to confine my use of alcohol, sweets and carbonated beverages to Sunday, so I had a most sybaritic gustatory day, with fast food for breakfast and lunch and Pepsis and vodka to drink in the evening. I have enjoyed this new routine. Drinking mostly water, I have become more aware of the great blessing of this simple substance! And eating half-portions is very good for my burgeoning figure.

I have been blessed in this effort. I have not at all suffered the removal of these things from my diet. I have had not one hunger pang! Thank you, Lord!

We watched two films this afternoon. The first, Reign Over Me, is so good that I gave it an ovation when it ended. I have never seen Adam Sandler before in a role in which he could shine as an actor rather than as a buffoon. His portrayal of a victim of post-traumatic stress syndrome was lovely, touching and nuanced. And Don Cheadle was an excellent foil for him playing his friend. Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows and Donald Sutherland offered a compact, muscular ensemble in supporting roles. The entire movie was on key in a profound way with not one note out of place.

The second offering was just silly. I felt as though I were watching a first film from a college student. Titled The Black Widow, it was the brain child of Willem Dafoe and Giadra Colagrande, who also co-starred in it. The characters consisted only of those two as owner and caretaker of a house, plus a waiter, a shop clerk/lover and a motel owner. I might also count the house's television and an owl as characters. The piece inched along at an arctic creep and had little to recommend it in any way except the cinematography, which had its moments. We decided to keep watching it simply because we were curious as to how the film could possible go anywhere.

And in fact, it did not, except to comment in a muddled way on the difficulty of establishing trust and intimacy with another human being. It wins a prize for worst ending, as well!

In late afternoon, after our double feature, I came upstairs to continue to clear my desk and made some progress, scheduling a couple of appointments, making a contribution to our local library stations – there are three of them, one for classical sounds, one for NPR and one for jazz and alternative music – and answering an editing question from Ian on a transcript as he was putting the last three I sent him up on line.

I heard from Steve E. that he does indeed hope to launch the L/L Research on-line store by Monday! Yee ha!!!

Given Mick's love of football, it is no wonder that we spent the evening watching the New England Patriots edge out the Green Bay Packers for the NFL championship and a ticket to the Superbowl. It was a real treat to watch this game, a really close contest which ended only in overtime. However I felt for the players, the spectators and the press crew who called the game for TV, as the game was played in sub-zero temperatures.

I offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.