January 31, 2003

We rehearsed the tango sequence this afternoon. When Cynthia put on some tango music, it turned out to be the piece I wanted, which we couldn't find all Tuesday!

Dinner was lasagna.

Started reading The Ill Made Knight.

Dawn taught a group class in waltz twinkles.  Cynthia had been bugging me about my frame earlier, but Dawn thought I had a great frame.

January 30, 2003

Dreamed of trying to remember where in New York Yankee Stadium is. [I'm still not sure!]

My sore throat has eased, so I don't think I'll have to see the doctor.

Went to the Forest Hill library and took out The Once and Future King.  I'm going to read The Ill-Made Knight once I finish Lolita.

Opened a plastic bottle of grape soda and it fizzled all over the counter.  I guess it wasn't cold enough.

For the first time I went to the Thursday night intermediate-level dance lesson.  Sergei was teaching salsa.

Just finished Lolita.  Whatta book!

January 29, 2003

Vacuumed the attic in the morning.

Went shopping.

The new London Review of Books had a review of Christopher Hitchens' Orwell book, as well as one of Gangs of New York.

Dinner was roast chicken.

The acting class was about motivation.  We passed around an invisible ball.  I was in a skit where someone was trying to sell me a house and I wanted to steal the scarf behind her pants.  A minute after she showed me the bedroom, I asked, "Did we see the bedroom?" In another skit a couple of people wanted me and my wife to take care of their cats, and I wanted her to say no for me.  

Then Sean and I did a skit where I was trying to get him to sign a business deal and he wouldn't.  I'm glad he thought of pretending to use a calculator. (He works in a bank.) The whole skit was done with dialogue limited to yes, no, please and thank you.  The teacher liked the way I made one last wordless offer.

January 28, 2003

Showed Dr. Hassan my Mission:  Possible report.  He offered to make a photocopy of it bit I said he might as well keep the original. [I never read it.]

Vacuumed my room for the first time with our new Bissell machine with the transparent container where you can see the dirt whirling around inside.  It beats our old Dirt Devil by miles.  It doesn't make the same annoying noise and it picks up tons of dirt. The air feels lots fresher.  I got a full container removed from the carpet.  Late in the afternoon I moved my bed and vacuumed that part and ended up collecting another container's worth!

Practiced the tango sequence with Cynthia.  We still can't find the music I want to use.  Our next lesson won't be till Friday since some coach is coming in tomorrow.

Dinner was fettucine with pesto sauce, which I made myself.  I went out and got the grated parmesan, along with grapefruit and thousand islands dressing.

Another copy editing class. Shelley says my editing copy in pen shows that I'm confident.

January 27, 2003

Sore throat is persistent.  I can feel one bruise-like spot when I touch the outside on the left. I wanted to see my doctor about it, but she left at 2:00 and I only got there at 2:40.  I'll have to try again Thursday morning.

Finally got around to doing my Copy Editing assignment.  The warning against the phrase "needlessly wordy" appealed to me. (It criticizes itself.)

Dinner was pork chops, plus we finished the crab claws.

Davis did a group class in foxtrot. (Are these social ease classes still worth attending?)

January 26, 2003

Saw Ikiru at the Cinematheque. [A classic existential 1950s movie directed by Akira Kurosawa.] It's a powerful everyman story, especially the part where he remembers his gradual estrangement from his son.

My throat is still pretty dry, and I had a powerful headache in the late afternoon, though it eased during dinner.

We took Donald [my brother] out to dinner at the Red Lobster.  I ordered the crab & lobster special.  Half the crab ended up in the doggy bag.  Finishing it will be an interesting challenge.

January 25, 2003

Didn't get to sleep till almost 05:00!

Baked multigrain bread overnight.

Saw Babes in Arms at a Cinematheque matinee.  It's pretty fun if you enjoy that MGM "Let's put on a show!" silliness.  If Mickey Ronney were around today (wait, he is around!) they'd put him on Prozac.  Judy Garland (sigh) was enormously appealing, though they presented her like a puppy dog who just wants to be liked.  Odd that "My Funny Valentine" was removed from the Broadway score, and that "The Lady Is a Tramp" was reduced to one character's leitmotif.  The minstrel-show number was cut short by a sudden rainstorm. (The gods frown on racist entertainment.)

Dinner was McDonald's.

Rented the About a Boy DVD.  It was pretty cute.  Hugh Grant knows how to play that sort of role like the back of his hand.