January 5, 2004

Dreamed of a crossword puzzle clue that yielded several subphrases which were jumbled together to form one big expression; a store selling artificial snow; entering a motel room in Sackville with a TV set that didn't have cable.

It snowed for a change.

Father and I went to CPUsed to look at the computers.  I can't tell the difference between an Imac and an Emac!

Went to the Cinematheque box office and bought a slew of tickets.

We sold a book about Lady Hester Stanhope for US$89!

Dinner was roast chicken.

We've started making a backup Zip disc of our present computer.

Saw the first half of a PBS documentary about the Lincolns, for the second time.

January 4, 2004

Dreamed of travelling through western America by train; reading old British comic annuals and Classics Illustrated comic books; returning home to a small apartment and finding a child being tutored there.

Went to my first Chinese Meetup.  There were only three people there, possibly because the place they chose was out of the way.

Dinner was Swedish meatballs.

Finished writing the story "Invisible." [It's about a guy who finds himself invisible one day and turns out to be dead, sort of like The Sixth Sense.]

I'm now reading The Dick Tracy Casebook.  I've finished "The Hotel Murders" and "The Brow" and started "Crewy Lou." I don't exactly like it, but I'm fascinated by Chester Gould's twisted vision.

January 3, 2004

Dreamed of a Harry Potter-like adventure in which the heroes had to transport over half a dozen objects which shifted shape into people or animals, including one that turned into a villain; a map of Toronto showing an East End neighbourhood called Artica; being in business and my partner's wife developing an attraction with me; considering what to write in describing this night's dreams.

Moira spent a long time on the New York Times crossword puzzle.  It turned out to be a rebus puzzle where the rebus was the "turn" symbol and caused the across and down answers at its square to exchange directions. (So "nocturnal" and "upturnednose" became "nocturnednose" and "upturnal"!)

Unusually mild weather.  I went without a sweater and walked down to Palmerston library to return Yoga for Dummies.  I also bought a used LP of German folk songs at the nearby Sonic Boom.

Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

Finished the second volume of The Cartoon History of the Universe.  Very enjoyable. (I finished it just in time for John to borrow it.)

John and the girls came over for Rae's birthday.  Puitak and Gordon visited too.

January 2, 2004

Dreamed of fixing an apparatus that produced blood; returning later to find that it had spilled out over the floor, causing a big mess; meeting a group of ghosts in front of my Cape Breton aunt's home; trying to ask them questions.

On second thought, I do have a New Year's resolution:  to read a Graham Greene novel.

Went to the store and got some No-Name noodles.  I found them in shrimp flavour for the first time in years! [I've got out of the habit of eating them recently.]

Dinner was spaghetti.

Saw Clint Eastwood's Mystic River at the Mount Pleasant.  It was a grim murder drama, bluntly powerful, with bravura performances and suitably stark photography by Tom Stern.  It was set in Boston and had a superb sense of place. (I liked the Boston accents.) I'll have to see it again someday.  It's a triumph. [Another movie with good Boston accents is Robert Mitchum's The Friends of Eddie Coyle.]

January 1, 2004

"'If only she were different,' he thought, 'I could love her with all my heart.' 'If only he were different,' she thought, but she did not think of love"--Renny's Daughter

"I thought you'd change after your transplant." "Well, I thought you'd change after I did.  Neither of us changed"--21 Grams

Another year.  Can't think of any resolutions yet.

Dreamed of playing hockey against two others in a rink of melting ice, without seats or sticks and with dimes instead of a puck; the ice surface covered in water and completely disappearing in one place; getting my feet wet; a news story about a scandal involving a religious cult in South America with a defective ice-making machine.

Baked white bread overnight.

Saw Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 21 Grams at Canada Square.  It's about how ex-con Benicio del Toro ran over Naomi Watts' husband, leaving him brain-dead, so she donated her husband's heart, saving Sean Penn's life, then Penn found out where his new heart came from, became attracted to Watts, and decided to kill del Toro... except that the order of the scenes was shifted about.  Depressing story, but told in an unusual, original way. [A bit like The Tree of Life.]

Dinner was boiled ham (and Christmas pudding).

I'm now reading Mazo de la Roche's Renny's Daughter.

December 31, 2003

"If only I could have seen what I was turning into..."--This Is Elvis

Dreamed of driving home to Sackville, N.B., through slow traffic in Boston; walking through a large, unruly crowd of young waterfront celebrants; a Tarantino movie with someone the Mob was after guaranteeing they'd find him by driving a big, flamboyant car in their neighbourhood; already feeling sleepy in the afternoon; considering which U.S. presidential candidates actually deserved to win.

Went shopping.

Saw the famous 1960 TV special of Peter Pan with Mary Martin. By today's standards it was pretty cheesy.  Moira said, "That girl playing Wendy must be the worst actress I've ever seen in my life!"

We got our first ABEBooks payment for the books we sold.  It was almost $600!

Dinner was more turkey pie.

Saw the pedestrian documentary This Is Elvis (for the second time). The early re-enacted scenes and the first-person narration were lame, but the documentary footage was still impressive.

Happy New Year!

December 30, 2003

Dreamed of walking in Amherst, N.S., and trying to find the street with the cinema; an outdoor concert of Wagnerian music; a play being put on with a sexy leading lady at Mount Allison University's Convocation Hall; a wide range of large Muppet-like dolls for sale; waiting to see one that appealed to me specifically.

Went to Indigo Books and got a new diary and the book The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen.

I also got a book reprinting the early years of the comic strip Peanuts, and spent the rest of the afternoon reading that. (Lucy wasn't originally so nasty!)

Dinner was turkey pie.

Went out to see Mystic River, but the schedule had been changed.  On the way back, I found a place that was selling Jonagold apples! (I've been looking around for them a long time.)