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* Rough draft of the all-important chapter one is "done", but I'll probably need to worry & ruminate it for another week before I'm happy with it. Spent most of Saturday on it, and some of Sunday.

* Went to a Czech short-film thing with

cthulhia,

awfief (whom I may have met for the first time today) and YA-J (ibid), all fun folks. Films were largely animated, and all dark stuff. The one non-animated one, "Defector", was very pretty (I found the main character to be one of the most interestingly androgynous humans I've ever seen on film, something the movie seemed to know about and winkingly play up, but cthulhia said afterwards that probably-he had a big ol' Adam's apple I'd failed to notice) but alas it was actually really stupid. The feature was a more-or-less straight-up telling of the Pied Piper legend (with a bit of a tweak to the ending), featuring stop-motion, wood-and-wire puppets as the main actors, as well as a whole lotta rats -- both toy and real. Nothing earth-shattering in its implications, but I enjoyed it.

* Still feeling the effects of a monstrous lamb dosa from Diva, consumed for lunch. today. It was tasty, but in retrospect, way too oily, and triggered my oo-I-goan-die reaction to consuming overtly fatty food. I can't really recommend this to my friends. Namaskar, elsewhere on Elm Street, also has dosas, which are less nigh-fatal.

* Had the rare opportunity during the weekend to be driven by what must be called a real-live Boston driver. I can't recall the last time I did this with a member of the normal civilian population (that is to say, those who are not cab drivers). An interesting and memorable experience, to be sure. I now have a helpful mental model for the utterances and gestures which are no doubt continuously directed at me from all directions while I drive (or walk around) in this area. The thought of this right now bothers me a great deal (I was, in fact, saddened into stunned silence during the actual trip), but after tomorrow I'm sure it won't matter, and I'll reset to my usual driving worldview: other vehicles are simply automatons, more or less predictable, whose occasional blaring rage is no more a cause for anger -- or any sort of reaction -- than is the barking of a dog. (And this model falls over every time I give a ride to one of my aggressive-driver friends, who form a bond of sympathy for all these other cars that I menace, and fight hard to control their respective FODs every time I stop for a yellow. God love them all.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know how you feel about that driving bit. I make a real effort in most situations to follow driving laws, and I usually do a decent job of it, but I'm the laughing stock of many of my friends for it. They're good-natured in their kidding, of course, but when we all want to go out and do something I'm never the one they'd pick to drive. After all, it would take us twice as long to get there if I drove.

Just remember that you have much less stress to deal with because you don't get aggravated driving. If people around you do, phooey on them. :)