Glacial Erratics

I'm sick. Have been since I got back from Florida. In my paranoid fantasies I believe that I picked up SARS from the chubby uncomfortable man sitting next to me on the plane home. He was popping his ibuprofen, loosening his belt and refusing his snacks. But I have no fever. And I'm not that paranoid.    (0000BG)

Unable to focus on things like work, or unpacking, I've been reading blogs, eating Chinese food and watching movies. Last night I finished off the Dune mini-series that I started at Ding's house the other night. I was accompanied by Shrimp in Garlic Sauce, extra spicy, from the Dragon. With no Lynchian expectations to mess with me, the mini series version of Dune is actually rather good, but then again, perhaps I'm feeling generous. Ding will provide me with Children (of Dune). That will provide more room for judgment.    (0000BH)

Today was Time Out. French movie about a guy who is laid off but continues going through the motions, never telling his family, for about three months before things fall apart. Excellent performances and some cinematography that made me think of Blue.    (0000BI)

The Cinemat has a Red poster. I would very much like to have that poster. Actually I would prefer the giant fabric advertisement from the movie.    (0000BJ)

Food: frozen dumplings, warmed up in the microwave, dipped in chili garlic sauce mixed with soy sauce.    (0000BK)

I had to return those movies tonight, so I looked for more. I was looking for 24 hour party people, recommended by Anne, but it's been stolen.    (0000BL)

As I wandered the aisles, in my sickness, I felt lost and disoriented…    (0000BM)

My parents are leaving for England in a few days. There they will visit family and friends. One friend, RC, that they will visit was at Oxford fourteen years ago and is there again now. I've been to England twice in the last fifteen or so years. Both times very much related to someone I'll be seeing when I go to California around about the same time my parents go to England. She once looked vaguely like the woman in the Red poster. The first of those trips was after an aborted second attempt at the University of Redlands (located in California). That trip was a year long, and full of many things. Somewhere in there RC and I started a habit of trying to out Joyce/Faulkner?/Fitzgerald? (see This Side of Paradise) one another in letters. Apparently I took a fancy to reading Bret Easton Ellis (who was outdoing us both) at the time, for I have, for three pound ninety-five pence, a copy of The Rules of Attraction that I purchased then.    (0000BN)

So despite horrible marketing and not very good reviews, I picked up the movie and brought it home with some Nyquil, Aspergum (when I was little, I used to occasionally fake a sore throat to get some) and Garlic Shrimp (this time from Noodle Town).    (0000BO)

I settle in and the scenery looks familiar. Lo, it is true: this movie is being filmed at the University of Redlands. Never mind that The Rules of Attraction is supposed to be about a small Northeastern liberal arts place, Redlands was built to imitate one. And not too far from Hollywood.    (0000BP)

Weird.    (0000BQ)

When I write my multi-volume self-obsessed memoirs, the nine months I spent at Redlands will be a volume all their own.    (0000BR)

When I open a carry-out Chinese restaurant, extra spicy will mean something.    (0000BS)

This happens all the time. There is nothing new under the sun.    (0000BT)