Okay. Going to finish that paper today. Yep. I need four more pages of written material on Afua Cooper. A cinch. I've written three times that in one day. I'll write three pages and then leave the house to grab a couple of refenreces from Robarts and see The Savages at the Cumberland at 7 PM. Then I'll come home and finish it off. It's due at 5 PM tomorrow.

No problem.

Yesterday I quite obviously did nothing. I woke up early, showered and settled into some Undergrads, 30 Rock and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I hadn't see Episode I in full since theatres and it was better than I remembered. I even found Jar-Jar Binks somewhat tolerable and the plot easier to follow. The movie is great enough for the pod race scene and the lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon Jin, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul alone.

It's been awhile since I've stayed up late for the sole purpose of listening to music. The blood rushes in a slightly different way at this time of day.

Of course, this happened because I had a hankering to watch a couple episodes of Undergrads, which brought me back to my life five years ago. A few songs filled in the blanks of old narratives. If I really wanted to get deep into it, I'd read some old journal entries. But I don't. I just want skim the surface of memory and apply it to the present in positive and useful ways. Seems rather unlike the person I was five years ago.

I read a lot about Marlene Dietrich today, and watched her in The Devil is a Woman. She bent the minds of so many men in half, but she seemed rather lonely and affected. I started designing a website that I'm going to use for my presentation that will talk about her films with von Sternberg, her USO tours, the Dietrich persona and her role in Touch of Evil. I miss creating websites. Putting jigsaw pieces into place.

I need to hit Value Village and pick up some new duds. I'll try and do that tomorrow if I can wake up early enough.

Lately I've been reading Kevin Smith's My Boring Ass Life before I hit the sack. It makes for great bedtime reading. I listened to SModcast today and he spent the hour talking about how his post-high school/pre-film career years were the best of his life. I wonder what I'll consider the best years of my life to be when I'm pushing 40. I don't think I've had them yet, and they seem to keep getting better.

WHAT I'M IN F... - sigh.

I have a theory about today's Friday. It got out of bed under the impression that it was, in fact, the 13th, and decided to curse me with bad luck for about the first half of the day. I made my way to campus, found my classroom in the Hogwart's-esque University Centre, and it was empty. Not a soul at 5 minutes to class time. I asked the folks at administration what was going on, and they said they were aware of some confusion but didn't know. I phoned Gillian, but there was no answer, so I walked to the English Department office. I found out that classes - all classes, not just certain classes on a list that was sent out - were cancelled for Rosh HaShannah.

I got home just in time to Jason messaging me about a delivery man he had just buzzed up from his cellphone. I waited, but no-one showed, so I went downstairs and found a slip declaring there was no answer and that I had to pick the package up at a convenience store a stone's throw from the building. I called the postal outlet, who told me I'd have to wait until Monday for pickup, and Canada Post, who told me they couldn't send the driver back, even though he'd been there ten minutes earlier and was probably still on his route.

So now I'm starting to get annoyed at the day, and I start thinking about things that aren't right. Why haven't I heard back from Arts Court about reference letters for my grant application? So I send them a friendly reminder and figure that the day is shot when they don't email me back within the hour.

I put in the first episode of Knight Rider, which all in all cheered me up. Something about Hasselhoff's chest hair sprouting out of that half-buttoned denim shirt brings a smile to my face. It could bring about world peace. The Germans are already on board. Knight Rider was a favorite show of mine in the 80's. I got to sit in the KITT car when it appeared at the Memorial Centre in Peterborough while touring auto shows. The show IS pretty awesome, packed with insane ideas. But there are weird little continuity errors throughout that boggle the mind - shots suddenly turn mirror-imaged, Hasselhoff's injured shoulder kept changing from left to right, stunt drivers are clearly visible during certain scenes. Strangely, this all enriches the viewing experience.

At 4 I decided to visit the store to see if my package had arrived. It had. I'm the proud owner of a Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS, 7.1 megapixel digital camera. It looks like this. Stayed tuned for more pictures as I practice handling it. I also have a new alarm clock. I'd been using my old alarm clock for almost 16 years, and I stopped trusting it to get me out of bed about ten years ago. After sleeping through class last week, it was the last straw.

So I'm feeling a little higher tech now. I watched some Undergrads with Jay and capped stills of Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter for film_stills. Non-stop excitement. But! I also heard back from Arts Court. Donna thanked me for the reminder, and they'll be sending me what I need shortly. Not a bad Friday after all. Not an unlucky one, at least.