Movies I like right now:
West Side Story
Ocean's Eleven

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/07/international/07TECH.html

Ooh, maybe Josh's old roommate is here for reasons other than studying..."archeology," was it? Is that what they call international espionage these days?

One of my friends from work recently quit his job because he got into graduate school. He's taking this time off to relax and travel before starting in the summer. But among the group of co-workers with whom both of us trained during our first 4 months in the company, time has swept the memory of him away. We now congratulate the ones who recently got promotions and we move on. That's what I hate about change. It seems like no one is ever ever good enough to leave any lasting impression. Who does someone have to sleep with to get noticed anyway?! Kidding. No need for that at this company. Have you seen some of the people I work with? Yikes.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/868639.asp

I saw La Boheme on Broadway this weekend. As with the true opera, it was sung entirely in Italian with supertitles displayed electronically. They were displayed in different fonts for the different characters. I don't know if that's true of what the Met would do. Anyway, I didn't enjoy it very much. I thought the set design was good and the female leads had strong voices. I think I didn't like it because it was sung in Italian and I just couldn't follow. Sure, I had the supertitles to help me along but I just wasn't very interested in general. Then I realized that I'm one of those "dumb Americans" that the Europeans always speak of. Because it's not in English, I have no interest. For the most part, most Europeans are multi-lingual. With that comes, I assume, a wider range of interests because one can understand more. I think people who speak only English miss out on so much, on both personal enrichment and professional advancement. So, because I only speak English, I'm a boring dolt at a dead-end job. Yay Americans.

DR: No, I don't think there's the "one" anymore. A wise, old friend used the illustration of the show Bachelor(ette) to indicate that the main person is conflicted primarily because there are so many very viable choices for a mate. If only in our real lives could we be presented with all those choices at one sitting. Since it doesn't, we'll have to make due one friendship at a time.

today: 7

How many packets of Equal in coffee, tea, cereal, fruit or cookies do you think starts being unhealthy?

Read this in an advice column:

My boyfriend of a few years (we're both in our mid-twenties) is moving back into his parents' house. His lease is up and he'll move into another place in about six months. I'm personally big on not relying on parents if you consider yourself an adult (he's not doing this out of necessity, just convenience), and I'm having a hard time respecting him because of it and am not looking forward to hanging out in his childhood bedroom. Am I being bratty about this?

-- East Coast

Do a lot of women feel this way?!?

I finally saw pictures of Julius. Though I kind of wonder why he's always in the same pose and wearing the same clothes despite different locales. Could it be that he's just a cardboard cutout?!

I'd vote for John Edwards. He has brown hair. I'm tired of old people running for President. But can we get one without an accent (not that there's anything wrong with that)?

As per New Year's resolution concerning reading:

Ask me at the end of this month whether I've finished the two books I've started:
1. The Best a Man Can Get (NOT some Promise Keepers book, heh heh; but some funny-British-Nick-Hornby-wanna-be stuff)
2. A Confederacy of Dunces

I am totally losing it! I put my ATM-and-credit-card-in-one into the machine this morning, punched in my code and amount and waited for the money. During the 15 seconds for the transaction, I noticed my credit card was missing. And I was upset over losing my credit card and wondering where the hell I lost it. Even after the money appeared out of the slot, I was still mad. I wasn't confused. I sincerely believed I had lost the credit card after getting a new MetroCard this morning. Anger dissipated only after I realized that I put said credit card into the ATM just moments before. Talk about attention deficit disorder.

Saddest thing: I was able to tape the SNL episode hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow, but it didn't have the "you don't know me !" skit.

printable New Year's resolution:

** read more books that don't have the words "for dummies" in their titles
** save money
** gain ten pounds (of not-fat, hopefully) by year's end

....thinks that friends who gather at these New Year’s celebrations are all struggling for perfection in life and art: “They are torn between their roots in whatever far-flung suburb they hail from and their reinvented lives among their city family,” he said.

Or, as Tobin Levy, another Bushwick Avenue friend, suggests, the motivation may be less profound. “What this is about,’’ she said, “is friends who don’t care what you do for a living or if you are a great success. Everyone has to pay the rent. These parties are just about the people you want to be near on the last day of the year.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/nyregion/29FEAT.html

Alas, the secret is out!

http://msnbc.com/news/825053.asp

yay! i'm not as a bad a son as i thought; or rather, i'm not the only bad son.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/national/23HOLI.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/22/fashion/22NOTI.html

I'm thinking, watching 15 episodes of SATC in 29 hours as a straight man isn't really "the next best thing to actually dating." It's kinda far off. Far...far....far....off. Ha ha. Just kidding. But if you're enjoying it, I say, 'what the hell?'