July 18, 2004

• New MOVIE REVIEW: I just got back from the flickers. In a weekend in which one high profile film, “I, Robot” just opened, and another, “Spiderman 2″ is breaking all kinds of box office records, I chose instead to go see “The Notebook”, and I’m giving this one early buzz for Best Picture of 2004. It’s a must-see film. In another summer of “rollercoaster films” this “emotional rollercoaster” of a film is one of the best acted, if not the best acted film of the year. Read my review in the review section.

  
  

  I took some photographs and shot some video yesterday at the Orange County Fair, a more “personal” County Fair, which is not a concrete Disneyland Fair like the L.A. County Fair, but actually brings back memories of “State Fair” and “Picnic” and the County Fairs which probably dot the rural sections of America even today. I live in the city, and any excuse to “go country” even in the middle of Orange County, is a welcome “escape”.  I’ll be uploading my photos, albeit there isn’t 100 of them this week, to my webshots folder. It’s early afternoon as I write, and the weekend is another hot one. Some neighbors are having a “party” with a DJ booth set up right outside our back yard, facing the cul-de-sac behind the house, and the thumping bass is rather annoying. I drank too much last night. I was “partying” with my roommate Cancerboy, watching boxing on HBO, and bullshi**ing. His latest chemo treatment is the final treatment of the second cycle. He skips a week and then goes in for a “long one” in two weeks. He was feeling a bit nauseous yesterday, and felt “bad” for the first time since the chemo treatments began. Today things are a little more settled, but we talked about the fact that he’s been rather lucky not to have been under any pain or nausea for the first six weeks. I felt that it would be better for him to suffer a “little” at least, so any future sickness doesn’t come as a “complete” shock. Our conversations regarding his state of health have graduated from nervous jokes to pragmatic discussions concerning his changing metabolism. He was in denial for a long time, and still overdoes the booze and cigarettes, but I have to agree with him that as long as his doctors don’t tell him to “stop altogether” then he isn’t to be derided by me for practicing that which he has always practiced, especially seeing that he might not have long to be able to, if he gets sicker, or, God forbid, the cancer keeps spreading.

  
  

  One acquaintence of our friend Jim’s (the MacAddict and musician who scores my “internet movies”) was diagnosed with cancer not too long ago, and when they opened up his intestine, the growth was so far gone, that they just sewed him up and told him he had about a month to live. A month or so later, he passed away. At least Joel has a better chance than that. My own health seems okay. I do need to see an optometrist soon. I have to find another one, as the office I used to frequent has closed down. I got the booklet form work which lists the various eye doctors in Long Beach which belong to my HMO, and will choose one soon. My left eye seems to go out of focus repeatedly. I haven’t lost the sight in the eye, and I don’t think it’s glaucoma or anything serious. I can close my right eye, and “bobble” the progressives until I see clearly, but then the sight “fades out of focus” again. The eye tears up while the right one doesn’t too. I’ve been “complaining” about this for a few weeks now, and was ready to go into the optometrist to “see” what was wrong, but as I say, the office is no longer there. I never got a “movement notice” either. I would hate to lose my eyesight in any way. That, to me, would be devastating. I’ve worn glasses since I was in sixth grade. My eyesight has always been poor, and my optometrist at the time said I should make sure I went in for an eyetest at least once a year after turning 40. I do go in for a physical every year, but usually only go in to the eyedoctor when I feel I need a new prescription, or if my glasses break. I put off the progressives for two years, because I was traumatized over having to “adjust to bifocals”. I still remember my mother’s reaction when she had to get hers. But when I finally got them, being able to see overthrew all the “traumas” over getting them. I rarely even think about the fact I have progressives now. But something is wrong with my left eye, and I can’t overlook it anymore.

  
  

  In two hours I have to call in to the Long Beach Court to see if I have to go in for Jury Duty. My friends all try to tell me how to “get out of it”, but if I am called, I go. The justice department is one of the ways in which America is free, and the “people” decide whether or not an individual is guilty or innocent through the jury process. I don’t “try” to get out of anything, and I’m as honest when answering the questions of the lawyers choosing the jury, as I am in all matters.

  
  

  I’ll be adding those photos to my Webshots Gallery later tonight. I hope my readers here get over to the review section. I haven’t really written any movie reviews till recently (and that’s because of the Xanga review section, frankly.) Now I have three of them on this site.

  • 6:13 pm
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