"Puppet wrangler? There weren't any puppets in this movie!" – Crow T. Robot
I did the morning pages again this morning, though I decided to give this evening a break from the short story writing. To relax, decompress, rest my poor tired brain.
I finished re-playing Portal 2 and watched the latest episode of Justified instead.
That, plus work, was my Friday.
Another cold and rainy day, like yesterday, only more so. In fact, today was pretty much yesterday all over again, except instead of of Quantum Leap, it was M*A*S*H, and instead of editing for Kaleidotrope, I was reading stories. (I’m down to just ten, which is good because I re-open to submissions in January.)
Also did the crossword and took a nap. I was going to go for a walk, honest I was, but, y’know…rain.
I ran some errands, watched some Quantum Leap, edited some stories, watched The Tree of Life, played some backgammon, and somehow that made up a day. But, you know, it wasn’t a bad one for all that.
Today was more comics, more writing, very little work e-mail, and rounded out with an episode of Quantum Leap and tonight Strangers on a Train. The latter is great mostly for Robert Walker’s performance…and for this amazing climactic scene. I can’t in good conscience recommend you watch the clip if you haven’t seen the movie, but I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s one of the most amazing and outlandish things I’ve ever seen. It’s Hitchcock at his most entertainingly insane.
Anyway, that was…what was it, Wednesday? I mean, I also went to the bank, having been reimbursed for my Maryland trip, and I finally got gas for my car, now that there are no more rationing and day-long lines. But I spent most of the day writing, even if I didn’t write a whole lot.
I’m just glad I wasn’t on the Long Island Railroad tonight.
Today was a pretty good day.
I’ll admit, I did spend a little bit of it on my work laptop, checking e-mails and sending chapters out to reviewers. But before that, I actually enjoyed some of my vacation.
I watched last night’s episode of The Walking Dead. The resolution of last week’s kind of weird cliffhanger ended pretty much exactly as I expected it to, and in the least surprising way, but I thought it was handled fairly well, particularly in the brief scene between Hershel and Rick. I’ve had my issues with the show in the past, and I was not a fan of the comic, but this season so far seems to be doing a lot of things right.
After that, and breakfast, I went to see Skyfall. Last night, I started watching On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but I have to admit I fell asleep maybe about halfway through. (Diana Rigg is gorgeous, and there are some good action scenes, but George Lazenby is no Sean Connery. He’s barely George Lazenby at times. I plan to finish watching it, but I’m almost surprised I stayed awake that long.) No such problems with this new Bond, which, I have to say, is probably one of my favorites. It’s beautiful to look at, for one — I saw it in IMAX, after some Twitter chatter suggested I should, and I don’t regret the added ticket cost — and exceptionally well staged. I enjoyed the heck out of it, and highly recommend it.
And then I did a little writing. This short story I’ve been working on since Saturday keeps wanting to change the century it’s set in, but I think I’ve finally hit upon the right time frame.
And then there was the work e-mail. Though I promise, not a lot. I am, after all, on vacation.