July 1, 2008

Okay, so I’m editing the Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema—all 1000 or so pages of it. And it’s well written, and full of cool stuff with which to fill my brain.

 And one of the short files it reviews is “The Conflict,” which is really cool. It’s a seven-minute film, animated, and is on YouTube. Check it out. When I’m done with the book (there are only so many hours in the day and I do have to spend most of them editing), I’ll check out the other stuff this director has done.

Click here to view: 'The Conflict'

 Elliott started work yesterday, or at least “in-processing,” which will probably take a full workweek to finish. In this age of computers, the amount of paperwork he has to accomplish for the government is truly amazing. He has a list of about 35 places he needs to go, listen to a short briefing, fill out a form he’s been there, and then go on to the next place. Definitely bureaucratic. But he got home in a good mood, and that’s worth all the paperwork in the world.

 And I’ve got an outline I’m happy with for the new book I’m attempting to write. Now comes the fun part!

 The Multiple Myeloma fund-raising bike ride is in two weeks, and I had thought I had signed up for 30 miles. I discovered last week it’s 50, so I upped my training regimen, and did 40 flat miles last Saturday. Then came home and took a long cool shower and a long nap. I admit, it wiped me out. This Saturday, I’m aiming for 45. We’ll see what a difference the hills make come July 12. Probably a lot, given my bike is down to one functional speed. But, we work with what we’ve got. And I’ve got strong legs. I hope.

 So, color me content. I’m not yet sure if Georgia will be where we end up or not, but I do know that life moves at a much slower pace down here and that’s good. Elliott comes home, we share a glass of wine (or a tomato beer) while he winds down, we share cooking duties (he does the meat, I do the salad is the way it usually works out), we walk out on the dock and watch the sunset. We spend more time outdoors in the evening, though less of it actually physically active. The bugs aren’t bad this time of year, which surprises me. Or maybe we’ve just been lucky these past few days. In any event, life is good.

 Now if only we had visitors (hint, hint to all who read this). Oh, and the 1300-acre Fins & Feathers next door is for sale—for something like $14,000,000! Now, if only somebody famous would buy it and stop all the shooting, that would be ideal. Somebody like, oh, Kevin Smith or Matt Damon. You know, far from the maddening crowd of Hollywood. They say Ben Affleck goes to Hunter’s Café every so often, which is cool, though I’d be so star struck I’d melt into the walls. Which from his point of view is probably far better than melting all over him! Ah well, he’s a people too.

 Have I heard from the girls? Hardly. I’m glad they have lives of their own, I’m glad they’re independent—but maybe not so distant. Like, call once in a while or IM without me prompting it. I know you have lives that are full of interesting stuff—or maybe not so interesting—but it’d be nice to hear about it. Share! Communicate! (hint hint)

 Time to go meet Bunny and clean the pool. It’s a real bear on the mornings after a thunderstorm.