3887

Went to see the dentist this morning. Not good news! Seems like the antibiotic treatment that I had a few months ago didn't help much. The dentist scheduled me to come back in 3 months for a cleaning and evaluation. We'll decide then what, if any, additional steps need to be done. It's like a final 3 months to get things turned around or else! No joy in mudville (or in the dental domain)!

Watched a Hitchcock movie tonight--Suspicion (Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine). It was a classic Hitchcock thriller with many twists and turns. It had a rather ho-hum ending since the original ending, with Grant doing an evil deed, was reworked so he wouldn't come off as a bad guy. Instead, he came off as a somewhat feckless goof who rides into the sunset with the girl.

PD weight training class had a full house today. There were a couple of people who didn't come today; we still had 9 or 10 people. I think it's the most that have done a session since we began the workouts. I did well with the 12-lb weights. They are feeling lighter as we continue the classes.

I noticed that I took in the various people in class today. I was aware of the "mirror" the class reflected regarding stages of the illness. The spectrum in the class is from people who have to depend upon caregivers, to people who are managing without caregivers but are weak and fragile, to some of us who are not in need of a caregiver but exhibit a range of symptoms (from a lot to almost none). It's like viewing a panorama of the illness at various stages. Not an exciting preview of what can come.

Got up early today (7am!!) so I could get to the dental appointment. Came back and slept some after grabbing a tasty breakfast. Hit the PD class in the afternoon and topped it off with a green tea latte. Slept for a short spell in the late afternoon before watching the movie. Long day! Full day! Say goodbye to September! October is on its way!

3888

Movement class felt good today. Came away a bit tired. Napped in the afternoon. Got warm in the late afternoon.

Dreamed last night a pair of dreams. One had me coming to visit with an ex-wife. She lived in an old house with our daughter and a friend of the daughter. There was some tension in and around my visit. After I had arrived and spent some time chatting, the ex-wife announced that she was going out for the evening. It was clear that she had a date and that I was there to sit with the girls. I got angry for letting myself get used in that way.

The second dream has dropped back into the haze of dream dust. I don't recall what it was about.

Have a dental appointment early in the morning. So it's time to hit the bed!

3889

Warm day today! Summer keeps trying to happen again. Won't let the Fall weather persist. Global warming on a local scale.

PD gait and balance class went well today. Having some difficulty doing balancing postures. But overall I'm doing OK! Had a tasty veggie dish after class and came back and slept. Stayed asleep until the heat woke me up.

Caught up on watching some of the new Fall TV episodes. Can spend a lot of time watching those shows each week. Mostly, I watch the CBS lineup. For the most part, those shows are well written and have good actors. I mostly watch the prime time dramas and don't follow the comedies.

Movement class tomorrow. September rolls to completion. October arrives! The days shrink and the nights get longer. Dreams keep on coming whether I recall them or not.

3890

Busy day! Went to PD dance class in the morning. Was good to move and groove. Powered my way through the weight training class in the afternoon. 12lb weights are getting lighter! Yeah!

Had a tuina session in the late afternoon. Left me floating along. Felt really good to have muscles and joints moved about. I had some tightness in my left hip and lower back that melted away.

Watched a movie tonight -- Zulu. It was a movie about a battle between a small contingent of British soldiers and a horde of Zulu warriors. I suppose it was based on an actual event. It was one long battle scene in which the British managed to hold off the warriors, eventually getting them to withdraw from the battle. It was Michael Caine's debut in films. Fortunately for him, his career was not defined by this film. Richard Burton did some narration.

PD gait and balance class tomorrow. Ho, ho, ho! Ready to go!

3891

Almost forgot to do a posting tonight. Why? I don't know! For some reason, I thought I had written something, but I only "thought" I had done so.

Day went well. Didn't like the news from the dental session this morning. I'm still having trouble with my gums despite the previous hygiene sessions, the antibiotic treatment, and what I think I'm doing with daily brushings and such. I've stepped up my regimen starting this evening and will continue and see what happens. It's a pain in the gums, in more ways than one.

Went to the H's after the dental battle. Had lunch and read some more of the novel that is based on Rimbaud's short life. Then took GH to do some errands. Later in the afternoon I grabbed something for dinner from Whole Foods. Weather was cool today--enjoyable!

I watched a batch of Fall TV shows that are restarting for the season. There are some good shows on CBS that are well written and have good casts. It's a break from all the movies. Most of the shows are dramas. I'm not sure the comedies are all that funny.

PD dance and weight training tomorrow, followed by a tuina session. Didn't sleep well last night (because I slept so much over the weekend) but feel like sleep tonight! Off we go!

3892

Weather cooled a lot. Made it easy to stay wrapped in blankets and sleep the day away. Looked like it was going to rain, but I don't think it ever happened. I wouldn't know! I was fast asleep.

Got up this morning (late) and had a bite to eat. Then, slipped back to bed until I got up for a late brunch. Had the brunch and came back and lay down. Slipped into a foggy sleep until I awoke long enough to take a dose of medication. Grabbed a pill and then went back to sleep. Awoke about an hour ago. Probably could have slept on through the night but I was a little hungry.

So the sleep-a-thon ends and the night begins! Have a lot of things coming up this week. Dental appointment in the morning; reading about Rimbaud with GH in the afternoon; PD dance and weight training classes on Tues, followed with a tuina session. And on goes the week with PD gait and balance classes, movement session and an end of the week weight training. The daze goes on; the daze goes on!

Dreamed somewhere during my sleep-a-thon that I was with LL. We were driving along a beach road to a surfing spot. There were some surfing contests being held there. We drove up to a seaside cafe and went inside. There were lots of people everywhere. Everyone was having a good time and enjoying the music, sun and fresh air. I was sitting off to one side of a dance floor. LL was out on the floor dancing alone. I was struck by how isolated she seemed to be. There were a few people looking at her, but not paying much attention to her--just noting in passing that she was dancing. There was some part of the dream that had to do with her drink. She was drinking a whiskey sour. That was an unusual drink for her, but she seemed to like the tartness. For some reason, I could taste the tartness each time she took a sip.

There were other dream fragments during my long sleep, but they have faded now.

3893

Cooler daze today! Slept in this morning and it felt really good. Finally arose and went out to do laundry and grab some food. Had a couple of slices of pizza from Whole Foods. The pizza guy was using some pizzas for samples. They were not the regular flavors but were from the pre-made pies they carry on the shelves. I asked for a couple of slices of the sample pizzas. He gave me two for a buck a piece. What a deal! I enjoyed!

Dreamed over the past few nights a couple of mega-dreams. One had something to do with a school performance. We were putting on a major show with costumes and all. There was some confusion regarding the exact timetable for when the scenes were to be presented. A second dream involved me in working on a project. It had something to do with a piece of software that was going to be used for some specific task. It was intricate and complex. I was responsible for the key algorithm and was having problems getting it to work.

Space debris has landed (or "oceaned") with no known injuries. May have startled a few dolphins. The Florida straw poll was a surprise! May there be more of the same! Tremors regarding the Palestinian announcement that they seek statehood. It's been a long time coming but it may be time for changes to be played. Can sleep in again tomorrow! I like! I like!

3894

Space debris heading for the planet! Neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light! Man flames out because of spontaneous human combustion (SHC)! And, oh yeah, congress can't clear and pass an appropriation bill that would help people who were hit by recent catastrophes! Maybe we should just erase this copy of the time line and pick another channel!

Weight training went well today. Still having some trouble hoisting the 12-lb weights in standing presses, but it will happen. Had a delicious tuina session this morning. Have another scheduled for next Tuesday (assuming I don't get hit by any orbital debris).

Watched a short Japanese film--Patriotism: The Rite of Love and Death. It's a stark, brief film about a soldier committing seppuku along with his wife. The images are spare and luminous. The final act is nauseating--no redeeming value. Thank goodness it was a short film! Also watched a Norwegian film--Mirush (also titled Blodsband--meaning blood ties, I think). It's about a young boy who runs away from Albania to look for his father in Oslo. He finds his father who doesn't know that they are related. The boy talks the father into hiring him on to help with the father's cafe. The story is gritty and brutal. The boy is a natural con man and manages to get his father caught in a web of problems that the child helps create. Except for one unnecessary over-the-top killing scene, the film is well done. It's a tense thriller with audacious moments centered around the boy's desire to flirt with danger.

Laundry day (again) tomorrow! Can't wait to watch the tumblers spin!

3895

Had movement class today. Came away feeling good. Weather was warm though and quickly made me feel hot and tired. We can't seem to get past Summer.

The CERN collider has possibly produced particles that travel faster than the speed of light! If so, some physics principles will have to be rethought. The good news is that they didn't create a black hole that swallowed the Earth. Or maybe it did but no one has noticed. The magical, mystical wonderment of the universe!

Watched a gritty film tonight--Mr. Brooks. It's a cleverly written thriller/mystery about a serial killer who lives right in front of everyone but carries out meticulous murders of random people. The film has a powerhouse cast (Costner, Hurt, Demi Moore, and others). The movie was somewhat difficult to watch--there are some cold, gruesome scenes.

Dreamed about working again last night. I don't recall many details, but I'm sure the theme involved work of some sort. Maybe we can solve the employment problems by having everyone dream that they have gotten a job. Worth a try! Beats what else is being done!

3896

Gait and balance class seemed like a long session today. We did a lot of movement and stretching, and everything felt somewhat strenuous. I could have stayed home this morning and slept more. But, I made it up and out, and joined the class. I know I was better off going to the class than not going.

Day turned really warm. It got up near 90 degrees this afternoon. It finally cooled down in the evening and I went to the H's for movie night. We watched What Makes Sammy Run? It's a good piece of theater.

Movement class tomorrow and probably more heat. Dreamed about something last night but I don't recall about what. I think the dream involved something to do with working on a project or a job, but the details have slipped away.

Had a fruit and cheese plate for lunch. Wanted something cool and light. It was perfect!

Silence fills the night. A few cars whoosh by but the spaces between are still. Time for dreams! Time to pull the curtains and let the dreams begin. All is quiet!

3897

Warm day! Summer has finally decided to arrive. It is hot and muggy!

Did a PD weight training session today--with the 12-lb weights. It was a stretch to finish some of the repetitions--especially the overhead presses. I'm sure my muscles will settle in with the new weight eventually. Just keep on pumping!

Watched a Russian film: Mother and Son. It was a really boring film that never seemed to have a point. I watched a piece of fluff--Never Been Kissed--as an antidote to the boredom that the Russian film produced.

Dreamed last night that I was on a campus. I was with a group of men who were participating in some kind of athletic event. We were scattered all over the campus and I was trying to get everyone together on the playing field. There was some confusion about where we were supposed to play our matches and where to store our gear. I found this one place where we could store some of our gear, but I couldn't be certain that the place was secure. I spent a lot of time in the dream running here and there, and everywhere.

PD gait and balance tomorrow. Lift those bales!

3898

Warm today! Turned sweltering in the afternoon. Can't beat the heat!

Read some more of the Rimbaud novel with GH. He's busy getting translations of Rimbaud's poetry and building up the narration that he will do. The novel is quirky and entertaining.

Watched a movie tonight--What Makes Sammy Run? The movie was taken from TV footage shot in b/w. It is an interesting film about Hollywood and the infighting that took place in early studio days. One protagonist, Sammy Glick, is the epitome of the hard-nosed deal maker who fights his way up the ladder, leaving bodies (lives) along the way. The writer for the work is Budd Schulberg, who also did such classics as On the Waterfront and The Harder They Fall. His life make an interesting story in its own right.

I dreamed last night that I had a shop that made models of things (buildings, cars, appliances, and more). I worked with two guys. We each had a workstation where we could fabricate prototypes. For some reason, we were having trouble creating a really level base for one item. I was working with the other two men, trying out different ways to level up the base. At one point, I told one of the men to try a rasp--use it to knock off the high spots on the frame of the base.

The dream changed to me sleeping in the woods behind an old house. I was in a sleeping bag and was in the bushes out behind the house. At one point, I heard footsteps in the brush. Someone was walking toward me. I awoke with a start!

3899

Dreamed a complex dream last night. Part of the dream involved me and two other people. We were working on a software project. Our work facilities were being closed to us and we had to clear the place. We had removed everything in the building except for our three workstations. We each had a version of the software product on our systems, but the three versions needed to be merged. We needed a fourth machine to do the merging, but the offices were cleared out. I phoned a friend who had a system that could perform the merges, but it wasn't obvious how we could get the three versions to her. The dream ended with the four of us on a conference call trying to decide how to solve the problem.

The dream then switched to a parking lot outside the offices. I was taking a group of men on a wilderness expedition. I had suggested that we meet at the parking lot and leave our extra vehicles there for the three days we were to be gone. The only worry I had was what if the building's owner were to come by and see all of the parked vehicles. He had just had us evicted from the offices so I wasn't sure how he would feel about the parked cars. In the end, we left for the camping grounds and left the extra vehicles there.

Watched a German movie tonight: The Tunnel. It was about a man who led a group of people to dig an escape route under the Berlin Wall. He and many others dug a tunnel from an abandoned factory, under the wall, and up into the basement of an empty building on the East German side. They managed to free about 30 people in a tense and daring feat. They not only dug the tunnel (over 190 meters) but also coordinated the communication among the people who were saved by sending people across the border with messages. The film is based on actual events.

Warm day today! Slept in late. Went out in the afternoon to the library, the coffee shop and Whole Foods. Came back and listened to "Says You" on the radio. One of my favorite shows!

3900

Cool weather today and I just wanted to sleep. Finally arose late in the morning and made it out and about for a while. Nothing much accomplished today except adding to the greenhouse effect.

Watched a movie this evening--The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Based on the book, I suspect the book tells the story better than the film. I've not read the book but that is my guess based on what I saw tonight. It's a strong story with good characters. The film just seemed kind of flat for some reason. (I just did some research on the book and discovered that the film's script did some major rework on the book's storyline.) Also did some research on Sondra Locke's (the woman who played the character Mick) back story. Her history is a story unto itself (her "gay" husband, her 10-year liaison with Clint Eastwood, and much more). Life is often more interesting than the movies!

Time to sleep!

3901

Moved up to two 12-lb weights today! Didn't feel that much different except for presses. I noticed the extra 4 pounds (2 pounds each weight) when doing overhead presses. Also noticed that push ups seemed easier after exercising with the heavier weights. Everything will even out as we continue to do the trainings. I started with 5-lb and 8-lb weights back last year. Went to the 10-lb weights earlier this year. Now, onward to the 12-lb weights! Next step will be to 15-lb dumb bells, but not soon. Doing the class today felt good.

Dreamed last night that I was in a Survivor TV episode. We were trying to sort out who was going to support whom. We had ended up with two guys separating themselves from the main group, and two women who did the same. The rest of us were aligned and agreed to support each other. It was a strategic move, done early in the game (before the merge), and which I thought would give us an advantage once we hit the merge.

I also dreamed of being in a room where my neurologist was working with some patients. I was talking with him about my dosages. He was preoccupied with the patients that were coming and going. He mentioned that perhaps I should reduce my medication levels--that I might do even better with less medication. I agreed with him but we never came to a final solution on exactly what dosages I should be taking.

Watched the Kung-Fu movie of all times tonight: Chocolate. It's a Thai film about an autistic young girl who watches people doing martial arts and learns how to do the moves. She becomes an adept and ends up using her skills to get people to pay their debts to her mother (who is in a hospital needing medical care). The story is really fanciful. The action, however, is amazing. The actress who plays the lead studied martial arts and gymnastics intensely for two years and than spent two years making the film. Most of the action was really done, without the aid of equipment and harnesses. Their is an amazing amount of battle scenes where this little, seemingly fragile, girl takes on the whole crime syndicate. In the Special Features section there is some documentary footage about the making of the film. It shows some of the actual battle wounds that took place as the film was made. Chocolate is very tasty!

3902

Movement class felt good today. After class, I grabbed some food, came back home and then slept for a while. When I awoke, I felt heavy and not very good. That ill feeling dissolved as the evening went forward. Who knows how these things go? So many odd symptoms.

Watched a movie tonight: The Walker. It was a somewhat tedious tale of how some aspects of politics and power are used in the nation's capitol. The story involved sex, corruption, murder, bias, and many other deficiencies of our political system. The film had a stellar cast, but they didn't have much to bite into.

Dreamed last night a detailed dream about me getting a job. I was one of three people who were in line for the job. There was a guy who was much younger than me and a man who was much older. Somehow, I was chosen for the job because I wasn't so young and I wasn't so old. The job involved editing blocks of text that end up as a news feed to various web sites. I also dreamed that I was in a house where I was falling asleep. There appeared to be someone in the house. Whoever it was seemed ominous and stealthy. I kept trying to ignore the presence and fall back asleep. I needed to sleep so that I could start work on the job from the earlier dream when I awoke.

PD weight training session tomorrow. Lift them weights!

3903

Gait and balance class today! Felt really good! She did quite a bit of yoga stretches on the floor. It felt good to do the relaxation movements and postures.

Did a movie night with the H's. We watched a Romanian film: Police, Adjective. It was quite a thought-provoking movie. It was bleak and virtually silent in the first half; verbal and analytical in the final half. It was an enjoyable but puzzling work--a police story where the final "shootout" is done with the aid of a dictionary. The film also made a lot of statements about Romanian culture and life. The film had some really long takes.

Movement class tomorrow! Love to move!

3904

Two classes today! Felt good to do both. Have a bit of a wait between classes. I had lunch which turned out great. It was just what I needed. Weight training session went smoothly. It's good to be back to two sessions per week for the weight work. Dance class is huge; it continues to grow!

Dreamed last night but lost the content when I awoke several times. I think it was another tense dream triggered by the Volt stories I'd been reading. They are great stories but stir up a lot of images and such.

Watched a jumbled and odd German film tonight: Vivere (To Live). It dealt with the lives of three women that mysteriously interconnect--improbably so! The film was inbred and misanthropic. It used a lot of flash back (more like rewind or replay) that didn't seem to add much to the plot. Overall, it was an irritating movie that I would not need to see again.

Gait and balance class tomorrow. It's been a while since we had a class. Be good to get back to it!

3905

GH is totally into doing his research for a Rimbaud performance! He's going through Season in Hell and other resources. I can see that he will be able to create a rich, poetic presentation. We read into the Duffy novel about Rimbaud today. It makes a strong accompaniment to what he's putting together for his performance piece.

Watched a "Latino" movie tonight: Ladron Que Roba Ladron (Thieves Who Rob Thieves). It is an Ocean's 11 (12 or 13) type of film done mostly in Spanish and targeted for the Latino market. Like the Ocean's films, the film is about an elaborate con that is propagated by a clever thief on a thief that he knows who preys on the immigrant population. It's a Robin Hood story done in Spanish. Funny and fun!

I had an intense dream last night. I don't recall the details but the mood of the dream was heavy and tense. I think the dream was a spin off from a set of stories I'm reading, Volt, by Alan Heathcock. The stories are intense and really well plotted. They deal with people and secrets in a rural, seemingly benign small village. They are some of the best fiction I've read in all my past couple of years of reading. The stories are elaborate maze-like structures, one of which that read last night that had a corn maze as part of the story. Have to see if he has other collections.

PD dance and weight training tomorrow! Ready for the eddy!

3906

9/11/11 and all is clear! At least, for the most part. Weather was cooler today. There was a delicious breeze that felt good blowing across my skin. Went out for a bite to eat and a green tea latte. I'm becoming addicted to the green tea concoction. It has become my late afternoon pick-me-up. It probably affects my sleep some, but I just sleep in late in the mornings. My bio-clock has been recalibrated.

Watched an Ingmar Bergman film tonight: White Light. A depressing movie that left me feeling heavy and anxious. It is a gritty film, perhaps more so than other of Bergman's pieces.

Well, tomorrow will dawn on the "real" world and all that is churning around the globe. Wars, disease, financial woes! A plethora of dysfunctions that are being applied to all and everything. Bleak premonitions! Moon at its fullness tonight! Howling of the wolves!

3907

Almost 9/11/11. And the media blitz goes on along with other recaps of the past decade.

Meanwhile, the world goes on in its crooked little way. And for me, let there be sleep! I really conked out last night and this morning. Didn't want to get up but finally did so.

Watched a strangely coincidental movie tonight: The Syrian Bride. A film by an Israeli about a woman who lives in the Golan Heights and is marrying a Syrian. The film depicts the many family members, each with their won turmoils, and how they come together to marry off one of their loved ones into a new life that she can never reverse. When she steps across the border into Syria, she can no longer return to the Israeli territories. The film managed to dip into many of the kinds of questions and problems that face the people in that area, as well as some larger political issues regarding borders, rights, and relative freedoms. Given what's taking place in Syria now, the film is somewhat prescient.

The rain and lightning storms last night started several fires, some of which may still be burning.

Read about a group of chimpanzees that were kept caged for over 30 years and have been released outdoors for the first time in their captivity. The animals were initially captured as lab animals for HIV research. For most of their lives they have been kept in cages with no contact with each other or access to the outdoors. The videos of their release show the animals looking happy and pleased with their new freedom. They could live another 30 years. Their new surroundings are in Austria in a park-like setting that was built expressly for them.

3908

Did a PD weight training session today. It was a challenge but I made my way through.

Amazing! It is raining right now! I thought I had seen a lightning flash and heard the sound of thunder. It's not raining all that much but it sure sounds good. We need the moisture!

Watched a mystery/thriller film tonight: The Final Seduction. It revolved around a brilliant, good looking, psychopathic woman who is a master manipulator. Everyone has secrets and that's how she finds the right wedges into their psyches. The action is such that you want to believe that she couldn't be as evil as she seems to be. But, as things unfold, just the opposite happens. Not an ultimately great film, but good if you like a bit of darkness.

Laundry day tomorrow! Time to watch the tumblers tumble, spin and flop. Waiting for the dawn!

3909

Moved in movement class today. Felt good! I get truly relaxed in that class. It is so nice!

Watched a French comedy film tonight: Let it Rain. It was a convoluted tale of a family group that was not, in my estimation, all that funny. It was a mishmash of stories of people who were not all that good at being who they are. It had multiple "happy" endings, none of which were believable.

The build up in the media on the upcoming 9/11 anniversary seems to be too much. Along with the retrospectives have come the inevitable "warnings" of credible rumors about possible threats.

PD weight training session tomorrow! Looking forward to the exercise.

3910

Got a haircut today! With so little hair, I should start just shaving my head. I am bald, bald, bald!

Watched an entertaining movie tonight (with GH): Infamous. It's a film about Truman Capote and his creation of the book In Cold Blood. There's another film (with Philip Seymour Hoffman) called Capote that covers the same ground. Capote was released a year before Infamous and sucked up all the air. Infamous didn't do well at the box office. Too bad! Toby Smith (the actor who played Truman) would have garnered a nomination or two. Infamous recreated scenes from the original b/w film (In Cold Blood). It was an eerie replay of those scenes, in color, but with absolutely matching details.

Movement class tomorrow. Looking forward to moving along! GOP candidates had their debate tonight. I doubt that I missed anything by watching a movie instead. Hope everyone watched a movie!

3911

PD dance and weight training sessions today! It was a bit of a push to drop back in with both of these, but it feels good to be moving and getting the exercise.

Slept somewhat poorly last night. Moon going to full is jumbling the energies. Dreamed but nothing that I remember.

Watched a film tonight--Julia. A drama story about an alcoholic woman who gets pulled into a crazy kidnapping scheme. The lead was Tilda Swinton. She is quite good--makes a convincing alcoholic crazy woman. Story is a bit drawn out and what she does in the film is not all that probable. But it makes for an engaging tale.

No PD gait and balance class tomorrow. Too bad! So sad! Will go for a haircut.

3912

Dreamed last night a pair of dreams. One had to do with a classroom. It was a poetry class and I had already made copies of my latest poem and distributed it to the class. I had done this in a previous dream. So, in this dream I was submitting a second poem. The instructor seemed to be out of it. He would stick his head in the door, make some random comments, and then leave. I wasn't to sure why I went to the class since the instructor was so weird. I seemed to need the credits so I kept coming back.

In a second dream, I was jogging with a group of men along a levee. We were trying to reach some place before it got too dark to keep running. We came to a split in the trail. I was certain that we could make the destination by taking an upper path. Some others elected to take a lower path. We split up and continued along our chosen routes.

Began a new book with GH today--Disaster is My God--a biographical novel about Rimbaud. We made it through a long prologue that sets the stage of the novel. It's intriguing material. Just hope the author doesn't try to out-Rimbaud Rimbaud. His writing style seems a bit ornate. We shall see.

PD dance and weight training tomorrow! Great! The long weekend left me listless!

3913

Dreamed that I was in a house somewhere in Europe. Everyone around me was speaking in languages that I didn't understand. At one point, a woman began singing a song. For some reason, I could sing the song with her even though I didn't understand the meaning of the words. As I chimed in with her others in the room also started singing as well. Soon we were like a chorus. When the song was finished, I left the house. I walked off into the night. The stars were bright in the sky.

I watched a movie tonight called Performance. It was a movie set in the 60s that dealt with the counter culture. It starred Mick Jagger. The film was psychedelic in style and content. It was not always clear just what the film was saying, but the content did involve drugs, sex and rock and roll. Jagger and others gave good performances--no pun intended!

Long weekend comes to a finale. Slept a lot this holiday period. Time to awaken!

3914

Watched an Italian movie tonight: Antonioni's Red Desert. It was his first color film and shows a lot of his experimentation with color elements. The female lead (his wife in real life) plays a woman with a cognitive disorder. She has lot of mannerisms and symptoms that make it difficult to stay with her when she's the focus of the action. Over it all, the director makes a host of political/social statements about the life and times in which the movie takes place. It all makes for a somewhat nervous film that comes to a mostly unsettling end (or Finis).

Dreamed last night that I was moving into a rustic house set deep in the woods. I was moving into the place with a woman (wife) who was not fully enthusiastic about where we were going to be living. The narrow road to the place was treacherous and we had to proceed slowly to make some of the turns required to navigate the route. I managed to get us safely to the house and pulled into a parking area in front of the place. We got out and went for a tour of the place. We discovered quite a few problems--such as the water being cut off and other issues. It was really quiet until the next door neighbors cranked up a stereo system and started pumping loud music through the trees.

A second dream involved taking our kids (two boys) to their new school. There were some problems with older students giving the new kids some grief. There were also some conflicts when the boys went to sign up for some of the sports' activities.

The dreams were active and clear. I didn't sleep all that well last night and awoke in the very early morning a few times.

3915

Missed having a weight training session today. Slept in this morning. Warm muggy weather finally got me up and about. Went to the CG for a tasty Caesar chicken wrap.

Watched an Indonesian film this afternoon--The Photograph. It was a somewhat muddy story of a woman who's trapped in world of prostitution and dance clubs. She has a daughter and grandmother who needs an operation. An older man, a photographer, gives her a place to stay and lets her exchange housework in lieu of rent. She becomes intrigued by his work with the camera and ultimately becomes his apprentice. The film was visually rich. The conclusion was somewhat anticlimactic.

Dreamed last night that I was on an expanse of sand that led to a steep drop to a beach below. There were children with me and one, my daughter, fell backwards and rolled to the edge of the drop off. I was yelling for her to be still and not move. I was afraid she would fall backwards over the edge of the steep drop. I managed to get to her and lift her away from danger. There were other dreams but I don't remember any details.

3916

September! August felt like a long month! Time flies or it doesn't!

Movement class today felt good. The class was small. The classroom was muggy. I had slept in this morning somewhat.

Dreamed a series of dreams last night. One dream had something to do regarding the development of an object or tool. I had been responsible for the design of the item. We had just completed a prototype and when we tried it out it worked well. There were some software glitches and we resolved them quickly. The people in the dream were a mix of people I had once worked with and some total strangers. There were other dreams but I don't recall any details. I think one had something to do with climbing, but I'm not certain now.

Watched a Hitchcock film tonight: Notorious. It was one of his earlier films where he introduced many aspects of his "spy" films. As some of the commentary revealed, he was one of the first to produce films dealing with espionage, intrigue, and such. I learned that he preferred single word titles for his films (Psycho, Notorious, and so on). He directed over 60 films--many of them quite memorable.