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I watched The Dancer Upstairs and Goya's Ghosts yesterday and am thinking about going to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona again today. Told you, obsessed.

It took me hours to put my grades in yesterday because the district website wouldn't respond. But everything that's graded is now in the system. Just need some more social studies workbooks to grade. I didn't want to bring those home.

My critique group didn't meet in person yesterday because I was worried about Ike, and we didn't get a drop of rain. So we sent pages online. I still have to do JP's pages.

We had a scare yesterday when the dh came home and his laptop had a big scary symbol on it. Yup, it was toast, and it's only about a year and a half old. Fortunately, he got the protection plan and the Apple Store gave him an appt at 7 last night. He got a new hard drive while he waited!

Now he needs to fix the desk top.


1) finish new ending for BD
2) edit short story
3) start revising Ghost Hunters
4) newsletter
5) update website
6) order more books
7) progress reports go out
8) get in a housekeeping groove

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Ike's not looking so bad for San Antonio now. They're predicting high winds for us, but one inch of rain. I should be able to get to the grocery store, library and Blockbuster this AM, and the boy has band practice.

I went to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona yesterday. If the theater where it's showing wasn't so far, I'd go see it again today. WONDERFUL inspiration for my short story, which I should finish this weekend. (A shame, since I found a ton more pictures I love.) HOWEVER, I wouldn't have liked it without Javier, because he played the role with a smoldering sensuality. I'm sure another actor could have done a fine job, but he had this amazing presence. His character was not at all heroic, though you could see why these women fell for him. Penelope Cruz was great. I don't think I've seen her in a movie before.

I had a DVD of Javier too, called The Dancer Upstairs, where he played a 36 year old cop but looked way older. It was more of a thriller. I'm going to exchange it for Goya's Ghosts today, where he plays a member of the Spanish Inquisition. I'm even tempted to watch No Country for Old Men again, but he doesn't talk much, and I love his voice.

Surface is submitted. Back to BD, but all I want to do is work on my no-longer-so-short story. Need about 5 more scenes.

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I can find NO ONE but Baby Brother who has seen Love in the Time of Cholera. I admit, the title turned me off and I resisted seeing it. But, you know me and my obsessions. I girded myself and rented it and LOVED IT. LOVED. IT. Bought it, and the soundtrack. Cholera plays a very small role, only setting and a plot point or two, but none of the main characters die from it. The story is about a young couple pulled apart when her father thinks she deserves better than the boy who loves her and sends her away. The boy pines for her until he finds a "routine" to help him get over her, but she's never far from his thoughts. He watches her marry another man, but betters himself to be worthy of her because, "I am waiting for her husband to die." There's subtle humor, beautiful scenery and music, and the make up as they age is incredible. Javier does an amazing job of playing an older man, then an elderly one. I found the ending very satisfying. I've already watched the movie 3 times.

Has anyone else seen it?

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What a business. I was still floating from holding my book, and less than 24 hours later, I got an R from Superromance. Sigh.


1) finish BD
2) finish my short story
3) go through Surface with the notes Trish gives me, then submit
4) get ready for critique (NO idea what I’m sending, unless I rewrite the end of BD before Wednesday)
5) critique ;)
6) stop obsessing over this, which really is good:



and this, which I haven't seen but I've watched the trailer over and over:



8) keep up house, which I haven’t done well since the company left

I am never leaving the house without my iPod again. Yesterday I drove my son to band practice and back, then to pick him up and back, and I heard 3 Chili Peppers songs, 3 Rolling Stones songs, 2 Journey songs (on 2 different channels at the same time), 3 Eagles songs and 2 Pink Floyd songs. All this in 2 hours, max. All because I was uploading the soundtrack to Love in the Time of Cholera onto my iPod from my pokey little laptop. Never again….

A certain former celebrity crush lost his home in a fire this weekend. Sad, yes, but sadder was that he and his wife, with whom he had 3 kids, have split and now he has 2 kids with another woman. He always seemed like such a good husband and father, really down to earth, and he really seemed to love his wife. I'm sure he loves this woman, too, but knowing it all went wrong makes me sad.

I wrote 4 books with this guy as the hero, and no, I'm not telling ;)

Yesterday I made a glaring faux pas at my brother's house. His SIL's fiancee is named Adolfo. I know this. The guy has been around for about 5 years. I've been to karaoke with the guy, many parties, and yet I keep thinking his name is Xavier.

I have no idea who Xavier is.

I called him Xavier yesterday. SO embarrassing. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I can't stop thinking of what an idiot I am.

See, the thing is, I'm GOOD with names. When I taught music, I knew the name of every kid in school (over 500 of them!) I know the names of characters on shows and in movies. WHY am I getting this guy's name wrong????

So, apart from the talent to sink into the ground, here are talents I wish I had:

1) I wish I could sing. Like, really sing. Yes, I was music teacher, and I do karaoke, but I'm not GOOD. My SIL is GOOD - if they had American Idol for 30-40 year olds, she'd definitely go to Hollywood. I wish I could really sing.

2) I wish I could draw. The shading, the detail, heck, I'd settle for the shape being mostly right. I model art projects for my kids, they lament that they couldn't do what I did. The thing is, they do it BETTER.

3) I wish I could do html. Every summer I say I'm going to learn. Every summer speeds by.

What do you wish you could do?

Breaking Daylight is turning out to be a LOT sexier than I thought. Scary, really.