Tonight's dinner was a big freakin' feast, sans recipes. We had:

artichokes, steamed, with mayo

garlic knot rolls from the supermarket

Caesar salad from a “salad-in-a-kit” bag

Yukon golds, boiled in the steamer's water and mashed w/ fat-free half-and-half and butter ('cause that way, they cancel each other out)

and, the piece de resistance:

LOBSTER, steamed at the supermarket (one of two benefits of living in New England).

Why so many side dishes? Because it sucks to spend thirty bucks on lobster and still be hungry afterwards.

Dinner will be homemade brownies and store-bought caramel ice cream.

Monstro has yet to unpack his plethora of Ryobi power tools but I'm guessing that'll happen sooner rather than later.

Happy Father's Day, all.

“Honey, will you spoon me?” I asked Monstro the other night. “I heard on the radio that Zurich scientists said that's the best way to relieve a woman's stress level.”

Not to be outdone, Monstro assumed the big-spoon position, but as he put his arm around me he added the cherry on top: “You're getting smaller.”

Then he asked me what lowered men's stress levels the most. I didn't know, having arrived at my destination before the DJ revealed that answer. A google search informed me that it's saying sweet things to your man.

So, thanks baby, you're the best, and happy Father's Day!

I did 2.5 hours of dance and body conditioning this morning and it was the quickest non-rhythmball exercise class I've ever attended. The first hour, body conditioning, flew by, and the dancing was a joy. The teacher was surprised to learn I'd never danced before, so I didn't make too terrible a fool of myself. It didn't really feel like I'd worked that hard, until I got out of the bathtub and went to lie down and then tried to get up. My left hip is not happy with me but maybe I can get that worked out tonight, woo hoo! 😉

…that I did indeed blog on Sunday, even though the calendar to the left says I didn't. Whatever.

Screenplay work continues — did an interview today that was quite illuminating. I've gotten an e-mail from Hollywood and am awaiting a phone call. Which is really weird. But great!

Hey, I know this hardly needs to be said to you, my discerning reader(s), but please don't buy dogs over the Internet, and tell your friends not to, too. Here's why.

I'm nearly 25 pages into my screenplay and my step outline is up to 40. I've also registered a domain name central to the action, for marketing purposes. Whoot!

Had I not been reading page 346 of my Penguin trade paperback Gravity's Rainbow, I would never have learned that O, wie spurlos zerträte ein Engel den Trostmarkt is from the tenth Dueno Elegy, and, as if that weren't enough, that I do not like the translation that everybody reads, either, because the guy botches its first three words.

So I spent the next howeverlong translating the first three sentences:

That I this one day, upon the final exit of the most furious insight,
sing out Jubilation and Glory to upward-voiced angels.
That from the clear striking of the collective hearts' hammers
none fail to yield, none doubt, none play their strings
too quickly. That my face, shiny with tears, makes me
more brilliant; that the inconspicuous crying need
blossoms.

–LBJ, translating Rilke, 6/2007

just because it's Saturday and the baby was four handfuls today, doesn't mean I didn't write. Did edits and formatting and fill-in stuff on the screenplay and I think I'm at 19 pages, but that includes the cover page so I guess it's really 18, or thereabouts.

We are NOT setting the alarm for early church tomorrow because the boy has awakened pre-7:00 the past two mornings and I just don't have it in me to wake to an alarm if he decides to sleep in. Sweet Dreams!

I've decided that in order to take my Rhythmball practice in a new direction this summer, I'm going to learn me to dance some modern dance. I've never danced before except for ballroom (ask Monstro), but I've done yoga off and on for 7 years and tai-chi-based moves for nearly a year. Plus, I love being barefoot, and their dance floor is sure to be cleaner than mine.

I start Thursday. Thanks to Katie and Mark A. Davis, artist-in-residence at Smith College, for the class info!

I don't know if it's because I've been writing mostly plays lately but so far this screenplay is cruising along with minimal highway obstruction construction. The step outline is up to #33, which puts me just past the end of the first act. I haven't read the screenplay of the original film I'm sequel-izing, but I've taken a peek at its TXT file and it's about 158 pages, which seems long, but I also remember plenty of fast talking and sumptuous sets, which can be plenty page-greedy.

I'm on page 16 of my screenplay right now; not bad and on track with five pages/day. Today's pages might be a bit talky so far but edits are simple.

I'm very distracted by all this Paris Hilton brouhaha. Monstro thinks she has an OxyContin addiction. I'm assuming STDs. What do YOU think? Comments please.