That Time of the Night/Week/Month (??!)

No, not that time of the month! Just that time of the night when I tell myself, OK, if you go to bed right now, you will be SO happy with yourself when 6 a.m. rolls around! And then, invariably, I stay up for another 2 hours, piddling, really ... and then I tell myself, OK, if you go to sleep now, you will still get 6 hours of “quality sleep” (providing there is no lying awake, thinking about anything ... and how often does THAT happen, really?) ... and then there is the whole issue of tomorrow being Friday and the double-shift and everything ... whew.

In college, I love love LOVED Thursdays. Yeah, those Thursday classes were a pain ... WHEN I managed to go, that is ... what with the 9:30 start times, plus they were, like, 90 minutes long, but I usually did not have more than one class on a Tuesday or a Thursday. First semester, freshman year, in fact: All my classes were on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And that semester, I never missed a class. NEVER! (We will definitely NOT speak about Spring 1984 through Spring 1987, however, attendance-wise.)

Anyway, Thursday nights, we would put the paper “to bed” — that is what it is called, when you finish editing all the stories and laying out all the pages and get everything done, pre-press — and then we would head out. Usually to the Uptowner, where all of the people I cared about would usually already be, laughing and drinking and yeah, waiting for me to arrive — and take my turn buying a pitcher, no doubt, or a shot of tequila or Stoli or whatever the drink du jour happened to be.

(For a long time there, I went on a vodka-and-grapefruit juice kick because I truly, honestly thought the Vitamin C would do me some good. I think I suffered more sinus infections that winter than ever.)

: )

I never stayed out all that late. Our bar would have last call around 12:45 a.m. and close at 1. Occasionally, we would hit an after-bars party, but more likely than not, we walked the 10 blocks or so back to our dorm. Sometimes, we would get a ride back, and for a while there, I thought it was perfectly acceptable to drink and drive, and so I would haul my friends in Felix the Wonder Car (he really was never referred to as “Wonder Car,” but he should have been, as it is a wonder we ever got ANYWHERE in that car).

Once in a while, back when Domino’s was still located on Sixth instead of Lincoln, we’d order a pizza, sit outside and wait for it, then scarf it down. Or we’d wait ’til we got back to the dorm and order.

Pizza never tastes as good as it did back then. I actually ordered Domino’s tonight, and it was pretty good, but not quite as good as back in those days. (Medium double-cheese, regular crust.)

: )

On a completely unrelated note:

Million Dollar Baby is finally coming to a theater near me, and I cannot stop thinking about it. I have been a HUGE Hilary Swank fan ever since I saw her in Boys Don’t Cry, though I’ll admit that I wasn’t overly impressed with the 2 movies I have seen her in since (The Gift, in which she had possibly the worst mullet I have ever seen, exceeded in badness by her horrible southern accent, and Insominia, in which she had a totally ho-hum supporting role) ... but I blame the roles, really, rather than her acting skills, which are superb.

I watched BDC again last weekend, just to sort of remind myself how great she was as Brandon, and then I happened to see her on Letterman again, and at one point, she said something to Dave, and smiled, and I thought of Brandon all over again.

There is no way to measure the impact that film has had on my life.

I am trying not to have too high expectations for MDB, but ... well, I do. I am expecting to be blown away ... and I am looking quite forward to it, actually.

: )

Today I was sent out to shoot a picture of another brush fire. I could not even find the damn thing the first time, and then, when I did, I realized it was nothing more than something you might find at a teeny-weeny weinie roast, so I did not shoot anything.

Until I got to the water, that is.



A thousand points of light, maybe? Hell, maybe more!