Movies

I have seen quite a few lately.

Talk to Her

I liked this movie a lot. Its style of the film reminded me a lot of All About My Mother. When I checked, sure enough, both films were directed by Pedro Almodovar.

Requiem for a Dream

Omg, this movie was depressing. The moral of the movie is that hope is an addiction, and you are going to die. I thought the sound was really good and reminded me of Tyler. The movie also reminded me that miss my movie buddy, as Tyler and I saw π when we were in college.

Best in Show

This was a decent film, but I was disappointed after seeing Christopher Guest's other mockumentarys. At the end, I really didn't care who was the best in show.

About Schmidt

Was (again) decent, but I was disappointed after seeing Alexander Payne's other films Election, Citizen Ruth and Sideways. Also: this movie made me think that I was more comfortable seeing Jack Nicholson with his dry raspy voice as the Joker or Col. Nathan R. Jessep, than I was seeing him a a normal human being.

Dirty Pretty Things

I saw this because Audrey Tautou was in it. I liked the film.

29

I am going to be 29 on the 29th. I am taking the day off.

My friends are awesome. I know I use that word a lot, but there really isn't a better word to describe how I feel about them right now.

At work this morning Melissa sent me an IM saying "Happy Birthday". Then right before the hike, Brian's date said "Happy Birthday" to me too. Since none of my friends had wished me a happy birthday and these two people hardly know me at all, I knew that my friends were going to pull something, because as I mentioned they are awesome, but also because the only way Melissa and Brian's "friend" could have known that it was my birthday was if one of my friends had told them.

We hiked the long loop around Fishkill Ridge. I will sleep very well tonight thanks to that. We picked blueberries all the way up. I am going to eat them with ice cream just as soon as I get myself some ice cream. Then we stopped and had cake and cheese, which was a nice "surprise".

It was while we were eating that Brian's date said something like you guys have a really neat group of friends, which I would like emphasize here, because my friends are awesome.

Then on the way down, Brad was like "All right, when we get down we aren't going to have a lot of time so you have to follow me. Don't ask any questions, just follow me." Ordinarily that might sound creepy, but I had a feeling that my non-hiking friends might be involved in this mystery destination. I followed him to Café Maya where the rest of my friends were waiting, including JoJo and Padraic, who are visiting from Berkeley!!! In all

• Brad
• Paul
• Brian
• Kathy
• Steve
• Cicely
• Joe
• Mike
• Tara
• JoJo
• Padraic

were there (I wanted to write their names down because I am going to send everyone a thank you note when I get back to work on Thursday).

Mike and Tara gave me a nice looking bottle of South Australian Shiraz. I am partial to Australian wines, as wine is one of the few real exports from Australia that I can acquire easily (believe it or not Outback restaurants and North American Fosters are not Australian at all). Shiraz is probably my favorite, as it tends to go with the sort of things that I like too cook. So Mike and Tara are awesome.

I've sort of been in a bad mood lately. Two weeks ago I decided I needed to take a break for a while, in order to regain my sense of direction. I can't say that I have found it yet, but I am beginning to feel a little more like myself again. Having my awesome friends celebrate my birthday with me and take me out to dinner reminds me how fortunate I am.

Thanks everyone :)