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2008 October to New Years Eve

SATURDAY, 11/1/08: Up at 6:20, nap, then up at 8:01. Try Actualism, but it didn't work. Up at 8:49, feeling rested at last. Clip toenails to 9:05, shit, and pluck ear hairs in preparation for the trip TOMORROW! Breakfast to 10:10AM with the Times, then finished it and the diagramless puzzle to 12:15PM. Copy the Fridrik V menus to send to Steve by 12:35. Fuss with other stuff to 1:30, including trying to find whether my Egyptair seats are IN FACT in front of the wing, but it's inconclusive because they don't give the Egyptair seating plans, and I'm (maybe stupidly) inclined to trust the agent who assigned me my seats. Call back to find they're associated with United Airlines, so I put their card, the itinerary, the shoe-spray, and the battery recharger in a stack to take to the dining-room table for my packing tasks today. Take a valium to fend off any latent anxiety. Finish typing this to 1:45PM, ready to finish settling my Choice Visa statement (having already sent the check, depositing $125.04, and withdrawing $300 cash for the trip), leaving SIX stacks on the coffee table: 1) slide scanner, 2) video scanner, 3) website, 4) Marj's bill, 5) air-conditioner cover, 6) the Drama League membership, to be determined when I return from the trip to see if I can get to "Equus," "The Seagull," "South Pacific," and maybe others for discount rates. Get out Tris Memo 16 to cross off sending the flash drive, full, to Marj yesterday. Talk to Shelley, who's annoyed I scheduled trips without thinking about Dubai, but I talk her out of it. Talk to Spartacus, and take "Atonement" DVD up to Bob's apartment door. Have a late lunch and later dinner, feeling anxious about the trip. Watch the end of "Center Stage," and lots of "Center Stage: Turn It Up" while making some headway with packing. Take ambien at 9:49PM and get to bed at 10:07PM, getting RIGHT to sleep, thankfully.

SUNDAY, 11/2/08: Pee at 5:14AM and take a valium. Up at 7:29AM (6:29AM Eastern Standard Time, starting today), and reset all the clocks to 7:22AM. Breakfast to 7:55, reading Times, which I finish at 8:45. Fuss before packing with papers and duplicates of papers about the trip to 9:30AM, when I type this. REALLY DEBATE taking another valium, because I just feel INCREDIBLY antsy about the trip: just don't want to DO it! But GOT to start getting clothes together on the dining-room table so I can go to the gym, have lunch, and get the car, a new service for only $37. 9:45: check Eqypt weather: 86 degrees through the week! Cooler in Jordan at 71 degrees, and cool at night, so take all short-sleeved shirts except the flannel long-sleeve I'll wear on the plane, with my jacket to get to the plane. 11:34 check e-mail, and reply to Susie with my "last" message. 11:47AM: Took out the garbage, tried finding a number to confirm the Egyptair departure time and there IS none! Packed and weighed my bags: black 20#, shoulder bag 11#, quite light. Taking $336.73 in cash and a blank check: hope that's enough. Now ready for the gym, lunch, and departure! 2:26PM: ridiculously caught up: WENT to the gym, HAD lunch, took out the last of the groceries, wiped the dishes and put them away. Clipped my mustache so it won't grow into my mouth over three weeks and put on a tee-shirt so I can take off my flannel shirt when we land in 80-degree-plus Cairo in less than twenty hours! Will ALSO take another valium when I take my 1/3 g melitonin now at 2:30PM, when it's scheduled. Get a crazy call from some SURVEY, and I say, "Sorry, I'm leaving now." Powder my crotch, deodor my armpits, toothpick my teeth, comb my hair, wash my glasses, type more notes, put my last list in the top desk drawer along with the taxi number, which I hope I won't need, and just wish I could TURN OFF MY MIND until I land in Cairo. Thought, at the gym, of all the SOLDIERS who are in INSTANT danger of death almost CONSTANTLY, and here I am afraid that something's going to happen to me on the way to Cairo: some disaster than cancels all air flights; something to delay or cancel the Egyptair flight that I have no way of knowing about until I get to the airport; something happening to Obama that causes the civilization to momentarily shut down. And I'm worried about ten hours on a flight, debating double-checking that I AM in front of the wing, not forgetting to register for United frequent-flyer miles, and, at the very least, printing out one last page on the printer before I leave, now getting to 2:42PM, having loaded my "evening" pills with a valium, an ambien, the two night pills, and a 3 g melitonin. If THAT doesn't put me to sleep, what will? 2:55PM: Can't STAND the wait. Spider!

EGYPT/PETRA TRIP 11/2-22, 2008

SUNDAY, 11/23/08: Wake at 12:12AM for pee and cough drops and ambien. 3:18AM: wake again and take ambien and whole melitonin. Pee and shit. Up at 7:18. For some reason, my brain decides to set up the double-shelf bookcase in the bedroom where my coffee table is, and move the coffee table permanently into the living room. With seven three-foot shelves on two sides, that would add FORTY-TWO feet of shelving, I figure by 7:41. Go through some mail 7:41-8:54. Had listed the 12 phone messages: 1) Edgardo: day before election. 2) Karen Spaulding about Harry Abrams indexes. 3) Edgardo: Obama won! 4) Drunken wrong number. 5) Eric from OAT about Tunisia. 6) Ad. 7) Tris: sent invoice. 8) and 9) CVS pharmacy prescription renewal notice. 10) Some unidentified person. 11) Ann Heaney about Sherryl's going to hospital on Thursday, Beth Israel, serious. 12) Edgardo: will call me tomorrow. I reduce to 4, but add 5) Stephanie about Sherryl, 6) Arnold, 7) Jody with meals, 8) Colleen: Beard OK for Monday, 9) Carolyn, who I call on Tuesday and on Wednesday and we STILL haven't talked! Breakfast to 9:18, Then phone calls: Edgardo to 9:32, John to 9:46, Mildred to 10:34, Charles LW, Carolyn LW, Steve to 10:40, and I decide to GO to MAN. Ken to 10:45, no word on Monday's Beard yet. Charles "will call back" after 10:47. I take half-melitonin at 10:50 and start Egypt transfer from Neo to WP at 11AM. Talk to poor Charles about having to sell his building to 12:15. Tell Marj EVERYTHING to 1:50, at which point I'm starving for lunch. Lunch to 2:20, lovely Spam sandwich. Phone Ann re Sherryl to 2:40. Computer fuss to 2:50 with Neo. Fred to 3:03. Edit journal to 3:23. Stephanie calls at 3:30 while I'm on the john. Go to MAN after checking Schwab balance and HSBC balance of $8.33! Also LW Spartacus. MAN 3:50-7:20. Start j/o 8:45 and finish at 9:15, watching random TV just to stay up to 11PM, when I take melitonin and go to bed tired.

MONDAY, 11/24/08: 6:23AM wake from NIGHTMARE [and for some reason my bed-clock reads 7:23AM]. By 6:55 I finish typing and change bed-clock. Read 11/8 Times to 8:17AM. Breakfast and sort pills to 9:07. Back to the mail and at 9:40AM open a letter from HIP with my 11AM appointment for my bone-density scan! I HAD noted it in my calendar, but I'd covered it with papers and didn't SEE it. Get out at 10:25 and it lasts until 12:35PM! I read practically an entire New Yorker. Results will be transferred to Chin by 4-5 days. Have lunch and handle more mail and call for meals at 2:10. Confirm with Beard for dinner tonight at 2:15. Talk to Arnold to 2:57, Piri to 3:17, check 45 e-mails to 3:30, Arnold calls back about 2PM Thanksgiving Day dance performance at 3:33, I look at Don's photos to 4PM and, tired, play Spider to 6:15, doing lousy, and get to the Beard to talk a lot with Suzanne and Ken about travel, sit in the entrance room with Ken, Dr. Jack, Jeff the photographer, and four women. Back at 10:30 barely able to walk, and get to bed at 11:11PM, completely wiped out.

TUESDAY, 11/25/08: 5:14AM shit a bit. 5:25 start j/o and finish at 6:40AM. Look at TV to 7:30, check accounts to 7:40, and then do Spider 7:40-8:40 before a half-melitonin at 8:45. Organize things and phone CVS to 9:05, breakfast to 9:30, mail to 11, Tris calls 11:05-11:15, and TV Guides until I have to have lunch, do more mail, and OAT calls to say I have to pay for the Tunisia trip with Visa of $2496.18 TODAY! Spider 2:25-3:15, and get to the gym at 3:25-4:45, then have the luck to find the large washers free and do laundry! Handle more mail and watch TV about the speed of light from 9-10, and check that I'm recording the finale of "The Shield." Bed at 10:10, getting up to take night pills which I forgot.

WEDNESDAY, 11/26/08: 4AM pee. Up at 5AM and perversely decide to j/o AGAIN, going to 6:30! Take half-melitonin, watch "The Shield," where he finally gets his gun and leaves the office (presumably to kill himself), then watch Ken's tape of "The Unknown" with the "armless" Boris Karloff and a simpering Joan Crawford, having breakfast and popcorn, which, being old, doesn't pop to maximum volume. Read 11/9 Times 9:20-9:45, 11/15 Times to 10:40, 11/16 Times to 11AM, 11/22 Times to 11:32, and, tiring of turning pages, 11/23 Times to 11:47. HSBC finally got my Social Security deposit. Put some things away, leave a message with Karen Spaulding and Carolyn, and do Spider 12:03-2:13, have lunch, and return to Spider 2:55-5:15, really crazy, and then I have to leave to get to Sharon for a hoarse-voiced session, then get over $50 of groceries at Key Food, and get back to finally coax Spider to a new high of 50.3522 (112 up) from 6:50-7:35. Then type the journal up to date so that I can record Sharon's session at 8:27PM. Finish that at 8:35PM, ready for dinner and an early bed. Suddenly think to check TV Guide, and watch the last hour and a half of "X-Men (3): The Last Stand." Bed at 10:45PM.

SHARON B. 81 11/26/08

Leave at 5:15PM, elevator comes fast, so I have time to pick up prescriptions at CVS beforehand, getting to her office at 5:28PM. She comes out immediately, and I go in to regale her with my problems with Dale running on about his mechanical obsessions on the trip, my nightmare Monday about being lost, which reflects how I feel now, trying desperately to catch up with the trip. Talk of my guilt about not going to see Sherryl, but sympathizing on the phone with Charles about the sale of his building. Spoke about too much time on Spider, but I still think it's OK, since I'm doing lots of work after the trip with mail and phone calls and the gym on Tuesday, the Beard on Monday and Thursday, and even MAN on Sunday. End by asking about her "family" problems, and she said it was her best friend, and she didn't work for a couple of weeks with ANYONE, so I said my vacation was timed well. She kept saying my fatigue on the Petra walk, my slight oncoming vertigo, my forgetting, all were understandably disappointing because I had been so UP with everything before, but I seem to be handling it all well now. Signed a billing sheet for her and left promptly at 6:15.

THURSDAY, 11/27/08: Pee at 4:15 and take a whole melitonin. 6:14: Type a dream on Neo. Up at 8:35! Shit and shave and take a half-melitonin at 9AM, still hoping to recover MORE fully from jet-lag. Watch "The Rape of Europa," a great documentary, while having breakfast and popcorn. Lunch at 12, starting to watch "Cleo from 5 to 7," until Spartacus knocks on my door about 1:07PM for the subway to "Break Out," a repetitive, nonsensical, finally boring Korean "dance" show featuring a SWAT team trying to recapture military convicts who break out of a prison in a scene that features the only GOOD (five-minute) part of the 65 minutes: their real faces above foot-tall hand puppets that "climb" through a set of tunnels they've dug. Subway back to get $100 cash from HSBC, find that Rite-Aid is closed on Thanksgiving but CVS is open, where I get peroxide and Fisherman's Friend and Spartacus gets a twelve-pack of A&W Root Beer for Bob, giving two to me and two to a beggar on Henry Street who asks for some when Spartacus offers them to him, just before the beggar picks a half-eaten bag of Cheetos out of a nearby trash can. Back to watch more TV before dressing at 5:25 for the 6PM Beard Thanksgiving dinner, getting in JUST at 6PM to a JAMMED room already: good Luxe sparkling wine, an Ambrosia cocktail, and foie gras appetizers, and a noisy dinner in the front room where Ken gets disgusted with Mary next to him and leaves early, taking his video, with "Rape of Europa" on it for him to watch, and I leave about 10:20, get home to phone Spartacus about The Drama League Broadway discount offers to 11:20. Take night pills, two aspirin, and a melitonin and get to bed at 11:30PM, still feeling exhausted from the trip.

FRIDAY, 11/28/08: 4AM: Palpitations and "stuffed throat" feeling. Take two aspirin, a melitonin, Rolaids, and water. Pee. Wake at 5:20AM to jot down a dream, can't get back to sleep, and get up at 6:34AM, KNOWING I've not had enough sleep, but OBSESSED with: 1) saving JV and WP51, 2) saving my digital photos of Egypt/Petra, and 3) getting "naked" photos of Radcliffe, Farrell, Pitt, and "Tribbles" [David Gerrold]-son. Get to computer and make up a DEFINITIVE "Burn disc" card for my use-file, and save JV and WP51, and then make a list of PHOTO files in Olympus Master 2, which gives me the revelation that the "random number" P4250050 refers to the 50th photo taken on APRIL 25! But, for some reason, those files stop at 06, so where are the trips AFTER Iceland (and have to get out last year's trip sheet to find they're St. Petersburg and Spain/France)? So I go to the PROGRAM and look at Olympus Master--Browse, and catalog the "new albums," but find that New Album 6 has the IDENTIFICATIONS for P709-P723 (namely photos from St. Petersburg from July 9-23), but only the "stills" from the AVs show up, and ALL of them are MISSING!!! New Album 7 DOES have all of Spain/France, as well as DUPLICATES of some previous shots, but NOTHING from St. Petersburg! In a panic, I go to "sent" e-mails to Tris to find I said "Iceland trip, with 2CDs of photos," and "St. Petersburg same as Iceland." So DID I send CDs of St. Petersburg photos to Tris? Can't WAIT to phone him, so call at 8:45AM, when thankfully he's up eating breakfast, and he calls me back at 9:30 to say he HAS the 2 CDs of St. Petersburg (missing only the final Manhattan lightning-storm AV), and will duplicate them and send them BACK to me. What a relief! We talk to 9:50 and I call Mildred to tell her NOT to get a computer, and we talk for a long time (leading me NOT to worry about impending vertigo, and tentatively deciding it was DAVID VALLISH, in town for a visit, who left the cryptic message on my machine before 11/22), deciding to schedule lunch at David Burke and Donatella with her and Charles on one of the next two Tuesdays, and hang up from her to get an INSTANT call from Steve about 1/4/09. Finish these notes hungry for breakfast at 10:45AM!! Finish watching "Cleo from 5 to 7," which I'd started last night, and then "The Vagabond," both "going-nowhere-ladies movies" from Agnes Varda, then get hooked into watching "Star Wars: 20th Anniversary reissue." Ordered food for next week, having to renew with a Visa of $953.40: it's now $31.78/day, with a lot of it going to delivery costs. May have put a few things away, but didn't do much on the trip because there's no pressure to finish with it. Took a whole melitonin and went to bed at 11:05PM.

SATURDAY, 11/29/08: Up 7:10AM, SLEPT THROUGH for just over eight hours! Take a half-melitonin and a shit. Do lots during the day (including Spider to two new highs from 11:20AM-12 and 6:50PM-11:25!), but have to postpone to Monday 1) asking about Drama League, 2) getting bone-density results, and 3) finding what they do for $15 to "winterize" my air conditioner. Find a box that fits the Petra book and put all the other trip stuff away, finally clearing everything off the dining-room table except the trip stuff, which I'll keep out as reference when typing up the trip diary and summary page. Put on TV for dinner and get hooked into watching "Die Another Day," a perfect example of the "junky movie" that Shelley recommended when she called me about what she took as my "severe despression and obsession" when I told her yesterday about trying to figure out how my HSBC deposit-slip and book showed $125.04 on 10/31, while my account only showed $125. To conclude that NOW [12/4/08]: I called the BANK, and found that the deposit was from a Citibank check for $76.90 (refund from my 1% MasterCard account) and a State of New York check for $48.14 (from something like a school refund or some trivial affair) that total $125.04! So the bank will credit my account for four cents in the next twenty-four hours! And THAT'S why it wasn't a check from Charles for any ticket, or a fill-up from either my Schwab One or Ridgewood accounts. SATISFACTION, with which I left a message with Shelley stating, "The obsessive-compulsive wins again!" The movie ends at 2AM, which I can barely stay awake for, and get to bed immediately after.

SUNDAY, 11/30/08: 8:50AM: Type dream. Up at 9:53AM, deciding I'm jet-lag adjusted and don't need melitonin any more. Somewhere along here I note that I edit Egypt slides to #375 (of 1370), which is PB1000489, and then later I FINISH the laborious task of editing the REST of the slides, improving MANY greatly, particularly the fog-bound landing shots of Cairo. Make dates to show Spain/France photos to Ken on Saturday 12/13, with dinner afterward at Jack the Horse, and to show Iceland/Greenland photos to Steve on Monday 12/8, to get THOSE off my "do-list after Egypt trip." Steve tells me about his computer geek Daniel Jarecky, who can be reached at 646-334-1077. Watch "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" through bed at 1:40AM.

MONDAY, 12/1/08: Up 7:02AM and type dream. Write a note to myself: "DID I write a $125 check from Ridgewood or Schwab One to deposit on 10/31?" Start watching "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" with breakfast, hoping to finish before Carolyn rings around 11:30AM, but don't finish in time. Down with her to Beth Israel, cursing the administration that directs people from 16th Street to 17th Street for the Silver Pavilion, but when we get to 17th Street the entrance is LOCKED and it says to enter on 16th Street! I curse and want to TELL someone! We get to her room about 12:35PM (a moment of shock when I think the MUCH older Montserrate Acevedo in the FIRST bed might be SHERRYL, but then Sherryl appears in her henna wig in the next bed, looking almost normal) to find her in the middle of lunch and being changed because her smock is wet: she'd had a nosebleed earlier. Carolyn goes for coffee, I sit without anything to read behind a curtain until Sherryl comes back from the john, and she seems fine until she idly picks up a water pitcher, which swivels on her finger and spills water all over the tabletop. "Did you want some water?" Carolyn asks as she mops up the water. "No, I just made a mistake," Sherryl says vaguely, which makes me wonder about her mental condition. We chat for a bit and then Joe Easter (looking much like Alan Alda) comes in smiling (and says to me "You haven't changed." I say, "I bet you meant that in the WORST way," and he grins broadly and says, "YES!" Same old Joe.), followed closely by TERRY, who finally says that her INITIAL diagnosis was an intestinal infection, which they treated with three and then four kinds of antibiotics. No evidence of a stroke, but they really don't know what's wrong with her NOW. Leave about 2:10 to let her be with Joe and Terry. Take the subway the wrong way, Carolyn continues to change to a G train at the next stop, and I get back home hungry. Put in an order to sell 300 JP Morgan for about $7000, but at 4PM they said that Monday's trading was over, and I couldn't put in an order for Tuesday until 4:05PM, so I waited and put in the order to sell. Played Spider 4:07-6PM to a new high of 50.36707 (117 up). Charles returns my call about the $125.04 check to say that he last wrote me a check for tickets for $128.50 on 10/4, which I deposited on 10/17 with my indexing check for $1700 to make THAT $1828.50 deposit. Bed at 12:17AM.

TUESDAY, 12/2/08: Pee at 7AM, up at 8:23. Do things, check to find the office closed at 10:30AM, Ron doesn't know anything about the $15 "winterizing of your air conditioner," and I get to the gym. Back at 12:15PM to find the office closed for lunch! Change shirts and get right out to David Burke and Donatella for a VERY enormous and WONDERFUL special $24 lunch with an OK tomato soup, while Charles and Mildred have TENDER calimari, and my hamburger is very good with LOTS of shoestring potatoes and lobster-flavored mustard, while their veal saltimboca is so large that I take a big part of Charles' home with me.

WEDNESDAY, 12/3/08: Bed at 12:30AM, and up at 8:30AM, fuss cleaning the apartment for Susie's visit around noon, find that the Galapagos slides are ALREADY in a carousel, leave word with Ken about his message from last night, for which I had to get down the Spain/France box to find I have no record of ANY details about the charges for the car. Phone Schwab to find out why I don't have the cash in my Schwab One account, and they tell me that it takes three days for the transaction to clear, so my account will have the money on 12/5. I write checks to Tris and Marj, getting a GREAT load off my mind, knowing that I can take a check for my Visa bill to Citibank on Friday. Phone the Drama League and use my Visa to get a $50 membership for this year; I'm also put on a waiting list for discount cancellations for "The Seagull." But then Spartacus says I can get most of those discounts from TKTS, now in Metrotech. I'm perfectly ready to go when Susie DOES arrive at noon, giving me 1) a container of chocolate she got for Christmas and doesn't want, 2) a lovely bottle of Blackberry Brandy, and 3) cookies for me, John, Carolyn, and Charles. I'm showing Susie what my Egypt slide-show looks like when Ken calls 12:20-12:30 and laboriously says he doesn't know yet how much we owe for the car damages that the insurance wouldn't cover, but it might be something like $800, of which I must pay $400. Have to refigure expenses on THAT trip. Also, he wants me to take pictures of the art he plans to donate to the Yale Museum. Get to 55 Pierrepont and Susie helps me move tables and chairs to set up, and about 25 people enjoy the show, though the CD-player comes up with ANOTHER glitch: turning to BLUE between segments, that I have to press "play" to get through. I start fast-forwarding through some of the iguanas, but John is ruthless: "You've seen one iguana, you've seen them all." But OTHERS (Elsie and Leon among them) say they enjoyed EVERY MINITE of the time between 1:15 and 2:50PM when I finished. Pack up and go past Iron Chef to find they open at 4:30, and John and Susie agree they can wait. Back to apartment to get a message from Jillian from It's About Time: I'm getting another 300-page book to index for them! Great!! John suggests we drink, and I open Susie's perfectly provided Blackberry Brandy, which we kill about half of. To Iron Chef for John's two sashimis, Susie's negamaki and chicken teriyaki, and my tempura and shrimp teriyaki all wonderfully delicious, oiled by that half-bottle of Blackberry Brandy. Back at 6:13PM to a message from Sharon: "Bob, are you just late or did you forget? I'll wait another twenty minutes." She's gone, and I SUSPECT she'll like my excuse: "I was having so much fun I just FORGOT!" Spider 6:50-8, taking time off to watch "Victor Borge" from 8-9:30, damnably interrupted for pledges, and then Spider 10-12:25, doing miserably to 50.34763 (111 up).

THURSDAY, 12/4/08: Bed 12:42AM, feet freezing, up at 8:20AM. 10:30AM: Start typing the OVER THIRTY notes and jottings from my crowded desk-top, after leaving word with Chin to phone me back about my bone-density results. Go down to office, finally open, to find that for $15 they pull the unit out of the sleeve, put it into a plastic bag, and replace it in the sleeve (implying, of course, that they'll charge $15 in the spring to pull the unit OUT of the bag), so I get last year's plastic out of the closet and re-tape it, making it much warmer. I'm delaying to 11AM when I can call Marj to tell her about 1) my actually COUNTING the over-thirty notes on my desk, 2) my "anger" with her sending me the sudoku machine that wasted two hours on Tuesday when I really had wanted to get to bed at 10:10PM, 3) MY NEW INDEX, and 4) my resolution of the $125.04 problem. Phone Marj at 11AM (and set up the "forgot Sharon" so that SHE has to confess she forgot about Sharon as I described the events of yesterday) and talk to 12:10PM---and I wonder where the time goes? Shelley phones back to CONGRATULATE my accepting my "forgetting" Sharon's appointment AND finding out where the $125.04 came from, saying that I "sound much better now." Someone named Don Cohen calls to ask about TSI-DUN! LONG gone! At 1:30PM, lacking anywhere better to put it, I here transcribe note for the tasks to be done BEFORE the Egypt trip: 1) John for two Sunday Times when he waters, 2) Bill P. for three Saturday Times, 3) Pack, 4) Turn on phone message, 5) Radiator off, 6) Call for car, 7) Go to gym, 8) Have lunch. Can now throw THAT note away. Have lunch myself, and feel VERY tired after stuffing myself, and actually lie down for about five minutes, but then up to the computer and decide to proofread and print EGYPET, after which it's time for the smallest dinner I can find, a still-too-much salmon and noodles and green beans and a tall glass of wines. Charles HAD called to say he was NOT going to the opera tonight, but after Spartacus accepted the ticket, I decided to call Charles and tell him he HAD to go in order to pick up the cookies Susie left him! So he said OK! Pity that "The Damnation of Faust" wasn't really that good. It lasted until 10:57PM, so I didn't get home until after 11:30, and got to bed at 12:28AM.

FRIDAY, 12/5/08: 5:25PM: What a wonderful day! Up at 8:29AM, purposely holding my bladder in check until I could say that I'd stayed in bed over eight hours. Then started on the computer, going to Google for "Obama's tears" and ending up looking at lots of lovely muscle-builders showing off their bodies! That lasted until 11:15AM, at which time I was HUNGRY for breakfast, decided I WASN'T going to get to the gym today (tough!), and got everything together to start my day out: 1) Citibank had to have me fill out a deposit form since I'd torn off the payment slip from the Visa statement, but I paid the bill anyway (and checked this evening that my Schwab account still has over $8000 in it, so NONE of the three "payment" checks have gotten to it yet), 2) TKTS turned out to be VERY convenient from the Johnson St. side, eliminating the need to go all the way to Willoughby to get around the Supreme Court building. ONE person in line ahead of me, EVERYTHING up, as Spartacus (and later its e-mail to me) said, so I paid $64.50 for "Gypsy" tonight in a rather poor seat K8 at the St. James, and $64 for a good C2 for "Equus" tomorrow matinee (with a lesser "fee fee" [that's what the stub says!] of $2.50 making it fifty cents less than the "fac fee" of $3 for the "Gypsy" ticket), 3) played "subway-go-round" when I mis-read the subway chart in the F station and THOUGHT it went to Pacific, where I could change to the B/Q to the EAST entrance of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, but then found myself in the air after Carroll Street and, checking the map again, finding I had to get off at 4th Avenue to change to a Manhattan-bound M/R going two stops toward Manhattan to get off at Pacific Street, walk the length of THAT station, then the walkway through to Atlantic Avenue, then the walkway PAST Atlantic Avenue to the B/Q, which did NOT let me off at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, as I thought, but a corner of Prospect Park that I decided to walk through, trying to enter the Audubon Center in the Boathouse, forgetting that it was now December (it's closed), rather than November (when it's open), and then peeing in the woods before crossing the street to the SOUTH entrance to the Gardens, totally free today, and was amazed to see camellias, phlox, pansies, roses, and MANY other flowers IN BLOOM. Hungry about 1:30, so I had a good half-sandwich of tuna and romaine, hot turkey-vegetable soup, and a cold lemonade for $10.85, AND THE BABY NEXT TO ME DIDN'T EVEN SCREAM! Quickly through the three greenhouse areas; they're completely redoing all the orchid/insect-eating spaces in the Waterworld Room (though the insect-eaters appear to be THRIVING in the main central pool!); not much in the other rooms; only tiny leaves in the Bonsai Room, and around the upper terrace for a final blast of windswept pansies at the entrance, and into the Brooklyn Museum to pay my $1 and elevate to the fifth floor for a VERY colorful (but DRAB) set of works by Gilbert and George, with only one nice cock, a nice rear, and THEIR fronts not really worth looking at in photos. Stupidly inquire what the Egyptian exhibit on the third floor is, FORGETTING until I get HOME and look at the map that---doh!---Brooklyn has the third-best Egyptian collection in the WORLD (after Cairo and Turin). Home at 4:10, just getting dark, and phone for meals, SKIPPING Mon-Wed, but ordering Thur-Sat for next week; and Chin says I have NO sign of osteoporosis in my bone-density scan. Now at 5:58PM I'll see if I have the energy to proof and print my dream pages. Do that quickly enough to have dinner before getting off to "Gypsy," Patty Lupone trying a bit too hard to belt out every song as Mama Rose, with a VERY large man to my right taking up more than his share of seat-space, and with my binoculars from the tenth row I can see that her neck is really wrinkled: a classic turkey-neck wattling. The audience is very enthusiastic, which I think helps the performers along, but she does seem quite tired at the end. Back about 11:30PM and look at the mail and get to bed at 12:16AM, getting up at 1:34AM to sprinkle powder on my moist, smelly crotch crack that turns out to be angry red the next day at the gym.

SATURDAY, 12/6/08: Pee at 7:23AM and up at 8:34, still feeling slightly tired. Decide to back-up my files, finding that I have 1071 free megabytes on the disk in the A drive, on which I'd backed up a few months ago, and NH grows from 169 mb to 240, DREAMS from 157 mb to 214, and EGYPET is 127, all of which copy nicely using the COPY icon in COMPUTER at 8:45AM. Go through the Times in about an hour, have breakfast, do Spider poorly from 10:35-11:15, and get to the gym about 11:20AM, being allowed in before my alloted time at noon without a comment. Out to have time for a bowl of soup before leaving for "Equus" at 1:20PM, good seat C2 on the aisle. Lorenzo Pisoni is VERY sexy as the Young Horseman and Nugget, on which Daniel Radcliffe appears to have an orgasm while riding, and in the second act---after talking with Doctor Jack, AGAIN in an audience with me, as he seems to be SO often---he DOESN'T get excited with Amanda Quaid, making her Broadway debut as a standby for the part of Jill Mason, and his body isn't that exciting naked, though his defiant stare is effective as an acting device through his interactions with the obese Richard Griffiths, though I'm sitting too close to get out my binoculars to even be able to observe whether he's circumcised or not, but he's not very big, and his movements are so frenetic in the sex-scene that it's not really possible to see very much at all in the line of details. The audience stands and cheers at the curtain call, as they did last night at "Gypsy," and then---where last night there was just a collector at the door for Equity Cares, Broadway Fights AIDS---Pisoni leads the cast in auctioning off Radcliffe's "Lee jeans, waist 28, and I have a cold, so there's a bit of my snot on them too," for a surprising $4000, helped by who I think might be a shill wearing an Equus pullover, sitting four rows ahead of me right at the edge of the stage, bidding up when it seems clear that he's only egging the rest of the audience to higher bids. Collin Baja as an unmasked horse also strikes me as making a stunning Broadway debut. For some reason I have a GREAT urge for a candy orgy, so I ride the subway through to Borough Hall where the Discount Basement is closed on Saturdays---Jewish?---so I go to Rite-Aid and shamelessly fill a bag with a large $6+ bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, a smaller bag of licorice twists, and a Cadbury chocolate bar, starting on the Peanut Butter Cups on the street on the way home! Can't resist Spider from 6:15-12:40, just madness, managing to finish with only 108 up, far below my record high. Gorge on candy while watching "The Guardian" on television until 2:20AM!

SUNDAY, 12/7/08: Pee and drink water at 7AM, and at 7:44AM, to still my frantic brain, make a day-do list of SEVENTEEN: 1) Carolyn: pick up cookies? 2) Spartacus: "Dexter" and "Tudors" and Bagdad tickets for 12/15 and give stuff? 3) Audience Extras for today? 4) Ken: Annisa or Corton or Spotted Pig for New Year's Eve rather than Wallse? 5) Tris: 2 CDs sent? 6) How to SELECT slides for CD copying? 7) EGYPET: photo and summary page. 8) Proof and print NH. 9) Papers and magazines out. 10) Charles: "Mefistofele"? 11) Box and shelve Egypt stuff. 12) Xmas letter. 13) Rita: birthday card. 14) Phone Sherryl. 15) Cadman Xmas gift. 16) Read Times. 17) Prime-Timers December party? Up at 9:53AM to retrieve the Times. Have breakfast and start down the list by 1) checking Audience Extras to find only junk for today by 11AM, 2) finding that Spartacus DID buy tickets for "Thief of Bagdad," which I saw twice in 1971 and once in 1982 with Douglas Fairbanks Senior, so I guess I DO want to see it again rather than sacrificing a $5 ticket for its only performance in order to go to a Beard frequent-diner special for $75 that night; AND he doesn't want to be disturbed today by taking his stuff and giving me disks to watch, 3) finishing the Times by noon, 4) leaving word with Carolyn about her not picking up cookies for her Ethical Culture meeting today, X) wasting lots of time RE-WATCHING the end of "Lara Croft Tomb Raider" and the whole of "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life," 5) phoning Sherryl about 4:30 to find she's been moved to Room 8 on the third floor of Carpes(?) wing with a new phone number of 212-420-3340, but her voice REALLY sounds hoarse and out-of-it mentally, 6) putting the papers and magazines into the trash room, 7) phoning Ken and making a reservation for 8PM New Year's Eve at Annisa which he calls to change for 7PM, 8) finishing the EGYPET photo and summary page by 6:10, 9) finding that Charles will share a Wednesday matinee of "The Seagull" with me, not yet talking about "Mefistofele." Again to the addictive Spider, managing to get to 110 up from 7:38-9:03, and manically continuing to 11:11PM for a near-high of 50.36177 at 116 up. Have dinner and MORE candy while watching "The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice" to 1:50AM!

MONDAY, 12/8/08: Up at 9:28AM to type dream and catch up with these NH notes to 10:30AM, still in bathrobe and lap blanket, GOT to have breakfast and find how to select slides for CD before Steve gets here at 2PM! Set up SONIC for "New folder" and set up Olympus Master for Iceland, and it appears that SAVE AS will WORK!! And THAT only took through 10:45AM!! To continue with my now-Monday do-list countdown: 10) leave word with Tris about my two St. Petersburg-photo CD copies, 11) find (above) how to select slides for CDs, and 12) proof and print NH pages to 56 by 11:15! Look up Collin Baja on Google and he has 900,000+ hits! Not very good entries to 11:25AM, NOW ready for 13) putting Egypt/Petra in a box, by 11:55AM. Do that by 12:15, and AT LAST the dining room table is CLEARED! And I've "only" been back SIXTEEN days! Continue to put stuff away from the floor, filing the Tunisia and Nepal papers, and calling OAT to find that they're GIVING BACK all the single-supplement charges included in the last Nepal invoice, since I'm sharing with someone. 14) Make out a check for $40 for Cadman Holiday Fund that I'll take down later today, leaving only THREE tasks on the do-list for tomorrow. Put the new 2009 calendar into operation by filling in all the dates and events, and am filling out the Prime Timers application when Steve comes in the door at 2:15PM. Laboriously try to get him to show a slide show of my Egypt photos on his laptop, but he just can't do it. Go through all the Iceland slides, of which he selects maybe eight, and he shows me his slides and I show some of mine, and e-mail him Brad Pitt so he can forward it to friends, and we go down to the Iron Chef from 4:45-6 for another great meal, his tuna teriyaki particularly good. Stuffed again! Catch up with this to 6:10PM, ready to tackle a stack of mail, including the index and the checks from Ridgewood and LOTS of other mail. Mail goes to 7:10, and I write Rita's birthday card, e-mail three Prime Timers, thank Dale for his photos and put them into my New Folder, and play Spider 8:37-10:55 to an, at last, wonderful new high of 50.37087, 119 up. Finish this at 11PM, ready for dinner! Watch "Leverage," not THAT great, but entertaining, and get to bed at 12:50AM.

TUESDAY, 12/9/08: Pee at 4AM and jot a note to call Christina about January slides, making an appointment later for January 21 for Atlantic Ocean Islands, which, as I now check, I've NEVER shown before, with 263 slides, 3.5 boxes! Also a note to buy "South Pacific" tickets when I go to "Thais" at the Met next week. Up at 9:35 for a good shit after Charles calls and cancels his request for "The Seagull" on Wednesday matinee (which is good, since it wasn't up anyway), and I call Spartacus, who doesn't want to go either. Check e-mails and accounts and settle down to breakfast about 11:15AM. Then out to TKTS to find that my best choices are "Spring Awakening" for tonight and "The Little Mermaid" for tomorrow's matinee. Back to phone Carolyn to say "not before 1:45, since I'm going to the gym, and get back at 1:40 to find her not here yet. Go to catch up on this and Danny calls about 2:05 and we talk until 2:25 about all KINDS of things: JJ was his dog-like cat who appeared on television and rode on playground swings and "walked 25 feet ahead with or without a leash;" he's part Polish himself, lives for 25 years sexlessly with a gay roommate, and looks forward to seeing me at Leo's. He keeps his pants on unless he's interested in someone, which I don't remember seeing last time at Leo's. He SOUNDS very much like Tony, but was concerned that I didn't list kissing, saying that places like Leo's were "much less likely to have HIV-positive people" than "other places." Oh? Finish this at 2:30, printing out the last page, and still waiting for Carolyn to ring. She finally does about 4PM: she'd been ringing my CELL phone number! Told me I could eat her cookies! Finish and mail five foreign Christmas cards and letters, have dinner, and get out to "Spring Awakening," which I thought was awful: yes, it scandalized people at the turn of the last century, but the MUSIC contained such sure-to-shock anachronisms as "fuck" and "shit," which struck me as TOTALLY out of line for any "faithful" rendering of this play, and the simulated sex was COMPLETELY unnecessary (and VERY poorly staged), even though the audience enjoyed it all IMMENSELY. NOT a good evening in the theater. Got to bed at 12:43AM.

WEDNESDAY, 12/10/08: Pee at 4:33AM, and jerk off on the bed, with porno from the drawer which Paul has obviously looked at: some of the pages were "back to," in more ways than one, which I certainly would never have done. Try writing more envelopes and printing more Christmas letters, now one day old, and decide to get out to TKTS about 11:45 to see if they have "The Seagull" up. They don't, so I get a ticket for the best thing left: "Mary Poppins," for tonight. Brought along puzzles to solve at the library, but they only have the microfilm for the Times for the September puzzle: sorry I missed "zee" as "one of a duo in jazz," but could NOT have expected to get "whiz kid" or "home ice" in the upper left. Watch two hours of "From Jesus to Christ," which I watched when it first came out in 1998. Have lunch before rushing off to "Little Mermaid," which was surprisingly good, particularly the wonderfully peccy, nipple-pierced-with-a-pin-only visible with my binoculars from my perfect ninth-row-center seat, King Triton, and the Prince Eric was nice enough to look at beside the insipid Mermaid. Had checked that "The Seagull" was on 48th Street, so after the 4:15 applause I went up there and whispered for a $41 balcony seat, much less than the $60 range of half the $110 top price plus various charges. Back to phone Charles and Spartacus to say they could get balcony seats if they wanted, I was sure. Then dash off to Sharon at 5:20, getting there early, and have a good session, leaving just after 6:15. Have enough time for a regular dinner from the Healthy Heart offerings, and then get off to "Mary Poppins," which I see from the sixth or seventh row, enough to use binoculars on the various statues come to life, and Marj said that Disney would FILL his cast with gays. Find that Shelley's message is wrong: TV Guide may have had the penguins for 8PM on PBS, but it was actually "In the Steps of Marco Polo" that I taped. Bed at 12:17PM, tired from a VERY busy day.

SHARON B. 82 12/10/08

Got there early at 5:22PM and sat in my coat to dry it out from the rain that very much wet it. She comes out at 5:31 and I start by saying: "There's good news, good news, good news, good news, and bad news." Start with my tale of last Wednesday, which she assures me she HAD work to do during, and DID charge for it. Then get to the HASSLE of the Word 7 program, going from that to the awful almost-goof of mailing the card to Bill and Kevin, rather than Gerry and Kevin; my forgetting signing up for TKTS e-mails, reminded only when I saw the sign-in list AGAIN; my awful conversation with Mildred, leading to the dream of "Glen Close" (which I had to go to DREAMS to get her NAME!) cheating me at poker by having too many threes, obviously having them up her sleeve, Then got into the good news about possible sex with Danny and Doug, telling her all the details, forcing her every so often to ask "How I felt" about things, taking notes ONLY during the dream, noting that this "wicked woman" could very well have been Mildred, which I hadn't really thought of. Told her also about all the plays I've been attending, my slight guilt over getting a ticket for "The Seagull" without checking BEFOREHAND with Charles and Spartacus, and she concluded by saying that I was doing SO MUCH that it wasn't really that surprising that I might slip up on a few details, but I had to add that I was MUCH busier than this in the past, and undoubtedly MADE some mistakes, but I never THEN took it as a sign that I might be PERMANENTLY losing it! She had me sign more forms when I knew it was time to leave at 6:15, and I said I'd check my calendar for next week's meeting to see if the following two weeks could be moved to Monday or Tuesday, rather than Christmas and New Year's Eves. Felt good about the session, feeling that I'd accomplished lots with little regret, except that I really MUST get to the index soon to see if I have any questions; I told her that at least I checked that all the pages were there; it's awkward to phone after "working on the index for a week" and saying "I'm missing page 4." She laughed, said in general she thought I was doing just fine.

THURSDAY, 12/11/08: 2:15PM: Pee at 6:44AM and at 7:29 make an eleven-item do-list to get things OFF my mind: 1) Bob WHO? Grossman, at 8AM. 2) John C.: Ivan? Who answers the PHONE in NJ when I call at 12:15PM. 3) Clip toenails. 4) Finish Xmas cards, which I finally do by 2PM, mailing out 29 and relying on hand-delivery for four more, 33 "sent" to date, and some already in. 5) Do index-work, which I STILL haven't gotten to. 6) Tris: paragraph problem? 7) LOK fixes. 8) Add Bill Clair to Death list at 2PM. 9) Write up Sharon's session. 10) Log Wednesday, which I did by 2:20PM. 11) Google Bob Grossman, Bob Rosinek, Al JaKenta, Bob Oldakowski, John Connolly, Louis Love, Tsi-Dun, Prime Timers, and Homogeniuses. Look at LISTS from the book (after finding Bob Grossman's last name) to 8:10AM. Then get a short nap and have a sexy dream, leaving me hard, and I jerk off 9:15-10:15 and have breakfast while watching "In the Footsteps of Marco Polo." Then determined to mail off the rest of the "page" Christmas cards, taking time to call Marj to say that my OLD Word finally worked, call John Connolly to have IVAN answer the phone, answering my question about whether anything had happened to him, and then Shelley to say that I'd recorded PBS at 8PM and it was Marco Polo's journey. Finally mail all the cards by dressing warmly and going outside in the cold, getting a book by Hillary (Sir Edmund, not Senator Clinton) left at the desk. Catch this up to date at 2:22PM, ready to transcribe Sharon's session last night. Finish that at 2:37PM, ready for lunch! Index from 3:30-4:30, phoning Jillian on some minor questions just to assure her I'm working satisfactorily, then shit and talk to Spartacus about nonsense, work on the index another hour from 5:15-6:15, have dinner while watching "Inheritance," and then over to Spartacus's in the rain to pick up some "Tudors" CDs, many of which I'd seen before, but he insists I take the whole lot, and then get back into the rain to subway to "The Seagull," staying the first act in the balcony, almost full (and hardly anyone moves to the 80%-empty mezzanine below), and then move down to the last row of the mezzanine when I hear an usher remonstrating, "Sit in the last row only!" I get most of the words from both places, using my binoculars to close the distance between me and Kristin Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard, both making their Broadway debuts. She grimaces and manipulates and screams and cries and agonizes and ignores and aggravates as she sees fit, but it's all so CALCULATED, both on the part of the character and the part of the actress, that it's more of a PERFORMANCE than a RECREATION of a life, which leaves me quite uninvolved in what's going on onstage. I'm primarily struck by how each character seems to have a series of LONG monologues where ALL their thoughts are graphically laid out for everyone to see. Zoe Kazan's Masha seems the most original interpretation: is she REALLY taking cocaine in Chekhov's play? Is she really so off-the-wall crazy? And does Arkadina really have such VIOLENT changes of emotion in a split second? Dorn seems to have such key parts (liking Konstantin's play, being a doctor) without really being "part" of the family. Glancing at the program as I type this, I also realize that FEW of the plays, after they were over, emphasized Broadway Cares; Equity Fights Aids as much as "Equus" did. Maybe I've just seen too many plays (six) in too few days (seven) to judge ANY production properly, but the hit of them all seemed to be "Mary Poppins," which had the least "star power" in the cast, particularly liking Adam Fiorentino as Bert. Get to bed at 1:10AM Friday.

FRIDAY, 12/12/08: Pee at 5AM and up at 9:45AM. Got to the rest of the items on my do-list from yesterday. 10:40AM: Did many Google searches: Adam Fiorentino only had some cute pictures, not much detail. Bob Rosinek mainly as a crime author, one reference to an e-mail sent by Nina and Bob to some Florida newspaper article, saying they're cousins. Al JaKenta wasn't there, quickly turning into Jakinta entries. Bob Oldakowski runs a CFO placement office in New Mexico. John Connolly is a governor and lots of other people, including an Irish writer. Louis Love is a young DJ. Tsi-Dun turned up lots of backward nudists, none referred to the original group. Prime Timers listed many many cities and states where it's organized independently. Homogeniuses is now a gay trivia game. Clipped toenails and pulled ear-hairs by 11:05AM, two MORE items done. Finish watching "Inheritance" with lunch. 2:35PM: Talk to Tris about hard returns, still "up in the air," and get to LOK and EDIT them QUITE EASILY to 2:30, and send it off to Tris. That leaves ONLY the index-work item on the Thursday-Friday do-list, so I can CHUCK it! RIGHT ON! So much for THAT do-list! Go to the gym, then go through the mail and do Spider 6:20-6:45, getting to new high of 50.37392 with 120 up. Work on the mid-section of the index from 7-7:35 and 7:45-8:20. TV 8:30-11:35, all quite depressing: 8:30-9 was NOW, about how Kiribati will be underwater in 20 years; 9-10 was Bill Moyers Journal with a) a VERY articulate Salon.com writer, cogently arguing for the criminal indictment of George Bush for putting himself above the law, and b) a very articulate black woman talking about the lousiness of the CEOs who helped cause our current financial crisis. Then 10-11 was brilliant with Ian Wright and a new, hopefully gay, traveler named Zay, both on New Zealand. Then watch Charlie Rose on "Doubt," the movie, and get to bed at 11:55PM.

SATURDAY, 12/13/08: Pee at 6:40AM. Do Actualism 7:30-7:55 and up at 7:55AM. Look at the Times, which comes on the dot of 8:30AM, just as I'm ready to phone to report a no-delivery, and call Charles to join me at the Forbes Gallery, but he doesn't call back. Get there about 12:30PM, impressive Levantine and Mesopotamian jewelry, and re-see some of his toy-soldier collection and boats and past-award collection, and get out at 2PM for the Center and about fifteen ugly men for the Prime Timers' Christmas party, only chips and cookies and chocolate for my "lunch," and I gave away my Beard hamburger seasoning jar and $5 in exchange for five New York Lottery tickets which gave me nothing. Home about 4PM to get ready for Ken to arrive at 5, taking maybe 25 Spain/France photos on a CD that WORKS for him, and Midge arrives at 6:45, drinks my tiny bottle of Jack Daniels, while Ken has some liqueur and I tap into the Grand Marnier. To Jack the Horse about 7:15, they both order a disappointing same dish while I'm happy with my burger, but they really don't care for it. Meet Midge's cousin Eric, the person she DIDN'T want to meet, after seeing some connected house at 15 Cranberry. I'm back to clean things up and hook myself into Spider 11:25PM-1:55AM, getting 11 wins for a high of 50.40473 at 130 up.

SUNDAY, 12/14/08: Bed at 2:35AM! Just CRAZY! Check e-mail and back to bed at 2:47AM. Dream, and pee at 8:30AM. Yesterday I thought, "It's about 7:30," and looked at the clock AT 7:30. Today I thought it might be 10:30AM, and it was 10:31! Up at 10:38AM. Look at the Times. Do other stuff before Shelley's apartment-lobby party (with good wines and GREAT brownies) from 4:55PM to 6:40PM, good food and pleasant people. Watch stuff on TV, replete with junk food and wine from the party, and get to bed at 11:03PM.

MONDAY, 12/15/08: Pee at 3:50AM and up at 8:52AM, still feeling worn out. Have breakfast while watching the end of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and then finish the index from 9:55AM-noon, phoning Jillian with my last questions, and she said she'd e-mail the number of indexable pages for my bill. Finally get to the Nepal visa form, and re-reading the instructions makes it clear I have to get a visa for India also! Phone PVS because OAT didn't include the charge ($113!) for the India visa, and get to the post office after taking in laundry at 2:50 and waiting until 3:25 (no gym today!) on the long Senior line for the $12+ registered letter with the passport. Get groceries by 3:47PM, just before running out of toilet paper and apple juice. Get lovely bacon, which I anticipate before having it for an early lunch on Thursday. Meet Spartacus at 5:30 for the subway to the Lighthouse for "The Thief of Bagdad" with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., who with Mary Pickford were the first to put their footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, which Marj later reminds me was on the "glitzy" Christmas card I sent everyone a few years ago. Guess I watched TV since I got to bed at 1:20AM.

TUESDAY, 12/16/08: Pee at 6:02AM and 6:14AM, and make a new do-list at 6:38AM: 1) copy WP51/Cindex to laptop, 2) St. Pete's photos from CDs to Olympus album, 3) Tris: handle LOK (which I later think to be MUCH more accessible on the website), 4) look for indexing e-mail, which I get at 10AM, 5) Charles: matinee tomorrow, or Leslie/Lohman, or candy factory, or "Hairspray?" for which I leave word at 10:20AM, and he later says we might go Friday afternoon, 6) Piri: Games group, which I leave word for, 7) Doug: dine? And he later calls and says we're both so busy with the holidays (he's playing two organs) we'd better wait until at least after Christmas and maybe after New Years, 8) send index at 10:15AM; and she later says she can open it DESPITE the odd MC2A.WP1.DOC listing and will process my bill, which I finally send 3:30PM Wednesday, 9) gym, which I finally do at 3:32PM, coming out in total darkness, 10) TKTS: not today, since Charles hasn't called me back, 11) Netflix, 12) photos to Dale, 13) send index at 10:15AM, 14) Drama League mailing: leave word 3PM Wednesday, and STILL no response by 3PM Thursday!, 15) Microsoft: NO new Word7, 16) start typing 2008 LIFELIST, 17) LIFELISTs to Tris, 18) Call Sherryl (well, I can cross THAT off my list now!), 19) Amazon: Scott's catalog, and 2007 is $125 and 2006 is over $88 in individual volumes, so I'll wait a little longer, putting the card with my stamp stuff so I don't worry about it again. Up at 9:25AM. Do Spider from 11:20AM-1:10PM for a high of 50.43234 (making card TWELVE; how MUCH I play!) at 139up, and again from 7-9PM to 50.44462 at 143 up. Watch three hours of "Dexter" from the end of Season 2 to make sure I've seen it all, and that there's NOTHING from Season 3 on the current disks. Watch last two hours of "From Jesus to Christ," more out of laziness than anything else, and get to bed at 12:32AM.

WEDNESDAY, 12/17/08: Pee at 4:37AM and 8:27AM and get up at 9:03. Organize things even more after breakfast: copy WP51 and CINDEX to a CD and read it into the laptop: E:WP51 CAN open with Microsoft Word and continue with entries. CINDEX doesn't go: the screen comes up for a MOMENT and vanishes, and I can't get it to stay. While I have the laptop out I decide to do Marj's 10-page addition to EUR2MOS, talking it all out with her, and fill out the IAT bill and Marj's envelope and get it down to the mailbox at 3:35PM, probably too late for today's last pickup. Sharon calls to postpone tonight's session to Friday. I have an early dinner and get out for a "South Pacific" ticket before seeing "Thais" with Charles: lovely music, but to subway LATE at 11:40PM, and MESS!

THURSDAY, 12/18/08: 10:52AM: Got back from the opera just before 1AM this morning (DAMN subways!) and got a message from Ann Heeney at 7:48PM and Donna Carlson after 10PM that Sherryl had died. I get to bed at 1:57AM and wake at 9AM to pee and type a very elaborate indexing/life dream. My desk is full: two slips under my door, Citi bill, Sherryl's news, Xmas cards, tickets, programs, and other stuff. Then at 9:40AM begin to make a list of those who should be contacted about Sherryl's death (then got up at 10AM, had breakfast 11:15, pausing a bit to talk to Donna and calling her back): Terry (who I called at 10:05AM, who said the probable cause of death was liver failure, but he couldn't be sure until the death certificate was released this afternoon; said that she'd donated her body for medical research and then wanted to be cremated with her ashes strewn over the ocean; said that he phoned Ann Heeney and Donna Carlson and Joe and Sherryl's brother and someone else in his family; said that Sherryl wanted a memorial gathering in her apartment---at first he thought maybe New Years' Day, but then we both thought it was too early---some time in January); Ann Heeney, with whom I left word to thank for calling me; Donna Carlson, with whom I left word, who later called me 11:50-12:10, saying they'd talked a LOT about Sherryl's former life, husband, David (whom she didn't want notified of her death), her mother, grandparents, and friends from various times, and that she didn't think dying would be so painful. Later the doctors gave her enough pain killers (since morphine wasn't "taking hold," as Donna said) and sleeping pills so that she was peaceful at the end; Vicki Moss, who I assumed Joe would contact; Stephanie Marcus, who Ann Heeney probably contacted; and Charles, with whom I left word at 10:44, and whose "memory was full" when I called back to make sure he knew Ruth's Chris was on Monday, January 19; John Vinton, with whom I left word at 10:20AM; Carolyn, to whom I talked from 10:25-45; Shelley, with whom I left word at 10:45 who called me back 12:30-12:50; Mildred, with whom I left word at 10:47; Spartacus, who'd call back in five minutes after I phoned him at 10:48, and we talked and he said he coming over to see Bob, and MIGHT pick up the CDs, but he hasn't by 2:40PM; Marj, with whom I talked 11:10-11:15, telling her I had to keep the phone clear. Piri then called to verify that we're four for Sunday's Games group. So far John, Charles, and Mildred haven't called back yet. At 2:40PM I return to filling out my journal. By 3:25PM I've consulted my Spider list, my MC2A index list, my Channel 13 guide, and my various written notes to catch up to date, printing out a few pages, and clearing my desk of MORE junk! 8:45PM: LOTS done today: read the CDs of St. Petersburg to Olympus and changed the names of all the files to MEAN something. Sent eleven separate LOK pages to Tris. GREAT! Get "Man on Wire" from Spart for Netflix delivery tomorrow. AND all the third season of "Dexter." WHEW! Watch "Pavarotti in Seven Scenes" from 9-11 and get to bed at 12:05AM. Put heat on in living room, thinking to jerk off in the morning, and drink some water and pee again.

FRIDAY, 12/19/08: Jot note from dream at 2:22AM. Pee again at 2:51, not having gotten to sleep, and make a new list: 1) copy Word to laptop, and 2) Tris, add buttons on LOK pages. Have breakfast while watching additional sub-movies on the Netflix CD of "Man on Wire" that Spartacus loaned me last night, talk to Charles and Mildred on the phone, get out to TKTS in glorious snow (but slippery!) for "Radio City Christmas Show" for $57 for me for tonight and two tickets for $123 for me and Charles for "Hairspray" tomorrow, the LAST of the current plays that I want to see. Back to talk with Marj, watching more of "Man on Wire" as I have lunch and then decide to go to the gym. Back at 3:45 to watch the first hour of the third season of "Dexter," and get to Sharon from 5-5:45PM. Back to try to duplicate OB, having erased Egypet from the camera so I have a clean slate to take to Radio City Music Hall this evening for photos, but it seems not to work, but OB itself lets me find four photos that I e-mail to Dale by 7PM, and then catch up with this to 7:10, ready to write about my visit with Sharon. Finish that at 7:20, ready for dinner. After than, leave at 8:30PM for Radio City Music Hall, VERY tacky show, yet it gives me a roster of photos from the show, which allowed everything but flash! It started with organ-music befor the 9:30 prompt start, and was over by 10:55PM. Bed 11:42PM.

SHARON B. 83 12/19/08

Get out into the slush and sleet at 4:50 and get there at 5PM to be called in immediately. Start with Sherryl's death, then praise my activities today of getting TKTS tickets and working with website. Get into Hugo calling me, and my lying to her, and Mildred saying I'm so attractive, and I relate my dream from this morning as a message to me telling me I should be more outgoing tomorrow at MAN and Sunday at Leo's. Babble about all my activities, talking about the index from the dream from Wednesday reflecting in my STILL worrying about whether my indexes are acceptable, or have I made some horrible mistake so that they'll never use me again. Talk about Donna caring for Dennis and Sherryl, Joe caring for Alice and Dennis and Sherryl, and Mildred and me caring about no one. Related Hugo's history, in there somewhere, gasping at the end that I've REALLY gone spontaneous, and Sharon still insists that's good. At 5:42 I mention that Mondays will probably be better, so we make our next appointment for 4:45PM on Monday the 29th, hoping that doesn't conflict with Fred's Beard-y gathering, which I presume is in the evening. Oh, STARTED by saying I was glad she hadn't phoned me to cancel, since I discovered only at 4:45PM that my bedroom phone had been OFF THE HOOK since about 2PM! Another example of my mistake, which I got back into at the end of the session as to why I was shy about approaching good-looking people at MAN or Leo's: fear of being rejected, meaning that I made a MISTAKE in thinking they'd respond favorably to an approach from me. I condemned myself for being a perfectionist obsessive-compulsive, but, as Mildred recognized that she alienated people, except those who could bounce back, like me, Sharon praised me for at least RECOGNIZING it.

SATURDAY, 12/20/08: Pee 3:55AM and up at 8:28. Read the Times and watch "The Making of Doctor Atomic." Got to "Hairspray" at 1:40PM to agitate until Charles shows up at 1:50PM, late for his 1:45PM meeting, but I don't bug him on it. Wonderful show! It's out at 4:40, perfect time to get down to the Center for the 5PM MAN group, which isn't quite open as George and I hover around the entrance. New people are attractive, and I talk to Amos from Iceland! Steve talks me into joining for another year, but he doesn't have a form for me to fill out. Bed at 11:20PM

SUNDAY, 12/21/08: Pee at 6:08, and make a barely readable note about a dream of a guy who MUST serve booze which I don't remember at all. Up at 8:35AM to read the Times, start watching Season 3 of "Dexter," and leave at 1:05PM for the Games group, slow in arriving because of local-stop only east-side subway. The awful stupid, talky, irritating Diane is there, angering both Piri and Cesar (who turns out to be of Italian descent), and for some unfathomable reason I let myself play games until 6:30, KNOWING I don't have the address of Leo's party that starts at 7PM. Try getting a Prime Timers website on Piri's computer, but all it lists are addresses; try phoning the number, but it only leads to a machine. Then call Spartacus, who suggests I try to get MY website, but though we both try, we can only get NEW messages, not old ones. He finally agrees to go to my place for the address, saying, "I have to turn off my food and get dressed, so it'll be at least twenty minutes." I want to protest, but I have no choice. Diane is hounding Piri: "I'm starving; I'm starving." DAMN her! Piri gives me her keys to lock up and leaves at 7:05. I fume until 7:20, when Spartacus phones to say he tried ALL the keys he had, and NONE of them fit my door! I decide to grab a cab and try to identify the building from the outside from my memory of the previous time. Since 55th is a westbound street, I tell him to go down 55th, and recognize the BACK of the building on 56th. Pay $12.50 plus $2.50 tip, getting a $5 for my entry, and someone's leaving the back of the building, letting me in. I get up to the twelfth floor, thinking the apartment is 12A, but that's NOT the direction I remember, so I don't know the APARTMENT number! But look to see that Leo Falk is identified at 12K, and he opens the door to contradict my "a little late" with his "a LOT late." In to find a well-hung Manuel, frisky George, and finally a tall grizzled guy on the sofa who says his name is Danny after I ask if it's Lenny. NOT my type at ALL! We chat, the turkey is good as usual, and I leave about 9:45, walking back to the subway with pleasant John, who seems like he might be a good new friend. Home to watch more "Dexter," resist the impulse to watch ALL the last four hours NOW, and get to bed at 12:58AM, now into the SECOND day of winter, since it started officially Sunday morning at 7:08AM.

MONDAY, 12/22/08: Up at 8:05AM. Spend the ENTIRE day watching television and EATING, even though I was saddened to find that my weight had gone up to 207 the last time at the gym. Start with the last four hours of season 3 of "Dexter," HATING his simpy now-wife. Call Spartacus and think to suggest that he may have put my keys in "my" drawer, and they're THERE! Don't have to worry about getting another set to him. The Met Opera website is out of order, but I THINK I finally register for another "Thais" on Saturday, though I'm not sure. Never DID get my ID from their website. Call Healthy Heart to find that Jodi MADE an order for me for Monday-Wednesday, so I cancel any meals for Thursday-Saturday. Then get seduced (by laziness) into watch the four last episodes of "Boston Legal," having enjoyed very much the last of the seven-season shows with William Shatner and Candice Bergen, eating breakfast and lunch and dinner and snacks and cherries and toast. Then watch a dreadful "Guatemalan Handshake" recorded Saturday. Bed at 12:27AM.

TUESDAY, 12/23/08: Pee at 6:45 and up at 9:01AM. Start fussing with stuff on my desk, realizing with agony that I have to get $4700 for my Visa bill by 1/6/09, not to mention $790 for taxes by 1/!5, and I only have $4000 in Schwab One funds at this point. DAMN! Visa bill makes me aware that I spend OVER $4000 per month on Visa! That includes travel and Beard, of course, but it's a LOT! Put the Radio City Music Hall photos from my camera into the computer and update my Odyssey Master files. Audience Extras doesn't have the play Spartacus insists I see, and he can't get another ticket for it "yet" through Theatermania. I catch up with my Christmas-card list, crossing off Bill Hyde (died LAST year) and Sherryl, and still not got from John Googe (surely not dead) or John Grant (who MAY be dead). Send a late card to the Jontzes and a thank-you card to the woman who took Bill's mail. Catch up with this by 12:15PM, aiming now to call CDW to see what their projectors project! End up spending $725 on a projector and a 500gb hard-drive extension! Leave word with Charles about seeing things. Call Mildred who made a reservation at Blue Smoke on a day I'd TOLD her I couldn't go, and she promised to change it, also giving her dates for Dovetail Restaurant that she'd read about. Paul C. called when I was out of the apartment. Looked into Netflix and ended up watching "The TV Set" on my computer, not very good, and requesting nine other films. Looked at LOK on the website but never called Tris because it was time to go to the gym, before which I picked up my prescriptions and an enormous jar of petroleum jelly. Decided to finish the L-arginine one-a-day in my night pills, since they shouldn't be taken with food. Watch "Absolute Zero," which I'd probably watched before, then take note of ALL the above-80 TV channels that I DO get. Took out the trash and washed out the trash container. Ate little meals to reduce the number of menu-sheets to two. Cashed in 100 Ball Corporation to add $3910 to my Schwab One account. Did lots of little things but STILL have a lot to do, catching up with this at exactly midnight, so I'll be in bed by 12:10AM.

WEDNESDAY, 12/24/08: 12:03AM: Printing last page, reminding myself that I also talked to Marj for about an hour about my purchases. Anything to be caught up. Note for today: Trocs with Spart at 3PM (They did Act II of "Giselle," almost TOO good to even be FUNNY; "Diana and Acteon," with a truly impessive Spanish guy doing the multiple pirouettes of the woman's part, though the guy who played the MALE part looked more like a woman in drag than anyone else; "Dying Swan," with the marvelous CONSTANT flurry of feathers from the tutu; "Go for Barocco," with glorious music, but some of the chorus isn't up to the wonderful MALENESS of the two tallest leads; and "Paquita," where the lead dancer was the best, as "she" should have been, but wasn't, in "Giselle."). Pee at 7:30 and 8AM and get to this file to search for the movie title I thought I saw, "Three Extremes," but it doesn't come up, so maybe I only put it into my datebook, which I'll probably get to today, after seeing another instant Netflix film now at 8:15AM. Watch "Lust/Caution," with large easy-to-read yellow subtitles even on my computer screen. Continue with "Ratatouille," but both of them aren't that great. It turns out I DID see "Three Extremes," in December of 2007, but never mentioned it in my journal. Edgardo phones at 7PM, and it's actually 1AM on Christmas morning in Milan! Sexy-voiced Renato tries to talk a long time to me on the phone, but Edgardo cuts him off. Bed at 12:45AM.

THURSDAY, 12/25/08: Dream: fitting of suit with sleeves too long. Pee at 7:30 and up at 9:23AM. Turn on the free premium channels (including HBO, Cimemax, Starz, TMC, and Showtime, among others, not others like Sundance and IFC) and just enjoy flipping through, seeing parts of some of the films I'd seen before, and catching the beginning of "Happy Feet," which I watch to the end, VERY disappointed with many facets: 1) They've DRAWN King penguins but call them
Emperor penguins, 2) The "hero" really never grows up, remaining an interspecies penguin the entire movie, 3) The Kings are obviously voiced by Blacks, as the Adelies are clearly Spanish, and the ranter, a Macaroni, is also Black, and 4) They all MINGLE together, as they simply don't in nature. 5) And NOWHERE in nature is there an iceberg which is higher than any mountain in the scene, and 6) WHY did they have "live" explorers clapping to the dancing penguins? Flip through parts of other movies again, and then see almost the start of a fabulous Chinese movie that I despair learning the name of until it comes on at the end: "Curse of the Golden Flower," which of course is by Zhang Yimou, since NO one else could have mustered the personnel in what MUST be the real Forbidden City for such GLORIOUS spectacle. Then "The Simpson Movie" is about as good as I expected it to be. ENTIRE day with movies. Bed at 11:36.

FRIDAY, 12/26/08: Pee at 6:16 and 7:13AM. See "The Last Winter" on my computer, then just HAPPEN to mention "Iron Man" to Spartacus and he's just about to put it back into the mail for Netflix! Extraordinary coincidence! Go to pick it up and see it immediately, and then watch "WALL-E" and take THAT to Spartacus to see. Watch "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and "I Am Legend" on the DVDs that Spartacus gave me. Again spend the ENTIRE day watching TV and movies. Except (forgot a marathon Spider from 6:15-10:10 to a high of 50.46543 at 150 up) when I started with Spider from 9:50-10:55AM to a high of 50.47146 at 152 up, and 8-8:50PM for a high of 50.47441 and 153 up. Bed at 12:50AM.

SATURDAY, 12/27/08: 7:25AM: Dream of getting ready for VERY modernist song festival on WQXR. Pee and up at 8:09AM. Maybe this morning I started typing the 2008 LIFELIST, but just two pages. Flip through channels again, watching pieces of movies until I have lunch before getting out to "Improbable Frequencies," about which I agreed with one of the critics: It was OK for the first half hour, but then it became just a bit twee. Home to watch "Meet Me Tonight," from "Dinner at Eight" by Noel Coward, and then a greatly anticipated and pretty good "The Golden Compass" on HBO. Bed at 1:22AM.

SUNDAY, 12/28/08: Pee at 7:48 and up at 8:55AM. Since I haven't jerked off since 12/11, I just MUST do it today, and finally get off with little joy. Today takes the prize (the patient sitzfleisch prize) for the most movies: "Donnie Darko," "My Zinc Bed," "Chain Reaction," the last hour of "The Bucket List," which I'd never heard of before, from 2006 with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, "Transformers," a TRULY childish film with NO known plot, and "The Passion of Ayn Rand," which I stumbled onto with a convincing Helen Mirren and the sexy cad of Nathanial Brandon as played by Eric Stoltz. I do finally get to the gym after five days away from it. And satisfy my hunger for egg foo yung from the Great Wall. Bed at 11PM.

MONDAY: 12/29/08: Pee and drink water at 2:25AM. Up at 8:08AM to type dream. 10:55AM: Type notes to wait for 11AM to call Marj to crow about finding solution to 11/1 Times puzzle through Google! Marj isn't THERE at 11AM. The NERVE! And I phone her back to TELL her she has some nerve not to be there at 11AM. So I call Mildred, who tells me about Charles's "plan" to buy a house in Snedden's Landing, and talks of his situation at great length, and then call Spartacus, who talks of many things until past noon, when he says I should come over to pick up "Jack Smith" and "Little Children." And THEN I can get back to my fixing up my apartment from my movie-orgy over the past six days. But I start with the three hours of "Tipping the Velvet" and watch "Jack Smith: Atlantis," and other hours on his disks before getting to Sharon at 4:45PM. Watch more TV while having dinner and get started with "Doctor Atomic," but I'm just falling alseep, so decide to get to bed at 10:25PM: WHY so TIRED??

SHARON B. 84 12/29/08

She's talking on the phone when I get in at 4:45PM, and she takes me a bit after. I talk about my movie orgy after reading her the notes on the three dreams I'd taken with me, assuring her that I was happy by myself watching movies over Christmas (and then SHE admitted that's what SHE'D done!), though I DID have to call Marj and Mildred about my triumph of getting the solution to the crossword puzzle of 11/1 on the Internet. Told her of my "pig in shit" conversation with Marj on Friday: watching movies, eating Healthy Heart meals that I didn't have to shop for, and starting each of a few days with about an hour of Spider to satisfy that craving. Just an ideal period of life, though I did mention my concern about the long plane flight to Bhutan, and she said that I just MIGHT get in touch with the company in order to see if I can delay a day to rest up between. Again, at some point, she asked where the "shoulds" in my life come from, and I say it had to be MANY sources: surely Mom was one: to keep my room neat and do my homework; nuns in Catholic school must have had a hand; IBM was a stickler for everything the "right" way, and she even said SHE worked there a year, at 57th and Madison, and had to wear specific kinds of clothes, so she KNEW this wasn't for her; and my being an obsessive-compulsive didn't help much. But I was handling it better, though I again mentioned the possibility of stopping Avodart for a few months to see if my testosterone couldn't increase my sex drive without terribly affecting my prostate. Really talked a blue streak until 5:30, when I wished her a happy new year and we agreed that our next meeting would be Wednesday the 7th of January.

TUESDAY, 12/30/08: Pee at 2:45AM. 6:47AM: Woke at 6:30AM with two dreams in mind. Pee and transcribe them, but only after what I feared might be a disaster: I'd again managed, last night, to open two copies of WP51, and I closed the second one successfully, but when I went to close the first one, the dreaded statement "Put the WordPerfect 2 disk into the slot" appeared at the bottom, and nothing I could do would satisfy their requirement. I just shut the monitor off at that point and left the problem to this morning. I somehow managed to verify what the last entries in both DREAMS and NH were, and pulled out the floppy disk and shut the machine off. Restarting tried the mysterious defragmenting process again, which I stopped. Security statements came on, but this time the screen said that ALL security measures, INCLUDING virus-scan, were on. When I hit the key to continue the restart process came on again, went to a count of 18, and then the icons came back on immediately, rather than slowly, as usually happens. I went to WP51, but was immediately interrupted by some firewall check which minimized WP51 to the task bar. I closed the firewall box and clicked to maximize WP51 and checked that both DREAMS and NH were complete in their last entries, and then typed in the two dreams from this morning and caught up with this by 6:53AM, nose running and body still feeling tired though I'd been in bed for just over two hours (though not getting to sleep for over an hour). Now to decide what to do next: probably crawl back into bed, since it's still pitch black in my bedroom except for the computer screen. Lay down at 7AM and decide to jerk off with the INCREDIBLE photograph of Roberto Bolle that Spartacus gave me yesterday with the disks and lots of other papers to read (and return) or throw away. Get down to even LOWER layers of the sheets of porno that Paul rearranged while looking at them, leaving everything scattered over the bed when I finally finish at 9:30AM. Have breakfast, but just DON'T feel like continuing with the LIFELIST typing, so I Spider from 10:25-1:55, at least getting to a new high of 50.4894 after nine consecutive wins, with 158 up. Determined to get through the DVD of "Doctor Atomic," but the closeups on the video version only pointed up the nonsense of the words, so it was actually better on stage than it was on film. Phone Healthy Heart to find that the computer put through my order, which should come today, so I go down to find it's THERE, along with my projector. Get involved with more Spider 5:10-8PM to a new high of 50.51055 at 165 up. Watch an hour of a mediocre program about Life on Mars. During intermissions of the Kennedy Center Honors I try to figure out how to put it together, but I figure in the end that I'll have to put Odyssey Master on my laptop and run the projector through THAT, not what I had in mind at ALL. Finish up the last of the egg foo yung for dinner, finally finished with that, as I'm finally finished with the last of the SECOND pound of bacon I indulged in during the past two weeks: so delicious yet so AWFUL for the cholesterol, I'm sure! Actually had a trace of a headache the past few evenings. Bed at 11:25PM after clearing pornography off my bed and putting a FEW things away to ease my cluttered mind and apartment.

WEDNESDAY, 12/31/08: 5:48AM wake feeling anxious for no SPECIFIC reason, except maybe as reaction to ALL the movies during the past week: TWENTY-SIX in eight days! Or a new year coming? Take a valium and have a pee. Up at 8:35. Watch "Little Children" for the SECOND time recently, though Patrick Wilson is sure nice to look at. Then get to the gym for the last time this year, and back to write the check for Choice Visa, which is due on 1/6, and go down to mail it at 1PM to make sure it GETS there by then, and have lunch while watching "Muppets: Christmas Letters." Then PUSH myself to do the dishes, at last, even to putting drain cleaner down, which DOES let the water go down better when I rinse it down. Copy the rudiments of dreams from the past week from NH to DREAMS, just to complete that file, and catch up with the notes that I wanted to finish on these pages by 4:10PM. Check back to find that I've typed something FOR EACH DAY since I got back from Egypt/Petra on November 22! Phone the Beard for the 1/15 frequent diner, but they closed at 1PM today! The piles on the desk are down to the permanent three: 1) website, 2) slide-scan, 3) Pinnacle for videotapes, along with the still-ongoing 4) bill for the car for the Spain/ France trip, 5) the Met museum, 6) Leslie-Lohman and Candy with Charles, though he may be on the island now, 7) Netflix films, and 8) CDs, which now represent trying to get the new projector to work! Read through and discard most of the stuff Spartacus gave me, and put out the camera and spare batteries in preparation to get to Ken's at 5:30 to photograph his painting before Annisa at 7PM for New Year's Eve dinner. And this is the end of this page for THIS year!