“you’re really complicated, aren’t you?” –stacy

this past sunday night i was settling down for the night, reading my Texas monthly in bed, when i heard screaming. it was pretty loud, and sounded like a guy and girl. i figured it was a domestic dispute, although loud and/or nearby. i could make out words, but not exactly what was at issue. it kept going for a couple of minutes until a male voice started screaming “help me!” “no! don’t!” over and over. i was worried about getting in the middle of some kind of violent dispute, but i finally decided i should try and see what was going on. i jumped up and got dressed, then loaded my kimber .45, put on the safety, and put it in the back of my pants. i walked outside and i could see flashing lights up the street. there were three or more cop cars at the corner, a few houses away. i stood outside for awhile but i never did figure out what was going on.
monday i decided to open up the 20 gig ipod that had been sitting in its box for about a year. i quickly learned my music collection won’t come anywhere near fitting on a 20 gig ipod. i guess this’ll do for now while i’m still slowly importing my music.
tuesday i went to crescent city beignets and read and had some beignets and cafe au lait. while at the register, i noticed passes for a free screening so i picked one up in case it was interesting.
wednesday after the radio show i went riding with brad and jason. i met them at chuy’s (negra modelo), then we went to the flying saucer (young’s double chocolate stout), then to la carafe (st. arnold’s oktoberfest). it was the first time we’d been out riding together in awhile. it was nice to do it again.
thursday after work i met sue at the angelika and watched the free preview for the pass i’d picked up tuesday at crescent city beignets. (i was originally supposed to watch a movie at home with natalie, but things didn’t pan out.) it was for lars and the real girl. it was really good. the story is about a socially awkward fellow who is nice and polite and a good person, but has had a lot of emotional baggage over the years and develops a delusion that an anatomically correct life-like sex doll he buys on the internet is alive. (remember mannequin? yeah, it’s nothing like that. as in, it never comes to life.) the movie is funny, touching, and deals with some complex issues in ways you don’t realize until later upon thinking about the movie. the acting is really good (appropriate to the movie), and you eventually come to terms with what’s going on and accept it. i kept thinking how dumb the movie would seem if someone just walked into the theater, even though the audience is laughing and crying about what’s happening. i think i could see comparing it to little miss sunshine in some ways, although it leans a little more serious with a lot of comedy, while …sunshine leans the other way. both are hilarious, but have great comments to make, and are touching while dealing with people with quirks and problems. oh yeah…the main character works in an i.t. cube farm kind of job, which they portrayed pretty accurately. i.t. people are weird.
after that i dropped sue off at the house of pies because she was meeting brad there, and i went to barnes and noble. i couldn’t resist picking up a few things while i was there:

• catcher in the rye – j. d. salinger (little, brown and co)
• crime and punishment – dostoevsky (everyman’s library)
• a short history of christianity – stephen tomkins (eerdmans)

(the first two are hardback versions.)
friday after work was the geek gathering at tropioca. we didn’t really announce it that well, plus jay is out of town, so the turnout was somewhat low. but it was still a good evening. from there i headed over to leon’s lounge for the vinyl ranch night. barrett had also planned to go over there, so i met him and a couple friends. later, when we were leaving, i noticed a motorcycle in front. then i realized it was brad’s. i went back inside and found him and kelli, so i hung out for a couple more hours. there was some cool music being played, but the occasional dj tricks on the vinyl was a bit odd to me, and most of the people seemed to be ironic about their appreciation of country. it was somewhat awkward, since i tend to hang out at places where there isn’t anything ironic about the clothes they wear or the music they’re listening to.