8:38 am - Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2002
Of Osteopaths and \"Beltway Snipers\"...

Mark is in the bathroom getting cleaned up, and Jane's making up and doing her hair at the mirror in my little "office alcove". I'm watching Smallville, so I can free up the tape for Ed and The West Wing, and of course, doing this.

Had a lot of fun yesterday.

In the afternoon, we went to see Auto Focus at a theater on Sunset.

The movie, basically about the rise and long, sex-addicted fall of Bob Crane, was good, and certainly gave me some things to think about, but it didn't "send" me. This was a movie about the destruction of a very ordinary man, and that being the case, it's sad, but never rises to the level of "epic tragedy".

(But more on that later...)

After the movie, we drove to Manhattan Beach, to visit Jane's cousin Bill, a osteopathic surgeon with very chi-chi digs on the beach.

He wasn't there immediately when we got there, so we checked out the ocean--where I made the embarrassing admission that I hadn't immediately been sure, when I first got out here, which ocean we were dealing with--and when we got back to his place, he was there with some great Chinese takeout (Jane's made a point a couple of times that he doesn't cook. I think she finds that a little sad, though I think if I had his dough, I'd probably eat out all the time myself).

He and Jane caught up on family stuff, and he and Mark connected with baseball, and we all talked about medical problems and hmos and related stuff, but there wasn't talk about anything Jim knew much about until we were about to leave; I mentioned that I was taping some things off tv, and when he asked me what shows I was taping in particular--Buffy, Smallville, and NYPD Blue, it turned out he has been a fan of both the first two shows (Though he's kind of worn out on Buffy).

I thought that was pretty cool, and a neat comment on the power of this particular art form I want to be a part of; The same stories can capture the imagination of the wannabee actor/present day bookstore clerk and the osteopathic surgeon.

To be honest, I had a better time than I expected to. I mentioned there being a lot of talk about things I didn't know much about, but I think I've gotten at least a little better over the years about not always needing to be the conversational center of attention.

Shortly, we're going to Denny's for breakfast. After that, I think we may go to the tar pits, and maybe see a play this evening.

I don't know what we're going to do during the day tomorrow, but in the evening, we're having dinner with Cary and Kay (Feeling another little "wave of anxiety" about that--I want everyone to like everyone else, and have a lot to talk about--but I like everyone involved, and I have exquisite tastes in friends, so I'm sure things will be fine).

Well, I've been chatting with Kevin as I do this, and Mark and Jane and I are watching a press conference about "The Beltway Sniper", but I'm feeling breakfast calling, so I think I'm going to wrap this up for now.

Jim is hun-gree...

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