21 October 1997: Gray Areas

Tuesday, 21 October 1997:

Gray Areas

Well, only an hour or so after whining about getting stuck in the demo of Galapagos I downloaded on Sunday, I figured out what I was supposed to do and solved the first puzzle. I feel dumb sometimes. It's a pretty neat game, and I think I'll buy the real thing, if I can find it.

I was mailing something FedEx yesterday and thinking about what I'd do when I got home for the evening, maybe start reading Sheri Tepper's Gibbon's Decline And Fall. And then I thought, nah, I feel like vegging out for a couple nights for a change. So I rented some movies.

I've never seen a Marx Brothers film in its entirety. (Surprised? There's a lot of stuff on film I've never seen.) I have seen bits and pieces, and I always enjoy Groucho's one-liners. So I was happy with A Night At The Opera, although it was not a constant yuk-fest. I understand Duck Soup is really the one to see, though.

And tonight, rather than actually watching baseball in the form of the World Series, I watched a movie about baseball, in the form of The Natural. I would have been better off with the real thing, as this Robert Redford vehicle is basically formula cheese. It tries to jerk all your strings, and doesn't really do it right, as it just can't nail the really dramatic moments quite right, going over-the-top, if anything.

I've been wondering for a while if I have mild seasonal depression. I often feel a little down during the fall, although I feel down once in a while anyway, even in the summer.

Actually, driving home today under the gray skies, with it nearly dark at 6:30, seeing the college students walking around in heavier coats, the word that came to mind for this time of year was "bewitching". There's something about the colder months which is strangely beguiling, for all the bleakness and sense of emptiness in the air. It's especially nice in the winter when it's snowing lightly at night, under the streetlights.

Well, I dunno.

Michael Rawdon (Contact)