Saturday, January 4, 2003
Read news and e-mail all day. Found two fortunes in my wallet from a restaurant Patrick and I went to a while ago. His fortune: "You may at one time be impractical, sporty or intensely restless." Mine: "You will be promoted to a post in which many people will be under you." Got rid of some unneeded files. Met Patrick, Amy, and David at the Roxie to see a film called Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time—a film about one man's artistic expression using patterns and objects found in nature. Amy found out about the film through her co-workers at LeapFrog, and we hadn't seen Amy and David in a long time, so a movie followed by dinner with them sounded like a great plan for a Saturday evening. The film was startling beautiful. Patrick liked the film eventually—he said it had to grow on him a bit and that the beginning wasn't to his liking. I could have done without Andy Goldsworthy's inner thoughts and simply watched him work in his process, but I understand how others might appreciate his commentary. Is it a must-see film? No. Is it better than Baraka? No. Is it better than Bowling for Columbine? No. But parts of it are indeed worth seeing, particularly in a theatre with others, as I found the crowd's reaction to certain parts of the film as interesting as the film itself. Afterwards, dinner at Amira: Patrick had Moroccan pastilla, I had Libyan chicken, Amy had lamb couscous, David had chicken kebobs. We started with the middle-sized appetizer combo. Drinks: Amy had apricot juice. David had a Coke. Amy and Patrick shared Moroccan mint tea. Dessert: there were two: baklava and rice pudding scented with rose water. All the food and drink was very delicious and well prepared. The service was a little on the slow side and particularly neglectful in filling our short water glasses (8-ounce highballs). The meal was made festive with live music and belly dancing, both of which were well executed and artistically impressive. We arrived around 8:00 PM, luckily during a seating lull. Within minutes there was a line at the door, and we watched people wait for seating during our entire meal. The movie was US$8.00 per person. The dinner bill for 4 was $110 after a 10% tip. Patrick was very tired and went to bed. I stayed up and hung out on craigslist Queer Forum. It was my first time posting there (sort of), so I got tagged with a newbie alert and was warned by ScrewyVarmint and SenecaOak to watch out for pigdog pooping on me.