almost gothic

this morning i slept in, listened to gordon lightfoot while doing crossword puzzles and drinking coffee, and then switched to steely dan to do dishes. then i did another crossword puzzle and drank more coffee until amanda and gar came over and we all had a stella artois. now i'm reading and waiting for laundry, still listening to steely dan. i have six straight hours of steely dan on my computer. it's nice to have friends over in the afternoon for beer.

tonight i plan to watch a three hour documentary about the siege of stalingrad, called, simply, stalingrad. last night i watched game 6, written by don delillo. i liked it. it's about baseball, essentially. all sorts of hallmarks: a burst steam pipe with asbestos lining, leading to men in hazmat suits in the street. studious repetition of dialogue, including a crucial bit in the-play-within-the-movie. lists. casual references to extreme and inappropriate violence. close analysis of baseball-as-life. is it a good film? i couldn't really tell. i was just focused on the words, the language. i'm still hoping to start reading libra on monday, after my last exam is finished. we're still hoping to get away, probably north to quesnel or so. i'd like to take the fraser canyon, but not the fraser valley. we'll probably take the sea-to-sky up to pemberton, then across through lilooet to cache creek where we'll turn north.

terms that i defined and explained the significance of for my world war II exam last tuesday:
- atomic diplomacy
- spanish civil war
- lebensraum
- neville chamberlain
- anti-semitism.

it was a week ago that i went to washington with my dad. we went to spokane for a baseball game. it was family feast night: $1 hot dogs. i had three, along with two kokanees. after the game we went to a gas station, bought beer, and drank it until 1 a.m. while arguing about philosophies of art. is it the process? the intention? the artifact itself? the next morning we went to coeur d'alene in idaho, nearly got lost on the way to elk, and then had mexican for lunch in grand coulee. we didn't get a tour of the grand coulee dam, but we did spend nearly an hour in the interpretative visitors' centre. everything about the grand coulee dam is cool. i learned so much! we passed through a forest fire near omak and came back through the skagit river valley.

i don't really want to leave the house today, except to walk around the park. there's so much to read at home! and beer! and food! and stalingrad! i'll make a caesar salad for dinner.