Hey, looky me, updating before midnight on a weekend! I'm so wacky and unpredictable.

But, if you missed yesterday's fascinating treatise on Uncle Vanya, hit that "yesterday" link at the bottom of the page so that you don't miss any of my golden words.

Or whatever, you know...

Wow, it's gotten hot all of a sudden.

Even Thursday, it was warm during the day but I was freezing out without a coat that evening, but as of yesterday, it's summer with a vengeance. Right now it's 89° and it's only a bit past noon!

Another Spring-free year, here in the Northeast.

So, the other day I got a call from an old Love Creek member, asking me to teach him a German accent and a British accent for this Clive Barker play that he's doing ("I didn't know that you'd still be teaching!" "I've been doing this for twenty years, and I doubt I'll ever stop!"), and I said sure and we agreed on a rate and a time and a place and I hung up, and I had absolutely no idea who I was talking to.

I mean, I recognized his name, and I realized that I had spoken to the person on the phone before, and he mentioned when I had taught him before, but I still hadn't the foggiest.

So yesterday, when I walked, gasping, up the four long flights to his apartment, and he opened the door and I saw his face, I thought , "O, him! I remember him!"

And, as I taught him, I remembered another thing about him, that I would stop him on a word, but before I could tell him what was wrong, he'd correct himself, but he'd correct the wrong thing, something that wasn't wrong in the first place, and I'd say no, and he'd do something else, still not correcting the right thing, and he just would not stop and listen to me, until I would have to yell "Just shut up! Shut up and listen to me do it right before you do it wrong again!"

He rushes and is frantic and wants it to be right right now and gets discouraged, but I think he's going to be fine, if he works at it. He can do all of the sounds (though that German R in the back of the throat may drive him to drink), it's just remembering the sounds all at once and the combinations, and switching to do that German in the middle of the play, and being able to switch back.

Learning a dialect is like learning to drive--you have to remember to do about fifty things, but since you can't think about doing fifty things at once, it has to be automatic. Of course, if you mess up while driving, you run into a tree, and if you mess up an accent, you only look like an asshole.

Actually, that just may be worse...

After the lesson, I went to work for six and a half hours.

I was going in while The Raccoon was going out and she was in a grey t-shirt and jeans and a baseball cap and her hair was in a ponytail and she looked so very different from during the week. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and my hair was dirty and I looked exactly the same as I do during the week!

So I worked and worked and played The Sixth Sense and my beloved Galaxy Quest on DVD, and it's really not a bad way to spend a Saturday!

Today's horoscope:
Getting together with others offers rewards. Join your favorite group activities or go for a night out with "the boys" or "the girls."

One year ago today:
"But I wanted a ham and cheese croissant! And last time, that guy made one just for me!"

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Jane Doe!

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Last Updated Sun 7 May 15:12:09 2000