So yesterday, to say goodbye to the old year, I visited Rita and Simon and Vivien, who totally gets cuter by the second.

And Rita's pregnant again! It's a boy, and they are going to call him Archie, which first made me think of archy and mehitabel, then The Importance of Being Earnest, then the Archie comics. Does that make me intellectual or pretentious? More than likely the latter.

I blanched a bit at Archie, but as I thought about it, it's a cool name, old-fashioned, but not elderly, and original without being idiotic. I didn't much care for Archibald, though, so I suggested Archer as a long name. If they name him that, I want him to thank me in ten years when the kids in the schoolyard aren't beating him up for being named Archibald.

We got up at 4a this morning to go to the Rose Parade, so Mom did not want us to stay up until midnight, and in fact, insisted that I go to bed at 11.15p or so.

The way I figure it, though, the difference between 11.15p and midnight is negligible, so I snuck back up and went downstairs to watch the ball drop. It was ten degrees warmer at midnight in NY than it was at 9p in LA. No fair.

So, it'll finally be 2005! 2004 wasn't nearly as sucky as 2003, but it was no real great shakes either. I'm ready to move forward.

Best Films of 2004

Stage Beauty
Finding Neverland
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Shrek 2
Garden State
Broadway the Golden Age
The Machinist
National Treasure

Best Books That I Read For the First Time In 2004

Candyfreak by Steve Almond
Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
The Complete Peanuts 1950-52 by Charles Schultz
An Innocent, A Broad by Ann Leary
I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse? by Suzy Becker
Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell
Bleachy Haired Honky Bitch by Hollis Gillespie
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Gasping for Airtime by Jay Mohr
Educating Esme by Esmé Raji Codell
Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll by Jean Nathan

I read a lot more than I saw movies last year, which is why there are only eight movies and sixteen books! And in no other year could National Treasure get into the top ten! I mean, I liked it a lot, and I had a swell time, but it's not exactly top ten (eight) calliber!

Today's horoscope:
You wake up singing and come out swinging. Money isn't the answer to everything, but for the moment it will do nicely. You have no secrets, but you'll let others think you do if it's a convenient excuse for them.

One year ago today:
Nine minutes. To this arbitrary moment that means nothing and everything all at once.

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Last Updated Wed 23 March 14:56:09 2005