新年好

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It was a quite a low-key weekend, actually I didn’t leave the house much unfortunately. Friday night, we made a fabulous steak and shrimp dinner at home and then watched Nacho Libre. Stu had seen it in the theater with friends a while back and thought I would have liked it, and so while perusing the selection at Blockbuster, I came across it, remembering how much he liked it and wanted me to see it. I was in need of a comedy anyways, and it served its purpose well.

While Stu was at school most of the weekend, I tried to take advantage of the free time to study for my Mechanical & Electrical Systems (and Plumbing) exam that’s coming up. I must say that the studying is not going well. I can’t quite figure out how to retain information that you have no interest in whatsoever. Formulas and diagrams and definitions of things like effluent (liquefied sewage that flows from a building’s disposal system into the public sewer system or to a private, on-site system). I find that I will do anything to procrastinate. Laundry, done. Dishes, done. Working out, done. Balancing checkbook, done.

So after a long day of studying on Saturday, we made our way out into the wild of LA, searching for the Pita Pit on the Sunset Strip, which we finally found, and I wasn’t all that impressed, by the way. Then we stopped at a nearby theater to see what was playing, and we were just in time for The Last King of Scotland. Wow. Thanks for the recommendation Ryan… although we wanted to see it even before you mentioned it! Of course, Forest Whitaker played Idi Amin, Ugandan President (1971-1979), convincingly brilliant. A terrifyingly whacky individual whose real life far surpassed what was even portrayed in the movie, I’m sure. I was just as blown away by the performance of James McAvoy. And although there is speculation as to whether a character such as his existed, I’m surprised that he also hasn’t been getting praise for this movie. The movie itself was fascinating, and although somewhat violent and sad, I learned a lot about a person that otherwise I would have never known existed.

Today was more studying, followed by the NBA All-Star Game with Chinese take-out to celebrate the New Year (year of the boar). We have had the good fortune of hearing firecrackers ALL weekend long due to our close proximity to Chinatown. The festival isn't until next weekend, so I'm sure there are many more firecrackers to come.