Highway Time

Today I went on the highway for the first time. Of course it was Sunday morning so there was hardly any traffic. I'll probably have to go back on the highway later today. Also yesterday I took the state required 5-hour class (which was actually 4 hours). Mostly we had to watch videos of various car accidents, both real and reinacted. Made me want to kill myself a bit. AND it made me VERY wary of going on the highway today. But whatever. I don't want to stress it too much because I don't want to give myself a stigma about it, but I don't really love driving. I guess I don't hate it so much when I'm on the road, but I definitely go to bed at night sad knowing that I have to drive the next day. AAAND we usually go out several times a day, which, even though I'm very grateful, is a special kind of torture because there is no relief when I'm done.

BUUUUT we now might be able to get my license before I leave, which would be GREAT. Hopefully we'll get it before August 7th, which is the VERY last day I want to be here (arbitrary date). Honestly that seems like a while from now. I just keep thinking about how no one is using the apartment... all the things I should have done before I left to make sure that I don't come back to something terrible. I'm not going to name the things I think about because I'm afraid of any judgement. I AM worried about my ivy though. I don't know if it'll survive.

Also, the other day I went for a walk, which was very relieving. I really don't leave the house except to drive. I left at like.. 7:30pm and walked various ways. I tried to remember a few streets around my grandparents house and assumed I would be able to make it back. I found a little store and got a coke and some Now and Laters, which was WONDERFUL (more wonderful than I thought it would be). Then I started to head back and after about 20 minutes of walking around in what I hoped was the direction of home, I realized I was lost. This is stupid for the following reasons:
1. I have been driving around the area, me behind the wheel, about twice a day for a week and probably SHOULD have some idea about where I am (although in my defense, we did turn every which way... not much opportunity to memorize the way to get back).
2. I KNOOOOW I'm terrible with directions. Why would I think that I could just look at a few street names and be fine in a foreign neighborhood?!

Well it started to get dark and there are no street lights and not every street has sidewalks. And I'm more nervous around cars now-- walking on the street seems like much more of a risk now that I've been driving. But I was really embarrassed to call my grandpa for directions so I kept going for... maybe 45 minutes before I finally had to concede and call my grandpa. He laughed, told me that I was close and told me where to go-- 5 minute walk ... which kind of bummed me out because I could have avoided calling if I'd only gone a few more blocks.

Well I follow the directions and when I get there I see that I'm not home. So I walk back to where I came from to see if I could have started out wrong. It starts to rain a bit. I get to the original place and there was no other way I could have gone. So I start to go BACK to to where my grandpa's directions were, thinking maybe I didn't see something when I got there. At this point I KNOW I've been gone longer than they expected and assumed they were either going to call or come and get me; they did the latter. Grandpa in the car, grandma on foot. How embarrassing! Turns out I wasn't where my grandpa thought I was (which I kind of figured). I apologized for being an idiot but he just thought it was funny. Now they make jokes about directions. Directing me to my room etc etc.

Here is the movie section:

Whale Rider-- It was OK. I enjoyed watching it, but it was too straightforward. From the beginning you know exactly what's going to happen. But I really liked the girl in it.

Half Nelson-- Ryan Gosling was GREAT and SUPER attractive! The main girl was really great too. It was a nice character movie, but... the plot kind of plodded. It was more like a double vignette. I usually don't like knowing much about plot before I watch a movie, but I remember being told that this movie was about a drug-addict teacher and his student and how they help each other. But they didn't so much help each other as vaguely TRY to help each other. In fact, they were both really introverted and vaguely understood and liked each other. It was interesting being between a male teacher and a female 13-year-old student. I kept getting uncomfortable when they were together, even though it didn't really seem like anything bad would happen.

Candy-- Heath Ledger movie about a junkie couple in Australia. I REALLY liked it. I would say it corresponds a little with Trainspotting, although the plots are quite different and this one doesn't give the techno fast-paced feeling that Trainspotting does. But it is a unique and epic drug film. I REEEAAALLY enjoyed it. REEEALLY.

I also watched a one hour special on J.K. Rowling, which was pretty good. And I watched about half of an interview of Gene Wilder in which Alec Baldwin was the interviewer. I mention it because Alec Baldwin, in my opinion, did an exceptional interview-- really did his research and asked VERY thoughtful questions. Plus you never really see an actor interview another actor, except in Moviephone.com's Unscripted (which I LOVE), but that is between the actors that are in a movie coming out. And it's only 10 minutes long. This was an hour. I really like Alec Baldwin, although I'd be too afraid to meet him. He seems aggressive, someone who demands perfection.

Also, I finished reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. It's a non-fiction book about social epidemics. I don't know how to sell it so I'll give you the description on the back:
"The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed best-seller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas."
Anyway, I thought it was GREAT! The description makes it sound a little more consumer-centric than I thought it was. It really made me feel incredibly optimistic about the world. More than anything I've read or even heard in a long time.

I also finished Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart (1998). It was shmena. But I appreciated it because Jon Stewart wrote it. And I bought it for like $.99 on Amazon.com.

I gave up on Holiday's on Ice by David Sedaris, even though it's a super short book and I LOVE David Sedaris. I partially believe I stopped reading it because I wrote that I was reading it on goodreads.com (which is really irrelevant because only Devon could possibly see what I was up to on that), and I didn't want to have to follow my own rules about what I'm reading. Or maybe I was just bored. Impossible to say. LIKELY I will next be reading Barrel Fever by David Sedaris, which will be the last of his books that I haven't read... except, of course, Holiday's on Ice.

Lastly, I know I shouldn't even mention it, but I have a kind of constant light cramp on my left side like... right at the love handle area. I've had it for about 2 or 3 days but I don't know if a) it's imaginary or b) it's something I should address. On the one hand, I don't want to be the person who complains about every feeling my body gets, but I also don't want to get an ulcer and then tell people I've had the cramps for days and then be scolded... or die. I'm really not sure what happens when you have an ulcer.