Random Thoughts – Long Pauses

I’m about one-third of the way through Season 4 of The West Wing, which makes me sad for two reasons: first, because I’m soon going to have to say goodbye to Sam; and, second, because I only have about 15 more Sorkin-scripted episodes to go. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to watch the other seasons.
Heavens be praised! West Knoxville has a new Thai/Vietnamese restaurant, and it’s damn good. In the weeks leading up to TIFF, I was almost as excited by the prospect of eating great pad thai as I was watching films. Little Bangkok is just as good and it’s only three miles from my house.
And while on the subject of food, last night I dreamt I was working for George W. Bush — not in the White House but at some hole-in-the-wall business in Texas. In my dream, he made me go buy burritos for the whole staff, and he was a real dick about it.
The receptionist at the end of the hall was just playing Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” on her radio. Now I’m useless for the rest of the day.
A few years ago, some friends and I threw a surprise party for Joanna. The coolest present she got was a life-sized cardboard cutout of Legolas — the perfect addition to our Orlando Bloom-themed party, which was all about pirates and elves and horses and my then-31-year-old wife’s Peter Pan syndrome. Anyway, our kitten Claire recently discovered Legolas and seems to think he’s a god of some sort. (Joanna also thinks he’s a god, but that’s neither here nor there.) We know this because Claire has developed a habit of stealing away large wads of toilet paper and leaving them as an offering at Legolas’s feet. It’s incredibly cute and pathetic all at once — again, kind of like Joanna.