Ugh.

Bad cold. Not sleeping well, not breathing well. Not concentrating well. Ergo, not much happening here.

I recently bought the new All-American Rejects cd, and I love it: 1. I can't get enough of the song "Move Along." 2. I've made my peace about "Dirtly Little Secret." I no longer think it's a terrible (though catchy) song about a guy being ashamed of the girl he's with. No, I think it is more literally about our obsessions, our personal shames, our...secrets. The use of Post-Secret in the video isn't clever and incidental but intentionally surface level.

Congratulations

To the employee of the month at my Best Buy, who drives a black el Camino (for some reason it struck me as funny, and made me wish for a camera phone).

To me, who was able to reply "Pretty much, no" to the interviewer from my church checking out to be sure I wasn't someone crazy wanting to do creepy things with the children in my ministry, when he asked, "So, have you never had any problems in your life?"

Olympics

This morning I watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. (Last night, some friends and I had Bollywood night, eating Indian food and watching the film Dum.) I've been surprised by the tepid reaction most of my school friends are giving to the Olympics. Nobody I talked to was excited about them or even planning on watching. It sort of made me feel like the little kid with all the cosmopolitan adults who were too cool for such childishness.

But, as I watch my taped ceremony, I'm glad that I'm excited. So many people spend so much time and energy focusing on the negative, criticizing and critiquing everything that's wrong with the world today. Yesterday afternoon I went to our World Cinema Film Seminar (I actually ran it--the guy who was supposed to couldn't) where we watched and talked about Osama, a film about the terrible condition for women in Afghanistan under the Taliban. People were angry that the international community hadn't done anything to stop it, yet they also talked about how they are against the current US intervention. One girl even offered that because those of us in the room "like arty films and are more anti-Bush." Hmm. I wish I had been clever enough to respond to that.

So, this morning, seeing a world-wide effort to promote healthy relations and simply enjoy some of the pleasures of life, like sports and artistry, I was glad to be celebrating the positive good that is being done in the international community. Rather than feeling shameful, I feel piteous for those who don't want to take a moment and rest their negative energies to be happy and excited for the games to come.

Oscars

I have to admit I'm not especially excited about this year's nominees. I haven't seen most of the films though I'm working, at least, on the top five. I'll see them soon because they're nominated; they look okay, but, for the most part, they seem so groomed for the Oscars that I'm not expecting any O'Henry endings. I did see Capote on Friday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I love movies about literary people. Plus, if Philip Seymour Hoffman doesn't win the Oscar, I'll never watch them again.

(Okay, we all know that's a lie, but he seems utterly deserving.)