Literati

Well, this must be some sort of record -- three posts within 12 hours.  I went back and re-read my "lost" post from Halloween night, and learned that I HAD in fact taken Banks that night.  It was a couple nights earlier that I had called Jackson to take him out during the day.  Proof once again that these hundreds of walks now bleed together to the point that they're undistinguishable unless something unusual happens, or unless I write about it the same day.

I have work in Brenham tonight, and a lunchtime commitment, so no time like the present to complete my five.  I started waking up around 3:00 and slept on and off til just after 4:00, gave up, and prodded Banks out of bed.  What a strange morning!  When I first went outside it felt kind of cold, and I wondered if I needed a light jacket, but since I always eventually heat up, I didn't bother.  The wind blew intermittently, and it was a cool/cold wind, but the standing weather was warm and muggy!  So I never actually worked up a sweat, just returned home kind of sticky.  I was going to go to St. Ed's this morning, but at the right turn, Banks pulled me straight, towards Stacy Park, and I gave in. I just took one steep hill today, all the way to South Congress, and then took that almost to the bridge and back.

Book club was so much fun last night!  We met at Mozart's to discuss "Gone Girl." None of us liked it much -- the second half was so implausible -- and a couple of the women hated it, but it was still invigorating to discuss what we liked, what we didn't, the writing style, the author's (lack of) ear for dialogue, etc.  We all agreed that the book was wildly overpraised, and decided it might make more sense to pick a book that's been around a few years at least, that the critics/public have gained a little perspective on.  And we also decided that each month, one of us will pick the book, but only after presenting four or five possibilities to the rest of the group, who will then make the final decision.  Next month is Lynn's turn, and she had some great options we're all going to do a little research on before settling on the winner. We also drew names for a gift exchange for our next meeting -- something from Half Price Books that we think suits the person whose name we drew.  I LOVE BEING IN A BOOK CLUB!

No Ryan Gosling sighting that night, but one of our members, Susan, who lives right near South Congress, has seen him a couple of times. The trailers are usually set up around the Deaf School (Ryan participated in some sort of race or other activity there!) She thinks the movie he's shooting must be about food, because they keep shooting scenes at eateries (Perla's and another restaurant on South Congress that I can't remember, and at the fried chicken food trailer -- the Electric Chicken, I think it's called).  Once she was talking to one of the set people, and Ryan and Natalie Portman got out of a Mercedes van and walked right past her, smiling and friendly. Ryan sightings are tweeted and web sites set up to track his movements.  Movies are shot here all the time, and movie stars and famous musicians are part of the landscape here, but there's just something about Ryan .....