Maybe it's asking too much of you wonderful people to read two blogs. If you feel this way, you can choose one and stick with it. Something just wouldn't let me give this one, my blog, up. The new one (for which Joel and I will both write) is www.ashley-joel.blogspot.com. But as I said, if you don't have any room for another blog in your life, don't feel obligated to read them both. I promise to make a conscious effort to not overlap the content too much.

We went to see Casablanca at the Saturday night outdoor movie last night. It really is an excellent film - I even laughed out loud a couple of times. I don't find the love story itself that moving, though, except how much Rick (Bogart) is affected by Ilsa (Bergman). For some reason, I just don't care that much about her. Maybe I should chalk this up to my tendency to hurt when men hurt. Where the heck does this tendency come from? To see an old man (or a young one, for that matter) feel ashamed, sad, or disappointed breaks me in two. Not to say that I don't sympathize with women - I do - the effect just isn't as visceral. I'm sure somebody out there can come up with a psychoanalytical reason for this (Ellen? Brooke?).
Anyway, Sam is the best. Except for maybe Captain Renault.
The only bad thing about the outdoor movie deal is that sitting on the ground for so long really takes a toll on the old backside. Not only that (numbness, etc), but my arms and legs also try to go to sleep, which can be pretty distracting.
Another distraction, which I find really disturbing, is a daydream I always have while we're sitting out on the Pentacrest (big lawn). It's in front of a huge university building (think marble and columns) that says "Natural Sciences" and has sculptures of a buffalo, a moose, and an elk. So the terrible thing I keep imagining is that I will suddenly see someone standing on top of the building and they will jump while everyone else is focused on the screen. I don't usually imagine tragedies like this, but the closeness of such a big building and so many people gathered and looking toward but not really at the building just triggers this image. Strange, I know.
Sorry if that was a downer. I'm just glad it hasn't happened. More later.