January 8, 2005
Kathy and I met some old friends down at El Conquistador last night. Dean and Roxie Bacon and Mike and Phyllis Hawkins. Haven't seen them in several years. Kathy was thrilled to be with actual liberals. Mike is a judge of an appellate court in San Francisco and Roxie is a lawyer specializing in immigration law, and Dean is a retired U of A experimental farm director. He and another guy buy rundown houses and renovate them for the homeless and sell them at a loss, hiring crack heads (no joke) to help them build the houses. Dean grew up in Berkeley, in case you hadn't already guessed. Roxie claims the miniature habitat for humanity deal is all a scheme so that Dean can spend major time at Home Depot.

($120 split with Bacons, includes tip). Roxie gave us a very funny calendar filled with anti-inspiring aphorisms. As hooked as I am on every inspiring saying on the planet, the dark zane was good for my pollyanna-side. Such as a page on Motivation that says, "The journey of a thousand miles can end very, very badly." And a great photograph shows a big ol' mackerel swimming valiantly upstream, jumping up out of the water, and going directly into a big, black bear's mouth.

Worked hard on a stagecoach robbery scene all day today. Got a good underpainting, spent way too long on it though. It's about three quarters done.

Went down at four and caught a movie at Cine Capri. Saw Meet the Fokkers. Place packed, had to sit in separate places. Didn't think it was as funny as the writers and producers must have thought it was. Take out the Fokker jokes and the dog humping and it's pretty predictable. Humor by the numbers. Weak.

Came home and watched one of the Seinfeld episodes on my new DVD. "The Heart Attack," where George thinks he's having a heart attack. A great line is when Kramer tells George he needs to get out of the hospital because they're crooks and he needs to go see an alternative "doctor," who he claims is a "rebel." And Jerry says, "No, Johnny Yuma was a rebel, Eckert is a just a nut." Every scene had more humor than the entire Fokking movie.

"Quiet people aren't the only ones who don't say much."
—Old Vaquero Sayingn