It's raining here at last. Really raining, not San Diego raining, which is when a few clouds fly over and the humidity goes up a little. And since the streets are damp, there is that air of hysteria out and cars are skidding all over the freeway.

On Thursday I'm meeting Hector in Dallas, then we are flying on to Philadelphia, where it is God knows how cold. He has a presentation there on Friday and we'll hang out until Sunday. He's been working in Guatemala City this week, which he says is like being in Tijuana. That's not a compliment.

This week I'm working on a large armoire for Chris & Jim's house. The lower section is complete but I need to get in there and start building the top part. And yet... strangely... I don't feel like it. I wonder what's on TV?

The Pictures

We have a long to-see list of movies before the Oscars in a month. Last night we saw The Last King of Scotland, which is getting lots of hype over Forrest Whitaker's performance. He is great and it's a good story but I'm not sure he deserves the Oscar.

Also good are James McAvoy and lesbian icon Gillian Anderson. McAvoy was adorable as the faun in Narnia and he's adorable here too, but it was difficult for me to have much sympathy with his character, a naive do-gooder who goes to Uganda out of boredom and casually becomes involved with Idi Amin. I mean really.

Notes On A Scandal was absolutely delicious! Judi Dench was superb and Cate Blanchett was right with her all the way. What a great pairing. Watching it was like watching Ripley, where I just couldn't believe the way things were heading but I was relishing every second of the mahem. I wonder how many middle-aged gay men secretly wish they were Judi Dench?

Children of Men has received a lot of mixed reviews but I love movies that have such a dark, depressing view of the future like this. It's been compared to Blade Runner and I have to agree, although this has a much more coherent story than BR. Clive Owen is very Harrison Fordish here. But, as always, when Julianne Moore appeared onscreen I wondered, "what the hell is Julianne Moore doing there?"

The art direction is just spectacular. I want to see it again just to be able to catch all that richness behind the main action.

Ali's Jeans

This week I received an email from Ali, our sweet local guide from central Morocco. One day while we were with him he helped us negotiate for a carpet at one of the merchants. When we thanked him he replied "I want jeans". After a few moments of just staring at him I finally got it that he wanted us to send him a pair of jeans from the States. And not just any jeans but black jeans.

He had no idea of his waist size, so he scrounged up a piece of string which we put around his waist and knotted where it met. I brought this string home and used it as my guide for his size. (it was 33" even though he looked a lot thinner). So I bought him the jeans and mailed them to his village in Morocco ($45 shipping thank you).

This was all weeks ago. Finally he wrote that he received the jeans at last and thank you so much but even though they are too big they fit his brother. I wrote back, " your brother owes you a pair of black jeans and may God be with you."

Vegas Update

Lovely little weekend. The drive over was easy in the new car, the fumes weren't so bad. When we got to Bellagio, we were grabbed by a bored front desk girl who liked the look of us (we must've reminded her of her gay uncle) and upgraded us to a 28th floor lake view room for free. The place was not nearly as crowded as previous trips so that was nice. We enjoyed the spa, gambled [lost], strolled up and down the strip, had nice meals, took it easy. What more can one ask of Las Vegas?

Vegas

Hector and I are leaving on a surprise trip to Las Vegas this morning. Well... the surprise is that we're leaving today instead of Saturday as originally planned. Mark called last night to say that Bellagio had screwed up the reservation and we don't have a comp room this weekend. Hmmmm, suspicious. Be that as it may, Hector and I decided to go now by ourselves and just pay for it. The rates were good for Thu-Sun, so off we go.

Hector got his new company car. We've been waiting since August for the damn thing. It's a lovely silver Chrysler Pacifica. It will be nice for the drive to Vegas except that all that new vinyl and plastic inside is emitting a toxic cloud and I start coughing and gagging the instant I get in.

Movies

Didn't watch the Golden Globes last night, saw 24 instead, but of course recorded it. I understand Babel won for best pic. I thought it was really good, but the problem I have with movies that jump among different stories is that I don't develop an emotional attachment to any of the characters. Somehow that lessens the impact of the movie for me. All the performances were great and the scenes in Tijuana and Morocco were absolutely authentic. We walked through those villages in Morocco and it is just like that. It's not a country one wants to get shot in.

Helen Mirren deserves every award she gets as far as I'm concerned, although I thought she was much better in Elizabeth I than in the Queen... Haven't seen the Last King of Scotland but everyone always raves about Forrest Whitaker and I'm sorry I just don't see it. He's not bad but he's just not that special to me. And that lazy eye drives me crazy... Poor Annette Benning. Another loss, but she should know by now that if Meryl Streep is nominated she should just stay home in bed... We'll see Dreamgirls this week sometime... Apocalypto I liked better than I thought I would but it is ridiculously bloody. There's something wrong with Mel... I guess I'll see Borat eventually but I just know it's going to be fart jokes and queer jokes, regardless of what the critics are saying.

Home Sweet Home

What a blessing to be back home for a while. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the whole trip immensely. Rome was just wonderful... well you can tell from the pix that we saw all the hotspots (and the food!). But by the time we arrived home I had had it with airports, lost luggage (how did BA lose both my bags?), tight layovers and funny sleep schedules.

Now Leslie and I are gearing up with the new organizing business, Hector and I have a little weekend in Vegas planned on the 20th and I'm studying for my contractors license. All in all, very sensible and adult, wouldn't you say?... Check back in a few weeks and I'll be ready to hit the road.

We shipped a beautiful old brass chandelier from Cairo and it arrived yesterday in 1,000,000 pieces. I had packed it myself so I know that the foul Egyptian Customs/Antiquities people opened it up and didn't re-pack it properly. The cheap tin lamp we bought naturally arrived in perfect condition.

Ciao, Roma!

Arriverderci Amman

Steve and Ibrahim

Amman turned out to be a very nice, friendly place. The people are really warm. The highlight, of course, was the trip to Petra. I didn't really know much about Petra so it was a nice surprise. Our driver, Ibrahim, was a fun guy, very talkative after we got him warmed up. On the 3-hour drive there he gave a lesson in Islam and the Hajj, the trip to Mecca. We told him a few bible stories. Mostly, though, he talked about his 6 girlfriends scattered all over the Mideast. When we got stopped at a roadblock he opened the glovebox and pulled out a handful of ID cards, then proceeded to explain to the police that we were on business for the Jordanian Royal Family, which was apparently not so outlandish because they just nodded and we drove on.

To approach the site of Petra you walk down a narrow canyon, then enter into the Siq, a deep crevice in the mountain that extends nearly a kilometer. After walking 45 minutes through this channel suddenly you can see a narrow opening of light. Then, unbelievably, you are standing out in the open looking at a huge shrine carved out of the solid rock. The whole city is carved from the stone, tucked down into a protected valley. It was the perfect defense for the Nabateans, who built it around 6th century BC.