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the extent of the renovation work today: continued scrubbing off the grease from the kitchen walls and helped my father install a door sweep. in the afternoon we went to home depot and spent more than an hour browsing its aisles. we bought some ventilation piping parts, weatherstripping, and a new latch for one of the kitchen cabinets. i got an 8-pack of wooden hangers for $4.

i went and saw the late matinee showing of milarepa: magician, murderer, saint at kendall (final week) to get a dose of tibetan nostalgia. milarepa (aka thöpaga) is born into a rich family but when his father dies, his aunt and uncle take all the money and essentially turn his family (including mother and sister) into servants. denied his inheritance when he reaches adulthood, milarepa's mother send him packing on a mission to learn sorcery so he can return to the village and exact revenge. though the story seems compelling enough, the execution was a little lacking. viewed in context however - there aren't too many tibetan filmmakers or actors - i'd say it was good enough. the movie has elements of harry potter (wizard school) and star wars (using the force) but the few pieces of magical special effects showcase some cheap use of CGI. i watched the movie more like a moving postcard, identifying the elements of tibetan culture as the film rolled along. their clothing, their houses, their food, even their animals (yaks, choughs) - they all brought back fond memories. the ending seemed like an exercise in self-promotion when text popped up on the screen advertising the milarepa sequel coming out in 2009.

i got a check from client S today that i promptly deposited before i went to the theatre. looking at my balance, i briefly got the notion that i could go on another extended vacation. but after surviving an audit and getting my bank account zeroed out from paying my taxes, i'm less likely to take another financial plunge like that. if i knew there was work lined up i could afford to plan more adventures, but other than this one project coming up sometime soon, i don't have anything else happening so i'm tentative about spending too much. and let's face it, vacations require two ingredients: time and money. as always the case, i've got plenty of time, i just don't have the cash.

wednesday nights are all about pushing daisies at 8pm then life at 10pm. i made some hot dogs for dinner, but wasn't particularly hungry after drinking that can of contraband root beer in the theatre and nearly finishing a whole bag of sour patch kids. although there were less than half a dozen people in the theatre, for some reason this woman decided to sit about 3 seats next to mine, which annoyed me to no end. she was also a noisy eater but fortunately i was able to drown out her sound with my own candy wrapper noises.