Yet Another Day In Paradise

Which explains why I'm spending time with the DFC


Last night Darin, Greg, CJ, and I went to see Independence Day. We were kind of embarrassed, being the last four red-blooded AmURRicans to see the movie for the first time. Before the movie the four of us piled into Darin's car--what CJ calls "the Cush mobile"--together with our ostensible fifth, Sho. Sho got into the car, his eyes got wide, and he said, "I made plans to do something tonight." Bam, he was gone, the four of us continued on. More room for me and CJ in the back seat.

We picked up the tickets at the Century 16 (known as "the Century theatre whose name keeps changing as the number of theatres keeps going up") and then went to dinner at Fiesta del Mar, which is right over the bridge from the theatres.

I didn't feel much like eating, because part of the treatment for a hiatal hernia is eating little meals throughout the day rather than big ones at "mealtimes." Well, eating little meals has the consequence that I'm never particularly hungry--I just ate. So I got the half-bowl of chicken soup. When I saw what a "half-bowl" looks like I wondered what they considered a "full bowl"--a swimming pool? I also got a margarita, deciding about a second and a half after Greg ordered one that it sounded mighty tasty. CJ thought about getting one but finally decided to stick with her Coke.

We went to the movie and got pretty good seats a half hour before showtime. I didn't think the theatre would fill up but it did. The whole audience really got into the spirit of the flick and had a good time, but I felt unfulfilled at the end--there isn't one character to cheer for, or one big scene that really makes me go, "Yeah!" A friend compared ID4 to Raiders, but I disagree. Raiders was a romp but a fairly controlled one; ID4 is all over the map.

So far this summer I haven't seen a movie that really made me feel as though it were a cohesive, integrated experience. All of these big summer action pix have "rewrite" written all over them. I have not seen Eraser though, which one writer friend of mine actually said is better put together than the others.


Went to the doctor's this morning for about the 18th time in the past month. I went because the flu that hit me a couple of weeks ago hasn't gone away and I was having a terrible pain in my left ear whenever I swallowed. She said that it was irritation in the Eustachian tube and my lungs appear to be clear, so the remaining symptoms should disappear pretty soon. I hope so. A week or so ago Tiffany asked me, "When was the last time you were completely healthy?" I have zero idea. I think that this last bout with the flu was the third time this calendar year. Maybe I've just never recovered from having the chicken pox (two years ago April).

I'll be fairly happy not to go see a doctor for problems related to digestion or keeping my food down or fatigue or ear pains or any of the rest of it for a long time. I have finally gotten to the point where I wait a long time--several weeks--before making an appointment, because I want to be sure that it's not going to heal on its own or that it's psychosomatic. I don't think I've ever had a psychosomatic illness--at the worst I think I've had very real illnesses brought on my mental stress.

Waiting and watching is a heck of a lot easier for me than sitting in that damn doctor's waiting lounge, reading old Time magazines and waiting to hear the doctor say, "It'll correct itself in a week or two. Are you experiencing a lot of stress right now?"


Today I went by De Anza to find out how the summer seminar I'm signed up for works. Turns out that the summer session started last week, not this week. Oooops. Oh well. I found Zaki Lisha, head of the film dept. and the guy who runs this seminar,and talked to him--the way it works is, we show up every week for a short consultation with him about what project we're working on and how work on it is progressing. During two sessions, one in the middle of the quarter and one at the end, all of the students meet as a group and discuss their projects.

What? I hear you ask. (Yes, you.) I'll be attending USC Film School in just over a month (gulp) and I'm still taking classes at De Anza? Pour quoi? Why not just take the summer off and enjoy myself?

Two reasons: 1) I enjoy having a little bit of structure in my work, and meeting with Zaki every week is good incentive to get my butt into the chair and 2)this is the only class left that I need in order to get the AA in Film from De Anza.

I've put in the work, dammit; I want the degree. Sure, it's going to look a little weird if you're into appearances: BA, Stanford; MFA, USC; AA, De Anza Community College.


I've spent the first part of the afternoon webbing:

What I have to get done is


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Last Updated: 9-Jul-96
©1996 Diane Patterson