Day 9 - Back To Calgary

  SCOTT and LAUREN are in the back seat. Scott leans
  forward.

            SCOTT
        Is Darin the only one who's
        allowed to read it?
        
  DIANE, in the front seat, begins to sweat.

            DIANE
          (wiping brow)
        Uh, no. Um...you have to give
        constructive criticism though.

            DARIN
        You can say, Everything was really 
        tense up until here, then for some 
        reason it stopped, or I wanted to 
        know more about this character.

            SCOTT
        So, I can't just say, This was nice.

            DARIN
        Exactly. 

He wasn't kidding. He really wanted to read it.

Since Darin fell asleep in our room, I headed down the hotel fire stairs to the next floor down, where Scott and Lauren's room is, script in hand.

When I walked in, I said, "Are you guys smoking pot?" Now, I didn't honestly believe they were smoking pot; I just smelled something spicy and scented. I actually thought I smelled cloves.

Scott and Lauren sniffed the room and couldn't smell anything spicy. They started sniffing one another a lot, and I decided it was time to leave.

Newlyweds. They're so cute.

This, reportedly, is the worst, most crowded weekend in Calgary.

Permit me to say: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I have no doubt that this is a busy weekend in Calgary. Despite the Canada Day weekend and the World Police/Fire Games and the Calgary Stampede all falling on the same long weekend, there's no sign at all of anything going on here. Especially compared to a weekend day, any weekend, in Chicago, Los Angeles, or the Bay Area. Perhaps it will be different tomorrow, or even Monday. But as Lauren said, downtown Chicago is never as empty as downtown Calgary is right now, even at 3 in the morning.

I'm hoping this means that if we find a place that's playing Face/Off tonight, we don't have to wait in much of a line.

In today's Calgary Herald: Neighborly Differences -- quirky differences of Canucks and Yanks. They mention "eh?", soda vs. pop (which is not Canada vs. the US, it's a regional thing in America too, thankyouverymuch), chesterfields (which I somehow had heard of, eh?), and "aboot."

Actually, I'm quite happy with the Canadian papers I've read while I've been here. The Globe and Mail, which calls itself Canada's National Newspaper, is about as far from USA Today as someone could ask. It had about 15 book reviews in today's edition (Saturday?), and the reviews were so good Darin and I have scribbled down the books we want to buy as a result.

And the Calgary Herald has a wonderful Opinion section, including an editorial which begins

The US Air Force has declared there is no evidence that spaceships containing extraterrestrial beings landed 50 years ago near Roswell, New Mexico. What a relief.

Although delusional minds won't, we believe them. And, no, our minds are not being controlled from beyond the atmosphere.

If only Canada's winters weren't so damn horrible, I think I'd move here like that. Three snaps up.

Aha! Darin fesses up: today, when Darin, Scott, Mitch, and Lauren went on a hike (the fronts of my ankles still hurt too much from the hike in Lake Louise to join them), Scott asked if he could read the screenplay too.

My Powerbook power cord is driving me crazy. Most of the time the control strip shows that the Powerbook is plugged in, but it's not charging. It's not losing charge, but it's not charging up either. I can't figure out if the problem is the batteries, the cord, or what.

Darin keeps hinting that my Powerbook problems will be solved -- or, at least different -- when my birthday rolls around. I don't think I've ever anticipated a birthday so much. At least, not since about age 10.

Saw Face/Off. Really enjoyed it. Well, all except one thing: as Scott put it, the only thing he'll be able to carry with him is the question, "Who were those two guys?" If you see the movie, you'll know what he means.