Bicycle started making an irritating noise while pedaling (but not coasting) this morning. I guess I'll take it into Eastern Mountain Sport during lunch and see if they can fix it.

ETA: Problem resolved. The top of the chain guard had gotten bent and was rubbing against the chain.

Took a sick day yesterday, because I woke up already tired. It was probably just laziness or depression, but it definitely helped. Did a little laundry, watched like eight movies on HBO, and spent some time transcribing notes for my novel into the computer.

Still feeling a little weird today so I let the reported threat of thunderstorms keep me from riding my bike to work even though the skies are currently as beautiful as can be.

Now I'm at work and at war with my computer. Only about 40% of my mouse clicks are getting through for some reason. I tried three different mouses (correct plural?) and they're all having the same problem. Then I decided to update my Java so that my internet radio station will play better and now the program we use to clock in and out won't work, because it was ineptly programmed to work with only a specific old version of Java from two years ago.

Watched Citizen Kane last night on TCM. It was really beautiful and brilliant and surprisingly fun, even though I went into it knowing more than I should have about the enigmatic Rosebud. I love the fake newsreel about Kane at the beginning, which must have been a bit of a head trip back then when you were used to seeing real newsreels prior to your film starting. And I quite enjoyed the structure of one character going around to interview various people to get the real story on the main character, even though the people telling the stories were often talking about private moments that they didn't witness (something I think Todd Haynes handled better in his similarly structured Velvet Goldmine).

The only real problem for me was the way Welles interrupted the brisk, years-are-flying-by pace of the film with that gruelingly long and sometimes tedious opera storyline. Don't get me wrong, it's a great anecdote that tells us a lot about the character. Kane building an opera house for the untalented singer he left his wife over largely to silence the critics who put her profession in quotes during his election bid, and then writing the scathing review of her performance himself. It's good stuff, but it could have been told in fifteen minutes, rather than forty-five.

Still, it's a great film, and you can use that conveniently large chunk of time in the middle to check your laundry or walk the dog.

Last night I dreamt I was in some other city, probably New York. I had light brown curly hair, which I kept stopping to look at in various reflective surfaces. I was running late for something and bumped into this guy in a suit. I apologized and told him that I was really nervous. He said it was no problem and asked if I was a salesman like him. For some reason, I said yes.

He smiled and right there on the busy sidewalk, surrounded by rushing commuters, opened his brief case, then took out four little squares of paper and a dropper bottle. The squares each had "25¢" written on them and I remember thinking that it had been a long time, decades even, since I'd seen a cents symbol.

He put one large drop of brown watery liquid onto each square, placed them in my hand and wrapped my fingers around them. "Don't worry," he said, "These will fix you write up." Then he was gone. I don't think I even thanked him because right about then a truck pulled up next to us hauling a giant mirror on wheels and I had to stop for a minute and admire my light brown curly hair in it, even going so far as to to run my fingers through the curls.

Stupid weather people promising thunderstorms today.
Not riding my bike to work makes me grumpy.
Especially when I'm still not seeing any rain.