{"id":58459,"date":"2012-09-23T10:51:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-23T14:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=58459"},"modified":"2015-07-02T07:00:22","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T11:00:22","slug":"snapshots-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=58459","title":{"rendered":"Snapshots"},"content":{"rendered":"

— I am reading Christopher Hitchens’ Hitch-22: A Memoir<\/a>\"\"<\/i>. Finally. I can’t express how much I miss him. His chapter on September 11 brought me to tears, and the chapter on Salman Rushdie is a masterpiece. <\/p>\n

— Had dinner at David and Maria’s last night, with their two girls. Mitchell is in town. It felt like old Chicago days. Maria cooking up a feast, David making Mitchell a martini (scrolling through his iPhone for a recipe, driving everyone crazy: “JUST MAKE THE DRINK”), and then ROARING laughter over the dinner table. Riotous screaming laughter, about jokes old and new. (“I have a name. It’s Lillyhammer.” Yes, you had to be there. But we all were weeping about it.) The rain poured down outside. There was one clap of thunder that was so explosive that we all jumped and screamed. I drove home through the rain with a happy singing heart.<\/p>\n

— Speaking of happy singing hearts, Mitchell and I went to the 92nd St. Y in Tribeca on Friday night to see a screening of They All Laughed<\/i>, with a QA afterwards with Peter Bogdanovich. I’m busy working on a piece about it. It was an extraordinary night. I got to meet the man who inspired me to be into movies in the first place. We spoke afterwards. Mitchell and I had a marvelous time, such a special night. Ran into many friends there, and got to finally introduce Mitchell to Keith and Dan, which was a total treat. I then drove Mitchell out to David and Maria’s and then drove back to my place, my heart singing, adrenaline buzzing through my veins. Ray had texted me, asking how it all went. We ended up talking on the phone. It was 2 in the morning at that point. So I was exhausted, but also so wired that I was thrashing about in bed, unable to settle down. At one point, I said to Ray (and I vaguely remember it, although I was so tired that the conversation is a bit blurry), “I’m just so happy. I’m so happy. I’m so happy. Happy happy happy.” I then fell asleep, I was probably falling asleep AS I was repeating “happy happy happy” and was woken up a second later by Ray’s voice, kind of laughing at me, and gentle – like he was talking to someone clearly not in her right mind, “Okay, you have to go to bed now.” My only memory of the conversation is babbling sincerely, “I’m happy I’m happy I’m happy” 5 times in a row, and then dozing off. You know what, it really says it all.<\/p>\n

— Things are moving forward with my script, and my life is upheaval. It’s not even clear where I will be at this time next year, which is exciting, stressful, and long overdue. I could be in LA. I could be living on the beach somewhere and then flying to metropolitan areas when I need to. I probably won’t be here anymore. Not full time anyway. Odd. I’ve lived in this area for so long. <\/p>\n

— It’s finally fall. The air is crisp, there’s a nice big wind every day, and I can hear the rustling of the tree leaves in my neighborhood through the window. As I’ve mentioned, I wilt during the summer. I just endure<\/i> it. I bought new jeans, new sneakers, and did a giant purge of old clothes and books, donating them to various places. Making room, letting go of things, a shedding of an old skin. <\/p>\n

— Been watching a lot of movies. What a shock.<\/p>\n

— I’ve talked a lot about my love of Brendan Benson, and his new album is great. This song is my favorite one on it. I’m obsessed with it. <\/p>\n