Well, I’m still goddamn sick. I spent last Wednesday and Friday home from work as well. Thursday I woke up feeling slightly better and it fooled me into going to work, most woefully. On Friday I went to Tim’s doctor who told me, as I expected, that I had a viral infection and that all I could really do was rest, drink lots of fluids, and take it some decongestant. On Saturday the sore throat, slight fever, and congestion turned into a rather unpleasant cough. So I went back today, and the doctor didn’t tell me anyhing really new. Dammit, I just wanna feel better already

I have felt considerably better since Saturday, and I’ve returned to work. But the coughing is very irritating, and I’m still unusually tired. And the congestion comes back at odd times, and tonight I have a slightly sore throat again. The doctor prescribed me some antibiotic, just in case. I filled it today just in case I need it while I’m abroad. I’m worried that I’m just going to have a miserable time in Scotland and/or make myself sicker from the adjument to my sleep schedule.

I had a look at the Scottish weather today. *ugh* While I will be there it probably not stop raining nor rise above 10°C. I’m gonna freeze my freaking azz off.

I’m a little worried that I introduced whatever bug I have to my co-workers. I really doubt that I’m currently contagious, but both Tim and Corinne were feeling pretty icky today. It is possible as we are in such a small space. But I was washing my hands pretty regularly, wiping off phones after using them, and mostly just staying to my own little corner. I suppose going in last Thursday was my bad, but I swear I felt pretty good that morning.

The house should close tomorrow, Mark told me both of the buyer’s loans funded yesterday. So that is excellent news, I can’t wait to get my big check. I shut off the garbage and water service, DalRae just did the power and the phone was a while ago. I also received the first draft of our divorce agreement which appears to be in fairly good order. There were some small details left out or extraneous ones added that DalRae I easily worked out. So, once we have those formalized, we should be pretty good to go. Somehow I’m not as thrilled about this, nor upset.

Not much else going on. After being cooped up in this apartment for a considerable chunk of last week, I’m not really enjoying being here. I’m mostly bored out of my skull, wishing I had cable TV. Browsing the web and playing computer games can only account for so many hours of my day now, apparently. I suppose it was just your typical cabin fever, although the feeling is lingering. Even tonight, I’m pretty damned bored, although I suppose I should be packing for my flight tomorrow. Must remember my passport!

I received this two-disc compilation a few weeks ago, and it is a fairly decent followup to its not too distant predecessor.

Musically, this compilation has some really great stuff. The disappointing thing is that there are some mastering issues, amazingly. Track 5 on the first disc sounds like it has some digital distortion going on (around 4:00 you can hear the crunch), but as I don’t hear the whole sound distort, it is likely that is happened during the final mixdown of that recording. Doesn’t this make you wonder why the Darren Tate would have used this track in his mix though? Or perhaps I’ve mistaken an instrument for distortion, or it was purposely used as an effect. There another defect on the Track 8 that causes a prounounced click at 0:37. Honestly, these sort of things just shouldn’t be on a profressionaly produced compact disc! I wonder who in the line of production screwed up here, someone wasn’t paying attention?

Darren Tate does a decent overall job with the first disc. I seriously loved every track, but it really takes off on track 7, his own his Prayer For a God. Sensation’s Anthem 2003, which is an impressive trance version of Mozart’s Reqium, Darren Tate vs Jono Grant’s Nocturnal Creatures (my fave), and Mike Koglin vs 10th Planet’s Pushed (trance in minor key, awesome) all blend together very well, and Mono’s Rise is another notable. Ayla & Fila’s Eye of Horus and Scott Bond vs Solarstone’s 3rd Earth are both great tracks, though I’ve heard them too many times by now. It was really cool to hear the great Waiting by Kota with vocals laid on top now. All I Need Is Time by Aluna was also some great vocal trance, and I love the bouncy square rhythm pad.

The second disc is again mixed by DJ Esquille, and a lot of the [[grahame:music/atripintrance first compilation]]’s artists are back. Trancepulse Inc’s Lost In the Underwold, Enlounge’s Freefall, Innvervibes’s Approaching Dawn, DJ Blackbird’s I Dream, and Deceitful Mind by Moonlight are my favourite contributions to this disc, but nothing on here is bad trance.

I’m not sure why I put off seeing [[imdb:0211915 Amélie]] for so long. I never really bothered to investigate it after erroneously writing it off as another “chick flick”, but boy, was I wrong!

Had known that Jean-Pierre Jeunet directed it, I probably would have seen it in a heart beat. I love his others works like City of Lost Children, Delicatessan, and even the fourth installment of the Alien franchise. His films always have a definite style, impressive photography, and a bizarre and colorful set of characters and plot.

Amélie is no exception. I was enchanted from the very beginning, as we are introduced to characters, through narration, learning about their likes and dislikes, their quirks and eccentricities. The key to this movie is in all of the details, just as the film shows you all of these small, yet amazing, events.

Technically, the film is quite an achievement. The photography is magnificent, although easy to overlook as it blends so seemlessly with the rest of the film. Post production colouring is used extensively, often to bring your attention to various parts of the frame. The music also fits very well.

The acting was fine. Audrey Tautou is such a perfect fit for the title role, even though there aren’t that many lines for her. Her spirit is infectious, I was smiling throughout most of this movie. It seems like Dominique Pinon is in every Jeunet film, at least he got a fairly normal character this time. This movie is filled with small roles, so it is hard to see anyone really shine, except for Amélie.

This is a DVD that I will be adding to my collection.

I had [[imdb:0277434 We Were Soldiers]] somewhere in my netflix queue for quite a while, when an Army friend’s praises made me get it now. The praise wasn’t misplaced, this is a really good war movie.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this movie as I was watching it. I felt pulled in different directions at different times, from the tearjerking wives tales, to the horrific napalm injuries, to the cliched “tell my wife…” lines. It is wasy to judge from a safe distance though, and maybe what this film portrays is what our soldier’s and their families went through.

I did appreciate the alternative, albeit limited, viewpoints of the vietnamese soldiers and family’s perspectives. Although I severely resented the overly-wise Vietnamese commander’s aside about how “they’ll view this as their victory”, Wallace did this in Pearl Harbor as well!

I’m not sure if the graphic violence was ment to shock, frighten, or glorify, gbut it mostly frightened me. The scenes of napalmed friendly skin and muscle shedding clean off the bone was pretty horrendous.

Hal Moore, the writer of the book this movie was adapated from, seems to be quite happy with this film. This was the first hollywood war movie where, “they get it”, so that says something I suppose.

Notable performances are given by Mel Gibson as the Lt Col Hal Moore, Barry Pepper as the reporter, and Greg Kinnear as chopper pilot Snake Shit.

Well, DC was awesome. I headed up Friday night, arriving around 10pm, and hung out waiting for Matt to return from his dinner. I brought up a tape of Fast Show episodes to introduce Matt to the show, which I think I can say he enjoyed immensely. We now have a new battery of catch phrases to throw at each other, like “Suits you sir, oh!”, “Twasn’t chese at all”, and “Little bit waayyyyyy, little wuuhhhhh”. We stayed up early to adjust our bodies for the coming night out, so we got up late.

Then we headed into the city and visited the Spy Museum, which was quite excellent. It was really neat to see all of the advances in intelligence technology, bugs, lock-picks, disguise, etc. We grabbed some food from California Pizza Kitchen, and then we went to see Lost in Translation, which I thouroughly enjoyed.

We headed out to Adam’s Morgan, a nightlife area of town. Had a rather unpleasant experience on the street when some dickhead seemingly hooked his foot behind Matt’s foot and gave him a shove. He went spilling backwards, but I think no physical harm was done. I’m thankful that they weren’t looking for a fight, I wouldn’t have known what to do and it was two against three. We met up with some Coast Guard friends of Matt’s, at a bar aptly named Madam’s Organ. Then we headed off to Club Insomnia, for some kickass trance.

In a way, there were many things to complain about: the sound system was so loud that it was distorting, it was an 18+ venue, so there were skanky little kiddies crawling all over the place, and Armin draws a crowd, so there were so many people that dancing mostly consisted of jumping up and down in time. But the music was great, and Armin had his trademark grin and infectious personality — he obviously loves his job.

Leaving the club I realized how freaking loud it was in there, as my hearing was quite diminished. It felt like I had water in my left ear until yesterday, but now I’m just left with a more pronounced ringing that I’ve ever have before. I’ve always had a very slight ringing, but it was easily masked by quiet noises. *shit* I’m trying to be hopeful and think that time will fix this, but I don’t know. I normally take ear plugs to events like this, even if I don’t end up using them. I forgot this time, and I may have permanently damaged myself

To top it all off, staying up so late several nights in a row caught up with me this morning as I woke up feeling sick. I didn’t feel so horrible in the early morning, so I went in to work anyway. But as the day progressed, the body aches kicked in and I felt like crap. So I came home after a half day, and slept until now. I have a sinking feeling that this will keep me home tomorrow as well, although I’m trying to think positively. Thanks to Corinne for the Echinachea.

I head off to Scotland a week from tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to that, I’m hoping this bug is long gone by then. Dammit, being sick sucks. Being sick without someone to take care of you sucks even more.