Evil Jim

04:00 am: When life gives you poop, make poop juice.
First, I'd like to thank those who were kind enough to comment with words of encouragement on a couple of my posts during the past few days. It was certainly a rough week for a number of reasons. After the catharsis I really didn't want to go near that entry for a while but I owe an update to those who took time to give a care.

I'm still reading The Lord of the Rings but am now on the final chapters of the last book. During the weekend I reached the part where Frodo & Sam had traveled all the way to Orodruin following many days of misery & torment while secretly trekking through Mordor on their errand to destroy the One Ring. It's a very tense & unnerving chapter what with them so close to the Enemy& very nearly getting caught several times on the way there. So close to the end & yet so much could still go wrong. I was at this point during the weekend when my nerves were wracked the most. When Gollum finally confronts Frodo they battle for the ring & the fate of Middle Earth is balanced on the very precipice they stand upon. But when Gollum seizes the Ring & his fury of triumph sends him falling to the fires of Mt. Doom the peril of our heroes is very shortly thereafter ended & the rest of the book is the a long sigh of relief to follow & the wrapping up of lose ends.

To quote a cliché one could say "life imitates art." When the weekend was over all my stress & misery had washed away & filled me with relief & a restful sense of peace. That isn't to say all my problems & causes for worry had vanished, but I am now able to look at them from a different perspective with a somewhat calmer mind. It was Monday that I read Frodo & Sam had been borne away from the black land on great wings to the land of Ithilien to recover, but I was feeling better by Saturday night.

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting koriandrkitten midday before I worked where we dined on burritos & books. Sunday eve I supped with my parents & then rescued the_tick27 from a cold walk home. We watched The Real Ghostbusters & he gave me belated but awesome Xmas gifts. These visits, brief as they may be, helped to dispel my funk. In times like this often what cures I need comes from simple, one-on-one quality time with friends. Thanks again.

On to other news. This weekend the Toastmaster & I will be trekking south to Chicago & the Musicbox Theatre to see The Animation Show 3. This weekend Don Hertzfeldt & Mike Judge will be there in person to present the show so it's certainly a must-see event. David Lynch was there for his film two weeks ago which makes me wonder if it's a regular thing to have creators there with their movies. Anyway, the plan is to see The Animation Show Saturday evening with my friend Anjean & stay for their showing of Rocky at midnite. She's also been kind enough to provide accommodations for us so it will be sometime Sunday when we get back.

As to getting back, I should probably get back to that extra long write-up of B-Fest. It's still in the works but sure to be the most detailed one yet. Stay tuned.

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