4 more days

I woke up this morning to the news that because of all the rain they got in California recently, the desert is wildly in bloom, even Death Valley. I take that as an extremely good omen for my upcoming drive.

Yesterday I cleared out some bookcases, so I could give them away. They've found a home up the street. From there, I proceeded to organize, pack, clean, organize, pack, clean. When I couldn't take it anymore, I quit and finally watched Manhattan for the first time. I thought it was an appropriate selection for this week. I know this may cause an angry mob of cineastes to assemble outside my door with torches, but I just really don't get the "genius" of Woody Allen. I was hoping Manhattan would enlighten me. While the cinematography was quite breathtaking, I was relatively unmoved otherwise. Plus, who can look on the relationship between 42-year-old Isaac and 17-year-old Tracy with anything but retrospective creepiness after Soon-Yi? I kept wondering if it was somehow acceptable in 1979 for men in their 40s to date teenagers, but I don't think it was.