Welcome to Sad Salvation. Day by day by day by day ... this is my attempt to make sense of the world.

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Saturday, September 18, 2004

How Long Have I Been Here

I have now been in San Jose for five years. Like all things in my life, it feels like it has been a really long time and a really short time. Five years means that I have lived here longer then anywhere, except for the town where I grow up.

I feel like there should be some way for me to commerate this event. I am not sure if other people mark the anniversary of how long they have been at a place. I am not sure if it really is something worth marking or not.

The real question is about the last five years. Right off the time, I feel that I have not changed or grown that much in that time. I know it is always hard for me to look at myself and see how I have grown. Most of the time I look at the past and think how little I knew. I do not think this is the same as growth. If I look hard I can see the ways I a different, but I still feel like the same person.

It is odd that I have spent the last five years in a place I never planned to be. I find that idea to be quite fitting in my life. I have not plans to leave here. I wonder if I will still be here in another five years.

- Rich, 10:21 PM

Friday, September 17, 2004

Favorite movies, Circa 1998

A conversation with a friend made me look for an old fine on myhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif computer. At one time I had a job that gave me lots of free time. It was easy to make list of things when I worked there. One of those lists was of my favorite movies of all time. Back then I would go to about a movie a week.

I know that a new list of my favorite movies would be different. I wanted to post this list first. I know this list is different now. Some of these movies will fall way down. New movies will make the list. Some movies that did not make the list last time will be added. The change in the list is what really interests me.

I know that lots of people say they could never make a list like this. If you love movies you should be able to. If you are worried about the list changing, just date the list and say it was true on that day. I think making personal lists like this is a good thing.

I would love feed back on this list.

My 100 Favorite Movies (March 1998)

1. Casablanca
2. Citizen Kane
3. Annie Hall
4. Vertigo
5. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
6. Trust
7. Blazing Saddles
8. Taxi Driver
9. Goodfellas
10. Star Wars
11. Manhattan
12. The Producers
13. The Graduate
14. Reservoir Dogs
15. Secrets & Lies
16. 12 Monkeys
17. Dr. Strangelove
18. On The Waterfront
19. Akria
20. Gone With The Wind
21. Maltese Falcon
22. Chinatown
23. Millers Crossing
24. The Manchurian Candidate
25. Sherman's March
26. Modern Times
27. Airplane
28. Before Sunrise
29. The Jungle Book
30. Amateur
31. Brazil
32. Until The End Of The World
33. 2001
34. Rear Window
35. Cinema Paradincmo
36. The Big Sleep
37. The Killers
38. Network
39. Simple Men
40. Slackers
41. Short Cuts
42. Forrest Gump
43. High Noon
44. Crimes and Misdemeanors
45. West Side Story
46. Clerks
47. Raiders of The Lost Ark
48. African Queen
49. The Unbelievable Truth
50. Hard Day's Night
51. Sleeper
52. The Sweet Hereafter
53. Saturday Night Fever
54. Blue Velvet
55. Rocky
56. The Blues Brothers
57. In the Company of Men
58. Deconstructing Harry
59. The Last Picture Show
60. I Hear The Mermaids Singing
61. Man Bites Dog
62. History Of The World Part I
63. The Unforgiven
64. Die Hard
65. Rebel Without a Cause
66. Police Squad: The Naked Gun
67. The Big Bus
68. The Natural
69. When Harry Met Sally
70. Planet Of The Apes
71. Blade Runner
72. The Last Detail
73. Apocalypse Now
74. Yojimbo
75. Dead Man
76. ET
77. Do The Right Thing
78. Bridge Over the River Kwai
79. Jurassic Park
80. El Mariachi
81. The Conversation
82. It Happened One Night
83. Dr. Zhivago
84. Ed. Wood
85. The Piano
86. Field Of Dreams
87. What Happened Was
88. Smoke
89. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
90. Homicide
91. Heathers
92. Kicking And Screaming
93. The Rain People
94. Midway
95. Flirt
96. Fahrenheit 451
97. The Usual Suspects
98. Strangers On a Train
99. Guys and Dolls
100. The Road Warrior

- Rich, 11:22 PM

Thursday, September 16, 2004

We Lost Another Ramone

This decade has not been kind to the Ramones. Johnny Ramone has passed away at age 55. I guess punk rock took its toll on all of them. I wonder how many other old punks will die this year.

- Rich, 9:15 AM

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Ghost of Nanowrimo Past

I finally let someone read my novel from Nanowrimo '03. I gave Peter a copy of The San Jose Post Bubble Dating Blues. For a lot time I was a fraid to let anyone read it. I thought it was honestly no good. At one point I felt like I was just filling up the pages with words and not much else.

Peter gave me a lot of good feedback about my novel. I have been feeling for a long time that I am not a good writer. I feel that I am not careful enough with words to be good. I know that I have poor grammar. I often use the wrong word. I am not sure that either of these things make good writing.

Peter told me that the idea and the story telling is good enough. He said that the grammar is like the body of a car. Some dents will have to be pounded out and other panels will have to be replaced, but it does not mean that the car is not worth working on.

Peter also encouraged me to be funny. He said that the novel was funny enough that I should keep writing humor. I feel that I can only really be funny about two things work and women. I think that I might need more to pull off a novel. I will have to find something to be funny about. It is all part of the challange.

- Rich, 11:02 PM

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

The Party

The reason I came to San Diego was for Steve's birthday party. Steve was in a coma the last time I saw him. I drove to Fresno twice to see him full of tubes in a hospital ICU. I have been kind of broke lately, but it was worth every penny to see him again. I had talked to him on the phone and chated on IM. It is not the same as being able to say I saw him.

La, Steve's wife, threw the party because she said she knew it was a good thing to celebrate. I could not agree with her more. Everyone knows that Steve's accident and recovery has been hard on La. She is someone who worries to begin with. This is really the worst possible thing to worry about.

I had a good time at Steve's party. I spent most of my time talking with Steve's coworkers. I got lots of good work stories. Some of these are the kinds of stories that are good enough to be in a book. I think I will have to steal some of them.

Ot one point during the night Steve gave a toast. He said that he almost didn't make this birthday. He was happy to celebrate it with all his friends. Steve's toast ended up bring La to tears.

I cannot explain how happy I am to be able to see and talk to Steve after his accident. I do not talk to Steve all the time, but he is very important in my life. I am happy that I did not end up losing him. I can only think how La or his mother feel. I want Steve to know that there there lots of people at the party that feel the same way.

- Rich, 11:29 PM

It is September, but all i can think about is Nanowrimo

I spent a good deal of my time in San Diego trying to convince Steve to do Nanowrimo this year. He told me that he wants to write a book about recovering from his coma. He does not want to write it until he is fully recovered. He says that he does not want to start until he knows the ending.

I told Steve that he should think about doing Nanowrimo anyway. I had a great time doing it last year. I think it is a good think for him to do. He has been interested in writing as long as I have known him. I think it would also get his mind off his recovery. Now I just have to keep on him until November.

- Rich, 10:42 PM

Monday, September 13, 2004

Back in San Diego

By my count, this is the 7th time I have been to San Diego. The first time was back in 1997 when I was trying to figure out where I wanted to live. I said in the past that my option of San Diego changes every time I come down here. I am not sure that is still true, but I think I see a little more of San Diego each time I come down here.

Now that I have been in California for five years, I can see that San Diego is a different California then the San Francisco Bay Area. It is hard to describe what is so different about it. I think any of my friends from either place would agree with me. There seems to be more beach and outdoor culture in San Diego. San Jose does not seem as obsessed with looks and weather.

I think it would be interesting to live down here, but I am not sure I would like it more then San Jose. I feel that I understand what San Jose is about. I am not sure I am ready to find out what San Diego is really about. I would have to get an offer I could not refuse to move down here. I know that has not been the case in the past. I guess that shows I am still growing.

- Rich, 10:23 PM

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Women

There is a woman down here in San Diego that I had a crush on the last couple times I saw her. I know that I did not have a chance because she was too busy having a crush on one of my other friends. He had no interest in her, so every time I pined for her, she pined for him. Not a good scene.

She moved back from San Diego after spending a year with her family back east. In that year she lost a lot of weight. Everyone at the party was commenting about how good she looked. He told us how men and women would do it differently. The men would say flattering things and leer at her. The women would say something nice and call over one of there friends from the other said of the party yelling, "look at how small her butt is now."

She said that before she went away she felt invisible. Now that she is a lot lighter she can see the attention that everyone is paying to her. This was a strange thing for me to hear. I was paying attention to her the last couple of times I saw her. Did she not see it or did she not count it because I was from out of town.

- Rich, 10:31 PM

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