Post title inspired by Bob Dylan. Kind of.

Tonight, I watched “I’m Not There” - the highly stylized biopic about Bob Dylan. I’m glad I watched it with a friend who is a Dylan fan (inasmuch as she feels you can call yourself a Dylan fan - what she’s got is a love/hate thing - but the fascination is there) and has knowledge about his life; I am not what you’d call a Dylan fan. I’m aware of him: I know some songs, I recognize his voice and will occasionally mock it, I recognize some of his mannerisms and such - but I knew nothing about his life.

I guess you can say that I still don’t really know anything about his life since it was all a bit surreal and removed from reality - very loosely based on his life.

I don’t think there was a point where he was a young black boy playing the guitar for some suburban housewives and talking about wanting to go to Hollywood.

But there was a point where he, like the young black boy version of himself, went to visit Woody Guthrie in an asylum. I had to keep asking my friend, “Was that something that actually happened?” and “And who is that character based on in real life?”

All in all, though, it was good. I enjoyed all 2.5 hours of it. The performances by Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Charlotte Gainsbourg were impressive - especially Blanchett. Hence the Academy Award nomination, I guess.

The “chaos and watermelons” thing is from a scene where one of the iterations of Dylan (”Drew Quinn”, the one played by Blanchett) is giving an interview to a British music show host while they’re driving around in a limo. It’s just before Cate/Bob/Drew says, “Everyone knows I’m not a folk singer…” and then turns to the camera (audience) and slowly breaks into a teasing Cheshire-like smile. Oooh - breaking the fourth wall.

Anyway - it’s getting late. Today was a pretty demanding day at work, so watching a movie and eating Chinese take-out (delicious Jade Green Delight - I was craving veggies) with a friend was just what the doctor ordered. To add to the fun, I painted my nails an obnoxiously summer-inspired shade of pink and I’m ready for Friday, dammit.

I think some people might be watching “Lost” tonight; it’s some two-hour finale thingie. I’ll think about catching up online tomorrow night. For now, go go gadget sleep.

My friend Sara was up visiting the NY metro area this weekend, so she came into Manhattan yesterday morning and spent the majority of the day with me. We had tea, walked a bit, did some shopping, walked some more, took the dog I’m sitting for on a super long walk in the park, ate some yummie vegan-friendly foods and had more tea.

Throughout the day, we were both finding it difficult to think of the words we wanted to use - this resulted in made-up words (I’d call them neologisms - but I’m pretty sure they’re not real), saying the wrong words (but knowing what we meant) and just lots of “I know this!” moments/”tip of the tongue” syndrome (lethologica if you can’t remember the right word; anomia is a more severe version of this that comes with aphasia - impairment of speech due to brain damage). In both our cases, this was due to lack of quality restful sleep - and I find that’s the first manifestation of sleep deficit in my world. All this week I’ve been struggling to think of words - words like “attrition” and “tomb”, for example.

Today, I’ve been feeling gross and headachey, so aside from walking the dog, my activities have included watching movies, reading and doing NYT crossword puzzles. Between last night and now, I’ve watched “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (impressed), “Juno” (underwhelmed), “Hairspray” (surprised), “Bride and Prejudice” (Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice - Naveen Andrews line-dancing = strangely hot), and, randomly, the E! True Hollywood Story of the Kardashian family (because I thought to myself, “What the hell are they actually famous for? I’m still asking the same question…).

Aside from seeing Sara, these are all just empty diversions and I am aware of it. I spoke with my mother in Poland today; amidst everything else, she had forgotten it was Mother’s Day. The service for my grandfather is tomorrow, and I lost it a little when she told me about picking out the urn (he wanted to be cremated, so that was done on Friday) and going over home renovation plans with my grandmother to make sure that she’s safe now that she’s going to be alone (another hard realization).

She mentioned to me that she’s reminded of my grandfather everywhere she looks… when coming back from a cousin’s house last night, she looked up at the balcony of my grandparents’ home where my grandmother and grandfather would always stand and wait for us when we were arriving from the airport or from being out somewhere anytime we came to visit. We would pull up and they would be standing up there together, waving down at us and smiling. I can see them; it’s an extremely vivid memory. Now, she said, it was just my grandmother standing there waving to them - and I can’t write about that anymore.

And this is probably too personal for the direction I want to be heading here, too much information, and I think I shall end this post now.