I watched Spirited Away over the weekend and it was very, very good. I think everyone would enjoy the movie. It has some spots that will seem weird, but the adventure aspect is fantastic, plus is has very little violence. No swords or guns, just a scary monster or two that eat people, and wounded people, but very little on-screen fighting. It has a different message than a lot of movies too, it's not so much about defeating your problems, but rather, seeing them through and dealing with them. Again, not typical, but very cool. Anyone with an imagination should enjoy the movie.

I had a busy weekend. Friday night I joined a couple of people from work for dinner to "celebrate" a friend's divorce being finalized. It's a little weird because it's hard to get a sense of whether or not the divorce was a good thing. I guess that's how it is in a lot of cases, but it was really hard to congratulate her on making it through the divorce process without also wanting to make it sound like an apology. No one should have to go through things like that. Anyway, we had a good time and then headed home.

I stopped by work for a minute and got sucked into one thing or another, so about half and hour later one of the sculptors called and asked if I wanted to go out with he and one of the new women at work and some of her friends. Sure, what the heck, so we headed down to the Red Onion in the Madison Park area of Seattle. If you'd seen the place, you really wouldn't be surprised that they don't have a website. Yow. It was a cool, old bar with wood stained with smoke and age. It had a very small-town, neighborhood bar feel to it and, despite the fact that is was Friday night, there were only about 18 people in the bar -- my group being 8 of that number. We talked, had some beer (the choices were beer or wine, no liquor. Interesting.), and listened to the girls talk about their college days. Ah, 23-year-olds reminiscing. Still, it was fun.

I had agreed to go walking with a group of people from work on Saturday morning, so I was up fairly early to make it to Green Lake. I was a little late, but mostly because I had to find a parking spot. One semi-Spring-like day and all the people come out of hiding. I met up with them and we walked about the lake. It's a nice place right in the center of town, so there's just enough of a park around it to make it qualify as a park -- they wouldn't want to use up any valuable land for a real park. (Check out the map if you don't believe me.) It was funny to be walking on a path around the lake and have cars driving by not 20 feet away in some cases. Like I said, it barely qualified as a park in my book. The walk was nice. It replaced my regular gym visit, but wasn't as intense or lengthy an excersize session as I needed to have. I think I'd have to walk for quite a while to get the same benefit as my regular workouts. After the walk we had some lunch and parted ways.

Back to the apartment to start some laundry, read a bit, and get in touch with Will to plan to see a movie that afternoon. After I talked with him I got the oil changed in my old car. It needed it and it'll, hopefully, make it look better to a potential buyer if the oil's been changed. Still, I hate to spend 45 mintues and $45 dollars on a car I'm trying to get rid off. Poor thing, I drove it for years, it served me well, and now I treat it like a disease.

Will and I were supposed to meet up with my boss for the movie, but that didn't happen, so we hooked up and went to see Bulletproof Monk. The ideas in the movie are better than their execution. Like many movies. It was fun, but nowhere near as fun as it should have been. After the movie, we grabbed some dinner and treated ourselves to some ice cream. It was a nice to catch up with him again. He's been very wrapped up with his impending nuptuals, but with his fiancee out of the country for a week or so, he's able to spend time with his friends more often.

Gotta go faster, I have to get to bed soon.

Saturday evening I went with two of the sculptors to a party one of the other sculptors was having for her roommates; one of whom may be leaving to go back to school in Boston, and the other is moving to France to become an ex-patriot. She's very upset with our President and his foreign policy decisions (like that little war we had. You may have seen something in the news about it a coupld of weeks ago before they found that pregnant woman's body.). Anyway, she's apparently very liberal and has decided that, instead of speaking up and trying to make a difference, that it's better if she just leaves the country. Reminds me of an ex-girlfriend. But I digress. That party was fun. When I first got there, one of the guys was watching the Jackass movie. Wow. That's an odd thing. It's like reality T.V. for sadistic people with short attention spans. Still, you've got to admire then for their...um, hmmm, willingness to take advantage of their stupidity? Aggressive marketing of their fearlessness? Ability to turn "their's a sucker born every minute" into a saying that goes both ways? I dunno, all of them, I think.

So, the party was good. There were a number of people from work there. It was particularly nice to talk with two of the graphic desingers. They're a couple and I have a great time with them in the office, so it was nice to get out with them as well. The woman I went on a couple of date with a couple of months ago was there (she works with one of the housemates who was throwing the party). I didn't talk to her other than one time when we were crossing paths; she, out of the kitchen, me, into. Nothing major, hi, how have you been, sort of things. I figure if she wants to talk she'll say something. She certainly hasn't given me a reason to want to talk to her.

When she first showed up I joked with my friends that I should rush into the kitchen and scream at her about what a bitch she was and that she really hurt me and just go on and on about it. God, I would have loved to, but I don't think I could have made it through the first three sentences without bursting into laughter. Everyone thought it was a hysterical idea, but agreed it wasn't a good one. Anyway, it was funny to talk about.

Sunday I got up at 11:30 (I didn't get to bed until about 3:30) and woke up with a headache from sleeping so long -- or so late -- I'm not sure which. (No, it wasn't a hangover, I didn't drink Saturday.) I went to the gym for the first time in a week and I definitely paid for my slacking by gaining a couple of pounds. Ugh. I haven't been this heavy in two years. I really have to get serious about this again. Very stupid of me. I will do better. Mostly I have to stop eating pizza at 2:30 in the morning before I go to bed. Bad, bad, bad idea.

I came to work around 4:00 and have been here since, although I took a break for dinner with some friends whose parents are in town for the weekend. It was a nice break from working on the new game. I finished the pieces for the game, but now I have to go back through and make adjustments with the whole set taken into account.

Um, that's about it. Now I'm doing the Sunday night ritual: updating this, buying groceries, and going to bed. Happy Easter!