magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

The office officially closed at one o'clock to start the long weekend. Most people made their way out by pretty early in the afternoon. I worked until six. Which is not a complaint. My only real complaint is that I didn't have anything that I was rushing off to do that would have actually made working late an inconvenience. Which is to say, at the end of a pretty lousy week, I had nothing better to do than be the last person out of the office. That's a complaint.

I was hoping to hear from Sonali before she left town tomorrow. Or to hear back from Chris who said he'd call if anything was up later. So I didn't go home. Instead, for a walk. I really wanted to drink or smoke, but bought a snack, and then to buy a copy of the next book club book (Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson), and to sit in Union Square Park doing crossword puzzles until the rain drove me off.

'< beep > Hey, it's Bean. It's about 7.30. You can't do crosswords in pen in the rain because the drops smear the letter and you can't tell what you've written. If you get this message soon, call me back. Otherwise I'll probably head home and make pasta and watch some more of season one of Deadwood.'

Going home felt like a waste of Friday evening though, and I needed something fun. I don't know why, but this week had been almost unbearably frustrating, and I just couldn't go home. Maybe a movie. I wonder if Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is still playing, i thought.

And, at the box office more or less precisely at the start time of the day's last showing. 'One for Hitchhiker's Guide please.'

It wasn't fall down laughing hilariously funny, as I remember some of the bits in the books to be. This might because I'm considerably older than I was when I read them, or it may be because I just recently watched the 1982 British mini-series, some of which was adapted almost line for line to the movie. But it was engaging, and impeccably designed, and really succeeded in imparting the sense of wonder implicit in every socially awkward kid's dream (or mine at least) of finding out that the universe is much bigger and stranger than ever could have been imagined, and getting the opportunity to explore it.

After seeing two terrible movies over the last couple of weeks (Revenge of the Sith and Land of the Dead) it restored a little bit of my faith that good movies are still being made. And totally cheered me up, by far the best part of my week.