Free Clowns At Sparrow Market
Now Playing: Van Morrison--"Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)"
An interesting weekend already, not as depressing as I'd feared. I gave Sam Peckinpah's blood-letting classic The Wild Bunch (1969) another chance and found I liked it a lot more this time around. I still don't get what the big deal is, but it was a pretty good movie, and Robert Ryan was fantastic. I also watched Yentl (1983--that's right; I watched it and I don't give a shit who knows). It wasn't that bad; I was surprised to find Mandy Patinkin and Amy Irving much more irritating than Babs.

This morning, I was up at six and out walking by six-thirty, doing pretty much the length of the Huron River from Gallup to Argo Park (for non-residents, a fair ways). It was a gorgeous morning (stormed much of the rest of the day), and I wished I could go swimming in the river. I've begun swimming again, once a week, and I was surprised at how exhausted I felt when I finished. I managed six laps last week, and eight this week, which may seem kind of sad, but I really haven't done this sort of thing in four years.

All in all, I walked for about ten miles and then stopped in at the Farmer's Market to get ingredients for vegetable stock (envy my exciting life, you poor bastards). The Farmer's Market shows up at the Kerrytown Shopping Center every Wednesday and Saturday morning. A wide swath of the citizenry appears to pick up some organic veggies or the kind of artsy crap that usually gets sold at these things (many, I suspect, driving one or two miles in their SUVs to "buy organic"--it's like demanding there be no cream in your soup and then stuffing a huge butter cookie in your face, and I've seen that entirely too often). I found most of what I needed at Sparrow Market next door. There was an oblivious old woman in front of me affably yelling at the cashier, and a grim-looking, post-doctoral-type character in sneakers and carrying a New York Times behind me. The old woman suddenly lurched back, shoving me into the guy and my boot on top of his sneaker. "Ow!" he said. I felt bad for him until the cashier said "who's next?" and he bitched "somebody!" Then I felt better. Right outside, too, was a booth advertising the Ann Arbor Greenway, which I oppose (as do many other people--see most of the blogs listed in the "Athens of Washtenaw County" section at the side). I briefly contemplated looking through the literature and then saying in a loud voice "screw that!" but decided against it.

So I'm actually feeling pretty good now, which is odd.