Yesterday I . . .

participated in Part I of a research study I'm involved in. Today was the interview; since they're looking for a genetic connection to OCD, the second part involves my mother, father, and me having blood drawn. The study was long but the Dr. doing the interview was pretty cool.

walked down Riverside Park for a while, but kept getting detoured by construction, so I got on the 1 train at 125th street and got off in Times Square.

Perfect timing: I arrive at the movie theater, with no clue of the schedule, and buy a ticket for the 5:00 Swing Vote. I manage to only miss the preview for Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

I fall asleep for a good 20 minutes of the movie, but through the wonders of the multiplex, when the movie is over I switch over to the 6:10 showing, quietly snag a seat, and caught up on what I missed. An entertaing enough flick, with obvious winks to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and half a dozen other movies. The truly funny moments happened when the script ventured away from sentimentality and earnestness and veered into the ridiculous. (Two words: exploding children.) Still, I never mind a movie that puts the Presidency in some alternate universe where both candidates are likable men worthy of the job. Yes, Virginia, even in Hollywood, a Republican can be good guy. And Dennis Hopper as a lovable "aw shucks" liberal? Unusual but spot-on casting.

At home, I put together a quick but satisfying dinner (salad, Ken's Sweet Vidalia Onion dressing, dinosaur egg, yellow plum, tuna and mozzarella on a Pepperidge Farm whole wheat roll) and reveled in the massive coupon section in the paper. The dinosaur egg pluots cost a little more than I'd like to spend on fruit, but they are only available for a short time in the summer, and it's not something I want to miss out on. Seriously, if you have a chance, buy some of these--they're 70% plum and 30% apricot, and they're amazing. (See, I almost wrote "100% delicious" but I resisted.

Oh, and my 1992 Dream Team t-shirt (with the Olympic basketball team's names in Hebrew on the back) finally fits again! Whoo-hoo!

Off to Target to fill a prescription, then home to laundry/straightening up/working on a survey (more about that later), hopefully watching movies.

Have a happy day, everybody!

EDIT FOR "CALL ME TOOTIE" AND ANYONE ELSE WHO HAD ONE TOO MANY MARGARITAS THIS AFTERNOON: My showing of the movie started at 5:00 (a little after that because of previews). I fell asleep around 6:10 and woke up around 6:30. The movie ended around 7:10. . . meaning that by the time I found my cell phone, which was stuck in my seat, and found the theater showing the 6:10, the 6:10 showing had already been going on for about an hour. I snuck in and, without bugging anyone, snagged a seat towards the front. It was timed very well for me; about 10 minutes after I got to the theater, the part I had missed came on and I was able to see it. When it was over, I left as quietly as I came.