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november sunshine With the schedule that I keep I don't get caught that often in rush hour traffic. About as close as I get is when I make my way home from school twice a week, but I really only catch the the beginning of the truly heavy traffic at that time. Now unlike most people I don't get irritated by it. I just sit back and watch as I drive. I've heard it said that people often mentally wander while they are driving, but for me the opposite seems to happen. I become intensely aware of everything that is happening around me. I watch as people jockey for a better lane or realize that they are about to miss their exit unless they do something quickly. Then there are the people looking defeated and worn out at the intersections as they wait for the light to change. Some lean with their head on their arm against the edge of the window. Others dig around in the front seat. Still others chat with their passenger. The vast variety of humanity becomes very apparent as I make my west from from the lake back to my neighborhood. From school I start out in an upper class white area that slowly transforms into something much more urban as I drive. Elderly crossing guards are replaced by people milling around in quilted down jackets. Then there is the stand with a man selling teddy bears and roses. Further along there is another man trying to sell bags of fruit. The flow keeps moving west as I veer south. ... For some odd reason I have Pablo Picasso on my mind this morning. In fact I am downloading as many images of his as I can as I write these words. The early nineteen twenties were a great time for him. Hints of cubism, but not quite fully abstract yet. People, mostly women. Massive heavy forms. Volume versus line. Thick brush strokes where the paint has texture. ... In a moment of weakness, I went to see the movie Charlie's Angels this afternoon. It was bad. It was very, very bad. Bill Murray wasn't funny. Cameron Diaz needs to gain some weight and the special effects were second rate. Thankfully Crispin Glover was there to at least make some of the scenes tolerable. Whatever he does, that man rocks. Of course Drew Barrymore is always cuddly in my opinion so she was worthwhile as well. As for the rest of the film, it was truly awful and not the funny kind of bad either.
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