running through europe

After getting some sleep yesterday I felt like myself today and could actually enjoy the day rather than going through it in a daze. I was up early before the heat got into full force, but I knew that it was going to be a great day weather wise. Of course I still had a few practical matters to take care of first before I could relax and one of them was getting my hair cut.

Naturally I got someone new this time around and she had to comment on my thick hair. Part of me wasn't surprised, except she didn't use the word thick. Instead she used the word gorgeous. Okay. I can't remember the last time someone used that word to describe any part of me.

...

The Bourne Identity was a nice afternoon diversion after I got my haircut. Usually I could care less about a spy espionage film, but I have a crush on Franka Potente so I had to see it on the big screen. Another draw for me was the director Doug Liman. His last film Go still makes me laugh every time that I watch it and I was curious to see what he would do with something more mainstream in terms of genre be it dated genre. Finally I had to see if Matt Damon could be an action person on screen. With those three elements going for it, I thought that it was worth a matinee and I was right.

Franka was good in a less aggressive role for her and she looks good with multi colored hair. Matt had a few good fight scenes and the one involving the staircase had to be the best in the film. The plot itself was less than interesting, but that didn't bother me that much. It was fun to see what parts of Paris I had actually seen in person two years ago.

I can see how the general public might not like the movie, but it was good enough for me. However, I can not imagine Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith in the lead roles. It seems that the two of them did a television movie version of the same story a number of years ago. If they were in the big screen version today there is no way that I would have bothered with the film.

There was another odd part in the movie that stuck with me. For some reason Franka kept saying shit in German instead of English and I'm not sure why. I think that her character was supposed to be Swiss and she said that she didn't know French very well, but I still found it to be funny.

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Some of the previews that I saw seemed mildly interesting. Harrison Ford will be a Russian submarine commander and Matthew McConaughey will play the lead in a science fiction film. Those two previews made sense with their action element to them. The Adam Sandler preview seemed a little more out of place and I have no idea what to think of the girl surfer movie Blue Crush.

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Part of the afternoon was spent outside on my deck reading through some magazines that came in the mail while I was gone. National Geographic told me about two ancient tribes in South America that gave rise to the Incas and another article talked about the Boreal forest.

This is my first summer in my new place so I am curious to see how much I'll like it. Since I've been home I have yet to turn on the air. A strong breeze from the west is enough to cool down the whole house. Hopefully that stays true for the rest of the summer.

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Since work requires very little mental effort on my part, I've been spending my free time doing some research for my next trip. New Zealand is my primary choice for a December adventure. Personally I think that it would be great to celebrate my birthday out of the country just once. I also like the thought of having two trips in one year.

My second destination choice would be Barcelona since that would be another new part of Europe for me. I can't imagine that it would be that cool in Spain in December. Once I'm there I might venture into Portugal, but I honestly want to keep the trip as small as possible so that I can relax. Another plus for Spain versus New Zealand would be the cost of the flight, but I'm trying not to let that be a factor in my decision.

 
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