There are so many things I never could have been...

Catherine came over last night for a pre-Christmas sleepover. She arrived just a minute or two after I got home from work and I promptly filled her in on the latest drama with the university (which I will save for another time). I had planned to make her gorgonzola meatballs & linguini for dinner, but a time crunch dictated that we dine out. We already had dessert reservations at Sammy's Trattoria, but wanted to do something more simple for dinner, so we went to the reliable City Cafe for a quick, unadorned bite.

Catchka and I both love Hitchcock, so post dessert and after our present exchange, we slipped "Dial M For Murder" into the DVD player and were by turns impressed with the director's unarguable genius and tickled by the melodrama that characterized the acting back in the day. The dialogue in old movies is so weird--it's simultaneously formal and less subtle than conversations in films that are made today.

For example, this morning we watched another Hitchcock--"Stage Fright," and in it Marlene Dietrich said to a supporting character "Oh dear, you aren't going to become one of those explicit people who tells you exactly what they're feeling when you ask them how they are, are you?" Or something to that effect. Priceless.

Sarah dropped off presents for my sisters and for Catherine before she headed down to Richmond to see her parents. A gifty drive-by. Before C headed to points south for a pre-Christmas bash with friends of hers, we stopped off at the Sylvan Beach Cafe and shared an Almond croissant and talked a bit. She was so enthusiastic about my thesis, and I loved talking to her about it, the genuinely lovely struggle of getting it out. She really understood where I was coming from, and it just inspired me and invigorated me all over again.

I grocery shopped so I'll have some food in the house when my sisters (and the boyfriend of one of them), and the dog show up tomorrow. Had a late lunch of what else? Something shrimp and whole wheat pasta related, naturally.

Netflix delivered me Dane Cook's "Vicious Circle" (have only recently discovered this comedian, and I really enjoy him) so I watched that before getting up the nerve to head out into the world of retail. I boarded a light rail to Lutherville and got my mom's friend, my mom, and my sister's boyfriend presents. And now I'm done. Literally, I am spent. It's all about vapors of cash till the next paycheck.

In terms of what I never could have been. Well, it's joining a growing list of posts I'm saving for another time.