June 8th—8:47 pm addition

After Panera I stopped in at Barnes & Noble and ended up getting my favorite beverage, the chocolate chip frappachino (props to The Street for introducing me to this fabulous comestible) in their Starbucks. I opened my computer and started working on my summer short story project, killing time as the movie time drew nearer. There was a man seated two seats down from me at the bar facing the window. He was grading papers. I didn’t notice him get up to go get another drink, but I did notice him come back because he stood halfway between out chairs and spoke to me.
Man: (holding up a frappachino) You’re a bad influence on me.
Nom de Plume: (laughs) Oh.
Man: Just so long as you don’t smoke crack. (sits)
Nom de Plume: (laughs, nervously)
Man: (after a moment) You don’t, do you?
Nom de Plume: No. So you’re in the clear.
It would be nice to flirted with for once by a man under the age of thirty. That’s all I ask, really.
So after my Barnes & Noble adventure I went to see The Fall. I have come to the conclusion that Roger Ebert is God and the New York Times doesn’t have a heart. Then again, Roger Ebert is a fairly intellectual guy who likes a good drama or well-done comedy, but isn’t above liking romantic comedies from time to time, sees the good in scatological humor when used sparingly, and grew up in NeighboringMidwesternTown. In short, he and I have a similar background and a similar taste in movies, as evinced by the fact that I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve disagreed with him on a film’s merits (The Usual Suspects, I’m looking at you).
Anyway, Roger Ebert loved The Fall and so did I. Recommendations abound.
Three things:
1) Lee Pace is all kinds of attractive and boy can he act. Oh my God. I may be forced to watch Pushing Daisies now.
2) The little girl was so cute. Whoever wrote her lines was a genius. In fact, all of the dialogue between Roy and Alexandria was stuff I would sell my legs to write. And speaking of legs, that part with the toe checking? May be my favorite new scene I’ve watched this year.
3) Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. This is the most beautiful movie I’ve ever seen. The cinematography needs an Oscar. Also, the entire movie used no computer-generated special effects and was shot on a shoestring budget over the course of four years. Think about that when you see it and understand why Roger Ebert and I are so in awe.
3a) AAAAAHHHHHH!!! I need someone else to see it NOW.

I got home and chatted with Flatmate S and Intern J for a while before eating dinner. Then Flatmate H and Neighbor C came in. They were shortly followed by SexyDownstairsNeighborMan and Flatmate M. We all sat around and talked and then they went to see a movie, leaving Flatmate S and I here together. She and I are definitely the quietest, so it’s nice to get some time in the apartment to ourselves, I think. I’m sitting in the living room writing and listening to thunder rumble in the distance, very relaxed.

June 11th, 2008 7:08 pm
I'm watching Serenity with Flatmate S right now. Intern S, the final literary intern showed up, and I'm reserving judgment until she has time to settle in more.
Monday night all the interns came over and we and our neighbors made breakfast for dinner for everyone. I was in charge of dishes before and after and I did my part well. Then a lot of people went to Sonic and I stayed behind to watch Superbad with SexyDownstairsNeighborMan, Intern T, and Flatmates M and H.
Last night I went to Karaoke Night with the whole gang. I didn't sing, of course, but I did have a great time chatting with Flatmate S and listening to CostumeLady and Intern T gossip about staff members.
Work lately has been great. I've been doing a lot of things, but the best has been when I read synopses sent in my playwrights without agents. (They send in synopses and ten pages of sample dialog and we let them know if we want to hear more.) I picked four out of the twenty I read yesterday and today that I liked and wanted to order and BossLady agreed with me. (YAY!) I sent out the letters to the playwrights too. The rejection letters were very polite. The query letters were brisk and to the point. It was awesome.