I hope everyone had a great New Years. I was happy to kick old man 2001's ass out the door - I've never experienced, and hope never to experience again, such a lousy year. It was the worst. 2002 has started out as a wet year (rain today in SF), but I really hope it turns out to be a great year. Everyone did eat their blackeyed peas and cabbage last night, didn't they?

We saw "Lord of the Rings" Sunday with our friend, Ken. I've never read any of Tolkien's books, so I went into the movie with an open mind. I enjoyed the movie, but damn it was long. Loved the elves, especially Legolas (Orlando Bloom) - I always fall for tall, slender blonds. We also rented three videos that weekend: Legally Blond, The Man Who Never Was, and These Old Broads. Fun, good, dreadful.

For New Year's Eve, D and I had a very nice dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, 2223. We then went for a drink of champagne at Ken and Voltaire's place, where we could see the fireworks from the Embarcadero at midnight. Back to Ken and Voltaire's on New Year's day for a small dinner party.

I read Christopher Rice's "Density of Souls" during the New Year's weekend. The author is the son of Anne Rice, which may explain how it made the NY Times' bestseller list; there's no way I could explain it otherwise. Christopher wrote the book when he was 20-21, so it's worth seeing whether he develops into a better writer, but right now I have to agree with this review. The book has all the elements of a Danielle Steele novel in one fourth the page volume : male rape, incest, murder, terrorism, adultery, physical abuse, alcoholism, and the hurricane that New Orleans' has always dreaded.

My Miata is being picked up today to be shipped to New Orleans. The move's upon us!