I keep starting journal entries and then getting distracted by stuff and not finishing them. The past couple of weeks have been insane, constant stuff to do. Aikido seminars, parties, various things to get ready for coming to Massachusetts (where I am now) to hang out with the family.

The family dog, Lucky, is still slow. He's never been so much about moving around, so he was slow when he was younger, but his determined sloth has gotten a bit more pronounced with age. It's nice to have his presence again: he tends to sit and just stare at you, unblinking, with giant yellow eyes. He won't bark if he needs something; he'll just stare until you figure it out (possibility offering you a hit by sitting near the door or his food dish).

The New York Times has reprinted the original review of Tolkien's Return of the King, written by some clown named W.H. Auden. I saw the movie on Tuesday with a few hundred friends...we're a tough audience, because we know and love the books, and the movies change a lot of plot and character elements in ways that really don't further (and in many cases detract from) the story. So I don't need to see it again, but I'm not going to bother enumerating my issues with it, either.