the night before christmas

‘A few good men’ was about abuse within the military (all set in Guantanamo Bay – but this was the early nineties, when they were only so far as abusing their own). A military courtroom drama, starring Tom Cruise(!) as a flash young lawyer on the ‘good’ side, though I was never quite sure who if anyone he was defending. Fact is I missed the beginning so I was always behindhand and I got a real shock when General Jack Nicholson walked into the courtroom ten minutes from time. Certainly worth waiting up for but I was intrigued enough without him. The pace and sophistication of the dialogue was a surprise for Hollywood, though praps familiar now to those who watch those improbable CSI shows with everyone spieling out a careerful of forensic expertise at the drop of a dodgy sample. Cruise handled all this surprisingly well, even if he had been promoted beyond his level of competence, and even if we can’t quite swallow his getting one over on General Jack. Might take this one again from the top and concentrate next time. A bit predictable though, in that what never happens in real life and what always happens in the movies happened again, the big nasty brass got sprung. Old Mister Rumsfeld would get a real belly-laugh out of this one.

Post-Christmas exhaustion setting in (determined to catch up). Schedule for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Shopped in the morning-afternoon for green salad materials and the last of the presents – books for Isabelle and Olivia. Took it easy, and bought a copy of ‘The Australian Rationalist’ which appears to be a leftist political/social mag with a more or less tenuous link to philosophy. I’m a bit worried that my philosophy mag will be a one-off as I can’t find copies of it anywhere else. May actually have to subscribe. Returned and worked on salads, with avocado, spring onion, green capsicum, butter and mignonette lettuces, baby spinach and rocket. Made a dressing, and also one for the brown rice salad. Helped set up the stereo, though that was done mainly by Mat. Helped Sarah with various bits and pieces in the setting up. Enjoyed the evening, twenty-six people sitting at four tables in the ‘secret garden’ down the back. Ate hardly a grain but drank too much. My good friend Michael was a guest but I hardly had a chance to speak to him. Someone brought sixties-seventies dance music which was much enjoyed. Avoided Catherine successfully enough. A beautiful young family friend gave me a welcoming Christmas kiss and another beautiful woman a goodbye one, and the memory of those warm silky youthful cheeks against my grizzled jowls provided the warming highlight of the evening. Sadly I didn’t say another word to the first, but the second praised me fulsomely for my foster-caring. A Frenchwoman, Nicole, a friend of friends, arrived late, apologised, and didn’t stay, though we managed to exchange some French pleasantries, and I’m sure we’ll meet again.