AUSTIN, Texas, June 13, 2005 — Seems to be my time for seeing people I used to work with whom I haven't seen for a long time. We have a lunch date that includes one person I probably haven't seen since the eighties. Tonight a few other people I've worked with but seen more recently may turn up for some music.

My first job, though, is to get up and help get Chalow off to the vet. FFP ends up doing it. I make the bed and go exercise some. Then I get ready pretty quickly so we can go early toward downtown and I can take films by AFF and pick up more.

We get that done. We park at the Ballet Austin building and walk over to Mezzaluna with some ballet folks. We meet some people who know work at CSC and talk about the coming downtown presence of Ballet Austin.

On our way back to the ballet we go to the DWR (Design with Reach) Showroom and look around. It's a new 2nd Street Retailer. We've gotten things from their catalog.

Then we go home, swinging by to get our dog from the vet, fresh from updated shots and health checks.

I watch a few shorts for my reviews. I feel I'm saying 'yes' to too many (as in pass to the next round). Are there that many good films floating in? Well, some (actually many) won't get a showing. Am I really learning anything about what it takes to make a good film. Maybe. Probably not.

Our (early) evening event is to meet some people at Cedar Street Bar and hear some jazz on the patio. And that's just what we do. I feel tired. I ate too much pizza at lunch. I am sleepy. If we hadn't made a date with people I wouldn't go. But we get there, find parking and I have a Coke to pep me up. Our friend Kevin is ill and isn't singing (because he's ill) but his quartet is doing a great job ripping through some neat arrangements. This is the kind of complex jazz I like at the edge of predicability and resolution of musical line. One friend shows up, a gal who is a local DJ. Another couple comes along a little later, traffic on Mopac having stymied them. We listen, talk, drink. I have water after the coke and then finally a Jack Daniels and water.

When the music is over, we go with the other couple to Halcyon for a snack. I have an iced coffee and FFP and I share a panini sandwich. We talk about the halcyon days, I guess, or really about how things are not that way anymore. About our friends who are, like us, struggling to invest for retirement. About the ones still working in jobs with ridiculous management, long hours and uncertain futures. About who has gone where and who might make a move. At one point we talked about the guy who took over the job I had and how it's making him crazy. Yep, it could do that.

We are home pretty early. That's the advantage of a happy hour show. FFP watches the UT baseball team win to go to the College World Series on fast forward. I watch a film for my AFF review. I read the day's papers, work the crosswords. I stay up too late. It's after midnight when I go to sleep.