AUSTIN, Texas, October 25, 2005 — This morning when I got back from the gym, a little chaos ensued. FFP wasn't here (he was buying pills and stuff for the dog). Dad was ringing the doorbell. I let him in. Our house guest was talking on the phone. She got off, introductions, FFP came back, a neighbor dropped by to talk about striping. FFP's mother called about something in the midst of all that.

I was trying to finish an article for The West Austin News. I took Dad to a doctor's appointment, FFP took the house guest downtown. The two of us ate a Billy's burger for lunch. The handyman came by to get paid for doing something at Dad's. FFP went to a meeting.

The yard guys came to do the usual and fix damage done by the fertilizer guy who ran over new sod and busted a sprinkler head. The maid came and started vacuuming.

It was chaos but an amusing kind. I had to make Dad an appointment to have a hearing test and have his hearing aids looked at.

So it was a relief to escape, go downtown and do the festival. We got an amazing place to park right by the Driskill. We went to McCormick and Schmidt and had some apps and drinks.

We went to Prime and Tristum Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. [Ed. note: this keeps happening. If this keeps up, you are going to have a bunch of false porn hits when you put this online.]

Prime was enjoyable and I don't think anyone would be prepared for the comedic facial expressions and body language (imagine an older woman nervously adjusting uncomfortable undergarments) of Meryl Streep in it. The young man, Bryan Greenberg played him, was precious. And the ending was thoughtful, honest and un-Hollywood.

Tristum Shandy is a novel I haven't read. Supposedly it's a novel that couldn't ever be filmed. So they made a film about a film being made of it. Sort of like Adaptation where the material couldn't be adapted so the guy wrote a script about not being able to do it. I'm a sucker for the story within the story. But this one was only mildly amusing, I thought at first. It's a movie that grows on you a little after you think about it.

We found our houseguest after the second movie and made our way home.

The day had an element of barely controlled chaos all day but only in the most pleasant way.