Legs and Ass

• We got a recorded message on our answering machine from a company urging us to extend our vehicle warranty so we could have the "peace of mind you deserve." Well, that's pretty presumptuous, isn't it? How do they know I deserve peace of mind? Suppose I deserve all the mental anguish I get all the way to the grave? Hmmm?
• I saw a commercial for the TV show "Hell's Kitchen." A prick of a chef berates his contestants in ways that only the truly self-hating would tolerate. Is it just me, or is there an overabundance of asshole behavior on TV? When did this become entertainment? If I were rich, I'd offer one million dollars to the contestant who bludgeoned that lout into a two-month coma. Girls, if you ever put up with that kind of treatment, I will hang my head in shame of the failure I was as a father.
• It's not my fault, Honey, I have sexsomnia.
• In a recent news story, I read that Mayor Ray Nagin gave a speech bellowing that New Orleans is coming back "whether you like it or not." I wasn't aware that there was a large constituency opposed to New Orleans' recovery, but I do know that a certain mayor's crybaby act is wearing thin.
• I've decided I don't like air conditioning. I don't like the artificial cold. You can never set it to a comfortable level. Give me a warm breeze any day.
• A pizza delivery dude brought me the goods last night, and before I was even done signing my name on the dotted line, he said, "You can add the tip if you want. Helps out with the gas." I had company, so I didn't have time to tell him that "reminding" me to tip is unacceptable, white-trash behavior, and that his gas expense is his fucking problem, not mine. Tipping, shit. Sorry, folks, I loathe the practice. I long for a day where I can get service without someone sticking their fucking palm out. Whew, now I feel better.
  
• My next screenplay is likely to be about vampires, so I have the enviable task of immersing myself in vampire fiction and folklore. During my research, I discovered that the term "nosferatu" is not Romanian for "vampire." In fact, it is a meaningless word that does not exist in any language.
• Speaking of vampire fiction, I came across a book of vampire stories from the last 100 years. Eager to dive in, I turned to the first story, "The Story of Chugoro," a translation of a Japanese vampire folktale. Irresistible, right? Well, I began to read and was confronted with this: A long time ago there lived, in the Koishikawa quarter of Yedo, a batamoto named Suzuki, whose yashiki was situated on the bank of the Yedogawa, not far from the bridge called Naka-no-hashi. And among the retainers of this Suzuki there was an ashigaru named Chugoro. Um, before you call something a translation, aren't you supposed to actually translate it?
• My girls refer to "yesterday" as "last morning." Not sure where they picked that up, but I think it has a nice, romantic ring.

See you all next morning.