Improbable

Today defied all odds. First of all, I didn't get a root canal. Instead, I fell for the oldest trick in the dentist manual - first make them pay for a new filling in the doomed tooth, and then make them pay again a week later for a root canal. The first step of this new plan took place today, the second won't be long in waiting. The filling, which was supposed to allay sensitivity to cold - instead decided to not do that. Russian dentist #2 better watch his fingers next time he sticks them in my mouth.

The second odds-defying event was the lack of cinematic entertainment at the day's end. The problem is that Mom and Dad don't watch movies after the yoga lesson, but they do turn the selfishness dial to 11. I had several films lined up to be sacrificed, and even naively made some popcorn. Then, just as I approached the territory of the Play button with a practiced digit, Mom decided today was the day she was to begin her formal guitar training, and the setting was to be right between my headphones and my ears. And so she wouldn't be distracted by the popcorn while she played, she and Dad chomped it all before I could say "You Porkers!"

Went to Barnes and Noble's today, picked up a copy of The Magus and attempted to find where I left off at home in my library copy. Ten minutes of confusion later, I realized that I held a book version of a "director's cut" edition - complete with new scenes and revised old ones. Frustration and cursing ensued: unlike a DVD, this book didn't conveniently store the additions and revisions behind a separate menu item. Instead everything was interwoven with the original. I eventually found my place, but the book continued in an almost style alien to the one I had been reading. This would be even more annoying if it merited reading both versions.

Oh, forgot, some more whining: The Magus is slowly and disappointingly becoming less and less mysterious, magical, mythlike, and more Da-Vinci-Code-esque - a new twist, a new puzzle on each new page. I was wondering when the drama was winding down what could possibly take the next 200 pages, but it's obvious now - baloney and cheese.