today: to Mars and beyond

I'm prepping my apartment and then meeting Anterior Cruciate Ligament later today for a viewing of "The Martian," starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley Scott. I'm morbidly curious as to whether Scott will get the tone right: the book, largely told through first-person narration (my review is here), was fairly lighthearted and humorous despite being a tale of disaster and constant, deadly risk. Scott, by contrast, tends toward the lugubrious and the sinister; he'd be a great director for a film based on HP Lovecraft's writings. Can Scott relax enough to let the narrator joke his way through peril? We'll soon find out. (The story is a spiritual cousin to films like "Apollo 13" and "Gravity"; you'd think it would have been directed by a Cuarón or a Howard, but I guess Mr. Scott will have to do.)

After the movie, I'm escorting Ligament back to my place for a dinner of Chinese cashew chicken and shrimp. She's seen the photos of my previous CCCSes and is now fixated on eating that one dish—my faux-Fredo be damned. Once dinner is concluded, we're trundling north of the river to track down the crêpe guy so we can nosh on some authentically French-style crêpes. We tried to find him a weekend or two ago, but it was too early, and his stall was shuttered. I guess he's more of an evening person.

When I'm back at my place, it'll be time to start thinking about prep. I leave on Wednesday the 14th, but the Golden Goose is also giving me the 13th off so I can have a day to finalize everything without having to rush. I've combed through a dummy version of Sean and Jeff's wedding program and have some idea of what I'm going to say; most of this will be extemporaneous, including the "homily" that I'm to give as part of the ceremony.


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