Well, I awakened at 3:30 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep so watched the the movie, 3:10 to Yuma, with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.  It was a great movie.  A 14 year old boy’s father escorts Crowe (a killer and robber) to the train station to ship him off to prison for the $200 the bank will pay.  He does it to save his family farm.  The 14 year old doesn’t respect his dad until the end of the movie when the father shows his tenacity by getting Crowe on the train at which time, the father is killed.  Crowe gets off the train and then back on again and the movie ends with the son holding his dead father in his arms.

I watched the news for a few minutes when the movie was over.  They were reminiscing  the fall of the Berlin Wall which occurred on my birthday 20 years ago.  I was only 47 and on sabbatical.  Boy time flies.  Just seems like the other day.

Got up and worked on my book at 5:00 AM or so because I still couldn’t get back to sleep.  Not sure if it’s turning 67 today or not, but I haven’t slept well for quite a few days and have been tired during the day.  I used my sleep apnea machine last night and it didn’t help. 

I caught up on my words for my new novel at 5:15 or so.  I needed 14,000 words by midnight yesterday but was about 1300 short.  Got them done by 6:00 this morning.  Finally, I couldn’t keep my eyes opened so went back to bed and listened to NPR.  I’m not sure if I slept or not.  I did smile when they were talking about the House of Rep finally passing a health care bill with the government option which 60% of Americans want.  The D’s in the Senate will have to show some courage and may need to use reconciliation to get the bill passed since there are a few Dems in Republican clothing.  The R’s used it a number of times when they were in control to avoid a filibuster.

Took myself to breakfast at what used to be C’s, then Wild Bills, then Chatty Cathy’s, and is now Darlene’s I believe.  Had chicken fried steak, eggs, and pancakes.  It was a way for me to celebrate my own birthday.

Met yesterday with the 9th grade boy who read my book.  He said he read it  in one day. I hope that’s because he couldn’t put it down.  I didn’t realize he’d read it in one day until he told me during the interview.  He liked the book and said he thought Jake sounded a bit wise for his age.  He wanted to know what parts of the book actually happened to me, especially if the coach told me that if I didn’t go the the Varsity, I couldn’t play.  That surprised him for some reason.  I told him it was true and  that I didn’t realize it at the time, but  now think the coach was bluffing. 

I have a lot to say about the book, A Beautiful Boy, but don’t want to take the time to say it now because it will make this blog far too long.