She prolly thinks I been out drinkin' 'n' whorin'

This month I read Friend or Foe by Alistair Horne, Four Past Midnight by Stephen King, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, Heartsnatcher by Boris Vian, Man of Bronze and The Thousand-Headed Man by Kenneth Robeson, Incubus by Ann Arensberg, By-Line: Ernest Hemingway edited by William White, The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, several magazines and a pile of comic books.

I watched the DVDs of Cube, Dark City, Lewis Black Unleashed, Peter Gabriel: Play: The Videos, The Iron Giant, and 28 Days Later, and had a Ray Harryhausen film festival: H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, It Came From Beneath the Sea, and Clash of the Titans.

Printed several copies each of three pictures on the new Olympus P-10 photo printer and sent them to a couple friends and relatives, tucked in some very tardy "Bonne Année" cards.

Played two games of Scrabble and about 50 games of Risk. (Against other humans? Are you kidding?)

Sent about 90 e-mails (hey, that's a lot), several of which were substantive.

Had one phone conversation. Stopped turning on the cellphone, although I still carry it in case I'm caught in a Métro snarl on the way to work and have to phone in.

Re-bagged about 600 comics. This entails taking older or (somewhat) more valuable comics out of cheap poly bags, which encourage decay, and putting them into expensive Mylar bags, with backing boards. This is one of the most stultifying tasks known to Man. Even if you take frequent breaks to read some of the comics.

Ate at McDonald's approximately 24 times. In Paris!

Yes, it's a full life.