Another Christmas draws to a close. And at the conclusion of the past two days, I've seen three movies and had my Chinese food. The tradition has been preserved. And when I was sitting in the theatre tonight waiting for the movie to start, a woman came running in and told her friends (who were sitting right in front of me) that she just stood in line at the concession stand next to Matthew Perry.

25th Hour disturbed me in a way that I can't really describe. Maybe it's because it made me miss New York -- something I never thought I'd really feel again. Hell, when I walked out of that film and came to that realization, I thought to myself, "Maybe it's because you're so far from home." Then I had to catch myself and say, "Wait a minute... you are home." It kind of shook me a little to realize that it's not an automatic reaction for me to consider L.A. as home, even though I've been here almost an entire year.

I also thought about what would happen if I had to go to jail. I'd never last. Then I remembered what my parents had said when I asked them last year what they'd do should there be a war and a draft was reinstated. My mom instantly replied, "Either have you immediately start applying to graduate schools or give you money and send you to Canada." I don't know how I'd react to having to run away to Canada or disappear somewhere in the country... To lose my freedom that way, to be running from either the law or a draft, and not be able to come back and see my parents and friends and live my life the way I wanted -- not even if one of them died, reinventing myself and not even being able to use my real name, living incognito with only my wits so as not to draw attention to myself... I can't even fathom living that way.

On a more upbeat note, my fortune tonight from dinner has positive news: "You will soon be involved in many gatherings, parties and communications"... in bed. Apparently, the guy who writes the Chinese fortune cookie fortunes now also has a job picking Powerball numbers, because the lucky numbers at the bottom of the fortune had 5 in a group, then what I assume to be the Power number separated by a comma.