I really enjoyed my weekend. I had plenty of time to do whatever I wanted, to think, to read, and to lie around. Last night, despite having an easy day, I felt incredibly tired, but propped my eyes open to rent a movie, "Cruel Intentions", featuring the godlike Ryan Phillipe and that chick from "Buffy".

After the movie was finished, I channel-surfed a while before I came upon something I'd never seen before - drum corps, on the University of our headquarters in the south TV channel. If you don't know what this is (like I didn't), it could be described as "performance marching band", with band players running around a stadium field in formation and other band-members twirling flags or battons. I was pretty amazed at their skill. They were teenagers, all, and the close-ups of their bright, shining faces weren't too bad either :) It was kind of touching to see their dedication and enjoyment in this, the World Championships. As an aside, why call it the "World Championships" when it's only bands from the USA? You'd think it showed either colossal arrogance or amazing insecurity. In any event, the performances were a refreshing antidote to some of my negative thinking about the younger generation, who I've increasingly thought of as listless and rude.

Boy, I slept until 10.00 this morning. That's so rare for me. After my usual slow start and lingering around reading, I got out finally on the road to the mall I'd intended to visit yesterday. It didn't take me too long to find it, just outside of downtown.

Newspaperless, in the mall

There were two main reasons I came today - to get some more protein bars and carbohydrate drinks, and to buy the "New York Times." A Sunday without the New York Times is just not a complete Sunday, for me. For the protein bars etc., no problem - got them both at GNC from a very earnest, massive, young body-builder whose polo-shirt seemed almost ready to split open at the seams. But, and this is something I struggle to understand, in this great big mall, like many others I've visited, there wasn't a single place to buy newspapers! I know that at times I'm sounding like a grumpy old fogey, but it's no wonder that your average citizen in the middle of the USA is so ignorant of the rest of the world.

I headed downtown. The first part of downtown I found was the State Capitol area. I parked, and got out to look around. If you based your opinion of our headquarters in the south on the Capitol and its grounds, you'd conclude that here was a warlike, religious state. I say this because the only other person on the grounds of the capitol, which is strewn with monuments to guns and wars, was an old guy doing a bible revival, flying flags and all.

The streets of downtown were deserted. No stores were open, and, in fact, some were closed for good. The only street with any activity was the street that contained a row of 24-hour bail-bond offices, on the same block as the Sheraton. I pulled over here, hoping they'd sell newspapers inside the hotel. No such luck. The receptionist assured me there was nowhere to buy newspapers in the downtown (and this is a city of 400,000 people). She directed me to another shopping center. As I drove into the parking lot, I spotted, with great excitement, a Starbucks. So not only did I finally find the "New York Times", but also got an enormous, strong black coffee!

Back in the hotel, I ordered some room-service with a pot of coffee, and felt relaxed and at ease, without a care in the world. I snuggled up with my newspaper.