It's always funny when you first say you don't want tea, but then you decide you do want tea!

I had the Carmike nightmare again. The one where I'm working there again as a projectionist but no one shows me around. So there are five theatres and the upstairs booth can only be accessed (as far as I can find) by a ton of crawl passages and cubby nook things. All I'm thinking is, "How the hell do they move prints downstairs?" I'm running at least thirty minutes behind on starting shit, but no one really says anything. There are no walls between the theatres, so even though one movie has sold out and has a massive crowd, I'm trying to keep Moulin Rouge from being too loud as it's right next door. Apparently there can be a happy medium. Oh, and speaking of Moulin Rouge, the lens is not even in the turret. It's sitting on top of it, and I have to inch it around to keep it as much on the screen as possible, rather than the ceiling, the walls, etc. It occurs to me while I'm doing this that the movie should be drastically going in and out of focus, as nothing is really holstering the lens. So it promptly starts to. I kinda move it back to where it was and move along in my work. The next day they make me work concession. I wasn't really into it. And luckily I woke up not long thereafter.

And D informs me he's got "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" in his head. One of those mornings around here, I guess.

I think today may involve finishing the thank-you notes, probably at the Fort Worth Flying Saucer. I get distracted if I do them here. Cats sitting on me, etc.

Last night was pizza, wine and MST3K's The Giant Spider Invasion. I haven't seen all of the Mike episodes, though this one was really funny. They often ARE, I'm just a sucker for the older ones. But this one had plenty of fantastic lines. And it also provided me with the subject line.

Bought salmon and clams last night. I was at Central Market and had just been reading about steaming seafood in an old Fine Cooking. It sounded do-able, even if I have to come up with some sort of makeshift steamer. And their picture of cooking the clams didn't look like they were steaming them, just sort of...had them in the pan. (That will be a phone call to the mother, otherwise known as the person with answers to everything.) Watch, we're going to hate clams. But if the seafood is good anywhere, it's Central Market. This is Dallas, after all.

The guy who helped me was kinda friendly at first, then I guess I did something to qualify as annoying? He got kinda gruff and moody. I felt like kind of a dick while picking out salmon, as I was going for freshness and flavor (as it's being steamed and you can't hide mediocre fish at that point). I said I wasn't really big on salmon, which then made me feel like an asshole, like all the other Central Market customers who just randomly buy expensive fish but they aren't really into it. So I quickly said, "Well, the person I'm cooking for is." And he kinda grunted. So then I was one of those customers who offers up too much information and just won't shut the hell up. I didn't graduate to the latter stage, but I felt it.

Honestly the meat counter is more my kinda place. I openly drool on the glass at all the PRIME grade beef. Sirloin, fillet mignon...oh, especially those...the lamb looks good, too. But if I ever cave it's going to be on the fillets. I just don't buy them because all we have at this point is the George Foreman and that doesn't seem quite right to me. Gonna need a proper grill first. I'm thinking spring. (Although, honestly, you could probably grill outside right now).

Ok, off to attempt a makeshift steamer. This should be a pain in the ass.