Tonight was another night of dinner with the girls and then movies. This time there was a twist to it. The movie was at the home of one of the chorus members and it was a DVD version of "Gone With the Wind" shown on a sixty inch television.

I haven’t seen that movie in years and years, so it was fun to watch it on such a big screen and with such wonderful quality.

The home of this woman (Candy) is one of my favorite houses. It’s a huge Garrison colonial, it has balconies and all sorts of interesting detail.

I keep asking her to adopt me.

There are two features that I really lust over. First is the border that she has running near the ceiling. It’s a country landscape, and she’s put a chair rail in front of it. On the chair rail she’s put her collection of "Cat’s Meow Village" buildings and characters. I just love the way it looks.

The other thing I want is her sewing room. I would. Of course turn it into a stamp room. It’s got wonderful shelf space, peg boards and work tables. I’d kill for a room like that.

I used to love the movie "Gone With the Wind". One summer about twelve years ago I went through an obsession with Clark Gable. I’d rent all his movies and have film festivals, then I read every book I could find that was about him or Vivien Leigh.

That was the summer I went to California for vacation and all I wanted to do was find Clark gables hand prints and signature in front of Mann’s Chinese Theater. We were on a bus tour and every person on the bus was looking for it for me. I think it was a contest to see who could find it first.

I go through these obsessive phases regularly. You just never know what the object of my obsession may be.

Apparently at the moment it’s the movie "You’ve Got Mail’. I’ve watched it so often recently that I can act out all the parts word for word.

I had moments like that during GWTW last night. There are certain lines that are embedded in my memory. And they’re not just the obvious ones like "I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no babies" or "Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn".

I also hate the ending of that movie. I prefer happy endings with closure. I need to know if Scarlett and Rhett ever found each other.

Dinner was interesting in that Laura and the chorus director joined us. They had been invited to the movie but the director changed her mind at the last minute and decided to go to a barbershop show that was being held in Worcester.

I wasn’t exactly warm to her. I wasn’t cold, I just wasn’t friendly and interested in much that she had to say. I don’t think she knows what to make of me at this point. I’m still non-committal about returning to rehearsals, although I’ll likely go back next Saturday to the all day coaching.

I keep telling the director that I’ll be back when the place that I stand in the chorus is on the back row. I love the back row and I haven’t been up there in about three years. (We have four sets of steps on our risers, and I’m currently in the third row.)

I’m only partly kidding when I tell her that I won’t be back until I’m standing where I want to be, and I don’t think she knows what to make of me.

Hey, if it gets me to the back row, I’ll take it!

We tried a new restaurant that took over one of our old favorite places. It was awful. No one was happy with their dinner and none of us will be returning. It’s too bad, we loved the old spot and at one time we’d go once a week (when rehearsal was nearby).

I had pork chops that were all bone and gristle, and Dee had a chicken that was over-cooked. Candy’s risotto was like glue and the steak tips were tough. We were all still hungry after we’d eaten and all ordered dessert. None of those were good either.

So dinner was a bust.

Dee and I had tried another new restaurant Friday night (I can walk to it from my apartment) and were quite happy with it. It’s called "Not Your Average Joe’s" and has a neat retro look to it. I think it looks as if it’s from the 50’s, but others think it’s more 70’s.

Whatever. The food was good. It’ll be a convenient place to go to for a burger on the nights that I don’t feel like cooking.

After GWTW and huge bowls of popcorn, we watched the musical highlights of "Singin’ in the Rain" which is my all time favorite movie musical. (Although there aren’t many I don’t like – "Carousel" comes to mind immediately.)

That’s another movie I can recite by heart. (I think I might even be able to recreate the dances – badly.) Even though I know the movie so well, there were details that I’d never noticed before. I think it was the combination of the DVD and the huge screen. Of course the screen would never fit in my apartment.

I would love to watch more old films on DVD to see all those little details that I’ve missed.

I got home at 1:30.

I can’t remember the last time I was out that late.

Wild woman that I am.