The other night, Diana and I were talking about movies to watch. I've always liked whodunnit type murder mysteries, but haven't seen very many. Yesterday, Diana headed to the ol' li-berry and rented two Agatha Christies, a Shelock Holmes, and one other mystery. We watched "A Body in the Library", one of the Agatha Christie movies (with Ms. Marple), and I really enjoyed it. It was fun to pause the movie throughout and wonder aloud at motives and opportunities and so forth. Good stuff.

Even though the movie wasn't scary at all, I was still a little scared after it. Suspenseful movies can really freak me out. It all stems back from the Night I've been the Most Scared in my Life.

*dreamy harp music and soft fade*

When I was 9 years old, my family lived in Vienna for six months. During that summer, my brother turned 13 on Friday the 13th. That night, there was a thunderstorm, and we were off to see an Agatha Christie play, "The Mousetrap". The theater, I remember, was tiny, and we were really close to the stage.

The story of the play is about a group of strangers snowed in at a bed and breakfast inn somewhere. One of the lodgers is a nasty, mean old lady, who during the course of the play manages to piss off everyone in the house in some way or another. At some point in the story, the lights in the inn go out while she's alone in the room, reading. We then hear a door open, and someone cross the stage, and the sounds of a struggle and strangling going on, and then a hasty exit by the murderer.

Soon after, the lady of the house comes in with a candle, wondering what the commotion was. I remember somehow a spotlight shines down on the body of the woman on stage, and at this point, the lady who found her let out the loudest, most horriffic, piercing scream. I specifically remember my bodies reaction. My entire body when completely stiff as a board. My knees extended straight, kicking the chair in front of me REALLY hard. My back arched, my little butt lifting entirely off the chair. I was completely supported by my shoulder blades on the back of the chair, and the back of my legs on the front edge of the seat. Absolutely freaked. I wasn't crying or anything, and I didn't lose my composure, but I was absolutely petrified.

Intermission followed immediately after that scene, and I remember talking with my parents and brother about it. How did we like the play, who did we think was the murderer and so forth. I enjoyed the rest of the play (and I remember who did it). That night, though, I had scary dreams and ran into my parents bedroom crying and scared. And really, from that night on, for quite a long time, I was pretty freaked out by dark. Not universally scared of the dark (like, I didn’t need a light on to sleep or anything), but things like coming home to a dark house, or crossing a dark courtyard at night, stuff like that. I remember watching Psycho at Baditude's old pad, and having to restraing myself from bolting across the darkened parking lot to get to my car. Even last night, after watching the movie, Diana heard me walk quickly through our dark house on my way to the bedroom.

There. Now you all know a little more about Adman.

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Before watching the movie last night, I caught the end of the Democratic National Convention. Specifically, Bill Clinton's speech. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. Maybe I'm a sucker for rousing speeches, and Bill certainly is a good speaker, but I was all sorts of fired up on being a Democrat. I also liked how positive the message was. It seemed there was a lot more "look how good we are" rather than "look how bad they are". Good stuff. I look forward to more of the same, as well as more from the Republicans and their responses and their own speeches.

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I only caught the end of the DNC because I was at our first workboy (and girl) softball game. We lost, but I accomplished my goals of hitting well. I'm definitely not a power hitter, so instead my goal was to place the ball well and get on base. I went 2 for 2 with two singles, 1 RBI, and I scored a run. So in spite of a 10-3 loss or something, I was pleased.

That's all for now.

Oh yeah… "Sledge Hammer, Season 1" is out on DVD. Just FYI.