Later. A good lunch on Kearney Street in Chinatown, seven of us for lunch thanks to the efforts of Ms. R. Good to see Ms. P, Ms. A and Ms. S again. I know, initials, no pictures, but that's the way of the world if you want to be invited to the next one. Four of us rode back to Oakland on BART, I getting off and taking a bus back to the apartment thinking I hadn't taken a single picture, what was that about? So, a decision to walk down the way past the Grand Lake theater to read the rest of the morning papers at the usual café, the afternoon warm and sunny, pleasant. What could go wrong?

Well, just a peek through the smoked glass theater doors to see when this new 3D movie that opened today on their big downstairs screen was starting. How To Train Your Dragon, certainly much too cute for a hip adult such as myself. Hmm, two-fifteen. It was exactly two-fifteen.

A ticket, a bag of M & M's, a seat three rows in front of the screen, not all that many people in attendance for a Friday opening afternoon, I thought, but who knows? One of the ushers said something to me looking at the camera and then kind of said “to hell with it” to himself, no problem, but I was thinking how do you take a picture of a 3D movie so that anyone would care?

OK, How To Train Your Dragon in 3D. It's OK. Interesting idea, Vikings in the olden days learning they didn't have to fight the dragons whom, it turned out, only wanted to be friends, youngster who doesn't want to kill any poor little dragons managing to turn the trick. Lots of flying around and such, maybe the movie would carry itself without 3D, but these animated special effects did add to the excitement.

If you have any interest in these new 3D movies that have been coming down the pike, well, you know you'll want to go see it. Otherwise, if you're up for a movie, don't have any kids, don't mind the animated kind and aren't particularly turned off by the sometimes too cute qualities you find in most all of them, well go, have a good time. I liked Alice in Wonderland better. Avatar was more exotic. This one was worth the $8.50 for my (senior) ticket. It was. Really.

So I'm sitting here now at the computer at five in the afternoon. Last night I had a glass of Merlot around six, then another glass around seven, the first glass having a more potent effect than a single glass usually has, the second not really adding much to the buzz. Then I noticed the old “hallucinatory” thing starting up again so I went right to bed and got quite quickly to sleep (I'm a little hazy on this), waking up briefly while still under the influence and wondering why the bed and bedroom seemed in some sense to be sensory extensions of my own body, knowing where I was, but confused over exactly what I was and how one might do a brain restart (in the sense of rebooting a computer) to pull everything back together.

Does that seem bizarre? Well, it was, but the problem is using words to accurately describe it. There was a me outside looking in on all of this, the me that's relating it here, but the parts of the brain that take in the signals from the outside world and filter them so they seem smooth and make perfect sense was having its problems. So Monday, indeed, I call that neurologist (I know, I've said this before), particularly if it happens again this evening or over the weekend. Am I crazy enough to have another glass of wine later tonight, two remaining small bottles of which are sitting on the counter in the kitchen? I might.

An experiment? See if the Merlot has something to do with it? Brings it on? Doesn't bring it on, but causes it, when it begins, to be stronger? I've had that thought: alcohol eggs it on, pushes it over the top. Could eating a bowl of cereal late in the afternoon or early in the evening have anything to do with it? Maybe. I've had that thought too, but cereal and this thing are probably a coincidence. We'll see.