Muy buenas, amigos The car is making a weird sound. Actually, the multitude (25, I think) of tapes (for the life-saving radio) in the glove compartment (cubbyhole here in .za) are making a weird sound. For some reason, they have started to rattle at opportune times as I drive. Slam on brakes - rattle. Step on the gas - rattle. Tight corner - rattle. They sound like cheesy castanets which pop up at cheesy moments in a cheesy b-grade Mexican-themed film. I'm expecting later on to hear a guitar strumming insistently; followed undoubtedly by a trumpet. It's kinda cool, in a not-really-but-hey,-why-not,-so-yeah kind of way. I'm sure you all follow me. I watched Stand by Me in Hell's newest video store last night, where I am loan until they get the place up and running fully. It's a great coming of age film set way back in the 50s and has remarkable performances from 4 very young boys who went on to bigger things, mostly. The director's commentary, though, is particularly powerful; at times, downright disturbing, I found, because of parallels between the characters lives and his own life; and I found similar ones between theirs and mine. It's a really great film. I was struck again by it as I drove through this morning's Mexican music festival up to the university, and I realised that sometimes, you just get dealt a really bum hand in life; and I guess it's up to you as to whether or not you sink or swim. In addition to the shit hand, part of like is making mistakes which can make or break you, depending on the consequences thereof and sometimes at the end of the day you can turn out to be the biggest hero in the world. And sometimes, by inference, the biggest disappointment. Es asi. How much of that disappointment can be attributed to fate varies hugely between individuals. At this stage, I'm not sure where I stand with it, and I suppose you can only ever really tell in retrospect. Too little too late, in retrospect? [castanets] Hasta lluego