I Don't Care About The Sunshine, Yeah

I am returned to the motherland.  And it is cold.  Not as cold as it's been, but still pretty cold to this southern California boy.  I got in last night just before midnight.  The flights over were fine, faster than expected, and for the most part uneventful.  One of my fellow passengers got arrested while we were boarding the flight to London, but other than that all was smooth sailing.  Well, metaphorically.  In actuality the sailing was not smooth at all, because there was a super-strong tailwind the whole way, which made for a faster flight but lots of turbulence.  And actually, if we're not being metaphorical, I also didn't sail here.

Movie reviews from the plane:

Drive:

Damn good movie.  Not as good as everyone says, but damn good.  They made the main character TOO laconic -- he's almost a caricature of the closed movie hero.  But Ryan Gosling does a good job with what he's given, and the other folks in the movie (especially Albert Brooks) do a great job.  The direction is fantastic and the initial "chase scene" is amazingly thrilling in its understatement.

50/50:

I have a friend who is a therapist, and all through this movie I kept thinking about how furious she would probably be watching this movie.  Not very realistic in its depiction of therapy as I understand it (I, of course, would not know personally since I am perfectly mentally balanced), but still pretty funny overall and kudos for tackling a difficult and socially shunned topic with mostly grace.  Great acting from pretty much everyone involved.  I continue to hold that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is going to be a huge movie star.

In Time:

I am a sucker for sci-fi movies with interesting premises, even if those premises ultimately make no sense.  That's a lucky thing for you, In Time, because you are the epitome of interesting premise with nonsensical implications.  Also, you have some totally hot chick that I had never seen before as Girl Companion to Backstreet Boys frontman Justin Timberlake.  Well played, In Time.  Well played indeed.  I recommend this movie for the hot chick and interesting premise.  Also for Cillian Murphy, who makes everything he is in better, particularly when he gets to wear a black trenchcoat.  Don't even talk to me about how the whole thing makes no sense, I don't care.

My first day here was spent pretty much all with the King of Romania, Gabriel.  I wasn't sure whether he would remember me (we see each other on Skype every day, but that's not the same as being here).  I don't think he did, but I don't mind because he basically doesn't remember anything.  He was happy to see me and that's all I care about.  A cynic might point out that he was even happier to see the plastic blowfish I brought him as a present, but as we all know I am sunny and noncynical by nature, so luckily I don't think about things like that.  The point is that Gabe is awesome and we're getting along the same as if I had never left.

WAKE UP, IDIOT!

He's also right on the verge of walking, which is terrific.  If you give him one finger to hold for balance, he takes off and walks all around the house, daring you to keep up with him or pay the price.  We hung out, we went to the park, we had bath-time, it was all good.  I tried to help with feeding but he was having none of that.

This is a terrible photo, but I always Tell It Like It Is

And I was reunited with Io as well, of course, which was great but there are children reading so let's just say mommy and daddy love each other very much.  We also ran a bunch of errands and just generally enjoyed hanging out again.  Having your spouse around is, you know, pretty awesome.  Better than not.

And I got used to Bucharest again.  It's funny, every time I come here it feels more like home.  I mean, it's never going to be home, but it feels more familiar and more comfortable.  My Romanian is still pretty bad but not as bad as I was afraid it would be considering I haven't lived here in almost a year.

Our American friends Jason and Rachel arrived late last night, so I went to the airport -- with some guy I had never met before named Victor -- and picked them up, and got them settled in our residence of choice for foreign visitors, the Jolly Fun Hotel.  Depending on their jetlag status, we should all be up and seeing Bucharest later today.

Moment of Zen: