So I went to see Richard Schiff in "Underneath the Lintel" last night. Such a wonderful little play - both melancholic and funny at the same time. And Schiff was absolutely delightful! One person plays/monologues must really be one of the hardest art forms as you have no one to lean on. Being on stage all by yourself. And Schiff was just brilliant for the full hour and a half. 
It was the press open and how my friend A managed to get us such great tickets, I have no idea. Will keep my eyes out for the reviews. In the meantime, I came across this interview with Schiff ahead of the opening, in which he talks about John Spencer and Allison Janney. (The one-act he mentions that we wants to do with Allison made me giggle - would that play ever be performed I would just have to go and see it!)

It's my last day in Barcelona and one might think that I would have done something more memorable that doing laundry, gone grocery shopping and taken a small walk around Gracia (in the beautiful cool winter weather). But my mind is dull from sleeplessness as the kid in the apartment above has been left home alone for the week (bad, bad judgement on his parents' part) and he threw a party for the fourth consecutive night last night.  I've talked to him, every neighbour in the house has complained, the police has been called on at least one occasion, but this boy just doesn't seem to care. Or maybe he knows that he'll be grounded until he's in his late thirties once his parents get back, so at this point one party more or less is not going to make a difference. So it's likely that there will be 20 kids jumping around above my bedroom ceiling this night as well…

At least I'm going out for some excellent Catalan food tonight. And wine.

I had a long weekend, which was lovely, but when I got back yesterday night and checked my e-mail I found out that my much-stressed-over Friday deadline had been brought forward to Wednesday. So now I need to go and lock myself into a dark chamber and get on with it. On the upside, I guess, is that it will be over and done with by Thursday morning. In the meantime I eat chocolate. Because that always helps.

With all this excitement about the U.S. mid-term elections, I had totally forgotten that the West Wing box set has been released. Oh joy! That is what I'm getting for myself for Christmas. Hopefully I'll be able to drag my mum away from the kitchen for a Season 1 marathon. She's a fan-girl too!

My family that I stayed with outside of dc last week are avid Democrats and live in Virginia. (We're talking "Vote for Jim Webb" posters in the windows and "Proud Democrats" stickers. And the amount of Bush-bashing going on in that household sometimes even makes super-Liberal me blush.) Haven't gotten their reaction on the latest developments, but I'm sure my 83-year old uncle is having a double martini tonight. And rightly so.

Went to the beach for a long weekend which was oh, so lovely. Good food morning, noon and evening and plenty of time to laze about reading books. I have really focused on taking full advantage of this two weeks Mexico stay - eating lots and lots of yummy food. Next stop is Guatemala and I'm sure they can flip a tortilla or two there as well.

Have spent over a week in dc and it's truly like warm milk and honey for the soul. And the weather has been lovely with clear blue skies and autumn colours. Spent a day walking up and down The Mall, visiting museums, stopping for a latte at "my" Starbucks, browsing bookstores. The rest of the time I have enjoyed suburbia, which will be topped off with a visit to my cousin's place today for some Halloween celebrations. 

Went to nyc for the weekend and it felt like coming home. Walked past both of my old offices without getting an anxiety attack, which was a big step for me. (Well, it's been five years after all, but the nightmare of investment banking haunted me for years...) Walked through my old neighbourhood and the Upper West Side just felt like love! It was just like I left it and I still feel so much at home there, giving me a warm fussy feeling. Yes, I must admit I'm thinking about moving back. At least for six or nine months (avoiding the summer in nyc at all cost). We'll see. I'm off to Mexico tomorrow.

• So, I finally got to watch episode 4 of Studio 60 yesterday after having recovered from a stomach flu from hell (gastroenteritis, aka puke-your-guts-out-for-24-hours). Most have been said by others already, but my own largest squees came from:
  1) The Strindberg references and the fact that Tom's got a whole Strindberg library. Being the Swedish girl I am, the mention of Stringberg in an American tv drama makes me very happy. How I adore Sorkin!
  2) Jordan's assistant who was just the cutes thing. I may find Brad sexy but in real life I always go for the young, cute Asian boys. Yum!
  3) Jordan's "It's my boyfriend" comment when Jack calls.

Today I'm trying to stay far away from any Studio 60 sites until I got to watch episode 3.

Despite some emotional turmoil at the beginning of this past weekend, it has been, in all, a very nice one. Plenty of reading and sitting on the terrace lazing about and even a trip down to the beach with a swim in the ocean. We had visitors from the UK over, with the last one leaving yesterday and a new batch arriving tomorrow. Em was all excited about the amount of newspapers and articles lying around in our flat (we subscribe to both The Observer and The Economist), wanting to stay longer just to catch up on the reading. And before she left, our Catalan friend L showed up with book gifts for everyone, carefully selected. I was every so touched for the trouble he had gone through, getting me Jorge Luis Borges's "Ficciones" in a limited edition with the original cover. Sweet thing!

It's still really hot here and very muggy today, and I'm starting to miss crisp, cool autumn weather. Have high hopes for my New York visit in late October, smiling at the image of walks through Central Park, wearing wool sweaters.