Doctor, Tailor.

In the absence of my parents being in the city, and in the absence of either of my brothers being willing to host dinner - my sister in law G. is worn out from work conferences and I don't think it's worth asking given my sister in law E. to begin with - I'm torn between going out to the movies, or staying in and watching a movie.

I'll likely stay in. Nice as it'd be to go out, it's not like I don't have enough movies I want to see, and I can make my own popcorn. Also, it's to do my own Shabbat on occasion.

In other news, pulling out a box of paper clips at least 14 years after putting them away in case I might need them because I finally needed them is one of the stronger reinforcements of my pack rat tendencies I've had in a good long while. I seriously don't know how long I've been carrying them around - probably since grad school - and today, I needed them. And there they were.

In testing out the different fans at assorted speeds and angles, I'm learning that at least one on a low setting is enough to cut through the worst of the midday heat, especially when the breeze hits me. That and taking cold cans of seltzer from the fridge and pressing them right against my neck, or behind my ears, or to my wrists, is helping to get through the days. I'm unwilling to do more than that, plus pulling the curtains when it gets really sunny. At least until later in the summer.

None of it helps me dry off after a show the way air conditioning does, and I'm going to try to not let that spoil me. My parents' gym has air conditioning and taking longer workouts to stay in it a few more minutes isn't the worst plan in the world.

Along with strawberries and rhubarb, sticky nights have arrived. Not each night, not yet, and I'm savoring that - another couple of weeks and it'll hit, but for now, there's still a few where it's simply gentle.

Continuing with my Steven Spielberg kick, I've now seen all his kids-focused CGI stuff and say with some confidence it's only going to get better from here. The Tintin movie felt uncannily like I was watching a movie-length video game, down to the inventory puzzles and room searches. After this, it's people. Well, people and a horse.

I know it's odd of me to not do the baby-talk voice to my niece A. when she's around, and I'm sticking with my usual register and cadence just the same.

Her mother didn't show, but she did call once when I was around to hear it - checking in to find out if my brother J. had fed A., and then hanging up. He'd apparently send her a text earlier, but she'd called, and after getting what she wanted, quickly hung up. I don't know her week's schedules, and I don't know what her day looked like. I can only state the events as I witnessed them.

Last summer, it was two showings each of Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick at the MOMI; this year, it was in IMAX on one of the biggest screens in the country. Last summer I took the subway under a river; this year, I rode a bike about thirty blocks. Last summer it was Top Gun on 70mm and Maverick in Dolby in the same theater; this year it was the same theater again, with Top Gun on an elegant film-to-digital transfer and Top Gun Maverick where I finally saw it with the full aspect ratio shift.

Both years I took the same local friend with me to at least one of the showings, and had even more of a blast because of her company.

Both years I recognized a few familiar faces up at the front of the line, and they recognized me too, all of us pleased that sometimes it isn't that big a city or that wide a world.

Both years I started and ended with Maverick, which was necessitated last year by the MOMI's programming and allowed this year by my deliberately choosing that order.

What's quite nice about the theater is that it's such a huge screen, there's exits up at the very top of the theater, the rows all the way in the back. What this means in practical terms is that not only does it increase safety and help reduce a bottleneck at the bottom of the stairs, there's extra bathrooms up there, plus a space where I can easily avoid the more annoying previews. Having to get back to my seat in the pre-screening "turn off your phone" bumper is a small price to pay for that. Trust me, after four screenings I can tell you which ones were worth my time.

I'm thinking I could probably squeeze in a couple more showings of one or both of them, and I'm also thinking that in terms of real-world practicalities - scheduling, costs, errands, chores - as well as in terms of keeping the mirroring motif consistent, I should say that doing it twice each is enough, and to be content with having been able to get as many showings in as I've already managed. It's a local theater, and it's also a time commitment. So, I'll take what I've got as best I can.

Rather amusingly, the original Top Gun score got classified by my music player as "new age." Though perhaps, given things like box office records, theatrical runs, National Film Registry selections, knock-off effects like sunglasses sales and military recruitment, it isn't wrong. A new age, indeed.

My older brother J. announced his plans to come to Manhattan this Saturday with his child A., and no mention of his wife E. I can't say I'm at all surprised at that.

I'm looking forward to it a reasonable amount. I'd like to get to know A., though as she's quite a ways from talking, it'll be a while before much of anything can happen there.

What I found odd on the phone call where he told me was the number of times J. used 'um.' Easily two or three times a sentence, and I'm not exaggerating. I'm someone who pays attention to what I say - I realized today I'd used "just" as an intensity modifier when I hadn't needed to qualify my statement at all, and I'm going to try to pay attention to that going forward, and I know what people say, and I still struggle to internalize that because of how much effort I put forth. And I'm not even very good at this.