Hi,

So yesterday was Saturday, and Matthew was away on a boy scout campout.  In the morning I went to the gym in Andover.  Then for the evening, originally the plan was to go cologne shopping and then go to see Pride and Prejudice at the movie theater around Boxford.  Then Andrew mentioned that he was eager to get the video game (Half-Life 2) that I had bought him for his birthday.  I had ordered it online for him, and it took about a month until it was released and mailed to me.  So the plan was to go into the city to get the game as well.  Then Sheraz gave me a call, and mentioned that some people were going to go and watch Harry Potter that evening at the Boston Common.  So we tried to shift plans to join them, but unfortunately, the show was already sold out.

So Susan, Andrew and I ended up going to Filene's at the Square One mall to sample colognes.  I don't normally wear colognes, but for some reason I had the idea in my head that it might be fun to look for one.  I used to like a cologne called Nautica, which was a very watermelon like scent, but unfortunately it has been discontinued.  On Thursday, I had gone around downtown crossing sniffing samples, and found a somewhat similar scent called Kenneth Cole Reaction.  Like Nautica, it smells exceptionally melon like and light.  On Saturday, I had Susan sample the fragrance, but she didn't care for it at all.  She said it reminded her of an air freshener that I had a while back (kiss of death!).  Out of fairness, it was an air freshener that had really appealed to me at the time, which is probably why that scent appealed to me last night.  Apparently I like fruit / citrus scents.  In any case, melon scents are out.  We then proceeded to drive the store clerks crazy by going round and round the counter sampling everything, spraying cards and each other, and most importantly NOT BUYING ANYTHING.  Unfortunately, after one samples a couple of scents, one's sense of smell starts to go.  Then Susan sprayed herself too close to her eyes. 

Anyway, the scent that I like the best after all this was one called Lacoste Red (http://www.lacostered.com), which basically reminded me of green apples, with florals and cedarwood.  Susan however seemed non-committal about it. 

We then went to pick up Andrew's game and had dinner at Figs.  Susan told me that she's decided that she really likes drinking Guinness beer, an exceptionally dark, peat black beer from Ireland with a creamy, frothy head.  She had not really tried it before I suggested it.  Something about the thought of her drinking Guinness was very appealing to me.  I guess it makes me imagine that we are meeting at a pub somewhere in the far north of England. 

I suppose that I'm an anglophile at heart.  Further proving my point, we then went to Harvard Square to watch Pride and Prejudice, based on the Jane Austin novel.  Decent, and often cleverly put together, but not quite as good as Sense and Sensibility.  Several of the characters bugged me.  There were five girls in the family, and many of them giggled way too much.  And I wasn't really sure what to think of Keira Knightley, who played the lead role of Elizabeth.  I think something about her bugs me too.  I think she looks a little unhealthy to me, like she is a overly made up anorexic giraffe.  There is nothing wrong with her acting, it's just that some of her mannerisms and aspects of her appearance disturb me.