My back still hurts, but the pain has subsided to a tolerable ache.

My dog thinks he's being punished when I take him off of my bed when I leave for work in the morning. He doesn't understand that he can't be left up there because he could fall or try to jump off and exacerbate his leg injury. He just thinks he's done something to warrant a loss of bed priveledges. Poor little guy.

My copy of Jaws 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition arrived from Amazon yesterday, so I watched it last night, and as I did I realized that it was the first time I'd ever sat down to watch that movie from beginning to end, with no commercials or editing-for-television to dilute the experience. I also realized that it truly is a kick-ass film. It had been so long since I'd last seen any of it that I'd forgotten the parts I had seen, so I may as well have been watching it for the first time. I was really surprised at how many times that movie made me jump and scream. We're talking about a twenty-five year old adventure movie scaring someone who grew up on eighties horror movies (including all of the Jaws sequels). I'm amazed that it still carries that much impact. Not to mention that it's just a great story, with great acting.

I also watched the behind the scenes stuff that came with it, and apparantly it was a bitch of a movie to make, and it stood to make or break Stephen Spielberg's career. Everybody involved expected it to be a disaster and were amazed when it turned out to be such a success. I just love stories like that.

Speaking of making or breaking careers, I finished re-drafting my first chapter, and I think I'm going to end up completely rewriting the first three or four chapters. And I'm thinking of eliminating the crocodile scene. If you've read my manuscript, you know what that means. And if you've read it, you can tell me whether or not you think that's a good idea.