The time of my life

Last night I had either a minor blowout or some well-deserved downtime, depending on your personal level of study fanaticism. Since I come from the holistic, big picture, broad-brushstrokes, less-is-more school of study discipline, I think I well and truly earned it. Plus I think if I had slogged away long and hard into the night at the books I would have woken up this morning with a head the size of a peanut and today would have been a write-off.

So what did I do with my well-earned study break? I slouched on the couch and watch Dirty Dancing with my smaller half. Now before I get accused of being some kind of smooth-chested metrosexual, I'd like to point out that this was not my idea, it's not my DVD, I was forced to watch it, and although it was a good film, it's not like I'd seen it before and knew all the songs and moves or anything.

My smaller half had gone to buy cat food in the afternoon and had disappeared for several hours. I was going to start calling the local hospitals when she finally returned, having embarked on an impromptu shopping expedition deep into the heart of bogan land. When she returned, she had new shoes, a cool new top, and three DVDs. The first one out of the bag: Dirty Dancing. Oh no! I cringed. I knew I was going to forced to finally watch this. Agony. But in her wisdom she knew that I would be resistant, so the next one out of the bag: Bladerunner. The deal is if I watch her film, she'll watch mine. Awesome. Perhaps this is how I finally get her interested in the paranoid ramblings and deep insights of Philip K Dick. And the third film: Pulp Fiction. She bought this because she had to buy three discs to get the special deal, so it was actually saving money, not spending it.

Anyway, I didn't plan to watch Dirty Dancing last night, I was only going to watch the first fifteen minutes, make a few snide remarks, guffaw a few times, then retire to my desk. But I was ambushed! Ambushed I say! I was so startled by the appearance of a youthful Jerry Orbach from "Law and Order", and by Newman from Seinfeld, that I forgot to leave.

It was no Strictly Ballroom, but in the end I quite enjoyed it. But please don't tell anyone.