Update

I'm working in the ER this month and life is pretty busy. Between the chaotic shifts and an upended schedule, most days I come home and just crash on the couch. Dinner is frozen food microwaved and scooped up with a spoon. Fall is turning into winter and the days seem to have abruptly grown shorter. Wasn't it just a few days ago that it was daylight until seven in the evening. It is eight now and it feels like the middle of the night. This is my first North American winter and I can already sense a growing dread as the temperatures drop. Not that I'm a particularly outdoorsy type. Still, I like to go out and buy groceries sometimes or watch a movie in the theatre but I'm not sure I'll be able to MTA it any more. Waiting in snowfall and freezing temperatures for a bus to wheeze by doesn't sound particularly tantalising. I guess it's time to buy that TV . . .

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I realised this evening, as I went into the physicians' lounge to get a printout, how long it's been since I've had a glass of water. Most days I just drink Diet Coke with my meal and am done with the day's nutrition and hydration in one fell swoop. But standing there, feeling the luxury of quick cold water running down my throat, it seemed like something was terribly wrong. Water shouldn't be a luxury. I clearly need to drink more.

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Two movies I've seen recently that I'd like to recommend are:

• Away From Her; a beautiful film about Alzheimer's based on a short story by Canadian writer Alice Munro (who I'd never even heard of prior to this film.) I'm not very conversant with the intricacies of film-making but I liked the way this one was shot. The colors were sharp, the silence reflective and the film was a series of succinct observations that, although contrived, seemed to graft themselves on to you so that you remembered them after the movie ended. Which, I suppose, is another way of saying that it was a memorable film.
• Dan in Real Life: I wasn't too sure about going in to see this one initially because I thought it would be one of those Adam Sandler/Ben Stiller slap-happy groan-inducing movies ("Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking? - Derek Zoolander.) It ended up being the exact opposite. Dan in Real Life is a delightful film with some genuinely funny moments. The plot is predictable but the way in which the story unfolds, the radiance of small details, is what gives this movie its charm.