Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich!

I want to participate in Simply Nutmeg's Filch It Friday carnival, but I have an overwhelming urge to filch from myself. Is this legal? Or will it cause a time/space fissure resulting in something along the lines of the brilliant scene in "Being John Malkovich" where Malkovich forces John Cusak to let him through the portal to his own brain, and everyone in the restaurant around him is him, causing a melting down of consciousness and linear reality that only Charlie Kaufman could have pulled off?!



(Digression: during my soujourn in New York as a waiter actor, Malkovich was starring on Broadway with Joan Allen in Lanford Wilson's stunning play "Burn This". This was before either of them was much of a name in the biz, and you could still get half-price Broadway tickets without wincing. I must have seen that production 7 times, many viewings from the second or third row of the theatre. Malkovich was brilliant [and very sweaty]. Joan was gorgeously heartbreaking. The play still hits me like a body blow. End of digression.)

(Oops, spoke too soon. On the topic of Charlie Kaufman, have you seen "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"? You should. It makes me cry [in a good way].)

On to the self-filch (which isn't anywhere near as dirty as it sounds):

THE GOOD

We have finally managed to make arrangements for our long-awaited family trip to Paris! We're going in September, along with my parents, and my kid brother, who lives in Singapore, will meet us there with his girlfriend. It's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. I cannot wait.


THE BAD

It turns out that the annual PKD Foundation fundraising walk falls smack-dab in the middle of our Paris trip.


THE UGLY

Can I in good conscience solicit donations in support of an event that I won't be able to attend? I don't think I can top last year's fundraising results, but I want to at least try. Maybe we can do an adjunct walk around the Jardin des Plantes on the same day, recording it all for posterity and posting it to the blog afterward as proof? What do you all think?

*****

I'll be posting the winning not-quite-a-business-name later today -- someone's getting some cookies!