Yes, I was back to work on the short story when all of the sudden I was possessed by the need to own the recent Rat Books re-issue of Lawrence Grobel's Conversations with Marlon Brando. I honestly have no idea why these thoughts jump up and suddenly possess me, but they do. I suddenly had to have it -- used, of course; as dirt-cheaply as I could possibly get it, even though I know what that means in terms of writers and their much-needed royalties.

So off I went to Amazon.com and I bought it used. And you know how if you scroll down the page, they show you that string of photos that says "customers who bought this item also bought" and I was just sort of looking at that, mindlessly; just looking at the other items there. Many years ago, I read Brando's memoir, Songs My Mother Taught Me, and I really liked that but I couldn't remember if I'd also read Brando, although I know I used to own it, I just can't remember if I'd actually read it... And then I see -- wait a minute-- someone who just bought this specific Rat Books edition of the Brando Conversations also recently bought Bob Dylan's new album, Together Through Life. And it occurred to me: Wow, I could probably date that person and we would get along really well. Look at that.

And that's when I got this great idea for an online dating site based on people's Amazon.com purchasing habits. "This person is a good match for you because he/she [luckily I'm ambidexterous] recently purchased the very same books and records that you did."

Wouldn't that be cool? At least you would know for sure that you'd like the same books,music, and (in this case) actors... which means there's a good liklihood that your politics are similar, as well, right?

You can see that I seriously need a date with somebody that I can actually get along with. But on we go...