I'm in a large recreation room that is apparently at my brother Joe's house, not actually his house but in a detached building. I want to watch the basketball game (Blazers in the playoffs). One wall of the room is a huge projection TV - identified as 80 inches, but really like 30 feet across, the whole wall. I turn it on, but it's so big you can't see it all. There's something in the way, some piece of standing equipment like on a tripod, but it doesn't matter, the TV is so big that it is a pleasure to watch anyway.

Joe seems pleased to be able to entertain us with this TV. I'm excited about the game (reality check: I don't follow basketball, but think I should be paying attention to the Blazers in the playoffs), and other people are getting interested, when I tell them it's about to start, and gathering around.

I move around to the other side of the room, where there is a couch perpendicular to the screen, and settle in there. Vera comes and sits with me. But the game isn't starting, they're doing a lot of pregame interviews and stuff, maybe it doesn't start until the next hour.