RandomCha

Good lord. Bears vs. Colts. For the next several weeks, the entire midwest will not be able to shut up. And I’ll have to listen to it.

That said, I think the Bears will win it. Go Bears! (Tee hee).

We got the renewal application for our lease on the apartment. They’re raising the rent by $30. Not great, but not bad. Still cheaper than anywhere else in lakeview most likely, especially spacewise.  We’re renewing.

That’s the good part. The bad part is that the huge vintage 3-floor building across the street is being torn down sometime this year to make way for a 12-story condo building. Jeez. ‘Cause you know, we DEFINITELY need MORE FUCKING CONDOS. Especially in lakeview. There just aren’t enough! (Sarcasm). 

The Wanda Sykes book is hilarious. By osmosis, my sass factor has gone up about 50%.

Whew. This morning on the busride to work I finished Proust. I wish I had some brilliant, succinct summary ready to post. But it’s going to take awhile to let it all in sick in. I’ve decided that the next thing I read will be the Wanda Sykes book.

Strangely quiet here at the office right now. This evening Andy and I are going to see Woman in the Dunes at the Siskel. It’s in a new print, the director’s cut. Should be a knockout.

Since it’s quiet I’ve started compiling a shortlist of places in Chicago I’d like to work. Here it is so far:

Hostelling International
826 CHI
Siskel Film Center
Facets
Chicago Reader
Time Out Chicago (maybe)

The second, third and fourth are extremely difficult (if not impossible) prospects. The first would be challenging and fun, but probably non-writing and modestly-salaried. The last two would mean lots and lots of hours. Sigh. My list needs lots of work.

Just gotta keep my eyes peeled.

I’m so excited about Greg Allen’s new show. I bet I’ll see it more than once. What with that and INLANDEMPIRE I’m in heaven. Speaking of which, I couldn’t find anyone truly interested and available so I’ve put my extra ticket on eBay. I tried …

“… instinct dictates our duty and and the intellect supplies us with pretexts for evading it. But excuses have no place in art and intentions count for nothing …”

–Marcel Proust.

When I read this it hit me hard. Not that I’m not doing anything these days to further my art; far from it, because I’m posting on Chicagoist 2-3 times a week and continuing to sell 100SP. Yet I’m mired in my dayjob. Rather than helping me really (other than, umm, paying the bills and allowing me to live comfortably, which of course counts for a lot), it’s something I feel I have to get through each day. And my “own” writing, Tiny Apocalypse and other prose stuff, is going absolutely nowhere. Mainly because, if anything is going to happen I’M the one who has to make it happen. No one’s helping me. The same goes for my film work. For crying out loud, I’ve been looking for a 6-plate flatbed for 9 months and still haven’t been able to find one I can access.

As Proust wrote: all excuses, every one. But it’s so fucking hard. It’s frustrating to have to wait for Time to get around to making up its so-called mind, and to have to put in the hours waiting for it to happen. And sometimes it happens very quickly in other people’s lives, and so slowly in mine.

In other news, today at the office I bought 3 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. First time. Some kind of landmark.

We have a usable bathroom again! And it’s wonderful!

Last night Andy and I celebrated by each taking a long hot bath. Then we watched episodes of “Police Squad!” and “The Muppet Show.”

And now the fun begins.

After a year or so of gentle needling our building management about the sorry state of our bathroom, they’ve suddenly decided to do something about it. Like, today. They’re (supposedly) re-enameling the tub, laying new tile in the shower and new linoleum on the floor. All wonderful, of course, especially if they work efficiently and finish the whole job today as they’re supposed to.

One minor problem: after the tub has been re-enameled it needs to dry for 72 hours, which means no showers and no baths. That’s Friday evening basically.

A big annoyance, but I can make due with a shower at my gym today and Thursday. Wednesday I’m planning on hitting up Jeremy for his shower (seeing as how he lives 3 blocks from work that’s petty ideal). However Andy is in a bit more of a tough spot. He doesn’t have a gym or convenient friends he can sponge off of … so he’ll hafta sponge LITERALLY. As in, sponge baths in our kitchen.

Visions of Susan Sarandon in Atlantic City.

A week of inconvenience and then a sparkly new bathroom! Maybe.

Also, we’ll be getting a letter later this month telling us whether or not our rent is going up.

A resolution of mine for 2007 is to take a  Nice Trip Somewhere Cool. So I’ve been thinking about that, so far mostly in a daydreamy kind of way.

Jeremy is doing his internship in L.A. for several weeks in the early spring, and seeing as how he can get me a cheap ticket through his parents I’m definitely planning on a weekend trip there at least. I’m looking forward to it a lot. But nevertheless that doesn’t qualify as the Nice Trip Somewhere Cool that I have in mind.

For several months now I’ve been corresponding with a fellow writer who lives in London, a really supernice guy, and a few hints have been dropped about me making a possible visit. (And, to satiate your curiosity, he’s straight and has a girlfriend. So it wouldn’t be THAT kind of visit).

The last time I really spent any time in London, aside from a 3-hour layover on the way home from Scotland, was also the first time I was there: autumn of 1997. My six week job-exchange sojourn, which produced enough memories for a book to write one of these days. I was dead broke, couldn’t afford to do anything, ended up in the hospital with tonsillitis. Anyhow were I go again now I’d go with a few more dollars in my pocket. I’ve been saving up, and with a little help finding a cheap place to stay I could have a lot more fun this time. Of course airfare is outrageous: even looking ahead to March I can’t find anything lower than $500 r/t.

Still. Whenever I think about traveling like that I get a little tingly. I’m going to linger awhile longer in the daydream phase. It’s very tempting though.

For those in Chicago: advance tickets to INLAND EMPIRE have just gone on sale. Get them while you can.

This morning I started reading the last volume of In Search of Lost Time. Almost done. Hopefully I’ll finish by month’s end. I hesitate to make too many statements about the work yet, other than to say that it’ll truly be exhilarating to be done. It’s quite a journey; nothing can replace the simple accumulation of pages and of the time going by while you read it. That’s the genius of it. The first thing I’ll read after it’s over will be Wanda Sykes’ book.

I so much crap to do, and here I am stuck at work. Blech.

Time to pre-order “Twin Peaks Second Season” on amazon! It finally, definitely comes out on DVD April 10.