RandomCha

I’m webcasting live at http://www.mercora.com … do a DJ search for RandomCha and click on Channel A! Good stuff, I promise.

I’m a little jazzed up from this morning’s coffee, but even so I have a half-cold. Runny nose and grumpy demeanor. A jewel of a conversation with my Mom on the phone last night helped a great deal (read: sarcasm). Someday I’ll go into it, but not right now. I shouldn’t even be posting, since I’m at work. But I feel rebelious. I’m acting out.

Maybe what us humans see as logic and rationality are nothing more than attempts to make sense of life. Maybe those concepts have nothing to do with reality. There’s a line of philosophy which says, “Only I exist; everything else is just a figment of my imagination.”

David Byrne wrote about this stuff on his blog recently. The illusion of the “self.”

http://search.mercora.com/

Whoa, this is amazing! I downloaded it & now I’ve got my first webcast up. Mai Tai Noir. Look for it. DJ RandomCha.

Today at work was fine, even if I DIDN’T GET TO SURF. We were busy enough that I wouldn’t’ve had time anyway. Not insane busy, just steady busy. Hope Brandon’s move went well. Can’t wait to hear some details.

I cannot find a copy of “Gill Melle: The Complete 50’s Blue Note Sessions” ANYWHERE. For ANY price. Could it really be that rare? Or maybe people just don’t want to part with their copy?

The filibuster news is kind of exciting. Not that it will acheive much, but it sure is nice to see some BACKBONE for a change. I wrote Obama a long email yesterday.

I have an hour-long nap and wake up refreshed. Outside, the sky is slate gray, completely overcast. It’s very still. There are the sounds of people walking around outside, and the sounds of some birds. I make a pot of coffee and when the coffee is ready I pour out two cups into blue-and-white matching cups and saucers. I take six Dutch cinnamon cookies and spread them in a fan on a plate. Andy and I sit at the dining room table, having the coffee and the cookies and looking out the window and talking. I have another cup of coffee. This is the most beautiful thing that has happened all day.

My Top Ten Favorite Films of the 1970s
(chronological order):

“Diary of a Mad Housewife” 1970
“Cold Turkey” 1971
“Little Murders” 1971
“The French Connection” 1971
“O Lucky Man!” 1973
“A Woman Under the Influence” 1974
“3 Women” 1977
“That Obscure Object of Desire” 1977
“Dawn of the Dead” 1978
“Being There” 1979

Ken left for off-site meetings for the rest of the day and then Anne took Brandon and I aside for a little meeting. Continue reading →

I’ve been getting feedback on the new ms. from a variety of people, and last night it was Andy’s turn. I came off as being a little stubborn and defensive; both he and bandersnatch_02 haven’t minced any words sharing what they think needs work.

Partly it’s because most of the things they’ve pointed out are things I’ve already realized need work, and it’s frustrating as a writer hearing such “asinine” things. It would be like if I were a house painter, and I’d only half-finished painting a house, and I asked someone what they thought of it so far, and they said, “Well, don’t you realize this whole side over here hasn’t been touched?”

And partly it’s because I feel strongly about the choices I’ve made thus far and want to shore up what’s there and make it work, make it work better.

And partly it’s because there is always a disconnect between what a WRITER finds useful when it comes to using feedback towards revision, and what a READER feels compelled to express when it comes time to criticize something.

So I think I will probably not share any further “complete” drafts for awhile until I feel very sure that what’s there is pretty much COMPLETE. I think in my excitement to share the work-in-progress I’ve been a bit too hasty. The next drafts will be about cutting back the weaknesses and reinforcing what’s strong.

But as I’ve said before (though everyone has seemed dubious about my sincerity) I DO appreciate the blunt forms of criticism, the harshness of saying, “Look, this just doesn’t work.” I can use it to improve something; or, even if I don’t agree, it lets me know where someone is coming from.

Saturday I will start a new draft by RETYPING the whole ms. by hand. That probably sounds insane in our electronic age, but doing it manually is the only way I trust myself to pay strict attention to EVERY WORD.

I don’t know why, but it feels kind of NICE to be here at work this morning. Eek. Maybe it’s the cool mix CDs I’m listening to right now. Scott Heim sent them out (we’re occasional penpal friends) and I’m listening to them for the first time. They’re his “Best of 2005” compilations and contain all this cool music that I’ve never heard of because I’m much too square and my ears are stuck in the mid-twentieth century most of the time.

After the reading on Friday night we went to this tiki-karaoke bar called the Alibi. The interior decoration was pretty awesome but the rest of the bar was kind of frat boy tiki. The cocktails come in pint glasses and mostly taste like liquid jolly ranchers. Not unpleasant mind you, but certainly not Trader Vics. I had three of them in fairly rapid succession but got nary a buzz. However I did get up and do a song, namely “Take A Letter Maria.” I sang it like I was a Texas oilman; a surprisingly suitable take on the song.

Yes, I’m back. Feel a bit discombobulated. Until I’m re-used to the grind that was/will be my day-to-day routine, I won’t feel quite normal. Portland was a damn good time. I need two weeks off to write. But it ain’t happening. I need an extra three days off just to catch up on everything that happened and all the books I picked up at Powell’s. I had a simple rule: I would only buy books that were on clearance. It helped a little.