RandomCha

7:30?? you poor bastard! 3:30??? you lucky bastard!!!

It was such a wonderfully dark, rainswept morning when I left for the bus stop. I could hardly keep my umbrella open. There’s an amazing the beauty that the lake has when it’s a morning like that, before dawn even. You look out onto it and it’s like you’re looking past the edge of the world. Everyone else on the bus is still sleepy and quiet, so nothing disturbs your reveries.

And you sweep off of Lake Shore Drive and onto Wacker, skirting the river, some of the skyscrapers lit up; it’s just gandeur, plain and simple. That early in the morning it has a feeling of pure nature, how you’d feel in a forest or on a mountain. There are people scurrying here and there but it’s empty enough that you can almost feel alone. Really seeing the city alone. O man, it’s that feeling that makes me such a city dweller. It’s a feeling that you can’t have in the wilderness; only an empty city in the darkness can give you that feeling.

When I was a freshman at the Art Institute and living in the dorms in the Loop, we had the fire alarm go off in the middle of the night that once. We all had to clear out and walk down to Wabash, in our pyjamas and bathrobes and sweatpants. It had rained earlier and the streets were slicked down. And I remember how quiet it was. Just the group of us students and counselors, chattering, half-awake. Somehow it was peaceful, and it was easy to feel cozy in my bathrobe even though I was standing on a wet sidewalk at 2 in the morning.

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How compatible with me are YOU?

3 Women
Diary of a Mad Housewife
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (directed by Luis Bunuel)
The Leopard
Stalker
I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang
O Lucky Man!
Cold Turkey
Targets
Insignificance
Wild River
Freud
Satantango
Walk On The Wild Side
Zabriskie Point

P.S. The Last Season of “Twin Peaks” too, dammit.

Monday is Columbus Day, a holiday for the Feds, so it’s gonna be quiet here. I realize that I’ve been writing a lot about my job recently. I think it’s because I’ve never had a job like it really. Every job I’ve ever had has involved constant work, or at least constant motion. At the coffeehouse of course I was on my feet all day long, either making coffee or moving around. As a research interviewer I spent a lot of time riding the bus, but except for doing a little paperwork it was all pretty much walking around neighborhoods. Even as a phone interviewer there wasn’t any downtown except for actual breaks.

But here I sit at a desk. When an order comes in, I do some typing, printing, I go over the copier and the fax machine, I put all the paperwork in baskets here and there all over the office. And when there are no orders, I just sit at a desk. So I can type something, make lists, furtively surf the web. The day passes. I know that eventually, as everyone has been warning, the novelty of this will wear off and I’ll be left with ennui just like the rest of my ‘cubeworker’ friends. I give it about a year.

That’s fine. I can save up a little money, put work into my book and writing, whatever. Find some ways to spend the new paycheck. But, like my friend Ryan, I don’t want to get complacent at this job. It’s good for now, and that’s the point. Well, I don’t really see how I could get too complacent here.

I’m not sure what’s going on this weekend. Sunday night Andy & I are seeing a film at the festival called “Sex Is Comedy.” Andy is going to a quasi-housewarming tonight. I have a lot of stuff to do on the book. Papering the city’s coffeehouses and hip gathering places with postcards for the release party. Dealing with the box labels. PayPal. Website. Cardboard glue.

Boy, this weekend calls for some 420.

I arrive at work at 7.30. Most everyone else in the front part of the office gets here at 9.00. It’s quiet until then. No orders coming in. I wrote a few emails already and looked at news. Tell me, is this what most people’s white-collar lives are like? So why do they whine? They don’t have enough creative outlets the rest of the day. If I can bargain my boss down to 35 hours a week, this will be a perfect job for about a year.

1: “Schizopolis” out on a Criterion Edition DVD on October 28th.
2: The new Talking Heads 3-CD/DVD boxed set on Rhino, out on November 11th.

Slow day at work. Sneaking in a post. I wonder if I’ll be able to do this often. In the downtime this morning I knocked out a press packet for the book.

It’s been great having Pascal in town and showing him around, though I feel strained for time and craving some alone time. And also I’ve been missing my friends; hanging out with them, emailing them, talking with them on the phone. Sorry if it seems I’ve been neglecting you out there! I’m feeling creatively pumped and I think I’ll be eager for a new project.

Still haven’t found anyone to play at the book release. I’ve been talking to Quimby’s and it seems I’ll have a reading there on November 21st. Way cool. Press, press, press!

Wow, it’s really been that long since I’ve written? Well I’ve been superbusy. With any luck the book rollout will occur as planned on 15 October. One last detail to iron out. The website is up & running (www.randomcha.net) though I’m disappointed to see that only one person has signed the guestbook so far.

Sadly, the ‘surprise musical guest’ who was to perform at the book release/signing on the 29th has had to drop out. He has a concert for school that night! I’m not sure what I’ll do. Anyone know of any great musicians in Chicago who would wanna crash a book party and play acoustic?

Tomorrow my penpal Pascal arrives from the Netherlands for 10 days in Chicago. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to show him around, play tour guide, etc. Getting time off from work as well, which would be nice under any circumstances anyway. To top it off, the Chicago International Film Festival starts on Friday (I’ve got a pass) and we have tickets to “Koyaanisqatsi” Live: the Philip Glass Ensemble will perform the score to the film live as it’s being projected!

Andy came home last night and caught me watching the Cubs game. It’s true: I do have a little Cubs Fever myself.

My new job is half a block from the Cook Bros. wholesale warehouse. I’m discovering the joys of cheap imported goods.

My old friend Scot Livingston wrote a great essay about the The Mynah Birds, the almost-was band from the mid-60’s which featured Neil Young and Rick James (!)

http://members.tripod.com/earcandy_mag/rrcase-5.htm

Check it out!