RandomCha

O waiting for that phone to ring. My parents, on their way into town. I’ll meet them at the hotel and then we’ll eat somewhere, probably California Pizza Kitchen. And then I’ll spring the news on them that I quit the coffeehouse. And then, happy happy joy joy, we’ll drive up here & Andy and I will unload the furniture they’ve brought up. And, as a result, they’ll meet Andy quite briefly. I think they’ll be more freaked about about me leaving the coffeehouse than meeting Andy. So he should relax a little.

The Film Festival has started but we won’t get to see anything before Friday, at the earliest. This schedule, parents in town, the transcription, everything at once. I finished this first round of transcription. 3 more tapes are on the way but that’s it. When I finish those, it’s all over. Try to get those done by Monday. I need a real job. I want to quit watching my bank balance go down. Nothing to replenish it. I wonder if Mom & Dad will write me a check when I give them the news.

Wonderful autumn day today. I’d like to listen to music for awhile but there probably isn’t time. Hopefully I can hang out with Gavin fairly soon. Seems like it’s been awhile. Bush is such a cruel joke. i’d like to move to Paris for awhile, or Tunisia. Dunderhead.

So I’m nearly halfway through the transcription project. Tchavdar called me from LA offering me this job to help tide me over; he’s been hired to edit this documentary which is about the dozens of tapestries created by this artist, John Nava, for the new cathedral in LA. It’s a pretty boring job really but he got me a good wage, and it’s certainly not difficult. I’m working at home, my thumb on the remote with my little TV/VCR next to the computer. Transcribing interviews. The material is actually pretty interesting. From what I can see on the video, the tapestries are indeed amazing.

David, the director, sent me eight tapes and I just finished the third one. Each tape is roughly an hour long and I’ve been able to do one per day. Anymore that that and my hands turn into claws. I’m trying to do them as quickly as possible because I’m getting paid a flat rate per tape. I want to be done so I can spend time looking for something permanent.

Wonderfully gray and rainy today, which makes it easier to be productive. Tonight I’m meeting up with Steven and we’re going to see the new Ozon film at Piper’s Alley, “8 Women.”

Mom and Dad will be town next Tuesday and Wednesday. So I guess they’ll finally meet Andy, and I’ve decided to tell them that I quit the coffeehouse. I hope it doesn’t turn into Two Days of Horror. I bought “Camelot” on DVD for Mom for her birthday. Getting something for Dad will be tricky. Andy’s dad is coming to visit the week after next.

Gosh, I love October: it’s the month for making love to Nick Drake and Billie Holiday and Woody Allen simultaneously. We rented “Hollywood Ending” and it wasn’t bad. Some funny parts and Tea Leoni was really great.

Lazy day. Hazy day. 3 cups of tea. 4 slices of bread. 1 shower, 1 pair of jeans, 1 orange t-shirt. My CD recorder is in the shop so I can’t make any CD’s. Technology can be so aggrivating. I guess I’ll go read. Right now it’s “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin. I can’t remember the last time I even read a gay novel. Sold my Talking Heads vinyl on ebay, so that’s cool. Got $20. Too bad I paid $25 for it. I think I’d like to go for a walk. Nowhere I want to walk to though. Today is a real Gen-X kind of day, don’t ask me why.

So cool, quiet, gray today. Wearing long sleeves. Had about 3 cups of coffee this morning but everything’s still sort of dreamy. The kind of Sunday where you don’t need to talk a lot. You just let things flow. Andy’s in the shower.

I have this fantasy about finding this articulate, cute French guy to be penpals with, and our correspondence would be so brilliant that we’d have to publish it and it would make everyone realize that writing isn’t dead after all. And plus I’d have plenty of money to be able to travel anywhere in the world I wanted. I could go back to Edinburgh this November and study the amazing light of late autumn, and be utterly inspired, and write something great from that. A novel or just a poem, it wouldn’t matter. But I’d capture something, and all the readers would be moved by the meticulous prose.

I feel like going out and drinking tonight. Taking a walk this afternoon with my headphones on, vanishing into the sound. For the first time in many days, at least at this precise moment, I’m content.

Last night I rented “Koyanisqatsi” on DVD and got stoned and watched it with Andy. Wow. This really is the ultimate head movie. I didn’t even know it was going to be released on DVD! I hadn’t seen it in 9 years; it’s been out of print and very difficult to find. The third volume in the Qatsi Trilogy is to be released to theatres on October 18. I just can’t wait.

I found a job, a temporary 4 day job. You’re going to laugh. It’s handing out free samples of a new Tic Tac flavor in the Loop. It’s 10 hours a day but it pays $11 an hour. And since I’ll be working as an ‘independent contractor,’ no taxes will be taken out. That’s about $400. It’ll tide me over for awhile till I find something else. I’m sure it’ll be pretty dull, but it’s only 4 days and supereasy I bet.

Splurged and bought 2 new Luaka Bop compilations by David Byrne! One is a collection of new French music, the other is Blip Hop. If Mr. Byrne likes it, I’m sold. As expected, the music is quite eclectic and very engaging. Plus the Ben Webster CD I ordered through spin.com arrived yesterday. So I’ve got plenty of new stuff to listen to.

Wonderful day out there, sunny but crisp. Ah autumn is arriving …

Did I have too much coffee this morning?

I finished the story on Friday & I’ve revised it a few times. It’s called “Don’t Do Anything I Wouldn’t Do.” Not quite finished yet.

No job news to record. Still searching. Another week like this and I’m going to have to get less picky.

I did actually start writing a story this morning, based on a dream that was beginning just as I fell asleep last night. I have the first page written out. It’s going to be a few pages long I think. Maybe later on after a nap I can hunker down with some coffee and finish a first draft at least. Follow Ray Bradbury’s writing advice. Day 1: Write First Draft. Day 2: Revise. Day 3: Revise. Day 4: Revise. Day 5: Revise. Day 6: Send Out To Publisher.

Andy closes tonight at work. It’s been weird having so much free time. Even after I do my job searching every day. The days just bleed into each other. I enjoy it a lot of the time of course but then some of the time I’m just restless and bored. Trying to be at least somewhat creative, doing some writing every day.

I’m up, showered, shaved, dressed, caffeinated. But why, exactly? It’s a Saturday morning. My allergies were not cooperating this morning & drove me out of bed when Andy got up for work at 7. It’s weird that he’s the one heading to work & I’m the one at home alone.

Anyway, the coffee tasted good. We had NPR on for about 5 minutes and then got utterly sick of the 9/11 talk and switched it off. I just think I’m going to steer clear of all live media on the 11th. Nowhere will be safe. And what, exactly, is the point? 9/11 has been the lead-in news story on every broadcast for the past year. So we don’t need to be reminded of anything. And I can bet that everyone who lost relatives or friends last year will be making a point of NOT watching TV. So who then are all these 9/11 memorial broadcasts for exactly?

I started doing ‘morning pages’ today. That is, I wrote 2 pages right away after I got up, even before coffee. The trick is that if you do that every morning then it’s supposed to help with your writer’s block. It gets those mental muscles in action. I need to be using this free time for something.

It’s Day 2 of Enforced Leisure (or D2EL). Made my morning perusal of all the job sites and found nothing. Ah well. At least I inquired about one job yesterday. The only discouraging thing is that I’ve yet to receive a response from any of these inquiries. I soldier on.

Mom and Dad gave me an almost absurdly large check for my birthday. So that’s something to live on if I have to. I chickened out and didn’t tell anyone over Labor Day that I quit the coffeehouse. I wasn’t in the mood for all the questions, the parental panic and anxiety. I suppose if things get down to the wire then I’ll tell them. Otherwise I’m waiting till I have something new lined up.

Last night I met Steven after he got off work and checked out his new apartment. He moved to Lincoln Square over the weekend. Looks like he’s about halfway unpacked. It’s a nice, cozy place; a one-bedroom. He has a screened-in front porch which overlooks the street; there are trees everywhere in the front yard and so when you look outside it almost seems like you’re in the middle of some forest. Very nice. Keeps the front part of the apartment rather shady. His bedroom window gets the light from the setting sun.

I think it’s a swell apartment, and the neighborhood isn’t bad either. Two drawbacks are lack of a closeby grocery store and lack of a closeby video store. I guess for me, if I can’t eat or watch movies with comparative ease, it’s like being in the sticks.

I told Steven that the scary thing is that so far I have little anxiety about being jobless. He said it was a good thing and that I should just enjoy it for the moment, which I shall. Hopefully I can spend at least a little part of each day writing & being creative in some way. I can make a list of things about publishing my book that need to be done. Send some things out to journals. Catch up on reading.

We had a bite to eat at Costello’s and browsed at Laurie’s Planet of Sound. Had some tea back at his place. He was clearly pretty worn out by 10 o’clock so I said goodnight. He seems happy to be in a place that’s all his own. This change of scenery should spur on some changes that he wants to make. The Tuesday night film series at the Film Center has resumed and we talked about making that a weekly thing again. I forgot to ask if he has plans for his birthday yet.

Andy has today and tomorrow off. So far this morning we had coffee and donuts out on the back porch and he gave me the latest installment in the Barnes & Noble Bookstore Drama. Yucky. Now we’re both just hemming and hawing around the apartment. It’s a wonderful day out there. What could we do that would be free? It’s about time for a shower.