DIARY
– This entry will be brief, but that has more to do with me wishing to take advantage of what has been a truly productive week and not with a lack of things to say.
– YESTERDAY – After work, I commenced my annual book buying binge, though this one was more modest than usual. I was also under a bit of a time pressure, since I’d told Jessica I’d be home by eight, and at any rate, I’d promised to stop at Bravo and pick up some groceries, but Bravo closed at eight.
First I stopped at Whole Foods, which is overpriced and which I usually avoid. But: I needed cheesecloth. Why? Because Cosmo Dogood has told me to make my own yogurt cheese, and I’m intrigued enough to actually listen.
After that adventure I hurried down to Strand looking for a bargain. The effort cost me dearly: after sweating up and down the shelves I found only one of the books I was seeking The Monk by Lewis. I did, however, buy it for less than five dollars. I headed north across Union Square to the Barnes & Noble, and after finally finding their fiction section shoved in a corner of the fourth floor, only found one more book: The Italian by Radcliffe. I’d maxed out on the gothic, but most importantly, I was missing books my instructors last semester. I have to know their game, so I can read their comments against it, plus, knowing how difficult it is to support oneself as a writer, I think it’s an appropriate courtesy, at least.
I walked two blocks to another Barnes & Noble, but came up drive. It was past six thirty, but I had only one option. St. Mark’s Place bookstore is a smallish shop well out of my way… but they have a particularly endowed selection of contemporary writers. I had to essentially retrace my steps past all three bookstores I’d already visited and hurry down to St. Mark’s Place… I walked from Fifth Avenue and 19th Street to Third Avenue and 8th Street.
With success. They had some of both of my instructors’ books, and I also got a bargain book and a literary journal (with boobs on the cover!) recommended by Lisa. And I still (miraculously) made it to the grocery store and home by eight.
– BOOKS – Here, then, is my final take:
– Classic Rock Albums: Nevermind, Nirvana, by Jim Berkenstadt and Charles Cross
– Fence, Vol. 8, No. 1 & 2
– Jernigan, by David Gates
– The Melancholy of Anatomy, by Shelley Jackson
– The Monk, Sinclair Lewis
– The Italian, Ann Radcliffe
– The rest of the night was more relaxing… there was time have a wonderful pizza dinner Jess made us and watch the premier of Idol and the funny parts of Conan. (We’re seeing him tomorrow). But just as significantly, I’ve finished two more sections of the website… I don’t expect it’ll be a done deal by the end of the weekend, but I think it will be close enough to start telling people and include in my newschool email.
– WEATHER – What is the weather doing today? I don’t know! Hazy with a chance of Hell, I say…
– JANUARY – Is the month of Staying Healthy.
– HAPPY BIRTHDAY – Janis Joplin and Edgar Allan Poe. Sadly, they were two peas in a pod. (They, sadly, were two peas in a pod. They were two sad peas in a pod.)
LINK OF THE WEEK
Arkansas, the Natural State.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
You have to take this question on its own terms in order for it to be interesting… run with the hypothetical: questions are oversimplified, but these things happen.
The question is, would you be comfortable and happy in a relationship with someone who differed with you politically? Would you date such a person? Possibly marry such a person? How different could they be without it upsetting the balance of the relationship? Where would you draw the line?
To provide some foundation here, let’s assume that they 1) feel strongly about politics and are accustomed to talking about their beliefs frequently, 2) do not expect to change your views, though they might hope for it, 3) are nevertheless more interested in you than converting you.
END OF POST.