Sooner rather than later,

I'd like to try my hand at writing a love story. Of course, there will be complications and probably a lengthy courtship. But maybe there will be a better ending for this duo than some of my past pairs.

Like this happy, healthy, totally realistic couple.

...

How many consecutive days can I go without the need for a twenty-song-catch-up list?

#276: "Somebody That I Used to Know," Gotye

I know I'm a little late to the party on this,

but I'm slightly obsessed with Pam and Jim.

Judge away! I don't care!

...

Also, I'm now using Facebook's "ticker" to creep on what people are listening to on Spotify, though I don't use the service myself. Here's one:

#275: "Stay With Me, Baby," Terry Reid

Preliminary research shows that

my 2011 NaNoWriMo novel will likely take place in or around Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

As Deana would say, "So majestic."

I feel good this week. Making the time to make things happen. Running up that hill.

I'm also, finally, being proactive with the YA novel. Señor Tony did the first read-through and now the Bahlin' one has taken on the task. Though neither is the target audience, I know they'll have astute feedback.

I want to get that story out into the world.

...

And now, we dance:
#262: "Glass," Thompson Square
#263: "Getaway Car," Thompson Square
#264: "Find Out Who Your Friends Are," Tracy Lawrence
#265: "Helena Beat," Foster the People
#266: "Solar Sailer," Daft Punk
#267: "Raise Your Weapon," Deadmau5
#268: "I Might," Wilco
#269: "You and I," Wilco
#270: "Moving to Mars," Coldplay
#271: "Sing Out," The Grand Magnolias
#272: "American Dreams," Paul McDonald
#273: "Welcome to the Black Parade," My Chemical Romance
#274: "Tattoos On This Town," Jason Aldean

all work and no play makes Jack...

All of this work has helped me get a better grasp of what it is I like to do, and what it is I tolerate, and then the final category, what it is I do not want to pursue.

This comes in handy because I like to maintain the childlike sense that Well, I can do whatever I choose to do. That could be true, besides being a professional male basketball player or algo asi.

But I am honing in on the realization of which tasks I prefer over others within my fields of writing and living. That, although I succeed at them, I don't need to do the things that make me wake up in the morning and realize, Damn, I need to do that today and then Oh, God.

...

In keeping with labor, a sudden fond flash to the RA life: "managing" the "Quiet Study Lounges." The lounges were used, on average, by about two people per semester. Tough times.

buckle down

(Buckle up? I suppose that's the appropriate metaphor for an adventure.)

Sunday morning. Back to work. But the kind of work where you don't need to leave, except if you want to, and you don't need the professional pants or the heels that ache after twenty minutes. You also don't need a bag full of your life for the rest of the day at 10 am: notes for here, notes for there, textbooks and essays, water and lunch and snack and possibly dinner, a change of clothes, a laptop charger. You feel a whole lot of things, including despair and anxiety and envy, but you don't feel exhausted.

This is a start.

contact solution, 1:30 a.m.

I am confident that tonight, I am the only customer here.

The soft whine of floor cleaners. Every lantern shut above every register. Even so, these aisles are comfortable. I move from mouthwash to toothpaste and wonder what they think, the few working tonight in their green uniforms: What is this girl looking for? Then: Where is she going?

.

Afterwards I dreamt of driving down a road without dotted yellows. Reeds lined the pavement and the fog and rain made headlights useless. I kept going, hoping nobody would come from the other direction.

Then something happened. The fog cleared. The rain came down more distinctly and the wipers worked to clear it away. But I could see the road now. I could see everything.

.

Read today about Oktoberfest: "refined bitterness"

.

#261: Thompson Square, "I Got You"

The curve and the clearing

Which do I do more of: working, or driving to work? Is it cyclical or am I moving upward (or downward)?

Regardless, I chose to drive by the bay this afternoon. I would take the extra two miles and the stop lights to see the sun on that stretch of water through the trees before the curve and the clearing, and I would do it again. She is singing out of one speaker in my car and so I stay tuned in.

I have to make this day count in some small way.

...

#260: Rascal Flatts, "Easy"

midnight cowboy

I hit that numbness on the drive home. That feeling when you've worked all day here there all over and you should feel relieved, maybe even a bit accomplished, but your mind's muted. Not a twitch in the hand or a foot. Pure stone at the wheel.

From somewhere in the night, a DJ presses "play" on the next song and it fills the car.

"It's all the same, only the names will change."

Windows rolled down a crack and the passing fields smell like bagels, and I don't know how that could be, but I do know that while this song plays, I am awake.

...

#259: Matt Nathanson, "Modern Love"

sudoku exposure

It makes me wonder: What's the story we're not telling?

I have posted about the story we're meant to tell. Is that the same one that, for whatever reason, we're not writing?

A friend of mine has primarily written poetry until recently. I told her several times that she ought to write a memoir, as she has the life experiences and the voice for one. Now she is. She says the writing is difficult for her, but when read, the words fly. It is an honest story, one that makes most sense in prose.

I don't know if it's necessary to bare it all. But are we keeping what makes us innately us from the page? If so, why? And will it one day find a way through?

...

"I used to play Sudoku. But a woman I worked with played it, and I hated her. So I stopped playing because I didn't want to have anything in common with her." - the D.Q.

...

#254: VNV Nation, "Genesis"
#255: Eric Church, "Homeboy"
#256: Eric Church, "Love Your Love the Most"
#257: Jason Aldean, "Big Green Tractor"
#258: Chris Brown and Justin Bieber, "Next 2 You." Yes, this just happened.

a day at the fair

The things we do for free T-shirts.

Soldier: "Are you interested in joining the Army?"
Me: "I'd like the exercise. I'm not really good with confrontation."

But I am good with size XL T-shirts.



///

#243: Journey, "Feeling That Way"
#244: Journey, "Anytime"
#245: Journey, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'"
#246: Sparks, "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us"
#247: Sparks, "When I'm With You"
#248: Bjork, "All Is Full of Love"
#249: Bjork, "Army of Me"
#250: Sonic Youth, "Superstar"
#251: Sonic Youth, "Do You Believe In Rapture?"
#252: Beck, "Where It's At"
#253: Whitesnake, "Love Will Set You Free"