Category Archives: Abstract Absurdist Otherness

Read it and weep! I’ve published and now, I be damned! There are some diamonds in this coal. Proceed with cautious carelessness.

Tight Turn

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Finally it’s Friday. First 5 day work week in a few weeks. I got through it alright, nothing too special. Have a whole year of this. Well not a whole year, there are days off between now and December 31, but the majority are five day work weeks. Bill was here again last night. Sometimes it’s good to have him around. No it generally is good all the time to have him around. If only he could find the garbage cans, or the bag where recyclables go. I suppose I hide them too well, one in every room of this four room railroad flat.

Most of the time I pick up after him, suppressing my resentment about these tasks. Seeing the shape of his parents apartment last week made me realize that he’s been like this all of his life. I guess thats the way he was brought up. For me it’s a struggle to be neat, and I could hold my own generally but when dealing with this small pile here and that small pile there next to those other piles, I basically threw my hands in the air to surrender. This morning, Bill left with a kiss. No more coffee, no cereal in a bowl. Just crap over here, crap over there, empty vitamin water bottles, on the floor, under the couch. I picked them all up and put them in the recycling bag. I even went into the fridge and emptied bottles with only backwash in them. I cleaned up a bit and created some more space all before I jumped in the shower.

Outside this morning it was pouring rain, pissing all over the streets, complete with thunder and lightning. I got on the bus which quickly filled up and wound up finishing the New Yorker as we sat in the Lincoln Tunnel for about 20 minutes. Greg Stevens was in before I was which rarely happens. I set about doing the office start up routine, as well as doing whatever task was asked of me, taking care to look after Lydia and making sure she had enough to do. I keep telling her to take her time, but so far she’s rushed through most everything that was asked, leaving her to ask me later in the day if there was anything she could do.

She’s a good worker, has a good work ethic. I just hope I can find enough to keep her busy. By 2:00 this afternoon I was through with just about everything I had to do. Greg Stevens left around 3:00 and at 4:00 I felt that it would be ok for me to leave. It had stopped raining and I had a very nice walk across town, enjoying my Padron and listening to the Raybeats. I walked to the bus terminal and got on the Hoboken bus which quickly filled up and since it was now 50 degrees outside, with everyone in winter clothing, a bit damp, it got very humid. I read the book I ordered last month, almost done with it. Very good entertaining read.

Now I’m home, Bill should be going to his parents apartment this weekend. Tentative plans to go to the movies with Charlie on Sunday, perhaps No Country for Old Men, or There Will Be Blood or any other movies that might be out. Of course, if Bill needs me to help him out with cleaning his parents apartment again, then that’s where I’ll be. But tonight I’m home and I’m cool with that. That’s about it for now, nothing else going on as far as I know. Cheers.

Love Letters

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Well today was a great big nothing day, though I did things. I didn’t sleep in too late, but I did wake up and send an email being uncertain about the office. Tom Chin responded that the office was closed. So there was no need to worry about that and I went back to bed for about two more hours. So technically I was up at 8:00 and then got out of bed at 10:00, being a glass half fool most of the time I would say I was up early. And if that’s putting me to sleep, then it’s probably doing the same to you. That had to be one of the most boring lines I have ever written.

Sometimes when I write it just flows, and other times it’s just chiseling away at a giant hunk of marble. Or Jello. That would be more like it. Trying to create a sculpture out of a block of Jello. It certainly is a surreal image. Perhaps it’s been done already. Perhaps I am the first. I once thought I was the first when back in the day while putting out a fanzine with Rand and assorted sordid friends, I came up with ‘Mass is the opiate of religion’, a twist on that quote by Marx, Karl I believe, or Gummo, that ‘Religion is the opiate of the masses’. Now somewhere between when Marx said it and the mid 1980’s, I’m sure someone, somewhere came up with it before I did. It’s an irresistible pun, a black hole of puns perhaps. Or maybe, it’s just not funny.

I’ve been writing a long time. Not just this blog, but for years I’ve had carried around journals and notebooks. Rarely filled. If it weren’t for this gosh darned Internet, I wouldn’t be writing at least 500 words a day and it is an online diary, sometimes disguised as a newspaper column, sometimes like a letter and sometimes like litter. And it is a discipline, to write everyday. I owe that to Bill and Lewis Lapham.

Plenty of people suggested doing what Lapham said that night in October 2005, but when he said it, it really rang true. Why did I listen to Lapham and not other people? Well other people suggest that I do things and since they’re generally bad and if physically possible, might involve hurting myself. Lapham never suggested fucking myself so his suggestion was heard quite loudly. Well that and the microphone feedback came across loud and somewhat clear.

I do enjoy writing especially when it’s easy. I guess I opted out on writing when I decided to write about writing rather than actually come up with something or reporting on my daily activities. But it goes to show how low key my day was. I did laundry, some grocery shopping , cleaned the bathroom a bit and read. That’s about it, stretched over eight hours. Where is the glamour?

I did watch Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts, and it was good. I feel the need to watch it again though, since I couldn’t get somethings in it. I was distracted a couple of times, so a repeat viewing could come in handy. It has a strange feel to it, but then again it is David Cronenberg. Weekend plans so far, Chaz’s holiday party tomorrow and Sunday, helping Bill clean out his old bedroom so the home health care attendant will have a room to live in.

Till tomorrow, Cheers!