Epic
Long-term projects continue as I remain in isolation for semi-pandemic reasons. Sure, I'm vaccinated, but not everyone else is yet, and I also have nowhere to go and nothing to do and no extra money to spend while I remain on unemployment sooo...the endurance goes on. Projects include:
Cat
Kobb the kitty has healed beautifully from her dental surgery (six teeth had to be pulled because she's an older baby) and non-cancerous bump removal. We're finding her new favorite food together, and it is Purina (not other brands), pâté (not other soft foods like shreds or chunks), and poultry (beef is a C- to her and fish is suspect). She turns 11 years old this month!
Marathons
I tried to read the King James Bible as a teenager with my eyeballs, which I found too overwhelming when I kept hitting long strings of "X begat Y who begat Z," so I quit. The Bible, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Great Expectations are the only books I quit reading because they were taxing me too much in high school (I tried to read the Dante alongside the Bible-too similar, do not recommend). Now that I've discovered the joy of super-speed audiobooks however, I'm finishing all three, starting with the hardest: ye olde Holy Booky. I'll also do the Apocrypha after this, and other religions' texts, because if not now, when, am I right? When else am I going to be on Year Two of this strange sort of house arrest? It's not a faith thing, it's a compulsion thing, and I'm finding fun gems in the rubble like the phrase "uncircumcised lips" which scholars don't seem to understand, and that the lyrics from "Turn! Turn! Turn!" are actually mostly from the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Anyway, that specific King James was gay for George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and cited Jesus' extra special love for John for why it was okay, and no one else in his ugly-ass court could say boo about it (that's almost a direct quote). I would have gone with David and Jonathan maybe, or at least cited both, but whatever works to get those favorites in bed, judge not lest ye be judged, etc. Speaking of marathons, I'm also watching The Simpsons from the beginning, and Dallas the show since I live in Dallas the city, and other massive shows with 200+ and 300+ episodes. Time wastes me, I waste time right back, this is how I'm dealing with 2021.
Mother
It's Mother's Day weekend, and though she's been gone for over 15 years, I still think of my mother often, and not always fondly. There's a lot of unresolved garbage there that can't be dealt with through the grave. It's a strange balance to miss someone who-should she still be alive-could easily not have liked me at all. For a long time, grief only called up all the good times had and unhad, but after a while that dulls, and the bad memories bubble up too (the failures and cruelties and ignorance and abuse). Gotta stir that in with all the love and pity from previous phases of mourning, so that's also how it's going this year.
Epic
As I'm trying to cram every difficult piece of literature into my head before I'm employed again (Infinite Jest, anyone?), I realized that my Riot Son project is becoming a passable attempt at the mythic Next Great American Novel. I'm inserting a lot of historical context for a once-in-a-generation moment that the characters are falling in love during, and while it's not encyclopedic (no Ulysses), they don't have to be (The Great Gatsby). I'm not saying it'll ever be considered curriculum alongside those others, but it could, that's the trick, and academia isn't the sole arbiter anyway. Cleaner than On the Road, and gayer than all of them! Why not? To be submitted for consideration as soon as I finish it (I'm halfway there already, 50%), and secure an agent (which is in the works, process ongoing).
Cat
Kobb the kitty has healed beautifully from her dental surgery (six teeth had to be pulled because she's an older baby) and non-cancerous bump removal. We're finding her new favorite food together, and it is Purina (not other brands), pâté (not other soft foods like shreds or chunks), and poultry (beef is a C- to her and fish is suspect). She turns 11 years old this month!
Marathons
I tried to read the King James Bible as a teenager with my eyeballs, which I found too overwhelming when I kept hitting long strings of "X begat Y who begat Z," so I quit. The Bible, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Great Expectations are the only books I quit reading because they were taxing me too much in high school (I tried to read the Dante alongside the Bible-too similar, do not recommend). Now that I've discovered the joy of super-speed audiobooks however, I'm finishing all three, starting with the hardest: ye olde Holy Booky. I'll also do the Apocrypha after this, and other religions' texts, because if not now, when, am I right? When else am I going to be on Year Two of this strange sort of house arrest? It's not a faith thing, it's a compulsion thing, and I'm finding fun gems in the rubble like the phrase "uncircumcised lips" which scholars don't seem to understand, and that the lyrics from "Turn! Turn! Turn!" are actually mostly from the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Anyway, that specific King James was gay for George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and cited Jesus' extra special love for John for why it was okay, and no one else in his ugly-ass court could say boo about it (that's almost a direct quote). I would have gone with David and Jonathan maybe, or at least cited both, but whatever works to get those favorites in bed, judge not lest ye be judged, etc. Speaking of marathons, I'm also watching The Simpsons from the beginning, and Dallas the show since I live in Dallas the city, and other massive shows with 200+ and 300+ episodes. Time wastes me, I waste time right back, this is how I'm dealing with 2021.
Mother
It's Mother's Day weekend, and though she's been gone for over 15 years, I still think of my mother often, and not always fondly. There's a lot of unresolved garbage there that can't be dealt with through the grave. It's a strange balance to miss someone who-should she still be alive-could easily not have liked me at all. For a long time, grief only called up all the good times had and unhad, but after a while that dulls, and the bad memories bubble up too (the failures and cruelties and ignorance and abuse). Gotta stir that in with all the love and pity from previous phases of mourning, so that's also how it's going this year.
Epic
As I'm trying to cram every difficult piece of literature into my head before I'm employed again (Infinite Jest, anyone?), I realized that my Riot Son project is becoming a passable attempt at the mythic Next Great American Novel. I'm inserting a lot of historical context for a once-in-a-generation moment that the characters are falling in love during, and while it's not encyclopedic (no Ulysses), they don't have to be (The Great Gatsby). I'm not saying it'll ever be considered curriculum alongside those others, but it could, that's the trick, and academia isn't the sole arbiter anyway. Cleaner than On the Road, and gayer than all of them! Why not? To be submitted for consideration as soon as I finish it (I'm halfway there already, 50%), and secure an agent (which is in the works, process ongoing).