so we saved the world together for a while, and that was lovely
If i end up in hell, it's very likely that my job will be to answer the phone, "Good afternoon, thank you for calling Hell. This is Phil, how can I help you?" and then the other line hangs up. The phone never stops ringing, and I have to say that over and over again, only to end up with a dial tone on the other end. That's how work feels tonight.
I am in desperate need of a vacation, and thankfully, mine starts tomorrow.
Tonight I've been looking over the AWP Conference Schedule, drooling over panel descriptions like only a literary nerd could. The State of American Short Fiction. Mmmmmmm. I'm looking forward to meeting lots of authors like Charles Baxter, Dan Chaon (again), maybe Jon Irving, Joyce Carol Oates, and finally find out who Ha Jin is. I've heard a few people address him as our generation's best writer. Who the fuck is he?
And I'll probably get a lot of free magazines and spend too much money on books. Sitting through a couple dozen lectures about literature probably sounds awful to most people, but I think it's going to be pretty goddamn relaxing.
Catie and I will be staying a beautiful Doubletree in midtown, and will get to walk past the 30 Rock on our way to the Hilton. Perhaps we'll meet famous Hollywood celebrities like Tracy Jordan. Then on Thursday is the LOST premier, which we'll be watching with Hoboaken's Jordan Mollot. After that, we will drink to LOST. I've been prepping for the season premier by watching some old second season episodes. (ABC has all three seasons up on their website right now) I think I've decided that the second season is my favorite. You find out what's in the hatch. Then you gotta push the button every 108 minutes, so there's always this dramatic countdown and you know that sooner or later they won't be able to push the button, and no one knows what's going to happen. The confident, spiritual Locke of the first season has a major crisis of faith. Then there's Henry Gale playing mind games with the Losties, fueling the power struggle between Jack and Locke. If that's not enough, Eko and Ana Lucia join the cast and are both pretty awesome. The Others are out there doing who knows what. Michael is willing to do anything to get his kid back. Charlie goes off the deep end for a while. Everything just comes together really well in a way that season three didn't.
Um, anyways. ..... I'll also get to see Sara Basher and probably Kathryn Watson. Maybe even Sarah Gainer and Jackie Collier. Then on Saturday, Catie and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary, so we'll get to celebrate with a nice restaurant, and then I'll propose to her on the Empire State Building (I hope Catie doesn't read this thing). Then once we get back we can focus on all things Boston. Devin and Angie have been helping us out a lot, which is great.
Oh, and I haven't written in here in a while so let me say that I'm really excited to get my tax money back as soon as possible. And the tax rebate is going to be amazing too. Catie is already planning how to use it. "Basically, President Bush just bought me a puppy." Yes, Catie. That's what he wants. If you look at the chart you can see that previously, 70% of Americans thought the country was going in the wrong direction. Post-puppy rebate, all Americans were happy with everything.
And one last thing, one of the guests staying here is named Cynthia Martini. I'm pretty sure she is related to Tila Tequila.