2/6/18

feel less interested in blogging recently, because i've been working on a piece of writing that is getting longer and picking up momentum, albeit every so slightly

i was typing about the beach earlier, remembering the summer in 2016. i described what i'm working on to katie as "everything is just very lighthearted and damning. it’s a horror novel about regular life, with some supernatural elements." i have only 7000 words right now, but they're coming relatively easily and quickly

i've been drinking coffee. i feel very caffeinated and good. my eye has been twitching regularly for the past few days. there's a lot i want to get done today, but i showered yesterday so i don't have to worry about showering

at the food coop, they charged me for forty-three bottles of seltzer water instead of four. i need to address that in person at some point in the near future. also, they stopped carrying the tea tree oil variety of dr. bronner's castile soap. they have the eucalyptus variety in its place. i paged to ask about this over the loudspeaker, and someone replied that they decided to not have tea tree oil soap anymore because of this eucalyptus one. i googled it, and though the two are similar, eucalyptus oil has less powerful healing and anti-viral and other interesting and exciting properties, which first drew me to tea tree oil. sort of makes me feel bad for complaining here about how the soap doesn't smell as good as it used to, a few months back. i got used to the smell. the eucalyptus variety smells better, but it doesn't seem worth it, if it's not as good for your skin and general health. i'm a mad dog

i've been reading 'double down: reflections on gambling and loss' (1999) by frederick barthelme and steven barthelme. i like it a lot. i liked 'the brothers' (1993) by frederick barthelme more than 'painted desert' (1995). the two books have a lot of the same characters, but 'the brothers' is written in the third person, and 'painted desert' is written in the first person, narrated by the character del. that i didn't like 'painted desert' more struck me as strange, since i almost always prefer first person writing to third person writing, especially and specifically in frederick barthelme's work. i don't know. they're both good books. just something worth noting

upstate there were so many frederick barthelme books at used bookstores and thrift stores. i thought that meant people liked fredreick barthelme more upstate, but it actually might mean that people dislike frederick barthelme more upstate, and are more willing to get rid of his books. maybe people love frederick barthelme in new york city and are less inclined to want to give up his books to thrift- or used bookstores

anyway, i found a softcover copy of 'natural selection' (1991) and traded it to katie for her hardcover, first edition copy of the same title (we actually found that copy together, and split the cost, but, since we didn't cohabitate, and acknowledged that one of us would inevitably have to take full custody of the book, we flipped a coin for it, and katie won (calling heads, if i recall correctly)), because she prefers paperback books. we've had our problems, but it'd be hard to deny that's a nice complimentary quality we have between us. she'll take the paperback books, i'll take the hardcover. like somebody eating the pancakes and somebody else eating the bacon, though in that case neither of us eat meat, so it'd pose a different problem, unrelated to books

that said, i found four frederick barthelme books in thrift stores around the catskills, plus the novel 'why did i ever' (2001) by mary robison. then, i ordered three mary robison books ('oh!' (1981), 'an amatuer's guide to the night' (1983) and 'believe them' (1988)) off amazon, as there aren't any copies available for check out from the new york or brooklyn public libraries. this was on sunday that i ordered them. then, i started reading 'double down' on monday, which was yesterday, and mary robison is talked about in that book, as a friend and fellow gambler of the barthelme brothers. i really had no idea. it was a delightful coincidence, one that made me trust in life

(maybe it's worth mentioning that i already owned 'days' (1979), which is a book gordon lish published, supposedly not significantly changing the stories, which, it's been written, may have actually influenced some of the minimalist tendencies he later became famous for, rather than were influenced by the editor's formidable proclivities. rumor has it, though, that he did take a bigger role in editing robison's work for knopf, following 'days,' but i didn't order 'days' off amazon, because i already had two summers ago. i'd read it in fire island, traveling with zoe's mother under the pretense of talking about my own novel, which i'd then recently finished a first draft of and had had her look at to give me publishing and other career advice)

now i sort of have a stomachache from the coffee. conor's coming over later, and i want to accomplish a few more things before he does, so i'll focus on that now. goodbye

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