Month: August 2010

I took too long puttering around this morning and now I don’t have time to go to the library before heading downtown for a gallery guide training class down at the WTC Tribute Center. Now I need to rethink my whole day.

This training should be interesting. Originally I trained to be a tour guide for the WTC site, but I just didn’t enjoy being “on” like that. I also found teaching draining for the same reason. Some people thrive on that, I prefer to be in the background. (It’s why I love writing.)

I believe a gallery guide just has to stand around answering questions and I think I would love that. I would get to interact with visitors from all over the country and the world, but not in a performing way. In fact, in a more real and interactive way. I will report back!

So these are my $29.99 reading glasses. Yeah, probably not worth it but what the hell. What’s spent is spent.

I am not liking anything I’m writing today, so I’m stopping. It’s really pointless to continue because I can’t tell if what I’m doing is good or bad. There are probably other things I can do that are just as useful. And I’ll get right on them as soon as I think of what they are.

A rear window type shot from my roof. Except nobody was out there at the time. And they’d probably yell at me about all the pigeons if they were.

I’m thinking I may stop watching and reading the news except NPR and the BBC. I’m tired of seeing every story framed as a battle. Actually it was a blog post that prompted this wave of discouragement, so I will throw in certain blogs too. I’m tired of the ugliness, and the cynicism. I can’t take it anymore. Also, I was reading about Emmett Till again yesterday. He came up in a book I’m reading (The Time of Our Singing) and his story always makes me feel completely hopeless. Just show one fucking ounce of remorse Carolyn Bryant Donham!! For the love of God. I’d mention others but they are dead.

I want us to be better. And we are. On the one hand we have people like those 10 medical workers who were killed in Afghanistan, but on the other hand we have people like the ones who killed them.

I guess I need my two days off!!

Yes, I’m going to be inside all day but I hope to be able to walk home.

I’ve been working so hard on this one particular chapter. It’s about singing and death, and singing about death, with a little of the history of singing about death. It’s kinda a key chapter and it has to be stellar, so needless to say it hasn’t been easy.

This is a pretty little park right near me that I almost never use. I took this shot on my way to buying kitty litter. Lugging is my life. Even the checkout girl said, “Are you sure you can handle this,” when she was bagging the litter I bought to lug home. (Two ten pound bags.)

Oh! There was a new and positive review on Amazon for my book Unbelievable!! Every time a new review appears I feel instantly terrified. What if it’s bad? I’ve grown amazingly thin-skinned. So when it turns out to be nice it makes me that much more happier, so thank you new review person!! (Peter Saginaw, I just looked.)

When I came out of the door for my doctor’s appointment I walked into this. She looked very cute. But how do people wear boots in this heat?? It wasn’t just her, I see boots everywhere.

By the way, words you never want to hear after your mammogram: “See you next year … hopefully!”