OH HAPPY DAY!!!

NOVEMBER 7, 2006 !!!!

land

i'm more than toying with the idea of buying some land. i found a piece of property near eastland, tx. 15 acres with a small cabin and a creek running through the property. unfortunately, it already has a contract on it. there was a nother piece of property on the same hill...29 acres, creek, but no cabin for roughly double the amount.

and then i found a 5 acre piece of land, rather flat, but the cabin is nicer and there's a work shed and horse stalls.

 we'll see. but, i think the property bug has bit hard enough this time.

heh

i suppose that my previous entry is pretty much a crock...as i've continued to neglect my blog. i've been doing quite a bit of traveling of late. mostly to the bay area. some events of the past few months:

 i reunited with an old high school friend, Cliff, and his family. cliff is crazy-talented at almost anything he touches. lately, he's taken up the banjo and can play the shit out of it. he feebly tried to show me a couple of things, but i'm a slower pupil than he.

 Cliff also introduced me to moleskines. you fellow english majors (and others) will appreciate these. i have spent years searching for the perfect notebook. i've known what i wanted: blank pages, flexible, and a small size. moleskine, unbeknownst to me, has been around forever...their watercolour notebooks used by  van gough, picasso, etc. they make a 5X7 "cahier" that is perfect. i highly, highly recommend them. you can pick up a pack of 3 for a reasonable amount at barnes and noble, borders, etc.

additionally, i just finished a great book..."Heat" by Bill Buford. It's part biography (Mario Batali of Food Network and NY Restaurant fame), part autobiography, and part introduction to the world of cooking...real cooking. it is very well written and has sent me on a quest to venture to italy.

 

i'm still here

no, i haven't forgotten about my blog...though, i have been a bit busy. let's see...highlights...went to london in may and then spent a great day and night in swindon and the outlying county (home to crop circles, druid ruins, etc.). this past weekend i saw edie brickell and the new bohemians play a reunion concert at club dada (where they more or less got their start back in the day)...and who should I see sitting up in the sound booth? none other than paul simon. i wanted to tell him how much i appreciated his work, especially graceland, but, i think he preferred to be left alone and listen to his wife. who could blame him. and, you know what? the entire crowd respected his wish. good for dallas and club dada.

san fran

i spent a few days in san francisco last week. i now understand why so many people love that city. it had escaped me prior to now. though my hotel was in the fisherman's wharf area (very touristy), north beach was just a short walk up columbus avenue.

the highlight of the trip was finally making it to city lights bookstore. city lights was founded in 1953 by lawrence ferlinghetti and peter martin, and served as the epicenter for the counterculture movements of the 50s and 60s...think kerouac and ginsberg.

 

my purchases were entirely too touristy, but what the hell? i wanted momentos. i purchased a copy of howl. and, since City Lights is also a publisher, i picked up a copy of "hello, i am special" and book about how rebellion has been sanctioned by society...which ties in somewhat to my view of the evils of marketing...the instant corruption of cool. unfortunately, while a good and interesting study, the book is in need of an editor.

in addition to the books, i purchased a t-shirt and a couple of postcards. i seldom gush...for instance, i would never fawn over sighting a movie star...but the emphasis in my previous statement is on the word seldom. i'd wanted to go to city lights for years. i actually told the clerk that being in city lights was "overwhelming". overwhelming? that wasn't the right word. it wasn't "overwhelming". it was a personal accomplishment to be certain. but overwhelming? of course not. he looked at me quickly, as if to dismiss the idiot before him. i mumbled something about city lights being a mecca for english majors, grabbed my black bag and walked out.