monday february 26 2001 | 7:51 p.m.
why is it that people from my past, high school and earlier, are beginning to crop up out of nowhere, now, when i'm about to graduate from college? my friend from elementary school e-mailed me before break. the kid from high school who moved home to israel in 10th grade. george b_, of all people, about guided by voices and life in general. the peripheries, but four years later and much-removed. it's interesting. jenny's been floating around washington state for a decade. eyal was in the army, traveled around. george graduated last year and is somewhere out in rural georgia, writing a book, he says, on american small-town politics and religion. who knew?
the good-streak still lasts. [knocking on processed varnished wood.] yesterday li and her husband dongfang invited jules and me over for dinner. i can't spell any of the names of the food they made us, but lord knows it was a treat for the senses. dongfang made bits of sweet potato glazed in a kind of caramelized sugar, which is gooey and sticky and leaves strings of sugar when you pick it up, and is one of the most delicious things i've ever tasted. and there were vegetables with tofu, dumplings, fish-flavored pork (none of the fish and all of the flavor, baby), jasmine tea. . . maybe if julie will stuff me in one of her suitcases, i'll go with her to china this summer. i could always teach english in exchange for jiaoze (?). (hee hee.)
and then suddenly in true random, chrislike fashion, chris appeared out of the blue walking down the street by li's house. we called him over and brought him inside, and stonyboy had plenty of post-dinner sugary sweet potatoes. funny things. only at kenyon. (you know, this dland is a better endorsement than the whole 100% senior publicity campaign. really. i shouldn't have to donate any money at this point.)
more good things. this afternoon i met with my comps advisor, who was extremely cool, and is actually excited about my comps (maybe it's time i started getting excited about them, too; or at least got cracking on them). she mentioned distinction and told me i should send off my translations to literary journals, and that she'd find me some names and addresses. needless to say i'm feeling a lot better about the poems than i have been all semester. which doesn't mean that i don't need to do some serious revisions, because i do. but yeah, it does look like i'm going to graduate. whew. i wasn't sure i could motivate for a while.
after class daniel and elizabeth and i hung out outside the bookstore, since it was again sunny and relatively warm. natalie and hammy joined soon thereafter. we stayed out there two hours, talking and smoking and eating chocolate easter eggs, until it started getting colder. nice relaxed afternoon.
if anyone can name five songs covered by the pixies throughout their career, please let me know. i'll tell you why. and i'll even give you two right now: "heaven" by peter ivers and "head on" by the jesus and mary chain. three more. . .
o rock critics of yore, where have you gone? where are the jim greers and robert christgaus of the early 90s? how has the fine art of rock criticism been reduced to this? cynical pompous blather? where have the grit and the gusto and the smarts and the know-how gone? is magnet magazine out of business? why are there no more copies in the bookstore? maybe it's time to go back to maximumrocknroll? or has that become jaded too? blah. pardon me for being frustrated. but these are still good, mainly unbiased, and not just because of carey and daniel. honest. although i have to say that i pick my friends well.
i'm happy to be able to say that 40 oz. to freedom still sounds as good now as it did the first day. if not better.
let's talk about the psychosomatic for a minute. i've noticed that every time i wear my brown pants i go on these guitar-playing binges. and i get in sulky why-have-we-not-bought-the-van-and-booked-the-shows-or-even-started-a-band-yet moods. i'm wearing the brown pants today. i'm smoking cigarettes to settle my hands. this chinese film paper needs to get done.
i might overuse articles, but that's cos they're useful, dammit.
are you going to be in florida march 5 & 6? want to go see gbv with me? i need a ride. and leo, i can't find your e-mail address. (this will now double as my own personal message board.)
oh oh oh dancing with myself
well there's nothing to lose
and there's nothing to prove
and i'm dancing with myself
oh oh oh oh
