Follow the Lighted Promenade

Saturday night, I took my dusty copy of Flaubert's Madame Bovary and rode the trains to the far north of Chicago, alone, to see the Handsome Family. There's something fitting in that - it's been so long since I've done something alone, and their music is so echoey and lonely and aching, that it added to the mood. I felt far from lonely, especially since I had a nice conversation with both members of the Handsome Family (about the story I sent them) and commingled with the fans (many of whom are loners like me) and talked with Patricia most of the way home. Tomorrow, it'll be six months with Patricia. I'm getting really tired of not being with her, but I'll see her Friday morning, and we'll make Seattle ours. The new Neil Young movie is opening there and we'll probably see that, and eat in several of the hundred or so vegetarian restaurants, and just wander around in the rain. Have I mentioned that she's awesome? Currently listening to the Ha

I am quite convinced that The Handsome Family may well be the best band in the world. And , I am going to see them on Saturday (at the Old Town School of Folk Music)... and , I just finished a story inspired by one of their songs, and I asked Rennie Sparks (of said Handsome Family) if she wanted to read it - and she said yes. So I shipped all 19,000 words of it to her. There's something draining in writing like I did on that story ("Don't Be Scared'). I wrote in ferocious bursts, and got deep down where the characters breathed and I could smell their skin. Sometimes writing is just like that, a Roman Candle, a spangling, glittery detonation, that leaves one spent, conscious of a peripheral darkness (increased awareness perhaps?). I'm almost done with Kon Tiki and can't believe how good that is. This world is such an achingly gorgeous place, though we shit all over it. She's indomitable, though. She'll be here long after all us humans blow each o

I can't believe I haven't linked this. My pal Randy made loner.blogspot.com T-shirts, and you can buy them here: Fight Maturity . And is anyone else looking at the sky - it's like the beginning of a story. :) My name is Daniel and I love clouds. (Hello Daniel).

I just started a book called Kon Tiki that Jeremy bought me more than a year ago for Christmas. I can't wait to raft along with Thor Heyerdalh and his men, across the wide, windy sweep of the Pacific. I've mentioned that one of the things I love most about winter is that it allows an expansion of thought, departures to the great other. Spring, Fall, and Summer are jealous seasons; they make you feel guilty for taking a nap, or for dreaming of other places, because they are so comfortable, so inviting, so accessibly beautiful. Winter...She is as beautiful as any season, but part of her beauty lies in her humility. Is there anything better than watching a snowfall, sipping tea, and dreaming of pluvial steam, and harbour cities? Winter is beautiful through juxtaposition, through afterimages, through longing. I've turned inward - but not in a bad way. I love the quiet house after school. I've had to cut down my time with friends (and I'm sorry - there's nothing at a