Monday, July 12, 2004
Question and Answer - Volume Two
And so we return to the ever-popular twice-yearly feature.
So no more visits to the plasma clinic?
Unfortunately, no. I really did intend to return after I got my job in February. It was one of the few practices I disliked just as much as I enjoyed. Strange, I know. Just as much as I liked BS-ing with people who I'd never see again, I disliked the prospect of feinting; that drained feeling, getting home. And while I never did feint there, the last four or five of my visits didn't go well; it would take me much longer to fill up my container. Then there was that incident with the bleeding afterward. Plus I had to get up so damn early to make it there. So, yes, my clinic adventures seem over.
Your wife is so cool for how she handled your neighbor. / Your neighbor's a complete bitch. / I have an idea for what you should do to your neighbor . . .
Agreed. As I was telling my tenant yesterday, we never intended to be fence people. We didn't grow up, thinking, "Wow, I really can't wait to fence out whoever I'll live next to." But this fence was easily the best $1,202.00 I have ever spent. The tenants noticed the difference too. Apparently Angie will still say 'hi' to them, but it will be a muted, ashamed 'hi'. Ah, yes, the shame of being fenced-out. Am I basking? Oh, yes. I bask.
Why don't you post about going to the women's college anymore?
Ah, sweet revenge! And here I was, basking. I get this question all the time, and I gotta say it's the worst one to answer. I don't go to the women's college anymore. I'm not going to be a teacher anymore.
You know how some teachers talk all passionately about how they were "born/meant" to be a teacher? Not me. To be sure -- I'd love to teach. But around January, a great temp job I was to start fell out, thus screwing my schedule up and screwing our financial situation. I just didn't want the tension anymore. It's so much easier bringing home money every week.
The other great thing about this job is that I can go to it and leave it. I don't bring it home with me. With teaching, I know I wouldn't be able to write. There's just no way, with all that lesson-planning. Right now I have until 3:30 pm every day to run, write, whatever. The funny thing about it, though is that everybody at my job acts like they hate the job, that it's just something temporary until they start doing what they really want to do. And the whole time I sit there listening to them, thinking how it's not so bad to me, and that as long as I can have those hours before 3:30 pm . . . why would I go anywhere?
I don't get your poem entitled "XXXXX"
Sorry. I never claimed to be a good poet. It's just something I do in between books. It's a nice short endeavor to keep me fresh. My poetry is very far from what is popularly published today. It's a pretty good indication of what I like to write, but it's very narrow. Really, all my poems try to do is capture a complicated moment. Usually. It's not something to try and "get".
Your links aren't very interesting. / What's the logic of your links? / Who's Big Stupid Tommy?
Send me some better links. The links are there for when my post sucks. You're supposed to just stop reading, turn to the right-hand column, and find something else to scratch your itch. I don't know who Big Stupid Tommy is, but he's pretty damn cool; I found his site one day and added it. Matt Miller interests me because he comes from the left but is willing to find a center. FARK and How Stuff Works are full of great stuff. Running-Log is really just for the convenience of some of my readers. I'll try and find more links.
Do you have more than three readers now? You never mention that anymore.
Yeah, I know. I lost a reader in February, but picked up several more along the way, so I've lost count . . . but really, the joke got old.
Got any more Gmail invitations?
More than I know what to do with at this point. Let me know and it's yours.
I think this site has jumped the shark.
You may be right. I only wonder what that says about you.
You seem very angry / naive, politically.
We've got a system in which there are only ever two choices, two ways of doing things. And I'm supposed to be satisfied with that?
Did you really send that letter to Spin?
Yes.
Will you put comments on your site?
I still don't see the point. Sorry. Hey, at least I have email now.
I've never heard someone comment about Milwaukee like you do.
I don't know if that's a positive or negative statement, but I think I know what you mean. When I was in school here, adding an English major to my degree, there was this guy who had a really positive attitude about what it was like to live and write in this city, and I think he was onto something. City life is not just New York. At some level, a writer ought to look at his or her city as a unique conglomerate -- its divided people, its history, its geography. So many people here talk about how they want to be somewhere else, and they don't see all that they have right in front of them.
How's the new book coming?
It's proving to me all the time that this is the best project for me right now. Page 13.
Thanks for the feedback.
So no more visits to the plasma clinic?
Unfortunately, no. I really did intend to return after I got my job in February. It was one of the few practices I disliked just as much as I enjoyed. Strange, I know. Just as much as I liked BS-ing with people who I'd never see again, I disliked the prospect of feinting; that drained feeling, getting home. And while I never did feint there, the last four or five of my visits didn't go well; it would take me much longer to fill up my container. Then there was that incident with the bleeding afterward. Plus I had to get up so damn early to make it there. So, yes, my clinic adventures seem over.
Your wife is so cool for how she handled your neighbor. / Your neighbor's a complete bitch. / I have an idea for what you should do to your neighbor . . .
Agreed. As I was telling my tenant yesterday, we never intended to be fence people. We didn't grow up, thinking, "Wow, I really can't wait to fence out whoever I'll live next to." But this fence was easily the best $1,202.00 I have ever spent. The tenants noticed the difference too. Apparently Angie will still say 'hi' to them, but it will be a muted, ashamed 'hi'. Ah, yes, the shame of being fenced-out. Am I basking? Oh, yes. I bask.
Why don't you post about going to the women's college anymore?
Ah, sweet revenge! And here I was, basking. I get this question all the time, and I gotta say it's the worst one to answer. I don't go to the women's college anymore. I'm not going to be a teacher anymore.
You know how some teachers talk all passionately about how they were "born/meant" to be a teacher? Not me. To be sure -- I'd love to teach. But around January, a great temp job I was to start fell out, thus screwing my schedule up and screwing our financial situation. I just didn't want the tension anymore. It's so much easier bringing home money every week.
The other great thing about this job is that I can go to it and leave it. I don't bring it home with me. With teaching, I know I wouldn't be able to write. There's just no way, with all that lesson-planning. Right now I have until 3:30 pm every day to run, write, whatever. The funny thing about it, though is that everybody at my job acts like they hate the job, that it's just something temporary until they start doing what they really want to do. And the whole time I sit there listening to them, thinking how it's not so bad to me, and that as long as I can have those hours before 3:30 pm . . . why would I go anywhere?
I don't get your poem entitled "XXXXX"
Sorry. I never claimed to be a good poet. It's just something I do in between books. It's a nice short endeavor to keep me fresh. My poetry is very far from what is popularly published today. It's a pretty good indication of what I like to write, but it's very narrow. Really, all my poems try to do is capture a complicated moment. Usually. It's not something to try and "get".
Your links aren't very interesting. / What's the logic of your links? / Who's Big Stupid Tommy?
Send me some better links. The links are there for when my post sucks. You're supposed to just stop reading, turn to the right-hand column, and find something else to scratch your itch. I don't know who Big Stupid Tommy is, but he's pretty damn cool; I found his site one day and added it. Matt Miller interests me because he comes from the left but is willing to find a center. FARK and How Stuff Works are full of great stuff. Running-Log is really just for the convenience of some of my readers. I'll try and find more links.
Do you have more than three readers now? You never mention that anymore.
Yeah, I know. I lost a reader in February, but picked up several more along the way, so I've lost count . . . but really, the joke got old.
Got any more Gmail invitations?
More than I know what to do with at this point. Let me know and it's yours.
I think this site has jumped the shark.
You may be right. I only wonder what that says about you.
You seem very angry / naive, politically.
We've got a system in which there are only ever two choices, two ways of doing things. And I'm supposed to be satisfied with that?
Did you really send that letter to Spin?
Yes.
Will you put comments on your site?
I still don't see the point. Sorry. Hey, at least I have email now.
I've never heard someone comment about Milwaukee like you do.
I don't know if that's a positive or negative statement, but I think I know what you mean. When I was in school here, adding an English major to my degree, there was this guy who had a really positive attitude about what it was like to live and write in this city, and I think he was onto something. City life is not just New York. At some level, a writer ought to look at his or her city as a unique conglomerate -- its divided people, its history, its geography. So many people here talk about how they want to be somewhere else, and they don't see all that they have right in front of them.
How's the new book coming?
It's proving to me all the time that this is the best project for me right now. Page 13.
Thanks for the feedback.
