compulsive

I would like to be obsessive but I am far, far too lazy. I am battling this, however. Even now. Look how late it is in my time zone. I have to be out west at 9 am tomorrow. That is much less sleep than I am accustomed to. I am spending more hours awake and thus doing more. At this fertile time in my life more is more. I did take a nap earlier so that was a couple hours out of my "doing" time but I am making up for that right now by doing so much I can hardly stand it. I am researching for an album review that I have not yet received the green light for but I don't need to be told when to do and how anymore. I am just up and away. I am doing. I am go. I am awake and it is midnight and I feel terrific. A sleeping cat in my arms and I can still type away. I have it all under control. Battling that laziness never felt more like accomplishment. I am making lists and following through. I suddenly feel a real jolt of the importance of what I am doing. Perhaps my first notion was hasty. I am on fire.

I am going to bed to be with my wife.

brandonpiercegeary

no excess

I found this story on the "New Voices" portion of Granta.com. Please read it. It is short and very fascinating. I remember in college attempting to write a story from the second person and becoming so entirely befuddled at how to make it sound natural that I recall crying for days. The young writer of the story I linked to not only beautifully used the second person but seamlessly intertwined it with a first person that does not break up the flow or seem like a cop-out. I am jealous and intrigued. Also I love the brevity of each thought. There is no excess and in that way it gains a true poetic voice. It reminded me of the first twenty minutes of the new Pixar movie, UP, in how it gently and reverently guides you through a couple simple, romantic lives without belaboring anything yet skimping on nothing.

I am truly, truly inspired by this story. I want to write like that. Ever since college I have been so enamoured by authors who can write volumes by writing a few perfect paragraphs. I wish to live my life in that manner as well. Full and simple.

brandonpiercegeary

adaptation

A great discouragement caught me off guard yesterday. I was having a terribly difficult time playing a song I have been writing for a couple weeks now. A truly terrible time. Well, it was fine at the outset but within a shockingly short amount of time my fingers became overwhelmed and I could scarcely play a chord. Acoustic guitar playing wears out my fingers and my mind because I am so used to playing bass without doing much thinking and I have to concentrate so intently on the guitar when I play. My fingers became forlorn and exhausted. They huffed and puffed their way through the song and then crawled into my palms to make comfortable little fists. Then they proceeded to bash my unsuspecting face in. My body parts tend to revolt against me when I push them to their limits. Tis' sad that my fingers limits are so slight when it comes to guitar plucking.

This is a challenge and I won't shy away.

Also, my wife is quite ill. She has a bad case of strep throat. I have been able to look at her swollen tonsils twice already. They look quite interesting. A bit like tiny brains or the top of a human baby's head as it is crowning when being birthed. But Melissa's tonsils are endlessly cute. hmmmm. I love caring for her in this way.

peace
brandon
pierce
geary