Happy Columbus Day

The final draft will be in the area of 34,000 words. Small. Novella sized and therefore probably doomed. But I cut a farkton of fluff, so there I am. Officially described as "absurdist" - since people need to know the "genre" - it's really... I don't know what it is...it's short. Out of all that stuff you may/may not have read in bits and pieces, it ends up being about a guy who gives up everything in life in order to save one hundred thousand dollars in cash. He's just a slug who works in a warehouse and is doing this on a basic paycheck living in a crummy neighborhood. And just when he's about to add the final bit of savings to his stash he realizes he's dying. So he's got to come up with his next move in that context, even though he has nothing, knows no one and just sits around drinking all night long because he's connected to no one and nothing. It's called THINK FAST, and the last (of about 6,000) rewrite should be firmed up this month, with query letters going out this November. So, here we go again.

The crazy thing here is that I don't want to work on that anymore because I already have the germ for the next one. This phenomenon, which occurs every time at this stage of the game no matter how much crap I write, always leads me to think that what I'm close to finishing is shit anyway and I should just go on to the next thing because that will be better. I have no idea why it's like that. When I'm working on something it's great and takes on a life of it's own and at moments it even writes itself, but when I'm done I have no interest or affection for it whatsoever. In fact I usually end up thinking it's total garbage. I don't think I've ever ended up liking anything I've ever written. Crazy...

MrsRW is off to Utica NY this morning where she will be for the next two weeks. I tried to cheer myself up by telling her it should be pretty there this time of year. Yes I said cheer myself up, what about it? When she does one of these two-week jobs and stays over for the weekend I have to especially guard against my normal process of personal deteriorization that I go through when that happens. Even if we're both busy with our own stuff in different parts of the house for hours it's always better when I know she's here. What can I say?

When the wife is out of town being a heavyweight consultant to places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and whatnot (and whatever this hospital in Utica is) I console myself with cooking experiments. The only thing I'm going to experiment with in the next two weeks is a better "take" on the mango-habanero chicken I made the other week. I didn't like it at all. I made it from fresh mangoes and actual habaneros and it was tasty - sorta - but not what I wanted. Too much like a sauce. So I'm going to start with mango salsa instead and have it be more like a topping than a marinade. If I think of it I'll let ya know how it turns out.

But mostly, lately, the experiments have wound down into a list of usual things I make for myself, like a list of dinner staples we all have. So during the next two weeks I'll probably do another chivito and some more cacio e pepe which I can't seem to get enough of and is ruining all I've accomplished, weight-wise, over the last couple of years. I know, it's very exciting around here when the Mrs is gone, ain't it?

Luckily I have my youngest daughter, Kelly, who comes over every Thursday to watch her "Project Runway" during which I usually pick the winner and loser fairly regularly. I always try to make something new for dinner when she comes over and she's a skinny little salad eater so this Thursday I'm making a walnut-apple salad. It is an entree-type vegetarian salad, meaning it has potatoes and I think cilantro and with some bread and wine it'll be the whole dinner. So there's that. I enjoy project Runway a lot more than I usually care to admit if only because, despite it's extravagant basis and practically irrelevant nature I do consider fashion design an art form equal to painting and writing and theater and etc. So kill me.

And, ya know, we're in the middle or nearing the end of the campaign season for the upcoming election. Oh hello. And I have hit that usual place wherein I can't stand anybody on any side of the issue. What is scaring me a little is that it feels like for the first time in my life I may end up voting completely straight Democrat if only to protest the "lowest common denominator" tactics of the Tea Party and the GOP which it is leading around by the nose. I have never in my entire life voted a straight ticket. So this little bit of anger and huge amount of contempt I am harboring for the mis-information, scare-tactics and general anti-intellectual caveman shit from the Know-Nothing luddites now in control of the GOP heart and mind may lead me to a personal first. I know... to some of my older friends that is probably shocking. But I am just that sick of it too.

But more importantly, what did I do to turn you off? Just asking.