I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

March 12, 2013 - 1:07 p.m.

I just wrote 1,000 words in less than an hour

I'm not sure what I'm going to write today but that won't stop me from writing. That might be part of what I end up writing about. On Mondays I have therapy and that becomes the centerpiece of my day. It was a stress free session which might mean it wasn't helpful. My creative juices were flowing yesterday so I spent the talking about songwriting,, writing in general, and the artistic process. Mylast entry just spilled out of my head onto the electrons. Writing was easy. And that again might be what I end up writing about. I find it hard to resist self-reference. What got me going on the topic is that I wrote a substantial amount of a song yesterday. It is the one that I mentioned in yesterday's entry, "You Looked So Linda Ronstadt." I got the melody back and started writing. When I figured out who I would like to perform it, almost wrote itself. It is really looking like that's what I�m going to write about. So I didn't discuss many of my issues but rejoiced in being the conduit of the artistic demiurge.

It's always an important food day too. My therapy food was Stand 4. I always call it Stand because that is what one of the signs says. The other says Stand 4. Ethan, Jake, and Eric aka Pesky J. Nixon ate there on Tuesday, talked about it, and that made me go back. This time I had their special burger and didn't like it as much as their regular one. I was going to get the toasted marshmallow shake but it was too hard to turn down the chocolate peanut butter cup. Next week I might just go there for the shake and try the toasted marshmallow. It is way too expensive to eat there regularly.

I have been using my NERFA bag every day since I got it. I love on shoulder backpacks. The design was great. The problem was that it was made shoddily. As I was leaving therapy the water bottle holder gave up the ghost. As that is one of the most important reason I carry a bag and all the zippers have been breaking I decided to get a new one. The Bag Shop is right around the corner from my therapist so I went there. I have never bought a decent bag and decided to try one. I tried all the mono-straps and the one that best fit my needs was the second cheapest. The cheapest one had a ridiculous design. The point of a monostrap bag is that you can swing it around front and get things out of it without taking it off. On the cheap one, one of the pockets opened backward, the zipper was on the bottom so if you tried to get something everything would fall out of it,. How could the designer not see that? Why would anyone design something like that?

The difference between the one I bought and the better ones was largely in how many divisions were in the main bag. Mine has none. The expensive ones have lots of inside pockets. I like inside pockets so why didn't I buy one of those? None of them had pen slots. I'm a teacher. I always want a pen within easy reach that I don't have to search for. So far I'm happy with the bag. I transferred everything from my old bag in the store and threw the old one out. Now I won't confuse my bag with all the NERFA bags most places I go to.

I didn't know what I was going to write about and I already have 620 words. That's typical. I rarely struggle to find things to write about. I pretty much don't get writer's block. I can get lazy or have anxiety and not write but it's never because I can't write. When I sat down to write the song it flowed. Yes it isn't finished. There are many missing verses but the basic plan for the song is there and most of the key lyrics. Once I get started I don't search for inspiration, it finds me. I'm not saying I'm a good writer, I'm saying that I find it easy. That's how I can write 300,000 or so words a year here. It's why I want to write songs. Melodies just come to me. I just have to have the discipline to record them before I forget them. I do sometimes have trouble getting the lyrics to the melody but that is mostly because I struggle to remember the melody. I can write parodies when I base it on a song I know well.

I digressed from my songwriting when I came up with an idea for a musical that I like. It feeds on self reference so it amuses me if no one else.

I pretty much need a collaborator if I write a song because without a keyboard I can't figure out the notes and even with one I have trouble with note duration. If I think about whether it's a half note or a dotted quarter note I'll simply lose the melody in my head. I struggle with that. That is actually the inspiration for the musical. But I can't give that away or somebody might steal it. I'd actually be incredibly flattered if somebody did. Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.

Oh one more things, something I've been meaning to write about since the semester started. This fall the school's food service switched from Dunkin' Donuts coffee to Starbucks. I prefer Dunkin' but I like Starbucks too so I wasn't too upset since they didn't raise the price. But this semester they did. I get a 30% or is that 33% discount since I'm faculty. I used to pay $1.21 for a large coffee. Now I pay $1.89. that's a huge increase, 56%. No way is Starbucks worth that much more. It's worse for the students, they only get a 10% discount. I'm outraged.

Glad I got that off my chest. I think of writing it every morning when I get my coffee.

Tonight's a big night at Rockwood. First from 7 to 9 there's On Your Radar with Bobtown, Carolyn Waters, and Jon Brooks at Rockwood 2. Then at 9:00 Jefferson Hamer is at Rockwood 1. Caitlin Canty is playing at 8 but I can't make that. Then the Amigos band is playing Rockwood 1 at 11. That's a bit late for me but I think I'm going to stick it out. I love those guys but I'll play it by ear.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile March 12, 2013
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