There’s always something else to do. There’s a chore, an e-mail, or some sort of personal hygiene that takes precedence over writing. I make lists all day long, sometimes writing down items I’ve already taken care of simply so that I can feel like I’ve accomplished something. One of the items on one of these lists is this post. Actually, I’d forgotten about it until Mike sent out the group e-mail. And by the way, thank you Mike: without your update, I wouldn’t have remembered the list and thus wouldn’t have remembered that I needed to try Fresca again. It’s been over six years, and I still didn’t like it, but at least I got to cross it off the list.

I’m in the middle of a couple of transitions. It looked like I was going to be moving to San Francisco for a bit, but that dissolved. I just signed a year lease for a house in Saybrook, Ohio with a couple of friends from high school. They brew their own beer and they listen to bands like this, but I won’t hold that against them. One of them is deathly allergic to cats, so my little girl Basti is going to have to stay in Vermont. I’m considering jabbing him with allergy shots in the middle of the night. You may laugh, but I’m not joking.

I’ve been writing for a lot of music publications, though not getting paid enough to support myself. I’m in the process of finishing a couple of bigger pieces and then curtailing a lot of that work. I’ve got two part time gigs ghost writing, one for the ACT. I can’t talk about because of a non-disclosure agreement. There’s a community college here, actually it’s a branch of Kent State, at which I’m considering teaching. I’ll let you know what pans out.

Also I’m not involved with this, but I’d really like to be.

Besides all of the weird music I usually proffer, I’ve been on an eighties kick lately and listening to Uh Huh Her. I just finished reading The Tipping Point, a recommendation from a friend who’s into PR and Marketing. It’s got some really interesting ideas in it, though it made me even more paranoid about advertising. I still have to force myself to look at pictures in magazines. I’ve been learning guitar (besides tremolo picking power chords), and watching less T.V.–I’m hoping to cut the latter out by the end of the month. Oh yeah, and after a lot of soul searching, I’ve become a bearded, chain-smoking vegetarian.

I miss all of you in very specific, individual ways.

Love,
Nick