now this is one meaty webpage. it might take me a while to sift through much of this weblog, so i had better place a link to it in the sidebar for easy access.
i wish my sandwich would get here. that’s something meaty i can’t just jump to any time i want. i have to wait for the subway guy to come and drop it off for me.
an uneventful evening last night — i stayed home and read and watched state and main while my roommates went out with dustin’s friend scott from colorado — and un uneventful morning — i got to work 15 minutes early and still haven’t done anything substantial — both mean that i haven’t much to say.
i did hear back from my friend lynn though, who lives in new york and who is a splendid person. and after hearing nothing for two months, that’s quite a big deal to me. so that makes me happy in a way that looking up information regarding the passing on of african american heritage for my boss never could, even if it’s the latter that needs attending in the employment-related capacity. why can’t i just be in my living room finishing my book right now?
because, brian, you have to earn it.
okay maybe you don’t care about this but i thought it was very funny. and it’s about blogging too. so here’s an excerpt from neil gaiman’s page (see sidebar for link) which is reprinted without permission but if someone objects they’re welcome to notify me.
Saturday, August 04, 2001
So I’m reading Entertainment Weekly this morning, after breakfast, in a lazy sort of way, trying to decide whether I’m going to spend my Saturday writing the first notes on a strange sort of collaborative tale I’ll be doing with Gene Wolfe, to be published at World Horror Con next year, or whether I’m going to read The Black House, the new King/Straub collaboration (as opposed to The Talisman, the old King/Straub collaboration), and I’m turning the pages the way one does at the back of EW, especially when one hits the music section (their tastes and mine usually failing to intersect) and I turn a page and notice a photo of Andy Dick and look up to the top left of the page and see a photo of Snoop Dogg, and stop to read the article, which is, it turns out, about blogging: keeping journals like this one.
And I’m in there, and they say some very nice things about this one (if you’re coming in late, we’re really at the tip of the tail here. Read the archives…). And finally, after reading the whole article, I notice there’s also a photo on the page, immediately under the picture of Andy Dick, that I had singularly and utterly failed to notice the first time, and it’s a photo of me.
Which left me really puzzled. I mean, I thought I’d be — at least to me, if not to the rest of the world — more recognisable than Andy Dick. Apparently not.
How odd.
what a fun guy. i wish i could hang out with him. i think that would be the best thing i’d ever done. and we could even go check out books at the LA library if he wanted, because now i have that awesome power.
in case you were worried, upon returning to the library after lunch, i was finally able to check out books with my shiny new LA public library card. to obtain said card, mr. wizard at the office here had to print me up a business card with this address on it so i had proof that the address on my card application was a valid one. so now i have a total of two business cards that say i am brian longtin, marketing assistant, at this company at this address. how exciting. for some reason my job seems more important today now that i have a card that says i’m a marketing assistant. it doesn’t even say intern. sadly though, i can’t “give you my card”, because i only have two and maybe i should send one of them to my parents to put up on the refrigerator with a magnet from pizza hut or something. since i’m moving up in the world and all.
i had to go to the library just now to get some books for my boss. i really don’t like libraries. it’s kind of strange, because i love books, but it’s true. it’s just the atmosphere of being at the library. it seems so unfriendly and cold. maybe it’s just me, but i just don’t like going to libraries at all. i do love bookstores though. barnes and noble is, despite its yuppie aura, a really great place to go i think. all that wood panelling and the little cafe… that’s what books should feel like. nice and warm and welcoming.
but anyway, i had never been to the LA library before. and even if i don’t like libraries in general, this one was really cool despite my disposition. it’s enormous and the layout is pretty neat, and it’s very beautiful. my favorite part though for sure, is the elevators. now that we’ve passed the age of card catalogs and everything’s in databases, there are all those cards that have gone to waste. only this library did something very cool with them, which is tile the walls of the elevators entirely with the old card, behind glass. it’s a really cool effect. and not only that, but on one side of the elevator there’s a window about a foot or two wide that shows through to the inside of the elevator shaft, which is also (at least around that side) completely covered with the old cards. what a great idea that was. it must have cost a lot of money to do, but i approve highly. truly neat. i wonder if any other libraries have done cool stuff like that with their cards.
oh, and after the trip, i couldn’t even check out any books. i only have my old illinois driver’s license so i had nothing with my current address on it. that means no library card, which of course means no books. so i have nothing to show for the trip besides being very very hungry. (growl). that’s my stomach.
oooh, goody, scott updated finally. i like his stuff, you should check him out.
a day of reading and lounging always feels good. and on top of that i just had some “deep dish apple pie” ice cream. doesn’t that sound strange? i agree, it does. maybe that’s why i was drawn to it at the grocery store. it’s cinammon flavored ice cream with little apple chunks, crust pieces, and some caramel swirls. it’s really very delicious. who would have thought, besides those inventive ice-cream scientists at dreamery. they make the best flavors of ice cream, hands down. good for them. and good for me. mmmm.
sadly i only have a few hours of weekend left to spend leisurely. but i will make the best of them, as well as i can.
and i got rubber cement at the store, just like i said i would. good for me.
this morning i rose to consciousness and heard talking and the shower going, and figured “dom and his friends must be getting ready to go out. since they’re using the bathroom i’ll just lay here a few minutes and wait for them to clear out before i get out of bed”. this was around ten, which seemed like just about the perfect time of the morning to get up. i must have dozed off though, because i started awake later, checked the clock, and it was 12:30. what happened? did i really need that much more sleep? or was my body just bored and figured it might as well stay sleeping? i wanted those extra two hours today. i’m sort of disappointed in my brain for letting this happen. i’m going to punish it by watching spyder games on mtv sometime today. ha, take that brain!
okay, i’m not cruel enough to do that to anyone, especially myself. i have important things to do today besides, like write this for example. and maybe buy some rubber cement. that would be useful. because i’m out of rubber cement. understand?
it’s two am. groundlings was fun but not as good as last time because it was only about 30% improv tonight. and it’s not as good as second city. and since there were no pictures of him anywhere on the hall of fame walls, i’m going to have to deduce that the david cross thing was just a myth. but i had a good time all the same, thanks for asking. and a good hot dog.
dominic’s friends are really great, but sadly they’re leaving tomorrow. well, today technically. i don’t know if it makes sense to say you’ll miss someone that you don’t really know at all, just hung out a little bit over a weekend, but i can say it was fun having them around.
and at least we get to keep dominic.
i’ve spent almost all day reading so far. it’s very rewarding, you know. you really ought to try it.
it’s pretty quiet around here today so far. dom and his friends went out for the afternoon. they found a strip club that serves a pizza buffet from noon to two. can you believe that? what a ridiculous combination. but they said it was too funny not to go, so they went, i’m assuming. unless they showed up and were told there was no buffet, which would be enough to send them back out the door. they really wanted that pizza. i’m anticipating an account of that experience when they get back. they have to come pick me up so i can go with them to dinner at pink’s hot dogs, a quick trip to the observatory to see the city lights from above, and back down the hill for a 10 o clock show at the groundlings. i’m really looking forward to that last part especially. soooooo funny. someone told me david cross from mr. show, whom i think is totally hilarious, is a groundlings alum. that’s pretty cool, maybe he’ll be there then. (impeccable logic, brian).
i’m feeling sort of restless and romantic now from reading about such sweet things, and i have utterly no way to relieve that sort of emotional tension right now. blast it all. this is the sort of thing only rock and roll and maybe playstation can help to subside. it’s too bad that’s what it comes down to, but it’ll have to do for this afternoon. hot dogs and improv might help too, so at least i’ve got the right sort of evening planned.
why is it so difficult to wrap things up gracefully? i never know what a good last thing to say is. good bye just doesn’t quite serve my purposes. maybe it’s because the truth of the matter is, i’m still gonna be around afterward. so why even say good bye at all?
i just watched the director commentary for best in show, and it was a little disappointing. for two people that are so funny on film, they really didn’t have much to say. but i guess they’re probably so good at improvising because they’re not so comfortable being themselves. that’s just a theory.
somehow my posts for earlier today aren’t showing up on the page right now, which i don’t understand, but i’m hoping everything will right itself soon. and i’m hoping to polish off a decent chunk of my book right now, so if you’ll excuse me, i’ll be off.