Bitching and Reading

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - Long Beach, CA

Exhausted. Too much work, not enough of anything else. I'm beginning to realize how important sleep is to one's health (my lack of consistent sleep is no doubt part of the reason my cold of over three weeks has gone on so long and a big part of why I feel so worn out in general - duh!). Nothing to do but trudge on, though - I've committed to this schedule and there's really no way I can get out of it. Things will soon be looking up a bit, though. Because the schools I teach at have different Spring Breaks I'll only be working part time for the following two weeks. This should improve my health and my mood (though I still have a lot of catch-up work to do during this time). After that I have six hellish weeks of non-stop teaching Once that's over, though, summer will be on the horizon, which means Greece and freedom. Thoughts of this trip should keep me going.

Been reading the first volume of Michael Palin's diaries (The Python Years) in my free moments. I'm really enjoying getting the low down on all the Monty Python behind-the-scenes stuff. John Cleese thus far is coming off as a kind of brilliant self-absorbed jerk who really has no clue that he's being a jerk (which is of course pretty much what self absorption is all about). Eric Idle comes off that way too, but to a lessor extent, and in a more flighty and poetic way. I must admit that Palin's diaries are inspiring me a bit when it comes to my own diary. It's really cool to see how day-to-day living comes alive in his work and times that are long past still have meaning in themselves, without having been twisted, turned, and generally reformed into art. At the moment I long to be freed from the tyranny of the structured story. Writing the first two Backwaters novels has burned me out on novel writing (and perhaps fiction in general) to an extent I'm only just beginning to realize ...

Watching Star Trek as I write this (the old ones with Kirk and Spock). Comfort food. Time for sleep - I have to get up for work in just a little over five hours.