Friday, March 25, 2011 - Long Beach
A day off, sort of. I have to do some work on a few lectures, but it's pretty laid back stuff that shouldn't be too unpleasant. Other than that I think I'll go for a beach hike (the sun's shining today, against the weather people's dire prediction of lashing storms). Might work out with the weights as well. Feeling a little lazy, but the good kind of lazy. I've been up since about 8:30, but have been lying in bed reading for about an hour, the Palin diaries and my Lonely Planet book on Greece. I'm not in a hurry to do much of anything today, which is the best way to approach a day, I've found - because it means I'm going into things in a relaxed mood, if nothing else ...
On the subject of reading ... I decided to abandon The Sun Also Rises, as I've rediscovered the fact that Hemingway really bugs me. There is something of the phony in him; I can't escape the feeling that he's always playing a role, the Great Writer, the expat, the Great White Hunter, the sportsman, the man's man, whatever. Despite this, there is a lot of good stuff going on in his work, but I'm past the stage in my life where I'm willing to wade thru the bullshit to get to it. I also have just got to accept that I can't go back to writers I once explored deeply. When I seriously read an author I work my way down to the marrow; I really tear him/her up and suck out everything I can use. When I'm done there's nothing left there for me, not even nostalgia - I have to leave that writer behind completely. Because of this, some of my favorite writers, writers who really moved and influenced me - such as Henry Miller, D.H. Lawrence, Knut Hamsun, and Charles Bukowski - are dead to me now. Hemingway wasn't the influence that these other writers were, but I did read the hell out of him at one point - and so even with him I can't go home again. Plus, I'm just really sick of novels at the moment. I need to be reading other kinds of books ...
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One interesting thing is going on. My mom has decided to put her condo in Stanton up for sale and is looking for a house in Long Beach. She's tired of the drive here, which she makes continually, as she's always babysitting for my sister. It'll be a good move for her. We all hate her place in Stanton, as well as the town itself (it's a nasty, dirty, trafficy, crime-ridden hellhole). She'll have a lot more visitors once she settles here, and will be generally happier, I'm sure. From a selfish point of view, this might improve my relationship with her a well. Maybe if we see each other in a more casual way - where visiting isn't an event - our interactions will be less formal and pressured. A son can always dream ...
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