2001-08-07 10:53 a.m.
win a cookie!

"you haven't seen elephants, kings or Peru..."

I've started a new book, my first novel in some time (which is odd unto itself)..."The Baron in the Trees" by Calvino. Dan had a feeling this novel would poke me sharply in some places I've already been feeling, and I think he's right.

It's about a young nobleboy who loses his taste for noble life and takes to the trees, taking the branches and limbs as his domain, which extend throughout the earth. I'm only thirty pages in, but a girl in another family's garden has already tested his convictions � teasing, cajoling, trying to lure him down to slavery from his lofty domain.

being a writer...living in one's own imagination, refuting the idea that a world has to be constructed any particular way other than one that sets your mind aflame and makes you laugh for its charm. That's how life in the trees seems, a metaphorical representation of how I see my mind's eye...but also a literal representation of how I'd like to be living my life...no borders.

"fireworks burning in the sky...just for you...I can feel it..."

Cosimo (from the aforementioned book), Jaeger from Finder...these are the totems, spirit guides in my mind lately. I don't understand how so many people can waste their time on meaningless jobs, tasks that feed them financially, but leave them personally empty.

For example: I was on the N train heading home last night, and there were several families in my car who were coming home from a Ms. Teen America Pageant.

yeah, I know...you're saying, "WHAAAAAT?"

(the girl I was closest to's sister was astonishingly attractive, a real Brooklyn beauty, but I digress.)

so there were several contestants and their families on the train, heading home, and the one closest to me had won Ms. Personality, but only got 2nd place overall. I asked her what one does for these competitions, and she told me that it's an interview process, a speech, and formalwear. Apparently, she blamed her loss on her father, because he told her to say that her favorite color was pink.

I asked her sister what the point of it was...scholarship? money? prestige?

She said, "mainly the title. Sometimes the winners take home scholarship money."

I can't wrap my brain around that. I can understand Mirai from Moldiver entering those often as a means of supporting herself (especially if she wins a lot). Like doing commercials...that I could justify. But just doing it to be seen and handed a trophy..."here, we approve of you over these other girls." Bizarre.

If anyone out there's got some ideas about this phenomenon, please tell me. I'll send you a cookie.>

left turn:

with this last layoff, the job market seems a wasteland. And I'd rather bein the forest right now. Maybe Thursday I will be. Write in the early morning, then head elsewhere. Go hiking. Wash my feet in running water I've never seen before.