2003-02-03 3:15 p.m.
dissonance becomes harmony

I think I know how JMS feels day-to-day, writing cross-mediums. I feel like three voices are shouting in my head for processing time in my brain..."read this!" "work on your notes!" "HERE'S where souls go when they die!" "Unnnnnnnnnnderworld Underpants!" (JMS writes in two mediums at the moment, Jeremiah for TV (Showtime), Amazing Spider-Man, the forthcoming Supreme Power and Dr. Strange, and Rising Stars for comics.)

It's a little maddening and a lotta funny.

It also feels good to even have so much to work on that I'm stressing a little about it, stressing in that great way that tells me the mental cobwebs are getting swept aside again. (One column due ASAP, one comic script due by 3/1, one first-draft play due by 4/1...no problem!)

Which is why a little weekend-long self-indulgence never hurts. L and her roommate held the stepsister of all housewarming parties (30+ people in a 2BR), and we cooked like fiends. I made a big batch of the best dish ever and a bowl of guacamole the size of your head, while L cooked up enough for an army regiment, including a red velvet cake.

And I spent a fair amount of the weekend blowing zerberts on her belly and getting lost in her smile.

She brings out all kinds of words and urges in me. Three words in particular that I don't know if either of us are ready for. Bike-riding in early spring. Travelling the world on a shoestring and laughing all the way. Sweating and wearing shorts as I walk across an ancient Greek stage, smiling up at her in the audience, but then busting out into "At My Most Beautiful," just to test the acoustics. (I don't think I've performed for that large a house since 10th grade.) Getting lost in small Southern towns, and waking up the next morning to biscuits and jam. Watching her sleep. (For not getting any sleep myself, it's pretty restful.)

I'm out in space, feeling myself come full circle and watching that last point slip off-course into the horizon, like I'm using the circle's orbit as a slingshot, and I'm ready for that jolt of speed as I shoot off into the sun.