Complaints and Reasons

I got two complaints, which are enough for me to address the tardiness of my latest post. I have just been fucking busy as all hell, and between finishing my script (yeah i do that stuff) and over saturating myself with things and information, I very easily loose track of expounding to others on adventures or information. It was sort of a resolution, if you will, that I would post more than I did before, broader with more detail and information, but I have neglected the site mainly because of my hectic schedule, but more because of when I have free time I am trying to fit in all kinds of things that I am no longer able to enjoy leisurely. Like books... right now I am reading 4 fucking books. Why four?

Reason #1. Don't start Proust's In Search of Lost Time.
I am currently 160 pages into a Swann's Way. One fact I omitted there was that I am also 3 months into the book. It's not that it's bad, or even hard to read, I would say the book is written rather beautifully, and although I should be used to an excessive use of commas and tangents, stringing various moments together, forgetting the point altogether, you find yourself 20 pages later brought back to an original thought, as in A Fan's Note, my all time favorite book ever, did. But so far all I have read about is Combray and some good night kisses and it's hard to get excited over. Yet it is supposed to be the one of the single greatest achievements in literature, I do recognize it's lyrical qualities but that doesn't mean it's an exciting book, at least not as of yet. The advent of reading six more of these books (I plan on reading one a year) is daunting to say the least.

Reason # 2 I keep leaving books in cabs.
Roughly a year ago, in the middle of reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, I left it in a cab after some sort of trip I took. I left Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates in Tucson when I was visiting Kate. Recently over the Holiday's I left The Studio by John Gregory Dunne, a book that I started reading during my period of malaise over A Swann's Way, which is about Paramount Studios in the late 1960's.

Reason #3 Try reading 775 pages of short stories.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, has to be one of my favorite writers, and I say this based on only two books that I have read by him. The obvious The Great Gatsby, which is truly deserving of it's reputation, and the stunning, nearly experimental Tender is the Night, which is such a strangely poignant book. I decided to pick up The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald and I am attempting to read a short story a day, which cuts into a lot of other reading I should be doing. I am reading short stories, namely his as he is probably in the most technical sense one of the more perfect writers to have lived, for adaptive reasons. See, short stories are great material. If juggling around 6 or so feature ideas and being nowhere near done with my second draft wasn't enough for me, I am looking for short stories to adapt, great Phil, keep your eye on the fucking ball for Christ sake. I also have a prejudice against short stories, finding them never as strong as their feature counter part (this goes for film too). Yet once I notice a bias, I then must explore if I have actual solid facts to back them up and this quote from the story "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" alone proves to me that I was wrong and that everything is worth exploring "At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide." I have actually done more highlighting in this short story book than I have done in any of my prior reading combined, so.

Reason # 4. Interesting Books without a narrative are easy to put down.
By far one of the most fascinating and interesting books I have read in awhile is An Underground Education by Richard Zacks. A book which explores the realities of many myths we are sold in our history books it is fascinating to no end. But there in no thread so I lose nothing by putting it down and coming back to later. Also each pages or so is a complete set of new information. If I take in so much at once, I am consuming without retaining which defeats the purpose for me.

Why the fuck am I bringing this up? Is this an excuse or reason? do I need to explain this to the two people who bother to ask where I have been? Maybe I didn't post out of a sick need to know that people cared enough to read what was on here, which might be subconsciously true, but truth be told, it was lack of time that was the factor. This doesn't mean there has been a lack of adventures, shucks no. Among them my constant carless struggles, my mini greyhound (oh i mean Crucero) bus ride to palm springs to meet my lady, The Parker, The Bear Pit BBQ (de lish us), Santa Anita Horse Track (best place ever by the way), First Friday's at The Natural History Museum (where you basically walk around drinking booze while looking at dinosaur bones and really dated aquatic dioramas), Bahooka Rib's and Grog (CRAZY Tiki "Family" Restaurant with about 200 aquariums and was a location for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), etc. etc. etc.

So I do have some post, I keep bringing up this 'Bowling Vernacular' post I have all the pics - I guess my issue is trying find to words to fit how I feel about it other than just save history as it runs a bit deeper and I am struggling to find a context to really get my point across so keep waiting for that. I also visited (drove by and took a picture of) every Frank Lloyd Wright house in Phoenix so I will post that a little later as I already have a lot of FLW stuff on here, let's see, I got tons of signs and architecture stuff still so that will never run out really. I also mentioned that I have some short stories which I am getting the balls to put on here soon enough, okay, I hope that clears some stuff up.