January 9, 2007

• i've been buying a lot of things lately.  new 80gb ipod; new counter stools for my dining area; hip new couch; new leather chair and ottoman; new monitor; new rug; new coffeetable; new razr; symphony tickets for this weekend.  it's been nice.  since i started work, i've just been letting money sit in my bank account, and haven't really spent much.  so part of it is catching up on the spending i haven't done the past few months and part of it is trying to cheer myself up.  part is boredom. 

  parts of my job having been annoying me lately.  i'm on a couple cases, and in this one case i feel like no one really respects my opinion.  i don't get much work delegated to me; when i do, someone else usually snaps it up anyway and says whatever i have to say, but before i can say it.  i have written a couple successful motions that we won, and that were basically unedited from my first drafts.  so it's not been a total loss, but i feel like i'm not contributing as much as i could.  and when you don't feel appreciated by one boss, but have another boss who's awesome, it motivates you to bust you ass for the second boss, while telling the former to fuck off.

  this weekend i didn't bill a single minute.  it was great.  i billed time every day in both novemeber and december.  not that i was miserable doing it.  but it was nice to have a little me time this weekend.  i shopped.  i read a couple novels.  and got through parts of some legal theory books.  and walked around hillcrest.  etc.

  i read this jonathan franzen novel strong motion.  i'm a big franzen fan, but this was a very early novel (early 90s), and it wasn't as good as the more recent stuff.  the plot is a little out there -- there's this tremendous earthquakes around boston, caused not be nature but by a big evil corporation.  and there's a crazy religious leader who's anti-abortion, whose followers are constantly demonstrating in front of clinics.  a main character with a hippie dad, uptight bitch of a mom, spoilt sister, and this girl he used to be in love with who rejected him but then comes back and begs him to be with her but can never really commit but it messes up his new relationship with this harvard seismologist who is researching the earthquakes. 

  first of all, aren't abortion protests so 1990?  i mean, i know they still happen.  and we still have screwball religious groups.  actually, i saw a pro-life protest a few blocks away from me last month, at some hospital.  but reading the novel was like taking a mini-journey back in time.  religious wackos have gone from protesting outside clinics to becoming far better organized politically, and shaping supreme court nominations.

  second, i think i've become a bit less philosophical, or at least less into appreciating fucked up characters for the fucked-upness.  louis, the main character, is kind of an ass sometimes.  and he hurts people around him for no reason.  like, RME.  don't be such a fucking drama queen.

  nevertheless, the book has some great moments, and i'm glad i read it.  i'm currently finishing up after this by alice mcdermott.  it's a spectacular book, very different from all of franzen.  you basically get these snapshots in a family's life over time, rather than the continuous, very plot driven narrative from franzen.  it's like, random days like any other day from their life.  but there's all these philsophical observations along the way, and you get a real sense of whatever everyone is feeling; how all the little things in life bring thoughts to your mind.  it's not completely random -- many snapshots are of significant events in their lives; the parents meeting; the birth of a child; etc.; but you get the sense that even though these events are special, it's still just another day.  it's a good novel, and i wonder if it will win any big awards in 2007.

  also, i read an intriguing essay by joseph brodsky about robert frost.  brodsky doesn't buy the popular image of frost as this pleasant cheerful guy who's into nature, and he makes a convincing case.  he takes two of frost's poems -- come in and home burial -- and goes through them line by line, explaining what's really going on.  it was a great read (brodsky's essay is entitled on grief and reason and is from 1994), and it prompted me to order a book of frost poems. 

  i have a book of t.s. eliot poems sitting on my dresser.  and some i've gone through and enjoyed -- i don't think i really get them, but i've tried my best to analyze them (rhapsody on a windy night, hysteria, and the hollow men are the ones i've spend time with and have actually gotten somewhere with) and it's a real struggle.  eliot may be brilliant, and maybe i'll appreciate him more later in life (i want to), but i feel like he's a little too in your face with how smart he is.  frost's poetry harks back to dante a lot, just like eliot, but you don't need to know dante ever lived to appreciate frost, whereas i feel like the same can't be said for eliot. 

  on a lighter note, i've been downloading a lot of new music with words lately.  i really like the justin timberlake album -- had that going for a few hours in my office today.  i also saw last kiss on friday, which was excellent.  rachel bilson was wonderful.  it's a story about a bunch of people who are 30 and dealing with the reality of that.  there's no reason to be unhapy, yet they are.  i relate.  the soundtrack is good too, and that i downloaded it is what triggered me to mention i saw the movie.  also, downloaded some trendier recommendations from ptichforkmedia.com  Some of the stuff they recommend is completely outthere bullshit, and some stuff they totally bag on I enjoy (read: The Killers album), but it's got some suggestions at least.

  and that's basically what's happening.

  • 1:49 am
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