Rapid Progress
August 20, 2008
I got a new job. I will be teaching business writing at the University of Rhode Island. It’s not what you’d call a full-time job, so I might have another new job soon, for a total of two jobs. Now I have a business writing textbook. Opening it at random, I read, “Shampoo frequently, keep hands and nails neatly manicured, use mouthwash and deodorant, and make regular trips to a hair stylist” (John V. Thill & Courtland L. Bovée, Excellence in Business Communication, Eighth Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, 60).
I use deodorant.
I think I am going to enjoy teaching business writing. I think for my first assignment I will have my students plan a punk rock show. They will have to write business letters to the venue and the fire marshal, and also to the punk rock band.
I also found a new place to live. It’s a small cottage in a field on a hill in West Kingston, Rhode Island. There are flowers and a swing and a pear tree, and a historic grist mill across the street. You can hear the river and so on. No doubt I will smoke a pipe and take up astronomy.
Also, my car broke down. I was driving along the freeway and suddenly the engine stopped. I drifted to the shoulder and called AAA. After twenty minutes a nice man showed up and towed me to a mechanic, and on the way told me all about how great Providence used to be. Now, he says, it isn’t any good at all. He’s probably right. I liked him. Are you supposed to tip tow truck drivers? I didn’t and then felt bad about it. Providence has gone to the dogs. But I don’t need to care much: I’m moving to a small cottage in West Kingston.
All of this happened today.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I was just in a car that stopped working for no good reason, except for the fact that it might potentially be possessed. My friend Will and I were driving through Atlanta, and the car just stopped working in a very sketchy part of town, with porn stores, strip clubs, and taquerias (which are not inherently sketchy, but there were). However, it was not a battery problem as trying to restart the car resulted in no noise, and trying to jump the car did not make it start.
Also, the air conditioning was running, even when the car was off and the keys were not in the ignition. This sounds like speculative fiction to me…
August 23rd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
also-I got Birkensnake yesterday and it is one of the more aesthetically pleasing hippie anarchist objects I own. I love “A Case Of Autonomy In A Duck Lady” and especially “dear stillness”, probably due in part to the fact that frighteningly enough, I see all kinds of places I know (literally), small weird things that have happened to me, and inside jokes that I have in a story written by someone I don’t know at all.
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Elizabeth Hall, author of “dear stillness,” is easily stalkable at
http://www.fireflyoffice.org/coquetry/
and I believe many people who have been directed to her site by birkensnake are already stalking her. (Sorry Elizabeth.)
If you like “A Case of Autotomy,” you might also try the novel Motorman, by the same author (David Ohle); it guaranteed him a place in Valhalla.
Glad you like it!
August 31st, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Can I come visit you in West Kingston in December?
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Of course you can come visit me. We can build a snowman and go sledding and all that crap. Always supposing I survive until December: Michelle thinks the well-water here might be poisonous.