Up for air again. I haven’t posted much of substance lately, and I’m not (really) about to start now. The editing gig I took on has hit that chunk on the exponential curve of increasing involvement where time for sleep begins to erode, where I stop even the minimal amount of tidying I try to remember to do, where I stop cooking or eating properly. This is not nice territory, but the gig is almost done, and the worst of it, I hope, is past.
More time for other things, then: too-long-deferred grading, working on drafts, edits, submissions, my column, maybe more than one outing a month. And three square meals a day, even. Six or seven hours of sleep.
A big help? Music. Lately, Maceo Parker — especially Life on Planet Groove — and The Prodigy’s Music for the Jilted Generation. Tremendous energy in both, the latter mechanized, the former more of the fleshly, booty-shaking kind. Goddamn Maceo, you make me wish I hadn’t sold off my alto sax to fund my move to Montreal years ago.
Lots of encouraging news on the writing side of things, but I have to be necessarily vague despite being chuffed, pleased, excited like mad: a story on hold someplace, a very positive rewrite request (fewer cusses, please!, which is minor as rewrite requests go) at another place… all kinds of goodness going on. Keep eyes peeled for more on the good news front soon.
Currently reading The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth Century Korea — the translation by JaHyun Kim Haboush. Because, yes, I’m writing about Sado Seja. Well, I’m trying to. We’ll see if I can manage 5,000 words (drafted, revised, proofread) in just under a month. That’s how long it is till the deadline I’m shooting for with that story.
Pass the Peas. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need — need — more Maceo Parker in your life. Saxophonic everythingness, baby. And damn, Kym Mazelle — woman got a voice on her. I’d forgotten that was who sang on that Soul II Soul song so long ago… back when I thought Courtney Pine’s Courtney Blows was the damn finest thing on earth! Damn… now I’m tripping on old Soul II Soul videos like this and this… and this (what is Soul II Soul?) and oh good grief this — the kids in the woods dancing, man! and singing in the chorus!
So there it is… work it out for yourself.
Be selective. Be objective.
Be an asset to the collective.
So you know you gotta get a life…
There’s a reason someone like Timberlake or Britney (or even I’m guessing, Beyonce) could never sing lyrics like that and pull it off. Maybe the 80s weren’t a complete wasteland. I mean, have you heard anything this outspokenly critical on the radio lately? Maybe just because they had The Reagans and Daddy Bushbucks to rail against… Well, hey, there’s the silver lining for the dark-clouded Korean political landscape today: maybe the arts scene will be picking up again sometime soon? More Uh Uh Boo Project Band and Hwang Sin Hae Band albums would be more than welcome. They would be crucial to the maintenance of sanity. Hmm.
Ramble, ramble. I think it’s time for me to say g’night. Just thought I’d pop up to say I’m still kicking, these days.