Notes From The Flip Side: 08.18.2002
From The When It Rains, It Pours Desk.
It's getting late. The dog is sleeping on the bed behind me. I'm looking at the mostly empty closet where she kept her clothes. There's a stray sandal on the floor. Some boxes on the shelves. A pair of boots. She moved two loads out today. And she'll be gone Saturday. Just me and the dog after that.
Knowing that this is for the best doesn't make it any easier. We wanted different things out of life. And ending it amicably doesn't mean that these days are any less difficult.
The hard part of a lover moving out isn't the separation. That's comparatively easy. The hard is what happens after they leave. It's the absence. The blank spaces on walls where they took pictures down. The knick-knacks they take with them. The vacancy they leave in their wake. Suddenly there's all this room and everything I put on the shelves looks out of place. And I've never been much of one for interior decoration, so that just makes things worse.
While I know that this too shall pass, it doesn't make these days better. Normally, I'd bury my head in work. Right now, I don't have that luxury. Thus, I send out resume after resume. I stay up late and wake up early. I don't eat. I smoke too many cigarettes.
I'm spending a lot of time by myself these days. Solitude seems to agree with me.
Site Updates
An old co-worker of mine recently turned me on to an article by Dario Robleto called "I Love Everything Rock and Roll (Except the Music)." It reads like Raoul Vaneigem or Hakim Bey decided to apply situationism to music criticism. It is the single best piece of music writing I've read recently.
Now Playing:
The Band. Cadillac Blindside. Alkaline Trio. Elvis Costello. One Time Angels. American Steel. Pete Townshend. Bob Dylan. The Rocking Horse Winner. Roxy Music.
Just Finished:
DK Holland, ed., "Design Issues"; Peter Lamborn Wilson, "Pirate Utopias"
Now Reading:
Steven Heller, "Graphic Design History" (edited with Georgette Ballance); Rick Poynor, "Obey The Giant"; Gunnar Swanson, ed., "Graphic Design And Reading"; Italo Calvino, "t zero"; Greil Marcus, "The Old, Weird America"; Naomi Klein, "No Logo"