Charleston, South Carolina

“Summertime and the livin’s easy…”

Oh, sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.  Why don’t you take a seat in my office?

The Office.  Also known as the Badass Porch.  

Where the neighbors jealously find me… kinda all the time.

I suppose you are going to ask me how in the world I am entertaining myself.  Well, I have been quite busy.  Very, very busy.  You see, I have been doing a hell of a lot of reading, writing, and research (for the writing of course).

 

As to the reading, I just finished a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.  It’s about a man only slightly younger than I and fresh out of college.  Both of his parents succumb to cancer within the span of a year and he is forced to raise his seven year old brother.  Oh boy, does hilarity ensue!  (It really does; his humor is after my own heart.  My black, black heart.)  I’m also reading a book about Norse mythology since I spent a few hours the other night lost in Wikipedia after trying to recall the name of Odin’s spear (Gungnir, how do I forget these things?).  Kevin was kind enough to provide me with a book so I can avoid some future faux pas.  Finally, I’m reading a book about meditation called Wherever you go, There you are.  Seems exactly the sort of thing I would say.  I thought it was a travel memoir and would put me in the right mind for Africa.  Alas, it is not.  Damn title.  It does put me in the right mind for times spent in the study.  And by Odin’s beard, don’t worry Mother!  I’m not going to become a Buddhist.  For fear of Thor’s electrical wrath.

The Study: chair for reading/research, towel for nap… 

contemplating the soul of humanity, and iPod to listen to the Black Keys 

(because they are awesome… and possibly help me contemplate the soul of humanity?)

As to the writing, well I’ve never written this much in my life.  I’m filling little books recounting my whole damn existence.  Cradle to... now.  I’ve been pouring over the journals kept in Italy and transcribing them onto my laptop (over 20,000 words so far on Italy alone) and going through the ridiculous number of pictures I took to fill in the gaps.  Oh, and I suppose occasionally trying to entertain you with this blog.  Such mooches; living vicariously through the glory that is me.

As to the research… well I suppose you could call going through old journals, emails, and pictures research.  As I only ever really write about my own life (and possibly yours; it was an implicit agreement), technically anything I do can be classified as “research”.  I find most of my best research seems to be found at the tail end of bottles.  I am not entirely sure why that is, but rest assured, more testing to follow.