the way we are

Welcome to the fondue party, everyone.

Well, I’ve been busy doing a bunch of things these past few weeks. I spent more than one evening too exhausted to do anything but lie down on the couch.

So I haven’t made any more macramé lately, but I’ll be getting back to it soon because I enjoy it and find it wondrously relaxing. And I love gazing at macramé wall-hangings. I decided not to list my pieces on Etsy, but they will be available via my website Renouveau 70. I’ll accept funds through Paypal and possibly Square as well, and money orders (old school right there).

The first issue of my journal-style zine if half finished.

I started doodling again, something I used to do constantly when I was a kid. There’s probably going to be some doodling and stuff in the zine too.

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This spring (the weather is finally showing signs of spring-like changes), I’m doing something I’ve had on my list for a few years: cleaning, sorting, and re-organizing the basement. I’ll be calling a junk company to cart away the dead furniture, dead electronics, and assorted crap very soon. The space will be in tip-top shape when I’m done.

I’ve done a book cull, too. Spring clearing.

The garden is another place I’ll devote more attention to this year; last year, it’s safe to say I ignored it altogether. I was too tired. But this year, I’m getting a small electric mower and I’ll do at least basic maintenance, nothing too elaborate. I’ll put the chairs out and sit back there again. Relax.

Basically, home life is my priority these days. I want to be home. I’m happy when I’m home. And that’s where I’ll be. Writing books. Twanging my ukulele again.

I’m hoping the peri-menopause shit will be over soon. I’m feeling better, it’s not as intense, but it’s still draining.

The 70s remain my mindset of choice. This is what I’m listening to right now:

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As I said before, I find the twenty-first century useful insofar as it facilitates my 70s lifestyle.

I got a fancier turntable and speakers a month or so ago, and holy fuck does it ever delight me. None of my records skip on that turntable. Little by little, I add more records to my collection. I love listening to vinyl. I still buy CDs (some music is easier to get on CD), but vinyl is pure love. Watching the needle slowly drop on the record, seeing the record spin: indescribable satisfaction. Streaming simply can’t compare.

And there’s something increasingly subversive about “owning” music, when a growing number of corporations want to sell streaming subscriptions and charge a monthly fee for, essentially, nothing. Next to nothing is what many (most?) artists are getting in return for their participation in this so-called great opportunity.

I’m really sick to death of this kind of shit.

In a similar vein, my upcoming books will be available in print form only. I’m aware that one of the popular trends these days is to offer free e-Books (especially true as far as independent publishing goes), but I refuse to do this.

I believe my work and I are worth something.

Remember the days when you’d order whatever in a catalogue, and you had to wait for the items to arrive, and then you opened the package they came in, and it was awesome? Even now, nobody orders virtual clothing. You order a shirt, you get a shirt, you put it on. Why should it be different for books? Why it is that literature, and movies and music, for that matter, have had to become entirely “convenient” and disposable to be “marketable”?

Anyway, that’s how I feel. When the fantastic magazine Car Toons was revived not long ago, I got a real subscription immediately. I wanted a real fucking magazine.

And speaking of shirts, my collection of vintage polyester shirts is expanding. This fills me with glee.

There will be photos at some point soon.

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See how joyous they look in my wardrobe:

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Yesterday, I got my hands on this beauty. It’s pale green, and has a darker green and peach bamboo plaid pattern. Classic.

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Then I got this phantasmagoric vintage King’s Road western style leisure jacket, because it was an extra small men’s size thirty-four, and what a glorious damn thing it is, I mean look at it.

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So yes, more photos on the horizon.

Tomorrow, I’ll be getting a little ink. It’s been a while. There will be a small hula girl in the empty spot on my right forearm. This is going to be excellent.

And speaking of hula girls, if you’ve read my book There’s a Hula Girl on my Dashboard, I’d be grateful if you wrote a short review on amazon.com. Even one or two lines would make a tremendous difference. I only need four more reviews, just four more, to reach forty reviews, at which point Amazon will start boosting my book (however that works). I’m hoping against hope that I can reach this number, you know, sometime before the year is over… This would be such a huge step forward for me. It’ll be the first time a book of mine gets forty reviews.

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In other news, I can’t stop watching The Nice Guys.

I’ve begun writing both Hit the Road and Severus Snape and the Art of Being Human. These are the books that will be published at some point in the coming months.

Other than all this, I’m taking care and living my life.

Say cheese.

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