A MACHINE FOR LIVING
1) Who was it who said that a house is a machine for living? Le Corbusier? Meis? I think about that as I walk up and down the stairs here at the new Mango Pudding Blues world headquarters. My house is very beautiful.
2) And a computer is a machine for living also, and we at Mango Pudding Blues haven’t had one for weeks now, since it pooped out. Which is why you’ve had to look at that weeping tombstone picture for so long.
3) But it’s back now, fixed. New hard drive. And now I will try to tell you everything that has happened since the last time.
4) Mainly, we’re continuing to fight the forces of evil as embodied here on earth in the shape of our boss. The fight is exhausting and demoralizing, but it’s coming to an end. And we will not lose.
5) I started walking to work last week. It’s 34 minutes or so, and somehow it reconnected me with a portion of my soul that I had forgotten and reminded me of my immense capacity for joy.
6) And I wrote you a little poem about a tree while walking there yesterday morning. It goes a little something like this:
DuPont Tyvek house emerging
from construction
stately bare tall trees
bony fingers backlit dewdrop diamonds
condensed from November morning mist
7) I ate at Beckta, and it was dazzling. Killer took me. Ottawa readers take note.
8) My mid-term plan is to replace the computer with that new i-mac, which is a motherfucker. Have you seenthat thing? And now I want an electric guitar too, because the punk kid at the shop plugged his in and played it with wild effects through Apple’s Garage Band software, which is going to just kill me. No, I don’t play guitar. But I’ll learn. I’d like a good guitar that looks bad, with lots of scratches and dings. But I don’t wanna pay for it. Will one of you kindly procure one for me?
9) And I’m concerned because I’ll have to upgrade my stupid Photoshop and Illustrator to the new Adobe Creative Suite so they’ll work on the new computer, and I’ll have to learn InDesign, ’cause I ain’t upgrading my QuarkXPress too. I no longer really do any paying work on my home set-up, so I’m loath to pay these pro upgrade prices for pro tools. But I can’t live without them either, can I? So it’ll cost a fortune. A fortune.
