HOW LONG IT TAKES

Fumbling. Lurching. Everything takes forever. That’s a fact. And the doubts? Forget it. You’ll never escape the doubts. You just move forward or die. And that’s it. The pressure? The compression? The compression is what keeps you going. Too busy? Too busy is a filter that keeps you from having to do the crap you don’t need to do and the crap that you think you want to do but don’t really want to do. And that crap? You will never ever do that crap as long as you live. That crap is an illusion, my friend. That crap is a mirage. And if you ever somehow manage to get the time and the resources to do that crap, it will be a letdown. You will be stunned at the size of the gap between what you’ve imagined yourself to be capable of all these years and what you actually produce. It would break you. The only chance you have is to move forward. And then maybe you’ll just start doing it. And that’s all you can do. See?

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MEAT: HITS AND MISSES

Hits: Barbados poolbar barbecued cheeseburgers. Killer’s poached salmon. Spaghetti with chorizo. Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich. Broiled rainbow trout. My brother’s Thai seafood cakes. Shrimp serviche. Latin Corner “el gaucho” beef in Calgary, Alberta. Jerk chicken.

Misses: Revolting beef and noodle dish from horrible Toronto Asian restaurant Spring Rolls. Fried chili squid here, which necessitated the evacuation of the apartment and bitched the odds of squid of any kind making a return appearance in our place.

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MONEY MONEY MONEY

Well, we at Mango Pudding Blues are still unemployed, and our landlord has raised the rent. Woe is us.

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