Painting of living room has commenced. My break between coats has been to read passages from Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION TRILOGY, a 1955 hardback edition I purchased for $8.50 back in Denver some six years ago and never got around to reading.
First of all; I really cannot believe it's been six whole years, and second of all; thus begins my mission to read all the unread books in my possession in the new year to come before buying anything new.
Right.
130 pages in and enjoying it a great deal.
Inbox(es) at 116 and RSS at 38. The dookie brown of the office walls have successfully been repainted white. Needs one more coat of paint though before I can move onto the living room.
Cloudy and rainy today and will likely stay that way all day. A good day for podcasts, hot chocolate, and home improvement.
Watched SHOWGIRLS for the first time last night. A blind spot in my Verhoeven oeuvre and found that I quite enjoyed it. Not surprised by the critical backlash compared to the director's previous feats; Americans are far more squeamish about the abundance of tits than they are about the abundance of bullet holes.
Inbox(es) at 104, RSS at 71. Today's to-do list entails:
1) Pack and ship Mythomatic orders. 2) More on yesterday's design thing. 3) Two in-person meets.
In addition to tidying around the studio, exercising, and shaving my chest.
Cloudy today, but relatively warm. Much coffee will be consumed.
Thinking about popular creators who have opted for what may be considered the least commercially viable path but have gone on to reach great acclaim and success with their work nonetheless.
Richard Linklater in filmmaking, Chris Ware in comix, Thomas Pynchon in novels, perhaps? Or even Kurt Vonnegut really.
Inboxes at a combined 112 and RSS reader at 122. Would like to get them down to zero, in addition to exercising, heading out for groceries, and working on a design thing today. Here we go.
I was going to exercise today, but I think walking a full mile with 3 gallons of paint slung over my shoulder suffices. Home studio renovation is afoot.
(“Renovation” may be a tad overblown.)
Back in the studio in Houston, and all the things that need to be done with the place are clamoring for my attention. Resolved to get it all done before year's end just to kick the new year off right. None of the things are decorative really, it's all stuff that has to do with making the space effectively operational more than anything.
A few hours before I fly out of Mexico City and land back in Houston, contemplating the year to come and the year that was.
It's fair to describe 2023 as my divorce and travel year. Not quite what I had set out for the year at its onset but it is how things turned out. With the divorce behind me and more travel than I can handle embarked upon, I'm eyeing 2024 to be the year of predominantly work and reading. I only have two big trips on the books for 2024 and I think I'd like to keep it that way.
16 Celsius in Mexico City today, but I swear it feels more like 6. Even if the weather apps claim otherwise. It's the humidity, which just as it tends to make things warmer come summer, makes the world much colder in winter. It's the kinda cold that gets into your bones. Mexico City in December is evidently not for me.
But I did make a breakthrough in THE SOLAR GRID today, a singular plot point (albeit a rather drastic one) in the very last chapter that allows for the ending I've always wanted to come together more smoothly. So, all is well.
Just finished watching LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND with very low expectations given some of the less than glowing reviews, but I gotta say... it's the best thing I've seen since DON'T LOOK UP. Both masterpieces, both receiving mixed reviews. Starting to see a pattern here: Americans don't seem to be ready for genuine sociocultural criticism, which ironically is a facet that both films thematically touch upon.
Kudos to Sam Ismail though. This is a big leap from anything he's created in the past and a true work of genius. Thoroughly interested in the novel it is based upon by Rumaan Alam.
Starting to get that What-Am-I-Doing-Here(?) feeling, despite having met a few people here in Mexico City which you'd think would make one feel like less of a displaced outsider. I reckon part of it must be the nature of the AirBnB I'm at which turned out to be a little too hostel-like, and as such does not invite spending a while lotta time at. I spend the vast bulk of my day bouncing between cafes and now all I want is a home-cooked meal and the comfort of my own studio. It's only been a little over a week and I still have yet another 5 days to go. Feels like I've been here for close to a month. Time passes very differently when each day isn't so different from the one that came before or the one that comes after. Cannot cut my trip short though, as I still have yet another dentist appointment on the agenda, in addition to a handful of Spanish classes, and also quite a bit of thumbnailing/scripting on the very last THE SOLAR GRID installment.
But being back in my own bed would be nice, as would the embrace of my little boy.