Post-Carbondale: Day 9

There has been some excitement over the last couple of weeks, most of it getting to know my new orb-weaving resident (more on him in an upcoming blog). Some other things of note:

Over the weekend, Moddang and I went to Griffith's "Rock 'n' Rails" Fest. Griffith, IN, boasts - apparently - of having the most intersecting train tracks at one point. I think there are five. Anyway, we went to the festival - the third annually - and ate some good food from the Pepe's kiosk. We would've stayed for the band that was set up but huge dark clouds rolled in and, shortly after we arrived, strong gusts and heavy rain cut the festivities short. We got a free comic book out of it though.

I've had a couple interviews for various positions in downtown Chicago.

Every time we take Moddang's car in to the repair shop to get something fixed (be it Indiana emissions testing, wheel bearings, fuel pump, what have you) something else invariably goes wrong. I'm beginning to suspect mechanic tomfoolery.

We have begun the initial packing for Moddang's return to Thailand in December. That will be a surreal month.

I sold a story to Shimmer Magazine. I will blog and facebook this later too, so expect bombardment!

It seems as though the heat has finally let up and, even now as I write, beautiful fall-looking clouds (all gray and purplish) dot the sky outside my window. It looks as though a nice breeze is ruffling the branches of the trees too. I think this is walking weather.

Last night, I found a liquor store that sells Arrogant Bastard - my favorite of the Stone Brewing Co. beers and something of a phatom round these parts - for only $5 a bottle. That may seem expensive but I assure you it is well worth it.

Today I finished reading the first half of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, including the novels The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator. I enjoyed them (and have begun the second half), though I thought it had its flaws.

I finished watching "Carlos: Miniseries" the other day. It is a fictionialized account of the international terrorist, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, aka Carlos the Jackal, mostly known for leading the raid on OPEC in Vienna in 1975. I thought the film, which is 5 1/2 hours, was downright fantastic and an interesting in-depth portrait of a person whose ideals and obsessions (skewed as they may be) are sidetracked by his celebrity. Before the film begins, a note mentions that quite a few liberties were taken with the various relationships and roles Carlos took part in, so who knows how much of it is accurate, but for me, accuracy of actual events wasn't the point. It was a There Will Be Blood kind of film: descent into chaos and madness. (Maybe I'll write more on this later.)

In the meantime - that walk I mentioned? I think it's due.