Moving Right Along

So the writing thing has been going well and I’m hopelessly behind on email (sorry if you’re waiting for one, it just means I had to think about something you wrote). We’ve got a guest in town this week from grad school (she’s now a librarian at Cornell) and will do some fun tooling around town. In the meantime, here are some further thoughts on two topics – –

E-Mail

It’s funny how talk of changing habits has led to draconian measures — in addition to the program Miriam pointed me to, several friends have told me their chastity-belt-type strategies to slow down the rush. For me, it’s more about habit changing than “the compulsive email check” — though Carrie and I do joke about that behavior. I’m doing so-so so far but it’s something to work on over the summer. It does raise the question, though, of whether email has some special kind of “pull.” Anyway, future posts will have something to say on the matter of my own work patterns since people are game for talking about it. But not tonight.

Tattoos

Today Carrie and I are driving around running some errands and while stopped at the light on Mont Royal (never drive on this street if you can help it), a rather svelte woman with an exposed midriff stood at the corner. Above her butt, she has the obligatory lower-back tattoo of a pair of wings. Which brings me to this deep question:

Why do people always get tattoos of flying things right above their butts?

We pondered this momentous question for some time but could reach no definite conclusions.

The New Regime

This is a boring post about my work process and issues therein.

My main goal this summer is to write. And lead a relatively unhurried life. Everything else is icing on the cake. I’ve got this book on the mp3 format that has been simmering for two years now. I’ve got loads of material and notes and stuff waiting to be written up. I just haven’t had time to write, or when I have had time to write, I’ve had other writing obligations. Not now. I’ve said “no” just enough to give myself this little three month window of writerly paradise.

Part of the problem is that I have realized that I am slow to shift my attention from one thing to another, and therefore the constant distractions of the school year are a problem. Moreso are the constant distractions of administration. I spent the better part of the last year learning how to be a (very, very) low level administrator while also doing the job. I think I was reasonably successful at the job, but at some personal cost — especially around writing. So I’m taking the summer to figure out ways to better organize my life so the admin doesn’t colonize my time and consciousness so much. I mean, if I never traveled that would also free up a bunch of time. But I certainly wouldn’t want to give that up.

I’m looking into a number of strategies but issue #1 is changing my relationship to email. Email used to be so wonderful (I’ve had it in one form or another since about 1982). It was mostly messages from friends and colleagues about interesting stuff or material from listservs that interested me. Now, well, it’s not mostly that. It’s mostly stuff that will distract me. And so I am working on breaking the habit of getting up in the morning and checking my email to see what’s coming in. I’ve been in that habit since at least 1999, and probably earlier. So it’s not easy. Noon seems like an arbitrary time to allow myself on. After I’ve had some time to write, read and reflect. And eat breakfast. So that’s the first step, which I intend to continue into the school year if I can pull it off. As a rule, no email before noon. We’ll see if I can do it. Today I already failed but it was really brief and I went right back to writing.

The product for the week so far: approximately 6 pages of book ms., a Bad Subjects editorial, and a day off diagnosing problems on my computer. Not bad. I’d like to be putting out 10 or more manuscript pages a work week, which would mean 4 pages tomorrow. We’ll see if I can do it. I have a bit to say about Adorno’s Opera and the Long Playing Record and its relevance for a theory of formats, so it could be done.

Of course, this is not a perfect plan. There are other distractions, some administrative, and some pedagogical (like planning a seminar and redesigning an undergrad class from the ground up), and some personal (not in a bad way — just stuff to do). We’ll see. Baby steps. Let’s start with the email and see where it goes from there.

I really do love team sports so long as nobody cares if we win

On a not-so-hot midsummer night (last night, to be precise), I had the pleasure of taking the field with the False Consciousness for their second softball game of the season. It was by some measures a success. I set a personal goal that we lose by less than 10 runs. We lost 24-15. We were within 2 runs at one point. There was some outstanding fielding — our outfielders had an instict for where the ball was headed. Our infield turned a double play at one point and Coach Greg turns out to be a fine second baseman. We won’t mention Carrie’s error at shortstop since she made some awesome catches as well. Lots of new recruits this year who made their mark. Adam Cantor appeared to go from no experience ever at 3rd base to being a solid 3rd baseman. Anna Leventhal had a good evening at the plate and almost caught a foul ball as catcher. Wade as usual talks a better game than anyone and knows how to serve up the home runs. Aaron “keep it friendly but let’s kill them” Gordon was a fine stand-in as coach.

As a fielder I picked up where I left off last year — no errors at first base. Too bad that I seem to have lost my swing. 2 for 4 with two lousy singles. Gotta get that power swing back.

As for the pain. Oh, there was pain this morning. Sweet, slow agony. I’m not sorry for what I did, but good lord, I’m out of shape.

Back in Effect

It’s been a long month (more like 5 weeks) and I have much to report on. But since my return on Sunday, my writing efforts have turned to the book and a Bad Subjects oped linked below. The blog shall not suffer for long, though, as it is really summer now. Which means, among other things, the beginning of my softball season if it doesn’t rain tonight. I missed last Monday’s game where we lost 28-17.

I’ll have more to say on my summer regime (and other new regimes) as well as a variety of more interesting topics in the coming days.

Twenty-Four Final Score (Spoiler Alert)

Last night we watched the last two episodes of the season, and I can now report that Carrie has beaten us handily. Final score:

Carrie “We don’t have time”: 34
Mystery Guest “We don’t have a choice” and “Oh my God, Jack”*: 19
Me “You’re going to have to trust me” and “I have a visual on the hostile”*: 17

We’ll be back next season for Jack’s visit to China. I propose to retire “we don’t have time” as the winning phrase.

—

*Second phrases were added midseason and so scores should not be viewed as official totals for content analysis or drinking games.

With Apologies to Susan Buck-Morss

Remember in the late 80s and early 90s when everyone was making a big deal about the flaneur? Article after artice that looked for similarities between the shopping mall and Benjamin’s (even then) nostalgic vision of the Paris arcades? I saw this sign today in the underground city, which is a giant, interconnected web of shopping malls:

Like a giant “take a chill pill” message from 00s cultural studies to 80s cultural studies. Or maybe it’s just another example of how all those fancy French words Americans quote when they try and use French theory are actually banal French words.

And now, from Mai Tai central in Milwaukee, a giant glowing puffer fish:

Carrie was obsessed with it. All I can say is that the Mai Tai is not my drink.

Three weekends, three conferences. Next weekend is the last one: CCA in Toronto. My first Canadian conference. See you next week.