I've been enjoying the epic posts.

Tried to send an email to Johnny about what's been going on in my life. It got bounced back. I'm going to post an edited version of that email here because I was planning to write a LE post anyway and Johnny occasionally looks at this site. So if this sounds like it was intended for someone else it was. Sorry to bore with all the music talk at the end. Some of you might be interested.

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Working 57.5 hours a week at three jobs. Gate City
Noise, the records store, twice a week; Deep Roots
Market, a health food store, on sunday; Carson-Dellosa
Publishing, as a copy editor, full time mon-fri. The
last is probably only going to last for about six
weeks, but its a great job while I've got it. Lots of
money and fun work and cool co-workers and stuff.

New car. Well, old car, new to me. Getting it from
the folks next week.

Ladyfriend-ish action. Nothing I can define yet.

Working on three albums. Dawn Chorus 1 is recorded
and 50% mixed. You'll get a copy as soon as I have
one to give you. We're mastering it next month. I've
got a good feeling about Secretly Canadian (Songs:
Ohia, Damien Jurado, Swearing at Motorists) releasing
it. I don't mean to get my hopes up, but it really
could happen. Dawn Chorus 2 demos are going to be
recorded this month. They're the first half of that
album's demos. The other half will be recorded in Feb
and the album will be recorded in April or May. At
least according to the Master Plan. I've also doing
this thing called Romance Novels sometime this fall.
My buddy in Kudzu Wish and I are going to 4 track demo
about 14 songs for a record I'm going to try and
record in the summer. About half of the songs are
written. Its going to be sad. Sad songs I mean.
Like Morrissey without the sass.

So anyway, the important stuff... here's what I've
been listening to:

all three Bonnie 'Prince' Billy albums. I've gotten
quite enchanted with these. I love them all.

Nellyville/Justified - the good songs to bad song
ratio on both of this albums is really, really good.
I'd say at 85% on each. I live for that song "Air
Force Ones" despite being totally appalled by rich
people singing about collecting sneakers.

50 Cent - Speaking of appalling, 50 Cent is about as
sexist as you can get, but jesus h christ, "P.I.M.P."
with the steel drums and "In Da Club"? Those are some
fucking great songs.

Another bad guy with good records, R Kelly, has made
the jam of the year and you called it before me.
"Ignition (remix)" follows me around town and randomly
kicks my ass.

Modern English - After the Snow
Dude, have you ever heard this? It starts like
another Joy Division rip, but gradually becomes much
more. Its a really awesome album.

I"ve been listening to Men at Work a lot, too. They
should have tackled that other guy everytime he even
glanced at the mic.

The new Decemberists doesn't stand up to the other
one. The new Death Cab is only so so. The new Rufus
Wainwright album is sweet. Also, quite gay.

TV on the Radio! Possibly best of the year!

One of the perks of working in a record store is that
I can afford to buy all of the Dylan remasters, which
I did.

A couple of local bands are killing me with their
greatness. The only one with a national release is a
band called Kudzu Wish (on ernest jenning). They
sound like Archers of Loaf meets Hot Water Music. Des
Ark is going to have a record out of Bifocal (which is
national), but they don't yet. They have a faster Cat
Power sings the blues thing going on, but in no way
retro. A Greensboro band called Health is going to be
the band on the Romance Novels album, I think. I'll
send you a copy of their demos when I send our
recordings. They're very slow, Low-type stuff.

The Big Boi side of the new Outkast is better than the
Andre side. Andre's disc just sounds like a Prince
album. A good Prince album, but, yawn.

I need to get back to work. I'm allowing myself to
get distracted.

“Oh, I don’t know. It just seemed heavy yesterday, like the sky was heavy. Even the streets seemed extra flat.” Haley said on 5/20

I have the urge to speak in nothing but song lyrics. I have the urge to write it all out in abysmal poetry.


I’ve been trying not to bleed out all over the page, or rather pixellate all over the screen. I’m not sure if this year has been flying by or dragging. I feel like I’m in my Saturn return even though it isn’t here yet. When Mars was as close as it is gonna get for 6000 years, or whatever, JT told me to beware the heavy planets. I am 27, which feels like a lucky number to me, though it sounds like it shouldn’t be a kid’s age anymore. I have entered my 28th year on this planet. 28 is a perfect number. Nothing is perfect. Everything is perfect.

So far this year:

One Random Day
4 boys with 3 skateboards
2 girls with 1 cigarette
1 girl with green hair and a red hat
1 bus
2 crazy men in a surreal argument about war
2 old ladies with enormous handbags
1 extremely annoyed bus driver
1 backhoe 1 mini-crane 5 workers 1 pothole
Saw a gallery exhibit of photographs from Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan walked outside to see police SWAT teams because of the antiwar protests, sounds heavy handed, but it actually happened
Found pencil scrawled note on the bus floor which said “Do you have another copy of the new testament?”
I was carrying it around and the man who sat next to me on the bus offered me his copy. I let him keep it.

I’ve been hearing a lot of new music and seeing a lot of new art
Bands I’ve seen:
Yam
Dirty Three (backstage with acquaintance from Some Velvet Sidewalk who knew a guy from Mudhoney)
Rollerball
Lean Crops
The Clits
Trainwreck
Bardo Pond,
Herzog/Kinski,
Mars Accelerator
Cheri’s recital
Euphondisson
Totfinder @Comet
Long Winters
Bright Eyes
Pussy Chop Banana
Bach around the Clock

Art:
I should have had pieces in 5-6 shows by the end of this year. (5 group, 1 solo)
I’m really excited about the paintings I’m working on right now
I’ll have pictures in some sort of online slide show soonish. Maybe.
I am curating the lobby space of the building where I work. We’ve had 4 shows so far and I’m pleased with the success though it is a lot of extra hours that end up getting “volunteered” to my job.
Saw a shadow puppet play called Sex After Death performed in the round in a room full of pillows.
Saw the THREAD Fashion is Art show, which was really cool sculptural fashion/ dance/ performance art
Did photo shoots with Melissa the highlight of which might be the “Crazy Girlfriend” series
Still working on art exchanges and collaborations
Trying to be neither a slacker nor a crazy person
Other:
Got a new job
Carried around a huge red balloon
Pride Day left me feeling not so prideful
Wore a tuxedo to Tie One On and to Promikus. Decided I look hot in ties.
Instead of dealing with Sea Fair, went to the Bubble Rally, some sort of hippie/goth art fest focused on blowing soap bubbles
Read lots of poetry
Saw lots of movies that failed to make any sort of impression on me, excluding Rivers and Tides, Frida, and the Hours
Both Scotts from San Francisco came to Seattle.
Weezie and Alan both came to town while I was away.
My parents came to visit for a week
Jacob’s parents came for a week and lived on our couch
EastLake Shake happened, was fun, and is over so I can now regain a bit of time from Tracy
Went to beaches big and small collected piles and pockets full of rocks and twigs
Found starfish and sea glass and passion flowers, which only bloom for a day, and did even though they aren’t supposed to grow here
Spent 8 hours driving to spend 1 hour on Long Beach
Church bells rang just for me
Months later, on a hot sunny summer afternoon that happened at the middle of the beginning of fall, I noticed them ringing again
Went to lots more weddings: Colleen and Suneeta are both now married. Zanetka is married now too, though I haven’t seen her yet
Had an unboycott party
Neighbor who was trying to get the Guinness Book record for largest collection of men’s underwear moved
Neighbor whose gynecologist is Gene Shallot’s son still there
Met a jukebox, fell in love, brought her home where she breaks my heart daily
Listened to lots of soul music and lots of punk
Brett is moving to Chicago tomorrow and staying on my couch till then

Sorry, I've been studying for the last two and a half months. In the last two and a half weeks I studied, saw Bjork perform on an Island off the coast of Toronto, travelled to Montreal to perform at a music festival, took 3 four-hour tests (The first covered the last 1000 years of western art music history, including random score ID from any part of said 1000 years, the second exam was on Music Theory (Tonal and Post-Tonal) and the third was on 25 contemporary composers of my choosing who have been active since 1945), Those tests last week were followed by a weekend of disentary type stomach virus (originally thought to be mere nerves) which was followed by my oral examinations (where my committee asked me about all the stuff I got wrong on my written exams). Having survived what amounts to academic hazing I am now "officially" ABD. or All but Dissertation. One step closer to a terminal degree. I don't have to take another academic test ever, that's a relief.

Now I have to catch up with the rest of my life, this is a start.

Oh yeah- There's not a whole lot there yet but check out
www.robotrockband.com

Angie - I totally agree with most of your post. Austin has lots of great music, but I think Music Capital of the World is overblown. Maybe Music Capital for a city it's size (but then what about Athens, the Chapel Hill area, etc.). And our weekly had this to say about "keep austin weird" - as soon as they put it on a t-shirt, it stopping keeping austin weird.
I love Austin - I like liberal, medium-sized cities with warm weather.

All of the editorial staff is in a meeting right now, which means I can take a couple of minutes away from what I'm doing to write. Actually, things are so relaxed here that I could probably do it whenever I wanted. I need a break though. I'm working on proofing three math books, which in order to do correctly, means I have to work all of the problems in the book. I've been doing 3-4 grade math for six days straight. Its not my forte, of course. I got this job because I'm good with words, not numbers. A few minutes ago, I got totally stumped on how to add fractions. I still have no idea. I don't think I've even thought about that since I was nine. I asked around. Nobody but Amy knows, but Amy's not here yet. I have four more books to do after this one. All English text books.

Yesterday, Jennifer, my boss, asked me to start working full days. As of today, I work 52 hours a week between Carson-Dellosa, Gate City Noise, and Deep Roots. I'm going to buy an iced out, gold plated Lexus.

The band has a show on Saturday in Winston-Salem. After that, we're starting demos for another record. How ridiculous is that? The first one isn't even out yet and we're working on the second.

1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why?

I don't have favorite singer, or if I do it changes so much it wouldn't be worth pinning down. I must say that, lately, I've been thanking the lord everyday for Morrissey. I'm not sure what would be like without the Smiths. I know that I would not care to live there.

2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why?

I don't have a lot of patience for guys like Beck and Jon Spencer and Cex and so on, who sell white boy parody versions of black music.

3. If your favorite singer wasn't in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person?

If we're counting the Mozzer as my favorite singer, then chances are no, I wouldn't like him as a person whether he was a singer or not. Morrissey seems snotty.

4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show?

Lord yes. Best shows I've seen (right off the top of my head): Uwharria at the Onion Center in 2002, Springsteen everytime I've seen him, Dio this year at the Iro Maiden show, Halloween cover shows 1999 and 2000, Archers of Loaf at the Turtle, 1995, Sticky every month of 1997 in Boone, Ida at Gate City Noise in 2000. I'm sure there a million others I should mention.

5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums? Do you feel the RIAA is right in its pursuit to stop people from dowloading free music?

The only people being hurt are the big companies and big artists. The little artists and labels are fine. Most people download shit they would never buy, from bands who never tour. Indie artists make most of their money on the road. It doesn't matter anyway. Digital Audio is a new format. Its a more practical and cheaper one. MP3s are going to be traded. The RIAA can sue Jesus, if they want; nothing is stopping the flow of online music.

Angie - bring it on.

The past three days have been so full. We moved on Friday - and spent most of the weekend unpacking. There's a growing Goodwill pile. And also a pile of empty boxes. Now I've come to the point where I have stuff and no place to put it so to try and live a clutter free existence, it's time to get some more bookshelves and containers and such.
There's so much going on right now. The house is exciting and overwhelming and trying (when I get home we'll have no stove and no power - but hopefully not for too long).
But none of that seems to matter right now. I just found out a good friend of the family passed away yesterday, and I take a trip to say a final goodbye to my favorite uncle this weekend. Both are cases of leukemia. So last night I curled up under lots of covers with some children's books. Reading Dr. Doolittle and Pippi Longstocking seemed like a good way as any of dealing with it. Regressing. Denial.

Some Friday 5 recalcitrance, feel free to skip:
My first best friends was Stephanie.I met her in high school, though I was terribly attached to my middle school friend Becky who moved away in high school, we were all part of a group of four and her best friend was elsewhere in the group.
I’m still in touch with Becky (one of the many weddings I attended and stood in, and obviously, still in touch with Stephanie when I’m not being the terribly slack correspondent that I am.
I’m lucky to have many close friends, though unfortunately not too many of them are here in Seattle.
I don’t know if there are any friends who I’m not in contact with and really wish that I was. I lost one really close friend in college and I still miss that friendship, though I think she turned out not to be the person I thought, or we grew apart, or something. I fell out of touch with my friend Beth for a while, but fortunately we got over it once she tracked me down.
My life is too disorganized to be made into a movie but if it were, I think I’ d title it with just a number. The soundtrack would likely include a lot of old soul music and perhaps some Long Winters, Counting Crows, Sense Field, or other happy pop music with really pensive sad lyrics. Maybe also some new wave punk for happy montage sequences.
The movie would probably be animated. I’ve been told I look like a cartoon character more than once. I’m not sure if that is a reflection on my looks or mode of dress. Another conversation with my life as a movie cast Rosie Perez as me.
Some of my favorite childhood stories included Detective Arthur Master Sleuth, The Secret Garden, Edgar Allen Poe. Generally stories about secrets and magic and daring travel adventures were my favorites but I read pretty voraciously anything I could get a hold of. The idea of reading to children is still worlds away for me. If Beth and her little boy ever live closer, or my sister or cousin have kids, then I’ll start thinking about it. I’ll probably try to read them scary stories. I admit I was read Song of the South, Brer Rabbit & Tar baby stories as well as Little Black Sambo as a kid. I was clueless to any subtext there at the time. I was around 3 when I learned to read because I could read before I started school though I don’t know how much, or really how I learned. As for reading grown up books, there weren’t really any distinctions made on that in my house. I guess my parents figured if I was old enough to understand the book I was allowed to read it. I do remember hiding the romance novels that my mom would inherit full grocery bags of from my grandmother’s housebound neighbor. I think my mom bagged them and left them in the bottom of her closet with the piles of clothes for charity. I also hid the playboy magazines I obtained around age 12, but that stash was discovered and tossed, including the one with the Madonna spread. Damn. I guess that doesn’t really count as books though. I’d read my mom’s college text books at age 10 or so though my understanding was pretty limited
I plan on spending the winter in Seattle painting, but I’m aiming for Boston before the calendar year end and for NY and DC by spring.
My first summer job was for the local Nature Center. I learned all kinds of things tromping around in the swamps with Mr. Gene. This was job where I was sent home early because they found a body in the woods where we were supposed to be working that day. I didn’t know why I was sent home till it was on the news later. My subsequent jobs have mostly been worse than that one. Other high school summer jobs included: Worked in an office full of harassing chauvinists and came home daily in tears. Worked at McD’s. If I could go anywhere at all, I wouldn’t even know where to start. If time and money were no object, Asia, otherwise, I’m WAY overdue for some visits to my friends. I don’t remember a worst vacation, or really a best. My family didn’t take too many vacations and I’m still trying to figure out how to work my jet set dreams. The last place I traveled was Victoria BC and before that New Orleans, for a wedding (what else?) I’ll go by plane, train, boat, or car. I don’t care which, let’s go!
My toiletry bag has not been packed in a long time but usually includes: deoderant, toothpaste, toothbrush, paula’s choice sunscreen, chanel perfume or dirt perfume or burnt honey perfume, lipstick in shades of red-red and brown red, brown eyeliner. I’m not especially brand conscious.
I laugh a lot, but as for a hearty belly laugh where your face and sides hurt, I can’t really remember the last time. I don’t really remember the last argument I had but I suspect the next will be with a woman Julia when I tell her I’m not going to do the art show in November because she changed the terms and jerked me around for too long. The last person I emailed was the curator of this years 30 paintings in 30 days marathon.
The last time I bathed was last night. The last thing I ate was a very disappointing blueberry yogurt where I accidently got the fat free kind.
I wake up at around 7 to 7:20 on weekdays and am out of the house by 7:45. On weekends, undisturned I’ll sleep till sometime between 11 and 1. Morning ritual, pee, pill, brush teeth, check rats, dress, out of the house…I don’t have a favorite breakfast place. I sued to be way more into breakfast but sweet things don’t appeal to me the way they used to so Waffle House and IHOP and Dennys and Shoneys no longer have the allure they used to. There are some great atmospheric places in my neighborhood but I’m not in love with their breakfast food. I’d rather sleep in.
I can’t think of a favorite singer/ musician, mostly cause I’m bad at picking favorite anythings. I’m really into the Long Winters, some local guys with happy pop and sad lyrics. If the lyrics are any indication of these guys’ personalities, they may not be the most fun friends to have however. Other favorites change daily. I can’t think of a singer that I can’t stand. There are lots of songs that annoy the beejesus out of me, but I can hardly be bothered to remember the names of things I do like. I think people should be able to download music since the RIAA gets a fee from every blank tape and cd sold for that reason. If they want people to stop, first I want a class action redistribution of that money. Plus studies have shown that people who download the most music also buy the most music. I think that intellectual property has a place but also that the recording industry is sorely out of touch.


Things with me have been kind of tough. Sorry I haven’t been keeping in touch with ya’ll very well. Hopefully things are looking up, though I think I have a hard, but thankfully pretty busy looking winter ahead.

The hurricane is centered about an hour and half north and west of here, so not too much craziness. The rain is pretty intense and the wind kicks up every few minutes. There's a pretty big tree limb down in front of our house, but I think that's going to be the worst of it. Dave saw a power transformer explode a few hours ago. We never lost power though. We're so close to UNCG that we don't lose power very often. The juice runs to the school through some titanium plated cables, I think. You Louisianans probably know what a hurricane is like. For those of you who don't know, they can be kind of fun if they're not tearing your house down. The rain jumps around. It comes at you one way for a few seconds, then suddenly its going the other way. Its weird. And the trees crack and limbs go everywhere. It looks like someone took a giant weed-wacker to the neighborhood. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo tore right through Hickory. The damage there was intense. We lost power for several days and we were out of school for two weeks straight. Really big, old trees were uprooted. In fact, if you step off of the roads into less kept areas you can still see signs of Hugo. My grandmother's house had a huge tree pulled right out of the ground onto its side in that storm. You could stand in the hole. When she sold the house in 1999, it was still laying there, crater and all.

Zach - are you being effected by the hurricane?

I'm sorry to only talk about the house - but it's occupying 80% of my brain now.
My plumber's name is Conquest - make of that what you will.
I got to learn roofing part names yesterday.
I keep putting off the Target/Bed, Bath and Beyond trip where you buy "just one more new thing" since you've moved and before you know it the cart is overflowing and you're looking at a several hundred dollar bill and you don't really need all these new things. (or am I the only one who does that)
one non-house item: my old boss (he worked here 15 years plus) got laid off in January - he comes back today... to freelance...for me. Yeah, that won't be awkward at all.

One nice thing about this job (Carson-Delosa, publishing house) is that, as long as I'm typing it seems like I'm doing work. Which means I can rest my brain for a few minutes, write some emails, whatever, and not look like a total loafer. I'll take this time to do a more thorough update on myself than i have done in a few months. At the moment I'm working seven days a week. Half days at Carson-Delosa (mornings 7:30-11:30), Gate City Noise of Fridays and Saturdays, and at Deep Roots on Sundays, plus fill in shifts everywhere. On top of which the band is working a lot. So I'm very busy.

We started mixing our record on Saturday. We got five songs almost done by Sunday. They need tweeking but they're mostly okay. I'm starting to toy with the idea of making the record an EP and rerecording some of the songs later. I'll have to pitch it to the band. It probably will not be a popular decision. There is a website and I should have a one or two songs up on it soon.

Life in North Carolina is improving. The weather is finally acceptable. There is a massive hurricane headed this way, which makes for some interesting times. I live far enough inland that it will just be a bitchin storm and maybe a basement flood, probably not any serious property damage.

My housemates and I are getting along well enough. We've got a house cleaning planned for early October (the first time we could all agree on a date). We're going to clean like we're moving out. It will be a good thing.

The band is playing a show in Hickory on Saturday at the kind of coffeeshop that would call itself Drips. The idea is to get my parents there. They seem like they're going to come, but honest to god, I think if they could get out of it, they would. I just don't understand those people sometimes.

I better start actually working again.

1. Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed?

John Zachary Mull is what is says on the birth certificate. That's me.

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?

I like my name alright. Mull maybe isn't the best last name in the world. It isn't very pretty or interesting. Its a blah kind of name. I've neve been particularly into it. But, I don't think I'd change it. I mean, it isn't embarrassing or anything.

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)

The story is that Dad heard the name Zachary on the TV show Lost in Space. One of the characters was name Dr. Zachary Smith. He was the mincing, vaguely pedophilic old timer that followed Will Robinson and Robot around everyone. I'm not sure if it's a good thing for my name to be inspired by that guy or not.

The John part of my name is tradition. All of the first sons on my father's side were John something. They go like this, if I remember correctly, in backwards order: John Zachary, John Phillip, John Julius, John Azor, John Monroe, and John Melton. John Melton's father was something else. Peter Mull, I think. He was the first over on the boat from wherever they came from. If the sweet baby jesus blesses me with a family someday, it's a tradition I will probably continue.

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?

There are some shitty names. Forgive me if you're loved ones are named any of these things. I hate these names: Terry, Kevin, Gary, Monique, Todd, Tiffany. And others I guess. Hard to think of on the spot.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn't it?

from Triggur.org:

Expression
zachary is drawn to the scene of an accident by morbid curiosity.

Not at all. I couldn't be less curious about other people's troubles.

Personality
zachary is childish and immature.

Well, okay. I was looking for naked dudes in hardhats to put as wallpaper on Dave's computer. I cop to this.

Natural
zachary likes animals-- perhaps too much.

HA! No.

Emotional
zachary is cold and calculating.

Sure. I'm an evil genius.

Character
zachary tends to get others down.

I don't know. Maybe. I definately have the ability to bum people out.

Physical
zachary is often violently flatulent.

I wish! I can burn a good one every now and then, but not too often.

Mental
zachary isn't overwhelmingly intelligent.

Well, who's overwhelmingly intelligent? Stephen Hawking, I ain't. But, I can count without using my toes.

Motivation
zachary waits for a chance to jump down others' throats.

Goddamn, triggur.org thinks I'm a bastard. A dumb bastard.

---

The Chorus is in Chapel Hill working on the mixes of the record. Stuff for you to hear soon. It's cool.

Angie - that is so awesome about your trip. When do you go? How long will you stay?
The house...I love it. It's a 3 / 1 1/2 so we each get an office/playroom - I want a plushy reading chair and lots of bookcases as well as a work table in mine. My favorite room is our sunroom. Three walls of windows. We have a pomegranate tree, bunches of pecan trees and a hammock in the backyard. All the walls are getting repainted. The bedroom will be painted daredevil red. The living room - smoked oyster. I will be living in an aphrodesiac. Right now I am living in my one bedroom apartment of boxes which will slowly make their way over.
My list making skills are in overdrive. Everyday I make a new list of tasks house related.

packing. moving. lifting. driving. packing. moving.
trying out my limited spanish with the painters.
working overtime. arranging photo shoots. working weekends and nights.
packing. searching for packed items. reading library books. not even wanting to think about cleaning.

Had a show at Go in Chapel Hill with Songs: Ohia tonight. Jason Molina (of s:o) said that he really liked us. He told me I had a good voice and wrote good lyrics. Awesome!

1. What housekeeping chore(s) do you hate doing the most?

I just can't wash silverware. I try, but I just can't do it.

2. Are there any that you like or don't mind doing?

I don't mind cleaning once I get started. I used to like mowing the lawn. But we don't have to do that anymore.

3. Do you have a routine throughout the week or just clean as it's needed?

I clean pretty much as needed. I make up my bed every morning.

4. Do you have any odd cleaning/housekeeping quirks or rules?

I hate it when people leave things on the chairs or on the couch. I figure you should take your shit into your room or whereever it goes. Toilet paper hangs over. I dust a lot.

5. What was the last thing you cleaned?

Minor room cleanings. I put away a bunch of CDs.

I like it - I've been looking at so many paint chips you'd think I'd have a clever name for the color - it reminds me of green M&Ms.

A new look. What do you think?

recent goings-on: went to the free day of yoga yesterday, partook of some yogi tea; am rereading several books from my childhood (right now I'm restarting the Chronicles of Narnia); thinking about packing but haven't taken any action towards packing (except one trip to Goodwill to get rid of old closet detritus); had "fruits of the forest" sorbet at a new gelatto shop in town; thinking about a job posting I saw