Monday 1/24/22
Brutal nightmare about Molly last night. First in a while. Ten years later and trauma does not diminish. Awoke in terror at three. Felt like a demon had moved in on me as I slept. Too disturbed not to get up, and so began working.
Completed excellent story, "Part of the Service," which ended up being longer than I thought it was going to be based upon what I'd written over a week ago. Added some fine elements.
Didn't see much of second half of Bills-Chiefs; sounded exciting. What I did see told me that the Patriots are not on the level of those two teams. Two guys were out there playing the quarterback position about as dynamically as possible, by which I mean, those two players, right now, can do anything, running or throwing, throwing while running. That's how you win now--you need someone at that position who is some version of what those two are. Josh Allen makes moves and has speed that a guy that size shouldn't be able to make or have, but he's not reliant on the run, as so many other quarterbacks who can run have been--Cam Newton, for instance. Brady coming back from 27-3--only to lose--was impressive, but a lot of that had to do with the Rams melting down and giving the Bucs chances, a bunch of which they didn't even take advantage of.
I did watch most of that game, in case Brady does retire. He's the best to have ever done it. By far. It's clear, though, that the quarterback position is everything. You cannot win without that guy. The Titans were a rich man's Patriots, and a very soft one-seed. They don't have the guy. You need Mahomes, you need Allen. You won't do it with Mac Jones. You might do something once with a guy like that, because of other strengths your team has, and getting the breaks the one year, and the right match-ups that year, but you won't win at a high level consistently. You won't be an annual contender. The entire game is throwing the ball now and dynamic quarterback play. Look how relatively easy it is to score for these guys. You kick off to them with thirty seconds in the game and that's now "too much time." This would have been unheard of twelve years ago.
There's carping about the playoff OT rules in football. They don't bother me. I wouldn't be bothered by anything sports-related--sports is an entertaining diversion in which we see people tested, and either rising or falling--because they are just sports, but I would say that the way the game is played now, where the quarterbacks have so much influence, does create an unfair advantage if you win that coin toss. I know someone can counter by saying, "just don't give up a touchdown," but that's almost a moot point once quarterbacks like Mahomes and Allen get rolling, and it's a matter of who happens to have the ball last. That's become a very common kind of game--Mahomes was on the losing end against the Patriots in the 2018 AFC Championship Game. A better solution might be to play a quarter, or a twelve or ten minute OT period.
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Later now. Finished two more short stories: "What to Whom" and "Bed Curls."
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Was on hold for most of an hour with the IRS still trying to rectify this issue with The Wall Street Journal having misreported my income from 2019. That's fun.
I have to get this Beatles love songs piece done. I am taking too long with it.
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Off to the post office to mail information to the IRS. Worked on a fourth story some, called "Complete Set," which is at 4000 words right now. Will deposit a couple checks for work as well.
Acquired (via knowing where to go) copies of volumes 1-36 of the Grateful Dead Dick's Picks series, the box set of the complete Fillmore West 1969 recordings, volumes 1-26 of Dave's Picks, the box set Get Shown the Light with the New Haven, Boston, and Buffalo 1977 shows to go along with Barton Hall, the 1973 and 1977 Winterland box sets, and Europe '72: The Complete Recordings.
Went through a bunch of emails and found a couple going back two weeks from someone whose podcast I'm supposed to go on for Black History Month and talk about the Sam Cooke book. I feel so guilty when I don't reply in a timely way and I apologize like three times. It's because things are so difficult right now. It's just another way, though, that you can barely comprehend how dead inside most of the people in publishing are, like when you write them such kind, gracious, professional notes, as they abuse you, and they orgasm in their pettiness and over what they view as power. There's no humanity in most of them, by which I mean, a human component. It's all fried and warped. So much mangled circuitry.
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"Prove me wrong" is an obnoxious, passive aggressive thing to say. How about, Grow up?
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Back from the bank and post office. Just came up with and wrote an entire story called "The Everything." You are an absolute beast, dude. That's five works worked on today. Will come back to this later. Going to watch some cinematic material now for work. Need to call this plumber back, too.
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Spoke to other plumber. Did not trust him at all. Was also a surly dick. Sounds like the water heater will have to be replaced, which I figured, only they don't make this kind anymore, and I don't know how the new kind can fit in this tiny space. God knows when I will shower again. That's fun, right? This stress, the IRS, and working on five pieces in one day. I am going to wash my hair again now in the freezing water, which I discovered to my surprise yesterday is painful. Different than uncomfortable. It actually hurts, the shower water on your scalp when it's that cold. Will try and wash best as I can, too. Texted regular plumber who is the best and begged him to help, which he said he will try to do Wednesday. The new plumber was even a dick about where the old one was. The man's grandmother died, and there has been a lot of COVID in his family. He's a nice guy, and though I know nothing about plumbing, I can tell that he knows a lot, and he gives it to you straight. Anyway. Time to dunk my head. Obviously I didn't run any stairs today. Not going to make this worse.
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Hope you're ready to work harder tomorrow, man. This is not going to get it done. Have a baby aspirin and some hibiscus tea. Do what you need to do. Dig deeper, keep going.
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