Monday 1/9/23
* Doing a scurvy in reverse. Feeling not quite right. I go non-stop. I had mentioned that I began work yesterday at six. Is that early? For me, no, for most, yes. What I didn't mention is that I had worked until three AM so I only slept for three hours.
* Today I worked on a new story, "Mr. Spangles," which is excellent. The title references a trout in a brook--a trout who shouldn't be in the brook, it would seem. But then where should a trout be? It's peerless nature writing, but it's so much more. I find it mind-blowing and heartbreaking. But when the heart breaks, the soul may be soldered.
* I heard parts of Bill Belichick's press conference. Did not inspire confidence. He sounded to me like an old man. Confused, defensive. But not sure of what he was saying. Losing track of thoughts as he spoke. He called out the owner for not spending enough. This from a coach who makes twenty-five million dollars a year. I wonder what he feels like when he gets those checks over the last three years. They have the nineteenth highest winning percentage in the league over that time. There are a lot of bad and mediocre teams in the NFL, and they're nineteen.
* I thought the Bruins would have a hard time last night. Not that they would lose. But it was a game they could very well lose. It was the third game in four nights on the West Coast, and the second of a back-to-back, with the previous game having started less than twenty-four hours before. They'd won those first two games. Normally, no matter who you are, you lose that game last night. Often decisively. And they won in a rout. This is a seriously good team. I don't want to get ahead of anything and suggest what they could be. You are looking at a team, though, pacing like the 1976-1977 Canadiens, a squad many people--not me, but many others--regards as the best team in the sport's history. Nothing means anything if you don't win it all, and if you want to be that kind of team, you also have to keep pouring it on for the whole of the regular season. But in my lifetime, I've never seen a Bruins team doing what this one is doing. Was also a little surprised that Ullmark didn't get the start last night. Swayman had two of these wins, which I think is good. You want to get him going, even though Ullmark is the man and would get all of the playoff starts, unless he falters.
* Was sent copies of a couple new--new as in archival--Ahmad Jamal releases and a Jimi Hendrix book.
* There were a few days where I didn't tend to this record, but I saw today that the new journal entries for 2023, despite that, total nearly 20,000 words. For this thing I do in-between doing my proper writing.
* Damn is "Sunny Afternoon" a good song. It's very Zulu in its way. Listening to live versions. The clear-eyed wit of "A Well Respected Man" has always impressed me going back to when I was sixteen and it impresses me a lot more now in our world. Never let anyone tell you that 1967's Live at Kelvin Hall isn't a great live album. Ray Davies had it going on vocally.