"The sky is green, and there is no book to tell us what it means. it has never stopped raining." So its Monday, meaning I could have gone to buy a toast maker. But I didnt. Its like I revel in the suffering or something. Ive been floating in and out of the kitchen, opening cupboards, staring at a handful of base ingredients, looking for anything that does not need mixing or cutting or heating or altering in any way. So its been peanut butter. At least its protein, non? Last night, I had to get my ass in gear and cook something. I mean, really now. So I sautéed an onion, added some sugar water in an attempt at caramelization, and ate it. By itself. Me and a bowl of onions. Eventually, I also found some potatoes under the sink and made some chips, which I covered in salt and vinegar and Parmesan cheese. Yum. Dave is worried about me. He wants to come over with some tofu and vegetables and make me something healthy. Oh, how I wish he could! But he is in Washington, D.C. and I am here. Even the phone company makes it nearly impossible to bridge the distance. Ill break out of this funk eventually. I have a job interview of sorts on Wednesday. Its for a babysitting/tutoring job for a pair of 8-year-old twin girls, who are described by their very own mother as difficult. Im frightened. But for only seven hours a week I would be making enough money to pay the rent, and I would have enough time left over to do the job I came here to do (which does not pay the rent) - journalism. Although Im beginning to think travel writing is not necessarily journalism. Ive decided to do something drastic. I am staying away from #sinister for an entire week. It was Daves idea. And it is a damn good one. Lets see if I can do it. Unfortunately, it means I will likely write too many posts and send out too many unsolicited emails. So if you all get personal commentary from me about your latest posts, do not be afraid. Support me as I try to shake this addition. Yes. I painted today, too. That took up a few hours. Then it sounded like perhaps this three-day monsoon was over, so I went to the front room balcony to check, and I staggered back in shock when I saw that it was night. How did this happen? I was actually considering going to buy a toast maker or some food, but I looked at my watch and it read: 6:30. Damn. Well, I guess thats what happens when you wake up at 3 p.m. Shameful. I must do something about that. So now I still have many, many hours to kill. What shall I do? I allowed myself an hour online to check emails and read posts - there were tons! Thank you boys and girls - and now Im at a loss. I may actually write something productive. I havent written anything for publication in more than a month, mainly because I have failed to land an assignment. But I stumbled upon a new travel web site that looks really promising and decided I want to contribute to it, even though I wont get paid. I need to write again. Even if its just for practice. And its kind of like being published, in the sense that I can put it on my CV and add the articles to my clip file. Sad that it comes down to that. But really, its just as much that I want to feel part of something worthwhile. My friend Michelle and I almost took over a prominent web-based music zine. It was her idea. She had been contributing to it regularly on the side as she worked days alongside me at the newspaper. The owner announced he was going to retire the zine after 20 years because he couldnt keep it up anymore. So Michelle got a crazy idea to take over. It would be a pretty major project - this was like a small business, and this guys full-time job - and she started writing up legal contracts and letters of intention and all that. She had to name a board of directors, and we recruited a fellow writer and music guru and a web page designer to join our enterprise as we planned a buy-out. A buy-out! Insanity. I was excited to be a part of it, even though I knew it would suck away all my free time and not provide much supplementary income. But it didnt matter because I would have a product, something to show for it. It never happened, obviously. The owner ultimately decided against letting us buy the magazines name and all associated with it. There were disagreements about copyright and use of archives and all that. It was complicated business, it was. Ah well. Ive had fleeting thoughts about starting a publication of some sort. I mean, what a resource there is at our disposable were someone to start a sinister zine or something. It seems submissions would be remarkably easy to come by, written and otherwise. Hmm. Printing is the problem. Yuck. Ah well. I should stop thinking about such things and just work. Or go to a film. Yes. To a French film with Greek subtitles, which will really do my head in. I know neither language well enough to follow conversations, but at least the visuals are supposed to be spectacular. Nighty night all. Be good. And tell someone you love them. And why. MWAH! ~dahling PS: I wrote this at 7 p.m., well before the eXtreme elvis post. Its now 2:30 a.m. and I feel silly even bothering to send this now, for FUCKING HELL KYLA. THAT WAS FANTASTIC. What description, what form. Wow. Im truly in awe. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+