Wrote 9-12, getting through the current (four-stage model) section ok. Came home for lunch w/ parents, Bree, and my cousin Tony/husband Bill. She brought chicorria (Italian dialect for chicory, a bitter green/weed my grandparents used to cook a lot), focaccia, stuffed shells, baby octopus, and traditional cookies; we supplied meatballs and caprese salad. Nice to see her, caught up on her kids (cousins of my generation). They left around 3. I started W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, in a critical edition (w/ which I’ll deal w/ the apparatus after the main text), interrupted it to watch Cat People (Lewton 1942), but eventually read 50 p. My cousin Jeanette called while Dad was sleeping. Didn’t sit down for dinner – did my daybook pages and tidied up/moved old books out of my temporary bedroom/office. Left w/ Bree at 8:30 for Nathan Wilson’s New Year’s Eve party in Pasadena; put on a Duke/Peacock best-of for the drive. Took a pan of stuffed shells (from Claro’s, not Toni) and the remaining cookies. The expected crowd, who I have seen since I’ve been in town. Did a short DJ set on Nathan’s decks w/ some records I brought from NY. Glad to be w/ Bree at midnight; hoping 2018 is less of a strain on both of us. Headed back at 1. Lights out 2.

Unfortunately, it looks like I’m going into another period where daily entries are unlikely, though I will keep up w/ the monthly reading lists and radio playlists where applicable. I don’t know if anyone reads this, but the major plans for the year are to finish the bridge MS in the next 3-6 months, give a PopCon talk in April, release the Human Hearts comp. LP, mix the new album for 2019 release, and play out more; will probably be teaching at Purchase in fall. And then there’s “daily practice” (inc. the minimum of 3 hrs/day I need to spend on the book to feel like it’s progressing).

1 p. in poetry daybook
30 min. piano (actually working, rather than noodling: two-handed boogie-woogie, two-part inventions, and more accurate voicings for Monk tunes are the main things I want to tackle.)
read 15-20 p. poetry
read 50 p. prose
listen to 1 LP or CD I haven’t heard + 1 hr. of A-Z iTunes playlist
at least 1 practical or creative task toward musical projects, even if small (e.g. an email).

And, I need to lose 20 pounds. It adds up. Who knows where new songwriting fits in. We’ll see.