12.18.17

Up 8. Did a couple tasks I’d scribbed down last night. Out by 9:30; slight train delay. Finished the Crawford – I don’t know that I think this book entirely succeeds, but there’s an affinity to The Orchid Stories, partly but not entirely the mock-clinical/systemic tone. Started looking at current section over coffee. Therapy. Read Poincaré over lunch – indulged in a full diner meal + pie before leaving NY. I certainly didn’t follow all the scientific detail (it is very hard to make oneself attend closely to long-superseded theories), but I think I got most of the philosophical and methodological points they were in service of. Finished it later on the train. Odd final chapter on the contributions (and physical bravery) of French geodists. Quote to live/teach (write?) by from earlier in the book (117):

What is a good definition? For the philosopher or the scientist, it is a definition which applies to all the objects to be defined, and applies only to them; it is that which satisfies the rules of logic. But in education it is not that; it is one that can be understood by the pupils.

Worked at library 3-6. Added 500 or so words, though this bit, defending discussion of functional harmony, is really tough between clarity, not scolding the ignorant, avoiding overgeneralization w/o too much hedging). Decided to switch to lighter editing of the next chapter for an hr. – probably good to remember that some parts of the book are in decent shape. Got home about 8, got close to packed by 10 (there’s always crap that eludes me until the next morning), listened to side to of the Condition record, and an LP of Stravinsky’s cello-piano Suite Italienne. Lights out before midnight.

12.17.17

Up 8. Spent about 9 to 11:30 at Starbucks and Caffé Bene; boiled down yesterday’s work, started next graf. Off pace. Home: Had my suitcase out all day, put things in it as it occurred to me. Called my dad; wrote condolence emails to two of my cousins (my aunt Rosina’s sons). Laundry. Filled in my travel CD wallet (again, for DJing, though also the car). Went back out to coffee later, finished Blue Bloods, read 2-3 stories in Crawford. Daybook. Lights out by 11:30. I’m sure there was a lot of dead time in there.

12.16.17

Up 7:30. Wrote at Caffe Bene 8:30-11:30; completed one paragraph about the relevance of harmony to form, went on to more bridge-specific points. About 500 words (my current quota), but 2nd ½ is v. rough. At home, read another chunk of Blue Bloods and made vague gestures in the direction of packing – mostly, searching for a couple of books I want to take (it’s finally time to hunker down and read Lawrence Levine), and a few LPs for DJing. Much of the afternoon is foggy. Eventually read some Poincare (he’s arguing against logicism, mostly non-technically, w/ some discussion of Russell’s paradoxes; Cantor, Peano, Zermelo all make appearances; in some ways he was proven right, but he surely underestimated the power of formalization; no mention of Frege, who was obscure at the time). Went w/ Bree to the early music concert at St. Mark’s (two blocks away, not Manhattan; wrote daybook entry before it started), then to my neighbor Jennie’s holiday party. Mostly talked to people from our building. I wasn’t completely in the holiday spirit; a lot of negative self-talk lately, to use the jargon. Came back after midnight; Bree stayed behind to help clean up.

12.15.17

Full day. Up 7. Left w/ Bree before 9:30; she was going to physical therapy.

Read Blue Bloods on the train (throughout day). Therapy. Met Bree at Walter Reade for Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper 1942), which I’d unaccountably never seen. Relatable (actually, I was close to tears for much of the running time). Had coffee together nearby, she went home, I went downtown to check out the holiday record sale at the Archive of Recorded Music. It had been going on for several days, and the pickings were fairly slim, which is fine given my dislike of collector/hoarder crowds. Came out with Gilberto Gil, Carlos Gardel, and Tim Lee CDs, LPs of Peter Maxwell Davies, Eight Songs for a Mad King (w/ Julius Eastman), the soundtrack to A Patch of Blue, and a copy of Berliner, Thinking About Jazz. Had a bite at a cabbie joint; got a coffee and a free cookie, got back into Poincaré. Walked around the corner to the “Speech Acts” event at Triple Canopy, a reading/panel associated with a show at ICA in Philly (which I won’t be seeing; might track down the Futurepoem catalog). Chatted with Dan Machlin and Serena Jost beforehand. Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Morgan Parker, and Simone White. Rasheed, about whom I knew nothing, extremely lucid, quality of discussion otherwise uneven – I thought Parker and White were saying almost diametrically opposed things about linearity and genealogy, w/o acknowledging it. Someone said that as a black woman, she was speaking a language (English) that she wasn’t intended to speak; tendentious way to use “intended” (by?), but it formulates something that might be said about music too. Stopped by E77 on the way home. Read up to ½ way point in Crawford (a book I’m not sure I like much), another 50 p. of Blue Bloods, and heard some bluegrass. Home at 11.

12.14.17

Up 7. At E77 for a while, read to about 67 of Poincaré (beginning of chapter on “Chance”; his determinism is showing) + a chunk of Blue Bloods (takes less that ¼ of the book to get past her first two marriages, which left her with enough money to fuck up her kids lives). Daybook. Got back before noon – really should have turned around and gone somewhere to write, but got involved online and wrote more EMP comments. Made it out to Lucid from 4-7, but only completed one graf and started a new one. Not the use of a day w/o appointments or events that I’d hoped. Read on in Poincaré and Lynne Crawford in the evening. Unusually tired; dropped off around 11 trying to listen to a GTD podcast (though I’ve basically broken the productivity-porn habit).