Up 7:40.
Made coffee, read 50 p. (inc. the celebrated “Liner Notes” transitional section) of Lethem by 9. He’s got critics and SF cons pegged.
Exercise. Form notes, 10 R&B songs - inc. Ray Charles’ first appearance.
Bree and I got a stew/braise going — osso bucco, in the freezer from my last trip to the farmer’s market two Sundays ago, which takes hours to tenderize — so we’d have it for dinner.
Walk. Back about 11:40.
Decided to put off writing, already delayed, in favor of some family business that’s become more urgent w/ my dad’s episode. (Did write opening of next graf and look up 2 refs. before that.) Worked on that ’til 1:30, w/ some other responses later.
Tried to relax for a while after lunch, then made calls to my dad at the hospital (sounded ok, actually, still waiting for discharge) and the caregiver agency.
Read Lethem while Bree was on a call, about 4-5.
A lot of 1/2 to 1 hr holes in the day - dithering, though also adding vegetables to the stew and other small task.
Took a walk about 6, saw Jennie from the next building in the distance (felt chagrined she had a mask and I didn’t).
Worked 6:30-8, finished a short paragraph.
Had some stew, spent time w/ Bree, watched an episode of The Jimmy Dean Show together from a DVD set Laura loaned us months ago.
Finished quota of Lethem around 11:30. Texted some family members. Lights out soon after.
4.9.10
Up for a bit at 7 to put out water bottles for monthly delivery (and removal).
Went back to bed and slept off and on through a couple of podcasts - David Harvey, L&O.
Up 9, wrote down what happened last night for yesterday’s entry.
Coffee. Exercise. Form notes, 7 R&B songs (late start).
Walk. Brought in all the water bottles from hall, since delivery was contactless — ought to count it as an extra exercise session.
Worked 11:15 to 1. Not happy with it - didn’t send graf, may try to salvage it later. Tired.
Lunch. Round of calls — nurse at ER said my dad was sleeping, but had eaten breakfast and was “answering questions appropriately.” Nothing to do, really, until he’s released.
Read 100 p. Lethem, 3:30-5:30.
Talked to dad’s doctor - may have been low sodium. They are keeping him at the hospital, maybe 1-3 days; talked to the nurse, but I got cut off when they tried to transfer me to his room.
2nd walk, about 6 pm.
Worked for another hr plus, was able to send 2 grafs. Email exchange w/ Drew Gardner.
Had a bite after that.
Read a long article about the Marxist journal Endnotes in N+1. Explained some things (about other things I’ve read).
Wasted some time. No poetry.
Another round of calls w/ Anthony and Loretta. Decided to try to get the hospital again; a nurse is supposed to call me back, hasn’t as I’m writing this as 11:53. Read the rest of Trevino while waiting. I see the power of the style, am probably not getting all the ins and outs of the race section.
Nurse called 12:15 (9:15 there). Not as much new as I’d been led to think. Lights out after that.
4.8.20
Up 6:30. Read Lethem 7-8.
Form notes, 10 R&B songs. Coffee, breakfast.
Exercise - 1st day at 3rd level.
Got all that done by 9. Coffee, breakfast, another 10 p. of Lethem. A few minutes of Domains - which it’s beginning to dawn on me is really pretty amazing, in a Brecht/Rivette way.
Walk.
Worked 11-12:30. Got the graf done, and worked on next one, but knocked off a little early - already distracted, but the cheese shop called w/ my pick-up order. Bree made a bandana mask more or less per CDC guidelines, w/ a coffee filter and rubber bands. Went to pick that up, should have taken bags, got back by 1, put the mask in the laundry, washed up, etc.
Sent graf, read to 203 of Lethem by about 2.
Lunch.
Called dad. Had to do some family business by email. [In retrospect, my dad was needlessly stressed and possibly misinformed about something - the latter isn’t usual, the former is.]
Therapy.
Watched the rest of Domains and (w/ Bree) Magic Town after dinner.
Wasn’t up for anything more strenuous after that point - though I guess I did write a longish listserv post I’d been meaning to. Didn’t try to read/write poetry or do anything about music.
Was getting close to going to bed when I noticed a call from my dad’s number about 20 min. earlier. Got a busy signal, kept trying. Eventually, one of his caregivers (not the one on duty, but she’d been contacted) called me: my dad had some kind of seizure during dinner, and had been taken to San Antonio hospital. From there, I had a round of calls and texts with my uncle Anthony, his brother Joseph, my aunt Toni, the hospital ER, the caregiver who had been with him, and Alina, the head of Visiting Angels. Pieced together that he’d “stiffened up” and become unresponsive; he came to in the ambulance, but was confused/disoriented there and at the hospital. The doctor on duty said he had not known the time or, more worrying, the President’s name. He said they’d done a CT scan and hadn’t found evidence of stroke or anything else of note, but would probably do an MRI as well. A TIA/mini-stroke is still a possibility (grandma had a series of those, so did mom), but he also mentioned other possible causes (electrolytes, low blood sugar, though that wasn’t indicated by tests), and agreed that stress/anxiety could be a factor. I spoke to my dad in the emergency ward room for a few minutes — forming complete sentences, but groggy and drifting a big, and said he didn’t remember where he lived. I described the house. All this wasn’t more than 2 hrs after the original episode, so the shock was still wearing off and he could (largely) recover. But I don’t know what’s going on physically, and I’m blindsided, b/c this seems unrelated to his other medical troubles. Bree supportive thoughout, but can’t do much.
4.7.20
Up 7:30. Coffee, made buckwheat.
Exercise. 10 p. Lethem. No time for R&B.
Therapy.
Walk.
Worked 10:30 to 1. Got the main graf fairly quickly, pretty good pass at the next, spent some time ascertaining the keys of a couple of original/cover pairs, send the graf, and finally did the chore of putting the recipients in an actual contacts/address book mailing list.
Read Lethem 1:30-3 - to p. 82.
Tried to help out w/ delivery difficulties - Instacart doesn’t look too promising. Not interesting, and frustrating b/c both my Mac and the internet are sluggish.
Form notes, 10 R&B song.
Little more Lethem. 100 p. a day is doable - big book, but I don’t want to spend weeks on it.
2nd walk.
Didn’t try too hard to be productive or creative tonight. Watched a very trivial hour-long B-picture, Saleslady (Arthur G. Collins 1938) with Anne Nagel. Read 1st 20 p. of Wendy Trevino, Cruel Fiction. Dealt w/ some open tabs and a little email.
Bree heard about the new CDC guidelines on cloth masks, and probably wants me to wear one when I go out briefly. I understand, but it’s one more thing to deal with.
Listened to another episode of that jurisprudence podcast, while also watching the first 45 min. of a (visually static, subtitled) Japanese film called Domains (Natsuka Kusano, 2019). I think I got the point of both, but it was an odd experience. About as psychedelic as I get.
Watched more of Magic Town w/ Bree but we were both pretty tired. Lights out 12:30.
4.6.20
Up 7. Watched John Oliver, read last 20 p. of Poetic Closure.
Coffee. Form notes, 10 R&B songs. A lot more AABA on disc 3 of 1949. Exercised.
I love Louis Jordan’s “Beans and Cornbread” so much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM9jT2eM6KQ
Worked 11-1, though I petered out creatively w/in that. Sent graf.
Robertson, to p. 154 - will finish last 30 p. later, start new book/s tomorrow.
Read an interesting piece by Martin Jay on Trump, the Frankfurt School, and racketeering: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/trump-scorsese-and-the-frankfurt-schools-theory-of-racket-society/
Worked on mixing notes for Mitch, which I’d been neglecting. Took an hr+ to write them up for 3 songs, mainly “Faith & Credit.”
Cleared email for an hr. Realized I hadn’t sent some Covid links to the building email list, as promised - so I did that (which involved finding the addresses).
Finished Robertson about 6 pm. “Sometimes I feel it is the room that writes. But it needs the hot nib of my pronoun.”
Cracked Lethem’s Fortress of Solitude - not sure this is the time.
Typed 3 LEAR poems.
Bree cleaned some chard, I cooked it. Ate the last of the take-out chicken.
2nd walk.
Put in another hr. of work, 8-9. Drafted next 2 grafs (1 is short).
Watched half of Magic Town (William Wellman 1949) w/ Jimmy Stewart, Jane Wyman, Ned Sparks, Donald Meek &c. Watchable, but lays on the small-town charm w/ a trowel. Capra would be embarrassed at the “quirky, ordinary folks.”
Stayed up past midnight trying to get onto the Fresh Direct site w/ no luck. Got to the end of Rob M.’s poetry videos, closed tab until he posts more.