August 04, 2008

12:26 a.m.

Late and Later Still

I watched a juvenile lesbian coming-out movie (spoof really) and it actually made me sad.

Then I thought about all the possible parallel universes and wondered in how many of them I was happy.

Or in which ones I felt passion.

I did work on some book covers today. I started to reinvent the birdhouse book (it�s a pain in the ass to make; the price keeps going up and up as I cut and glue and measure and cut and glue), made another clover house book cover, and now on to some nice, predictable rectangular ones. I had chocolate and wine tonight, hang whatever digestive repercussions ensue. One must live.

I tried to watch an old Jennifer Aniston movie that Marc loaned me, but it skipped repeatedly so I finally turned it off. There�s nothing else I can safely eat tonight, and I don�t want to make any more book covers, so here I am. Sitting with you in this little rectangular room. Swinging my foot idly back and forth. Smiling politely with my lips pursed in that way one does when feeling embarrassed but wanting to make good.

Marc and Rose are purging stuff from the house in preparation for moving, and he called and offered me eight reams of acid-free, lignin-free red paper. Suddenly a line of red books went through my mind � rose themes, heart themes. Write on them with silver pens. Good. I told him I�d take them. He said Rose was doing the happy dance.

He also offered me a large block of wax, the type from which one makes candles, but I said I would need an additional room for candlemaking, so I really couldn�t accept it.

It reminds me of a traditional English folk song that I�ve heard, which is about this King named Willie who marries this beautiful woman for her long golden hair. His mother hates her and secretly puts a curse on her, that she�ll remain pregnant and in labor forever but will never be able to bear the child. He goes back to her in desperation, each time offering her a more expensive and wonderful bounty, but she refuses to retract the curse. So his wife has an idea; she tells him to go to the marketplace and buy a �loaf of wax;� to shape it as a nursing babe, and make two eyes of glass. Then he is to invite his mother to a christening day and stand close by her to hear what she says. So he does all these things, and his mother is wroth. He hears her say, �Who is it who undid the nine witch knots, braided in amongst this lady�s locks? Who is it who took out the Combs of Care, braided in amongst this lady�s hair? And who is it, slew the Master Kid {goat}, that ran and slept all beneath her bed? And who is it, who unlaced her left foot shoe, and has let her lighter be?�

So dear desperate King Willie goes home and undoes her braids, takes out the combs, slays the goat under her bed, unlaces her left shoe, and voila � she has her baby. And they live happily ever after.

I love this song, especially done by Martin Carthy. I never could figure out, though, how they could keep a goat under the bed and not know about it. That�s traditional music for you.

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Dar called today and sang me a mousified version of �Take Me out to the Ball Game,� entitled, �Take Your Mouse to the Ball Game,� which he�d worked on since yesterday. It was very good. I think he often goes out at night. He has many friends, and I think he goes out with them a lot when I don�t even know about it. Goes to their shows, goes out to dinner. I like this about him, that he has a life that doesn�t depend on me. However, I am fairly certain that I am the only one who heard this song. And that is why I am so crucially important to him. There is no one else in his life with whom he can share his private and complete obsession with mice.

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Aha! It�s 12:12am. I used to get the 11:11 angel all the time; now it�s 12:12. I wondered if there was one for every minute of the day and night. Wouldn�t it be disheartening to be, say, the 6:27 angel? No one would really notice you. In your morning slot, most people are sleeping or in the shower; in the evening, they�re already sitting down to dinner. Hard to get anyone�s attention when you�re the 6:27 angel. Do you sit around eating potato chips and doing Sudoku?

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Okay, I give up the night. There�s nothing more to see here; move along.