New Morning
I don't really think I'm an insomniac. I was tired last night, as I usually am on a Friday after a full week of work, and of course came home early when the office closed at three. Somehow that made the evening start sooner - I rented two videos, started watching one at 6, and had what felt like a full evening by the time it ended at 8. Plus I thought it might be nice to have a drink, which I rarely do, probably because it does put me to sleep. I decided to read in bed after that, and of course fell asleep with the book still open, at about 9:30. So is waking up at 5:30 this morning really so crazy? It's eight hours of sleep.
Yet I am, clearly, the only person awake in the building. Somebody was coming in at 2 when I got up to go to the bathroom. (I like that I interpret it this way, even as it happens - that there is no relationship between the waking up and the stumbling footsteps on the hallway stairs - a full bladder takes ownership of all motives and emotions.)
The Gotham people were obnoxious yesterday. I've always had an aversion to their writing workshops, I think because of the way they market themselves on the city streets. The impression is that they don't cater to committed or talented writers, but will take anybody. (Unless it's true that every New Yorker is a frustrated writer.) The other has always been their fees. Well, when I registered online yesterday I answered the question "Have you taken a Zoetrope or Gotham workshop before?" with a yes, referring to the Belize workshop Zoetrope led. I figured this was how I was expected to prove my eligibility for the Advanced class. But they called me, almost immediately after, because selecting that "yes" was what gave me the $50 discount, and a very bitchy woman wanted to let me know there was no record of me in Gotham's files, and what did I mean by "yes"? I explained, and she said that didn't entitle me to a discount, which threw me for a bit because I didn't see the connection at first - I wasn't angling for a discount, I thought the $50 discount that popped up at the end was a web special or even something that came from linking to their site via Zoetrope. Anyhow... the whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth. (Ugh, that's an incredibly trite and sad metaphor but it's 6:30 am and my brain? not really creative.) I have two minds (yes, trite, I said) to call them back and point out that it says "Zoetrope OR Gotham" not "Zoetrope AND Gotham" on the form. Is this laziness in sentence clarity a sign of what's to come from the class?
I'd suggest this was the most boring blog entry ever, but I've been browsing. I know better. At least I can, for the most part, spell. (Most of my typos are result of fast typing fingers. Thank god for MS Word's auto correct of things like "teh" to "the.") I pride myself on the fact that I've never used "u r" in any online communication, nor have I made a smiley face out of random punctuation marks (except in one or two pointedly ironic circumstances.) I am a writing snob. I sometimes want to leave comments correcting people's grammar.
I think I will try to fall asleep again. The book light Mom got me for Christmas seems to do the job extremely well. Plus, Tom Perrotta's "Little Children"? Not making me a happy reader so far. (Review subject to revision once I get past the second chapter without zzzzzing.) It's typical of him, though - the plots sound interesting, they make good movies ("Election") but every novel of his I've read has been a minor let-down. I am afraid he's just not that strong a writer - or maybe his style is so matter-of-fact and contemporarily natural that I'm not able to appreciate it. I heard him on NPR talking about this book when it first came out, and he was so interesting and it sounded so intriguing that I almost didn't wait for it to come out in paperback. But good things come to those who... (trite alert #3) and I found it yesterday. We'll see.
Maybe I can sleep - I'm losing memory of which fingers hit which keys with which letters - typing brain has already left the very trite, very tired, building.
Yet I am, clearly, the only person awake in the building. Somebody was coming in at 2 when I got up to go to the bathroom. (I like that I interpret it this way, even as it happens - that there is no relationship between the waking up and the stumbling footsteps on the hallway stairs - a full bladder takes ownership of all motives and emotions.)
The Gotham people were obnoxious yesterday. I've always had an aversion to their writing workshops, I think because of the way they market themselves on the city streets. The impression is that they don't cater to committed or talented writers, but will take anybody. (Unless it's true that every New Yorker is a frustrated writer.) The other has always been their fees. Well, when I registered online yesterday I answered the question "Have you taken a Zoetrope or Gotham workshop before?" with a yes, referring to the Belize workshop Zoetrope led. I figured this was how I was expected to prove my eligibility for the Advanced class. But they called me, almost immediately after, because selecting that "yes" was what gave me the $50 discount, and a very bitchy woman wanted to let me know there was no record of me in Gotham's files, and what did I mean by "yes"? I explained, and she said that didn't entitle me to a discount, which threw me for a bit because I didn't see the connection at first - I wasn't angling for a discount, I thought the $50 discount that popped up at the end was a web special or even something that came from linking to their site via Zoetrope. Anyhow... the whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth. (Ugh, that's an incredibly trite and sad metaphor but it's 6:30 am and my brain? not really creative.) I have two minds (yes, trite, I said) to call them back and point out that it says "Zoetrope OR Gotham" not "Zoetrope AND Gotham" on the form. Is this laziness in sentence clarity a sign of what's to come from the class?
I'd suggest this was the most boring blog entry ever, but I've been browsing. I know better. At least I can, for the most part, spell. (Most of my typos are result of fast typing fingers. Thank god for MS Word's auto correct of things like "teh" to "the.") I pride myself on the fact that I've never used "u r" in any online communication, nor have I made a smiley face out of random punctuation marks (except in one or two pointedly ironic circumstances.) I am a writing snob. I sometimes want to leave comments correcting people's grammar.
I think I will try to fall asleep again. The book light Mom got me for Christmas seems to do the job extremely well. Plus, Tom Perrotta's "Little Children"? Not making me a happy reader so far. (Review subject to revision once I get past the second chapter without zzzzzing.) It's typical of him, though - the plots sound interesting, they make good movies ("Election") but every novel of his I've read has been a minor let-down. I am afraid he's just not that strong a writer - or maybe his style is so matter-of-fact and contemporarily natural that I'm not able to appreciate it. I heard him on NPR talking about this book when it first came out, and he was so interesting and it sounded so intriguing that I almost didn't wait for it to come out in paperback. But good things come to those who... (trite alert #3) and I found it yesterday. We'll see.
Maybe I can sleep - I'm losing memory of which fingers hit which keys with which letters - typing brain has already left the very trite, very tired, building.
posted by medusa at 6:21 AM
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