Looks Like We Made It*

January 3, 2008

*B. Manilow (special nod to Lola)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I know, i’m a little late. We got back this morning at 12:30 a.m. from Cincinnati.

We had a nice time.

Ate too much (Ted’s mom is a fabulous cook). Not to mention she had the best gifts for us. My stocking was stuffed with books (JM Coetzee’s new one: Diary of a Bad Year, a coffee- table book about Celluloid Cowboys, and the terrific the illustrated Strunk and White Elements of Style!)
<–snow in Cincy!

It snowed (yay!), and we saw the movie “Enchanted” (Amy Adams is enchanting).

Hung out with his lovely brother and sister-in-law.

I also caught up on some much needed reading:

Read an awesome book on the plane: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Hilarious. Loved the narrative voices. Funny and moving.

Read most of the NewYorker Fiction Issue– I haven’t read an entire NYer in MONTHS. I really loved Paul Rudnick’s nonfiction piece on the actor Nicol Williamson. Apparently he was a holy terror in Rudnick’s first Broadway Play, I Hate Hamlet . Also loved the piece on Raymond Carver and his relationship with his editor, Gordon Lish–as well as the accompanying story “Beginnings”– god, could Carver write dialogue or what? Click here to read the story.

Read most of the lit journal A Public Space. I’d been hearing about/reading about this fairly new lit mag from various people (notably recently on Moonlight Ambulette) and so decided to buy a subscription (they also offered a really cool DVD on advertising–Helvetica– with it). The mag rocks! So many great writers: Helen Schulman, Jim Shephard, Kevin Moffett, Samantha Hunt– Moffett and Hunt i’ve just discovered. I SO want to submit something to A Public Space. In any case, check them out– buy the mag, buy a subscription– you’ll be addicted.

I even wrote a bit on the plane. Mostly the starts of some nonfiction essays (inspired, no doubt, by the gems in A Public Space).

On the flight home we had a layover in Minneapolis and so natch we visited the Larry Craig Memorial Bathroom!

Here is it in all its, ahem, glory (the one with the door closed– naturally it was occupied at the time).

Anyway…

I’ll close this post with a look to the future. A few weeks ago I was memed by Tonya at HappyDash (by the way Tonya, Ted LOVED the Ice Crusher!). The meme , which was suggested by her husband, stated:

“If we can imagine where we want to be, if we can get into the feeling of where we want to be, then we will eventually find ourselves where we want to be.”

I’m a firm believer in the power of positive thinking, and in–what’s it called?– visualization? So in this meme we are to give our vision of the not too distant future.

My not too distant future: involves, obviously, me and Ted. Ted has finished his PhD in Anthropology and has found a job at a school in a city we both love (let’s just say it’s on either the East Coast or West Coast: NYC, Boston, or SF, Los Angeles, or god forbid, San Diego…). He’s teaching but also writing for Rolling Stone and Esquire. Oh wait, this is my vision, right?

I’ve gotten a full-time teaching job at the same, or a neighboring College. I’m teaching  Creative Writing, though I also teach Advanced Composition (what can I say, I love that class). We live in either a nice brownstone or 80 year-old brick building, or, if we’re on the West Coast, a charming craftsman home with a front and back yard where we have orange, fig, and grapefruit trees and a small garden where I grow tomatoes and various herbs like basil and mint.

My first and second books were not only financial successes but critically lauded. A movie is being made for the first book. I’m working on the third book but also writing for Details magazine (ha ha.        No really).
Our families visits regularly, thank god we have a four bedroom place! Each with its own fireplace.

Speaking of family– (in this visualization) we are in the process of adopting our first child– the cats are very excited– and so are the dogs (two of them– a big one and a small/lap dog).

I’m still making collages (like this recent creation that I sent to Felicia )

(click collage to see more of my recent creations)
–and i’ve even started showing them at coffee shops and small local galleries.

We are in great health, and financially secure for the first time in our lives –we’ve even paid off our student loans! (that’s why we also have a summer/winter rental in one of the opposite cities).

We are surrounded by friends and family, colleagues, creative people, bloggers, the folks we care about and love. Life is good.

**Oh, and I forgot to post our Christmas Card from this year: