It has been a long while, hasn’t it? Here’s the story so far….
The position of Resident Manager is still intact, still have the nice space in a Nob Hill apartment, but the position and the responsibilities continued to evolve, until I reached this current state, which is being a Figurehead of Security for the residents, looking out for fire and flood and the occasional locked-myself-out issues. Beyond this is the weird Furnished Suites Maintenance work that I am not technically contracted for, but nonetheless is paying the bills. I’m partnered with a fella that knows his stuff and is nice to be around, and aside from the madness of running maintenance for five buildings, it’s a fairly decent gig. Been learning quite a bit about how things work and how to make them work again, and there’s a certain element of freedom and self-management that I like. But there is still this element of being under the axe all the time, wherein Management can simply drop me from their worklist and possibly cancel my Resident Manager contract, which means I have to move out in a week, or, if they are accommodating, come up with the full rent, which is something upwards of $1500 a month. So I basically have a tenuous grasp on my comfort level at the moment, but I’m getting used to it. Kinda like trench warfare, I suppose. I could go at any time, but I’m not letting the sound of artillary work on my nerves anymore….
I did manage to finish one stage of a home project – I finished cataloging my books last night. Next up, alphabetization! The final total (at least for the moment) stands at one thousand nine hundred thirty-nine books, which is a little disappointing, ’cause I thought I had more. Of course, I am a Collector, so many of these volumes are multiples of a single title, especially in the Harlan Ellison/William Kotzwinkle/Jonathan Carroll listings. I also have nigh-complete collections of Robert Parker’s Spenser novels, and he cranks those things out at an alarming rate. And, of course, my numbers are inflated by my Graphic Novel Collection, which I’m gonna have to segregate out of the regular shelves, just because I haven’t the room at the moment to put everything out properly. Maybe I’ll take pictures and post ‘em….
Speaking of pictures, I am, after all, in the center of San Francisco, and have been attempting to get out and shoot the city a bit. I’ve started a running stream here on Flickr, and should eventually post them, like this:
I am, of course, not completely off the internet grid. Been posting a bit on Twitter, and I poke my head in at the various feeds on my Bloglines list. I’ll be posting my Where To Find Me list next month….
Beyond this, now that my life has found a level of stability, I have Plans. Well, I’ve always had Plans, but Things kept getting in the way of Plans. But now, with a little sober effort, Plans can be pushed forward. Such as the editing and writing phase of the Photography Project (remember that?), and there’s also the two Book Projects, which, because of the recent POD efforts of Warren Ellis, have sparked anew in me head. I think that’s kinda the thing, sober effort, not being distracted by much of anything anymore. A few months ago, I was able to whine and complain about being on the houseboat and being unemployed and not having space for working. Can’t do that anymore. Got my whole library unpacked and I have a desk and a comfy chair and a certain measure of isolation, so my excuses are diminishing dramatically. So yeah, now it’s getting to the point where I am no longer an Artist Under Distress and Therefore Can Not Create, but a Whiny Knucklehead That Makes Excuses For Not Doing The Work. Otherwise known as a poser. And since I don’t wanna have to spend my time hanging out in the Mission, wearing secondhand hipster clothes and drinking PBR, I suppose I have to start being creative and constructive….
But I do have cable teevee for the first time in about six years. Been catching up on my Mythbusters and my Good Eats and my No Reservations, saw a few movies that I missed NetFlixing, there’s football right now (yay!), and various and sundry docs and pseudo-docs on History Channel and Discovery and such, but beyond that, the novelty wore off after a few weeks. Much of what I want to watch, such as Burn Notice, I can just wait for the DVD to be released, and I can watch it all without commercials or them damn maddening popup overlays that all the channels seem to be doing nowadays. But ya know, I can’t remember what life was like before DVR, lemmie tell ya….
I think I’ve said enough. I’ll say more at a later time….
