The Visible Woman...October 22, 2003

I'm convinced I could do all this creative work if I just had my working environment neat, clean and organized. On the other hand as I'm trying to ogranize (and especially discard) I keep thinking that all the books, scraps of paper, photos, newspaper clippings, toys and gadgets provide a rich environment to mine for, um, creativity.

So, what's the answer? I tried to cull stuff out of my office closets. (And, let's admit it, off the floor.) It was really kind of depressing. All these great books, old scribblings, souvenirs. But they just seemed to be in my way. I'm constantly trying to sort through stuff, file it or dispose of it. But I never seem to make progress. Of course, it doesn't help that I've been moving out of other parts of the house for the remodel and altered living arrangements during same.

I've decided that I need to stow away and throw away enough stuff so that I can get good access to some interesting stuff, stuff I need to refer to (reference books, important working files) and such. Maybe the answer is just to pick some stuff to pack up and hide out of sight. I have a little room in storage. Hmm..but first I need to get rid of these newspapers!

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

A Journal from Austin, Texas. A Project of LBFFP Stealth Publishing.
food	reading	writing	time	exercise	health and mood

. OK...it's really a mess but it will look worse while I clean out the closet and shelves...because yes there are things that aren't on the floor.	too much input vs. a rich environment I'm convinced I could do all this creative work if I just had my working environment neat, clean and organized. On the other hand as I'm trying to ogranize (and especially discard) I keep thinking that all the books, scraps of paper, photos, newspaper clippings, toys and gadgets provide a rich environment to mine for, um, creativity. So, what's the answer? I tried to cull stuff out of my office closets. (And, let's admit it, off the floor.) It was really kind of depressing. All these great books, old scribblings, souvenirs. But they just seemed to be in my way. I'm constantly trying to sort through stuff, file it or dispose of it. But I never seem to make progress. Of course, it doesn't help that I've been moving out of other parts of the house for the remodel and altered living arrangements during same. I've decided that I need to stow away and throw away enough stuff so that I can get good access to some interesting stuff, stuff I need to refer to (reference books, important working files) and such. Maybe the answer is just to pick some stuff to pack up and hide out of sight. I have a little room in storage. Hmm..but first I need to get rid of these newspapers!
JUST TYPING Just do it. Start down the pile of newspapers. Love them. But they do pile up.
		Food Diary. *breakfast* nothing *lunch* small salad with cheese, carrots, onions and dressing banana some cottage cheese and hot sauce and a few chips *snacks* none dinner [wine dinner at club] well...this was a disaster for dieting and dining I drank about four or five glasses of wine I had some cheese and a little fruit and a couple of crackers Here is the menu with my comments: Starter: International Fruit [huh? there was pineapple and kiwi] and Cheese with Crackers Fall Creek Chenin Blanc [a tasty cocktail hour wine and cheap, too. buy it] Appetizer: Smoked Scallop and Watercress Terrine with Basil Rosemary Oil, Whipped Ginger Carrot Swirls and Fanned Roma Tomatoes. [Bland but I ate it all. Should have stopped with this course.] Fall Creek Reserve Chardonnay. [Better than Kendall Jackson if you like that style. And sometimes, I shudder to admit, I do.] Salad Artichoke and Fresh Fennel Salad with Arugula Greens and Warm Seared Duck Breast [The duck was, in fact, tepid and tough. There were also a few currants or something not mentioned in the snooty title. These were about the only tasty thing but a mistake nonetheless...they intermingled with the fennel and gave the impression of bugs on the plate. I shouldn't have eaten this fatty, tepid, tough duck. Stupid. Lesson: when food is so-so quit eating.] Fall Creek Sauvignon Blanc (this is also a nice wine and not expensive) Mango Sorbet [OK, why even mention it? (1) Because I ate it. (2) Because it rested on a frozen plug in a glass which would have been an OK touch except there was a berry or something frozen in it and people tried to eat it which was not possible.] Entree Pecan Mustard Crusted Wild Boar Chop with Blackberry-Merlot Demi Glace Served with Asiago Polenta, Wild Mushroom Ragout and Fresh Asparagus Spears [I honestly have nothing against baby corn but what was it doing in the ragout? The ragout was hidden under the giant, undercooked chops which had a dollop of mustardy stuff. I think the demi glace was mixed in with the mushrooms and baby corn. The asparagus needed a moment more cooking in my opinion. Sadly I ate some of these rare chops trying to get a taste combo that worked. I ate too much of them. I ate the undercooked asparagus, or part of it, to get something green.] Fall Creek Merlot [Nice wine and again, probably especially nice for the price.] Lesson learned: stop eating if it doesn't seem to work...it isn't going to get better and you will just get fatter. Also...a confession...I swallowed two aloe vera gel caps and two Advil before going to bed. Because I knew I'd need them. Stupid. Only eat and drink the best! Don't sacrifice your head and bowels to junk. Unfortuantely, I was sort of hungry.
		Time flies.... I was at the club almost three hours. There's where the time goes. Then it was hard to get rolling on anything. I was "cleaning up my office" but I found myself, from time to time, packing up books elsewhere, figuring out what do to with the cushions from the coach that we will fold out for sleeping, etc. Then it was time to go out.

		Reading. Read .I.F. Stone's A Nonconformist History of our Times: The War Years 1939-1945 on the bike and treadmill. Okay...so I'm going to get these papers off my floor. What did I actually read of them? What did I learn? I read about a poet named Samuel Menashe who has lived in an apartment in Greenwich Village for almost fifty years writing poetry with a pen. And about an artist Jay DeFeo who obsessed over one eight foot by eleven foot painting with vast buildups of paint for many years. [Both in the New York Times Weekend for Friday October 10.] Then I read about this game played in urban landscapes where you have to go to all these checkpoints, shoot yourself with a digi picture only you have to figure out the landmarks from puzzles so you have to have wireless Internet access on your PDA or a cell phone to phone a friend and GPS. Very geeky. I read about a Holocaust Museum in Farmington Hills, Mich. that sort of resembles a death camp and is getting bad press for unnerving passersby. Um, yeah. And, in the bathroom, I reading about a famous acting coach in an eight-year-old copy of The New Yorker.
		I will never write. Except this journal, of course.
		Exercise one hour water aerobics thirty-one minutes on recumbent bike stretches, abs, lower back stuff thirty minutes on the treadmill
	.	I'm still having digestion problems but it's nothing much. My mood is out of sorts. Our deal on the building fell through (which we expected but the potential buyer had to insult us with their offer) so we are back to looking for a renter or buyer. (One who doesn't want to sign a deal and then offer twenty-five percent less later on.) I know none of it really matters at all. I know that organizing tennis for myself and reading and writing and thinking and talking to people and exercising are what I should be doing. I think so anyway.