Month: April 2001

I’m relieved. Apparently, it isn’t me. At least, not entirely. So I think I’ll step back a bit and concentrate on work, reading my novel, fighting the new modem at home and cooking a lovely dinner for myself tonight – when in doubt, always go for good food. And a long soak in the bath. And an early night. All these things should keep me occupied: more occupied = less thinking = a good thing, probably.

congratulations to Grayblog visitor number 10,000 (a Mac user) who has just passed through, having been referred by the updated GBlogs list. Your reward is a firm handshake which you can collect next time you pass through Chichester.
I’m not sure what is more scary – the fact that this site has had ten thousand visitors since I started on the original version (exactly seven months ago today), or the fact that I’m so fascinated by my visitor stats.

Vaughan links the world. Once again, Vaughan shows us all how it should be done. I particularly like the Desert Island Clicks idea, although I don’t think I’ll make a submission as it might just give too much away.

have updated the about page to include mention of the pulchritudinous Tam, following complaints that she had been omitted.

it’s too quiet this morning.
I don’t like it.
Something is wrong, and I think it may be me.

thought for tonight: things always look better in the morning.
so, subject to being able to sleep, I’m going to bed in the hope that I can fast-track to morningspace.

now I’m really worried.
Sometimes I really wish I said nothing, thought nothing and was generally invisible.
I care too much.

In news tonight:
a: I’m worried. Something is up. I hope it isn’t me.
b: beer tonight with the delightful Tam, the blue-shirted Matt, Dom, James, Sacha, Ian, Bora, Chris and Karen. Must update the “about” page to reflect additions/changes to the cast.
c: trouble at Woodies tonight. Thankfully I was in the Nags (sorry Paul, but you could tell there was some shit about to go down in Woodies, so left the gig and headed for a quiet beer). I don’t think it was anything major, but as usual the Chichester police over-reacted and five police cars turned up and two ambulances. Meanwhile, all was serenity in the Nags.

further to my comment below about not having words to describe that book, I sometimes really get frustrated by not being able to express my thoughts in the way I want. It’s not that I don’t have the vocabulary – I’m actually pretty proud of my wordage – but I’m just not adept at using those words effectively. I tend to use a lot of visual cues to get my message across – if you ever see me talking, especially if it is a subject about which I am passionate, I start gesticulating – a lot. So much so that I’ve been warned that I might take off one day and fly away. In fact, I was asked once, by my oh-so-funny friends, to try and talk whilst sitting on my hands. Needless to say, I couldn’t.

I am not a fast reader. I’m not one of those people who can scan a page/screen of text and ingest the meaning. I have to read each word carefully, sometimes seeking inferences that perhaps are not there to be found.
So when I read a whole novel in a day and a half, you know that it must be something special to take my attention and hold it for so long.
This morning I finished reading As She Climbed Across The Table by Jonathan Lethem. I haven’t been so gripped by writing in years. This is an utterly fantastic book, one of the very best I have ever read. It features not only an interesting and gripping plot, but also cleverly worked insights into the workings of the mind, into relationships, desire, love, infatuation. You can not help but turn each and every page in succession, until you reach the end. Like Lack, the centre of the story, the book absorbs you totally and utterly.
This is one of the most fantastic books I have ever read. My words are totally inadequate to describe it and the feelings it creates. All I can suggest is that you go and buy it. Now.