Best line from Deadwood last night came in the opening minutes from Al Swearengen:

“The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more fucking punishment in store. “

To continue a theme.

Last week…	and this week

Believe me, it keeps growing. And growing. And growing until the cat becomes impossible to find at 10:30 when you call for the king of wild to come inside. We have another three weeks or so, I estimate, until Heiner starts bringing in moles.

Dead or alive. Or rather dead and alive.

In other news I just started reading John Kessel’s collection “The Pure Product” and I’m really enjoying the stories. They’re so easy to read but aren’t in any way “light.” I will go over several of these stories in detail to begin picking out the good stuff. Pick pick pick.

I didn’t write much last week which is and isn’t a disappointment. In terms of writing progression I’m beginning to understand that this is a geologic progression, at least for me. I feel like I’m writing better, cleaner stuff than I was a year ago and that’s a start. On the other hand, I feel my brain beginning to compress after a couple weeks of hardcore writing and editing and it feels good to let it expand. I had a dream the other night that won’t leave me alone. It’s making a strong case that it’s a story.

I started a new story called, “Border Crossing,” inspired by a song by Jimmy Cliff and Joe Strummer. The story has nothing to do with the song, in principal at least. But I guess they’re both about oppression and what people choose and choose not to do when confronted by it. I started it liking it very much but I’ve cooled on it considerably. It seems like something that’s been done before both good and bad and doesn’t add much to the conversation. We’ll see. It’s hard to judge a story when it’s only half done.