Pumpkin Seeds: Mental Reboot Edition

1. NaNoWriMo Word Count, Day 3: 2,076 (-2,925)

2. Damn election!

3. The novel is happily percolating in my brain, flowing easily whenever I've found the time to write, but it's been 48 hours since I've found such time, so I'll need to spend my lunch hour on it before the well runs dry. And a late night tonight, I suspect.

4. Post-election America; a reanimated Babe Ruth and his zombie army; teenage sex! Diane's random-ass plot idea has been extremely liberating and my inner-editor has remained relatively quiet, letting the words flow freely. Lacking an outline, pre-determined cast, or any idea about where it's going, I'm having the most fun writing it that I've ever had.

5. Damn election!

6. Last night's intimate gig at Hostos with Jessica went well. Wanda Ortiz' installation evoked some extremely faded memories of Puerto Rico, along with fantasies about relocating that Jess squashed with the realities of Walgreen's and McDonalds, et al.

7. 3.95 million Puerto Ricans on the island and not a single one had the opportunity to vote for their President on Tuesday. I wonder what they'd say to those here that simply didn't bother?

8. First Wednesday's @ the Blue Ox, with Regie Cabico featuring, was the perfect tonic for my post-election blues. Regie was in rare form, as was the Blue Ox owner, Rony, revelling in Bush's victory and cruising for a busted jaw with his moronic heckling. Holmes McHenry shocked me with a memorized recital of a poem of mine, THE LONG WALK HOME, that even I've never memorized! He's apparently using it as a monologue for auditions. Simultaneously flattering and bizarre to hear your words coming out of someone else's mouth.

9. Giovanni's afterwards, with several of the Acentos mafia, made for a pleasant nightcap as it's been weeks since I've seen any of them.

10. Damn election!

11. How sad are things when the silver lining of this week's election is that the courts didn't have to get involved? Have our expectations of the process really sunk so low that that's an impressive thing?

12. Willie Randolph is the new manager of the NY Mets. As long as he lays off referring to "the Yankee tradition," I'm happy with the choice. You need to bring some credibility and star power to the job here in NY, even more important than a winning track record, I think. Consider me cautiously optimistic about 2005.

13. Appearing on his Sirius sattelite radio show, Eminem reportedly declined to make fun of Ashley Simpson because his daughter and niece are fans of hers. I'm guessing that means they're not into Michael Jackson.

14. The Jets are 6-1, tied for first place, and playing the Bills on Sunday afternoon. I swear I can taste Hooters' buffalo wings right this second!

15. A rare weekend off looms as the kids are going to Grandma's!

16. Tomorrow evening, I will be receiving a box filled with 130 or so manuscripts from the BCA's First Chapter contest for which I am a judge. Yikes!

17. "The future will be better tomorrow." --Dan Quayle