Appy polly logies for the lapse. I promised myself I wouldn’t let this happen.
Where have I been? Well, I just returned from a week of camping/climbing in Bishop, California: a complete change of venue to regain perspective and “realign the compass” (as my friend Ben Hiltzheimer calls it). Just before that, I spent a day and change realigning in a different way: many beers and talk at Doug Stanhope‘s house. And before that, I was holed up in my office, surrounded by books and journal articles, finishing my master’s thesis.
Where am I now? Well, after the time on the desert rocks and in preparation for a move, I’m reassessing my belongings. I suppose, relatively speaking, that I don’t have much: no major pieces of furniture, no car, no television. But I do have things with which I don’t feel I can part: my bike, my books, my computers. Then there are the sentimentals: my black and white print from Tobin Yelland, my skateboard-as-postcard from Patrick David Barber, my vinyl copy of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, etc. For a while there (from 1998 until 2002), I’d been moving at a fugitive’s clip and kept my baggage light. But since landing at San Diego State for graduate school, I’ve collected quite a bit of atoms. Being in the desert with next to nothing will make one rethink what one owns. Chuck Palahniuk once quoth that the things you own end up owning you. That becomes all too clear when it’s time to put all of your shit on a truck.
Where am I going? Well, I’m headed back to Seattle. That decision took another lengthy spell of assessment and reassessment, but that’s the place. Having lived there before and for longer than I’ve lived anywhere save The South, I’ve long considered Seattle home. I’m not sure I’m ready to plant roots, but I am anxious to get back to the trees, the mountains, and the culture up there.
Listening to these ones:
Jesu s/t (Hydra Head)
Isis Panopticon (Ipecac)
DJ Spooky and Dave Lombardo Drums of Death (Thirsty 3ar)
Mike Ladd Nostalgialator (!K7) and Negrophilia (Thirsty 3ar)
Pelican March Into the Sea and Australasia (Hydra Head)
dälek Absence (Ipecac)
High on Fire Blessed Black Wings (Relapse)
Cult of Luna Salvation (Earache)
Nine Inch Nails With Teeth (Nothing/Interscope)
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Worlds Apart (Interscope)