Best of 2009, Pt. 1:



Best of 2009, Pt. 2:



Best of 2009, Pt. 3:


As music went, 2009 had a drought vibe, but that may be a symptom of the time I spent getting tired of all these songs - my long-term day job was a prison of passive listening, so burnout perhaps came early this year. (Other possibility: Crowdsourcing killed punk rock.) Regardless, I'm still sold on all the above. Enjoy!

Hey, I drew this at work today:



Also: Halfway through Tracy Daugherty's Barthelme bio and reinspired by the whole thing - like having a strobe light of genius flicker over me as I try to write. Oh, and Daugherty's a totally rambling biographer, which suits me just fine.

Testing the TXT input, feeling steeped in Gen Y hyperconnectivity, wondering if posts will be staggered or compiled...

(Non-TXT editor's note: They appear to be staggered. Here come the 160-word posts!)

OK, I just signed up for text & e-mail bloggery, as both can be more easily concealed than the website itself. The idea here is to jump Lingua's content a little - I feel like the job's made me abandon it and, by proxy, the sort of recreational writing that usually ramps into actual work. Plus, I've been updating my Twitter feed on occasion (including a straight-up blow-by-blow of my X-mas car troubles), which kind of makes no sense when I have a perfectly nice blog lying around.

Not too familiar with Judith Warner's (now defunct) column, but this quote from her parting wave struck me:

It’s often the case that journalism attracts shy people who love the job of reporting because it gives them a script that permits them to talk to others and connect; it’s probably no accident that the greatest sense of community I’ve had in recent years has come from sitting alone, staring at a piece of paper (I write by hand) and shutting out the world. But the feeling is nonetheless real.

Brief Postcard from Workforce Blog Exile

Hey, my friend Rachel's going to Jordan, á la Donny Osmond in the late 80s (but with a better backbeat), and blogging it:

Puppets in Jordan

As far as I can gather, it's a straight-up travelogue, so I'd enjoy it while it's still running - these things tend to disappear after the trip.

P.S. Lingua's on vacation for the rest of the year. I'll be back in January with Best of 2009 mixes and importantish news.

For the record, Chi and I decided to stay in Baltimore for another six months!¹ New bloggery soon; I'm just waiting 'til I go home for the holidays and, as a result, have a little more time.


¹Exclamation point added more because it seems like the proper punctuation than as accurate emotional representation - I'm not unhappy about it, but I'm not tapping up the parquet either.

Quote of the Day

"I have a few new marvels here I'd like to discuss with you just briefly. Consider for instance the area of realtime online computer-controlled wish evaporation."
- Donald Barthelme, "Report" (written long before interweb domination)