I was hoping 7/7/11 would prove lucky for the floating bookshop, but that was not the case, although I did sell Titania's Magical Compendium, a large, beautiful coffee table book that details and illustrates spells and rituals for those who wish to improve a love life. Thanks to the lovely young Asian woman who bought it.
It was hot out there today. Yesterday it was only humid with plenty of cloud cover and a nice breeze to negate the heat. I stayed in the shade the entire shift. My friend Bob has asked me a couple of times what I think about out there. "Pleasant thoughts," I say. Now that 99% of the writing I'll ever do is done, I don't think about it much. When I first began in 1975, it would not have been an exaggeration to say I thought of it every waking minute. As the years progressed I gained greater control of it and thought of it only occasionally while away from my desk. So I have to ponder other things to while away a slow shift. I often quip that the second best thing about being out there is girl watching, especially in summer when dress is more revealing and colorful. If I see a goth or punked-out girl, I sing an Iggy Pop lyric to myself: "I love you, Tuff Baby." When I see a teenager arguing with her mom in a foreign language, I'm reminded of Tom Petty's: "She was an American girl."
There's a nice Russian fellow, whose name I don't know, who lives in my building and greets me enthusiastically every time he passes. Sometimes he stops to chat. Today he warned of thunderstorms after six. "Who cares," he said - "I'll be drunk by then."
Rest in peace NFL Hall of Famer John Mackey, 69. He was the first modern tight end. He would latch onto a pass from Baltimore Colts great Johnny Unitas and literally run over the opposition. He succumbed to the effects of dementia. Pro football is a lucrative profession, but a hard one. I remember how devastated I was when I was cut from my college team in the spring of my freshman year. It may have been one of the best things that ever happened to me. It saved me from a lot of blows to the head. I suffered plenty outside of football and sometimes worry they will catch up with me, especially given what my mom went through the last 16 years of her life. I think about that sometimes, too, while operating the floating bookshop.
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