In other news

On Friday, my last day of work, we all went out and had some country cooking (fried catfish, greens and mashed potatoes at Trudi's), came back to the office and had some cake, went out after work and drank for many consecutive hours and I made some final farewells. On Monday I came back to work at 9 a.m. to "finish some things," as I have Tuesday, Wednesday and today. It's worth it, I think, or at least I think the OA Southern Food Issue is going to be really really good. I'm ready for my new life as an underemployed bohemian though.

Today should be my last day, but given that I am writing on this and not Quarking it up such predictions are dubious. I was asleep when Lawrence came to pick me up this morning. One of those days. We had band practice last night, where we put finishing touches on our first single, which looks like is going to be called Party Fowl, and is a pop tune about the chickens having a party before they go to slaughter the next morning. You get to think about this a lot when you commute to work on the interstate, like I do every morning, and you see truckloads of Arkansas-based Tyson chickens plump against the bars, their small feathers festooning the surrounding traffic. It's poignant, the chickens seem so fat and nice, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts seem sort of repugnant and dry anyway. Chicken has never been my favorite food, as I sometimes feel like I'm eating a fleshy insect or reptile.

I just finished The Outlaw Sea by William Langewische. The book was pretty good, but the last chapter was really much better than the other three put together. It's about the scrapping of ships, and it captures that nebulous place where first world waste and third world want form a dismal industrial economy.

The boys are having a party this weekend. They haven't had a big one since I moved here. I'm excited. After New Year's and Art Amiss in Fayetteville, January was a recurring stream of slow weekends. February, I think, will be fun.