Stuffing my brain

i'm actually pretty impressed with myself. i have been stuffing and stuffing my brain with things (here's the original post).  i don't know that i'm doing it the way in which Mr. Bradbury was suggesting, but i am gorging myself with things.

and keeping track.  i'm one day behind because i didn't sleep the night before, but really - i'm reading and thinking and watching and thinking and consuming and thinking.  and i'm writing too. . . not as much as i know i can. but i am writing.

so strictly the numbers, sir.  it is day 14 of  the year 2014 and i should have read (until today) 13 short stories, 13 essays, and 13 poems.  i should have watched 2 old movies and written 2 short stories.  and i should be half way through my first novel. so - here's the tally (shoulda, coulda, woulda)

Short Stories --> Goal = 13; Actual = 12 - a little behind

Novel --> Goal = .5; Actual = 2 - HOLY RAVIOLI

Poem --> Goal = 13; Actual = 15 - it's not that hard

Short Story --> Goal = 13; Actual = 12 - a little behind

Film --> Goal = 2; Actual = 2 - this is a bit harder than i thought, but CHECK!

Blog --> no goal. . . weird. . . but i have this one and another one started. . . maybe they are essays. . .

Written Short Story --> Goal = 2; Actual = .5 - i working' on it

Play --> Goal .5; Actual = 0. . . but i got time

Show --> Goal = 1; Actual = 1 (i even stage managed it and had a freakin' blast)

Story Ideas --> no goal - but i got 7. . . so, i'm getting some great material for going forward.

sometimes it's really easy and sometimes it is really hard.  it's really hard when i'm tired and when i hate what i'm reading and when i can't seem to get the gumption to open a book or the computer. . . i get distracted and obsess about whatever it is that i want to do but can't for some reason instead of doing the thing i SHOULD be doing (or apparently WANT to be doing). . . i'm so much an enfp when it comes to that - distracted and can't finish anything.

it's really easy when i'm in the mood. . . but i don't know what triggers the mood. i am trying to figure it out. sometimes it's myself forcing me to actually do it because i always thank myself in the end (you know, like when you don't want to go out, but do anyway and are glad you did because you had so much fun? yeah, like that).  sometimes i can't stop thinking about the thing i need to write down so i write it down, but then can't convert (oh, the humanity. . . football references - my apologies. . .)

i want to talk to people about what i'm reading. but there are things to be done, and order to be followed, traditions to complete and needs to fulfill. work, outings, shows, cooking, cleaning, vegging, listening, loving. . . you know the rest of the life you live. so, i drink deeply when given the opportunity to talk about them. you are my captives, so i will indulge and share a few of my loves and hates of the last 14 days.

Kurt Vonnegut's  Novel MotherNight - beautiful and sad and . . . an honesty you feel yourself but never reveal. . . that's ok - he did it for you. i hear this is not typical of his writings. . . which i cannot know is good or bad or sad or just different. i will have to put another on the list to find out.

I know the Truth - a poem by MarinaTsvetaeva - you get it in so many different translations and luckily i stumbled upon one of the better ones. this line makes me fall in love with it each time. "The starry blizzard soon will freeze into the heaven" - i can see the blizzard of stars freezing into a beautiful heaven. if only i could find a picture of how this projects in the theater of my mind. i would let you in for just a moment to see it - it is more treasured than the locked and bullet proofed Mona Lisa. oh, to be a painter for this one.

on the lighter side, there is an essay by MauriceBaring (i actually have to figure out who that is) that is a letter from one of King Lear's (of the Shakespeare fame) daughters to her sister. It's an essay (though that seems weird to me), and very funny to me. . . however, i'm sure, given the King Lear play, the letter is likely not have been written with the satire i so see it.

another beautiful writing is an essay by CynthiaOzick called A Drugstore in Winter.  i don't know how to explain, but so . . . how i feel. . . it expresses me and make me love this woman as a kindred.

and, though, not keeping with Mr. Bradbury's edict of "the old ones" because i don't believe all the modern stuff is chum (as VirginiaWoolf begs us to remember in her 1925 essay about critics), my favorite short story (that i read for this)  is that of Neil Gaiman from Smoke and Mirrors called The Goldfish Pond and Other Stories. it is a sad recounting of how we can learn beautiful and wonderful things but forget them so easily because we are lulled into the banality of life. . . or maybe it is those glimmers we remember that allow him to weave the tale so we can bookmark it in our brains as something once shiny and new.  i say, favorite story that i read for this because my absolute favorite story he wrote (in short form - oh so many qualifications) is called The Price (from the same collection).  i didn't think it fair i re-read something i know i love for this stuffing of my head. but read this thing called The Price. . . especially if you are a cat person. 

it seems fitting that this is the author i feel i enjoyed most as he is a large reason i decided do this "challenge." like an omen, i first heard about Ray Bradbury shortly after i started following Mr. Gaiman on twitter. and then, slowly, over the next two years, i would randomly hear/see things about Mr. Bradbury. . . the last straw was when i chose to randomize my 3000 songs on my iPhone and Gaiman's The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury came on first. i decided to listen to Ray's talk then.  and now i'm loving learning and reading and consuming and feeling. . .so thanks neil.

there are so many to tell about and to type them all reviews here seems. . . too much and overwhelming, not only for me, but maybe for you too. i'll have to do something about that - maybe a page with what i've read and my rating. . . i don't know - anyway - i love doing this so far.

this is sort of a check in - i don't think for you as it is for me. . . thanks for listening

i know this i'm doing a lot to stuff my brain with reading and writing, but a while ago, on Facebook there was this "chain letter" of sorts about art (if you are Facebook, you would remember, but if you aren't, no worries. . . i don't think it matters) and i was given the artist Rene Magritte and i chose this beautiful painting, so i'll leave you with this. . .it's beautiful and i'd like to write a story about it.