Overdue.

Keeping a diary, as well as having a dedicated notebook for poetry and scraps of fiction, appears to have rendered this blog almost unnecessary. If, of course, one leaves out the need- or perhaps the desire- to share something of one's thoughts and the goings-on of one's life with others, in which case ye olde blog isn't obsolete after all.

It's been a pretty good summer thus far. I still haven't fully quit smoking, but I've cut back drastically. I'm drinking less, too, and getting regular exercise. All that adult shit is secondary to the fact that I'm writing regularly, if not prolifically. The 16th century novel, which has been broken into its two component stories for the time being, totals over 300 pages right now, though I'm unsure if either tale has reached its midpoint yet.

I'm still pluggin' away at Chinese, classical and modern, though mainly the former. I have a number of translations I keep meaning to post here, but I'm pretty lazy about polishing them to a presentable shine. I'll get to it soon, I promise. I've also been studying Italian, which is going well. Reading Corto Maltese stories gets progressively easier, and I'm reading Dino Buzzati's novel Il deserto dei Tartari too, albeit slowly and intermittently. On top of that, I've been faking my way through some historical stuff written in Portuguese, which maybe I'll make a more sincere effort to learn in the future, seeing as how most good information about Macau is in Portuguese, and I envision Macau being a major setting in another novel when the time comes.

Tracey and I are going to Newfoundland in a few days, which is pretty rad. I'll get to meet my friend Shari, who I've known online for years, in the flesh. Perhaps I'll post here while I'm there, but don't hold your breath, because I probably won't even bring my laptop.

Other tidbits: I got a Moka pot, which makes killer coffee if you don't fuck up and put it on the stove without water in it, as I managed to do within the first fortnight. Been listening to lots of Om, Acid Mothers Temple, Adam Warrock, and Perturbator, as well as the usual steady diet of metal. Speaking of metal, I finally saw Bolt Thrower live, at Chaos in Tejas, with my brother and Matt Smith. Catching up on Wong Kar-Wai movies. Hanging out with Trump and Wizzelhoof. Drinking cold barley tea. Reading a lot.

There you have it, folks, the quiet life of yours truly. Pay a visit sometime; it's always an imaginary 16th century here these days.