I went to the hospital last night to see about my …
I went to the hospital last night to see about my achy jaw. I had thought it was perhaps a result of my nightly teeth-grinding habit, but the doctor told me I was just looking down too much. Did I say “Oh, yeah, I am depressed most of the time and thus look down” or “Yeah, the sidewalks here need my special attention”? No, I said, “Well, everyone here is so short, you know.” I winced as soon as I said it.
“Uh-huh,” he replied, with no change of expression. I suppose this kind of joke should ideally be told by someone who is at least 6 feet tall, and even more ideally told to someone who cares. He prescribed some muscle relaxants and sent me on my way.
The whole Chinese publishing decision thing was getting to me. Everyone told me to “go with my gut”, but my gut was sitting solidly on the fence on this one. I knew and liked the people from Asian Culture, but Locus probably has greater resources. Finally, on the advice of Mindcrime, I went to a bookstore and looked at the two publishers’ products side by side. On the basis of that simple test, I decided to go with Locus. They just seem to have a product more suited what I want.
Telling the guy from Asian Culture was hard, though. He sounded crushed over the phone, and I wondered if I was doing the right thing. They’ve bent over backwards for me on this, and this is how I reward them. If this were a movie I’d be the bad guy. Still, I know myself well enough to realize that I almost always spend a certain amount of time wondering if any given decision I’ve made is the right one, so I went on ahead and called Locus to tell them I would like to sign with them. Hopefully they will prove this decision the correct one.
I watched O Brother, Where Art Thou the other night, and Black Knight as well. The former was a beautiful film with excellent acting but questionable story. Not my favorite Cohen Brothers films by a long stretch. Black Knight was just silly. I like Martin Lawrence and all, but that was just plain stupid.
