T-minus on the Nano countdown and 9 minute miles!!!

The final day before the start of Nanowrimo!

I have a fair amount of the book mapped out (for me, anyway). In a fit of insanity I have decided that the tone I want to try and create is sort of a beat narrator for the story. I’ve downloaded Kerouac and Ginsburg reading their works to my iPod and have been mainlining on them whenever I can. “Howl” is still an amazing poem, and I still remember the smugly pleased expression on my college professor’s face at the end of the class when we discussed the poem.

“If you want to understand the importance of this poem,” he said, “remember this: I never have to prepare a discussion for this particular class, and, usually, the only contribution I ever have to provide is to monitor the discussion to make sure it remains civil. Decades after it was written, no one can read this poem and NOT have a passionate opinion about it. And sometimes, like today, I get to sit back and watch my entire class actively participate in a discussion of not only this poem, but what is and is not art and what responsibility, if any, the poet has to society. Thank you.”

At the time, I put up the strong opposition to even accepting that “Howl” was a poem to attending a conservative trust fund kid college during the Reagan years. Now I wonder if anyone even tests the Focus on the Family crowd by bringing Ginsburg into the classroom.

I only started reading Kerouac recently. I’ve had the requisite copy of “On the Road” sitting on the shelf, but have never read it. What I have read is a small book of poetry (packed now, given my transient state), that I bought with a gift card to the Tattered Cover. I’d only heard parodies of beat poetry previously, but actually reading Kerouac and hearing him read his work really appeals to me. Some day I’ll end up with a soul patch goatee, sitting in some dark coffee bar and snapping my fingers while an emaciated being bares his tortured soul.

On another front, I don’t know if it’s the change in altitude or what, but I am suddenly able to run a lot more easily than before. It’s all still on the treadmill, but I can crank out 3 miles with an average pace of 9:11 per mile multiple days in a row. At this rate, a 10K shouldn’t be a problem very soon, AND, the little thought has been planted: marathon at 50! (ssssshhh… not so loud! It’s waaaay too early to even think of another marathon!)

SUMMATION:

I’m pumped!!!

I’m pumped for Nano!!!

I’m pumped at slipping back under double digits for a mile when I run!!!

I’m pumped about being in Texas!!!

I’m pumped about being 10 minutes away from a little cafe that is a converted double wide with picnic tables out front where I can order frog legs and a beer for lunch!!!

I’m pumped about living somewhere where I actually want to sit outside at a picnic table this time of year!!!

(Ok, the froglegs thing may be information no one else wants to know…)