GOOD THINGS ABOUT TODAY

+This really overwhelmingly large collection of Ecclectic Soul compilations. Really, who are these people, and where did they find these records? I bought the “Deep City Label” disc today, but really could only make the decision because the album cover has a picture of the Incredible Marching 100 band, and I’ve been psyched about brass bands since Sunday, when I saw the Hot 8 Brass Band, an occasion so good it could almost carry over past the two intervening days and count as one of the good things about today.

+ Eighty degrees in the city. Come on. Except eighty degree days don’t happen without more allergins, and I was all sleepy today thanks to Sudafed and the general feeling that my head was in a box. Or was a box. 

+ Overheard somebody in the Calhoun stairwell whistling “Misty.”

+ Okay, I’ve been holding out a little–the real good news today is that my poetry manuscript is a semifinalist for the Walt Whitman prize. WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? Too bad this Sudafed is keeping me so calm, because otherwise I could go on a tear right now, I’m so happy.

+ As a result, I treated myself to a copy of “The Art of Eating,” which is basically all of the gastronomy essays ever written by M.F.K. Fisher, who happens not only to be a witty food writer but also a master prose stylist. 

+The manicure (see previous post) makes it five times more fun to send texts or manipulate any stylish hand-held electronic device. NAILS YES.

+ Bat City is going to establish an editorial fellowship for recently graduated Michener Fellows starting this year. What this means, basically, is that I have a sterling backup plan in case all the other things I’ve applied for don’t work out.

+ Joshua Beckman reading, friends, poetry. Poetry!

+ Just feeling fancy.