{"id":490,"date":"2006-10-01T03:31:45","date_gmt":"2006-10-01T07:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=490"},"modified":"2018-08-20T15:42:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T19:42:33","slug":"sunday-october-1-2006-many-in-one-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=490","title":{"rendered":"Sunday, October 1, 2006 \u2014 Many In One Room"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m stretched out on the couch. At the oth\u00ader end, sphinx-posed above my right foot is a cat \u2014 not mine, but a long term vis\u00adi\u00adtor. Next to the oth\u00ader foot is my rab\u00adbit Stampy. They are both star\u00ading at me, with that air of aris\u00adto\u00adcrat\u00adic dis\u00addain that both have per\u00adfect\u00aded. Cat own\u00aders are famil\u00adiar with it, but they may be sur\u00adprised that rab\u00adbits can be just as proud. I\u2019m not going to dis\u00adturb them. I\u2019m grate\u00adful for the calm. Nor\u00admal\u00adly they would be chas\u00ading each oth\u00ader around the room.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m read\u00ading a nov\u00adel, and lis\u00adten\u00ading to some choral music by Chris\u00adtos Hatzis, who may be Canada\u2019s answer to Arvo P\u00e4rt. A mug of hot choco\u00adlate (made prop\u00ader\u00adly with cocoa, not some instant junk), cheese and crack\u00aders on the table beside me. Elec\u00adtric lights have been dimmed and replaced with a small oil lamp, which emits a hint of ros\u00ades from its scent\u00aded lamp oil.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I can\u2019t work up any anger over any polit\u00adi\u00adcal news. At the back of my mind, an idea for a new nov\u00adel is start\u00ading to take form, so I\u2019m not con\u00adcen\u00adtrat\u00ading too strict\u00adly on the book. In fact, I should prob\u00ada\u00adbly set it aside and read it prop\u00ader\u00adly lat\u00ader, when my head is not drift\u00ading into my own fic\u00adtion writ\u00ading. I do a lot of writ\u00ading in my head. Not from lazi\u00adness. My right wrist was severe\u00adly dam\u00adaged many years ago (bro\u00adken in twen\u00adty places), and it is phys\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly painful for me to spend too much time at a key\u00adboard. Those long stretch\u00ades of work for clients, where I spend many hours fill\u00ading out data\u00adbas\u00ades on Excel tables, are real\u00adly hard on me. So I do as much writ\u00ading in my head as I can, before actu\u00adal\u00adly sit\u00adting down to type. I\u2019ll some\u00adtimes have entire pages in my head, com\u00adposed while walk\u00ading or rid\u00ading a bike, before they are put down, though that very process will gen\u00ader\u00adate all sorts of errors, which have to be cleaned up on rewrite.<\/span><\/p>\n

Things are improv\u00ading, finan\u00adcial\u00adly, very very grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly. I\u2019m deter\u00admined to trav\u00adel next year, and I\u2019m lay\u00ading the ground\u00adwork to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stampy sud\u00adden\u00adly desires a Maria Bis\u00adcuit. For some rea\u00adson, he is obsessed with these tea bis\u00adcuits, import\u00aded from Spain. He would rather eat them than car\u00adrots. He jumps on my chest, push\u00ades his face under\u00adneath my book and into mine, and pulls at the frame of my glass\u00ades with his teeth. This is his method of issu\u00ading a non-nego\u00adtiable demand. I\u2019ve always sus\u00adpect\u00aded that Stampy has trained in spe\u00adcial camps in Afghanistan, or Wis\u00adcon\u00adsin, or wher\u00adev\u00ader rab\u00adbit ter\u00adror\u00adists do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I cave in to ter\u00adror\u00adism. The Maria bis\u00adcuits are kept in a brown cook\u00adie jar which is with\u00adin reach. The music has shift\u00aded to Hatzis\u2019 Foot\u00adprints In New Snow<\/em>, which incor\u00adpo\u00adrates that pecu\u00adliar form of Innu\u00adit throat-singing where two women sing direct\u00adly into each oth\u00aders\u2019 mouths. The atmos\u00adphere in the room has changed from serene to spooky. The oil lamp, burn\u00ading down to a short wick, is flick\u00ader\u00ading, and throw\u00ading unsta\u00adble shad\u00adows on the wall. I have a flash of mem\u00ado\u00adry or a lone\u00adly evening on top of a moun\u00adtain in north\u00adern Que\u00adbec, at the back of the north wind, besieged by cold shiv\u00aders and thoughts of Wendigo.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lamp goes out. The cat and the rab\u00adbit dis\u00adap\u00adpear, off to the bed\u00adroom for some secret game. The room has grown dark. I hear voic\u00ades laugh\u00ading in the street. Red LEDS<\/span> on the com\u00adput\u00ader and audio equip\u00adment, burn like fireflies.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can be in so many places, with\u00adin one room.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m stretched out on the couch. At the oth\u00ader end, sphinx-posed above my right foot is a cat \u2014 not mine, but a long term vis\u00adi\u00adtor. Next to the oth\u00ader foot is my rab\u00adbit Stampy. They are both star\u00ading at me, with that \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-au-blog-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9379,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions\/9379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}