{"id":5810,"date":"2010-12-20T09:10:53","date_gmt":"2010-12-20T13:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=5810"},"modified":"2010-12-20T09:10:57","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T13:10:57","slug":"what-it-is-122010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-122010","title":{"rendered":"What It Is: 12\/20\/10"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading:<\/em> Continuing Black Swan Green<\/a>\"\" (not to be confused with Black Swan<\/em> or Black Swan<\/em>), and made the mistake of re-reading Jim Woodring’s Weathercraft<\/a>\"\" before going to bed one night.<\/p>\n

What I’m listening to:<\/em> Hounds of Love<\/a>\"\", Barking<\/a>\"\", and general shuffle.<\/p>\n

What I’m watching:<\/em> Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work<\/a>, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World<\/a>, Celtics\/Knicks, and the last 8 or 9 episodes of season 1 of In Treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What I’m drinking:<\/em> Ethereal gin & Q-Tonic<\/p>\n

What Rufus & Otis are up to:<\/em> Being bored and running around the house. Amy was sick, and I was pretty zonky, so I didn’t take them on the Sunday hike. Oh, and Rufus demonstrated his sneakysmarts: on Sunday, both of them walked into my home office as part of their strategy of never leaving my side. There was only one dog-bed in the room, and Otis took it.\u00c2\u00a0Rufus looked at him for a few seconds, walked out of the room, picked up a squeaky-toy in his mouth, walked back in, and placed it on the floor in front of Otis. O promptly picked it up and started playing with it, and Ru took his spot on the bed.<\/p>\n

Where I’m going:<\/em> New Orleans, if Continental doesn’t throw us off the overbooked flight.<\/p>\n

What I’m happy about:<\/em> Getting the final installment of the $1,900 in vet bills that our neighbor incurred when his dog mauled Ru. That attack took place 19 months and 1 day ago. Go, wheels of justice!<\/p>\n

What I’m sad about:<\/em> It’s more “What I’m pissed about”. My salespeople ignored the deadlines for closing our year-end gigantor directory\/profile issue, and then flipped out when I told them that it’s not going to be finished by this Wednesday, for that reason. I’m all for maximizing sales, but it’s been 11 years that we’ve been working together and they never seem to have gotten over the notion that when they’re done selling pages (and directory logos, in this case), the book is magically finished. So I get to spend the next 3 days pounding out pages (except for Tuesday morning, when I have to do interviews for our Jan\/Feb issue), and then have to pick it all up again when I’m back in the office on January.<\/p>\n

What I’m worried about:<\/em> Finishing the year-ender by Jan. 4.<\/p>\n

What I’m pondering:<\/em> Whether\u00c2\u00a0Rufus was engaging in trickery or negotiation, and what he has planned for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading: Continuing Black Swan Green (not to be confused with Black Swan or Black Swan), and made the mistake of re-reading Jim Woodring’s Weathercraft before going to bed one night. What I’m listening to: Hounds of Love, Barking, and general shuffle. What I’m watching: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Scott Pilgrim Vs. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What It Is: 12\/20\/10”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1vI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2093,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/taleb-and-taliban","url_meta":{"origin":5810,"position":0},"title":"Taleb and Taliban","author":"Gil","date":"June 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoyed this profile of Nassim Nicholas Taleb by Bryan Appleyard. I haven't read his books yet, but I'm sympathetic to his notion that the radically unpredictable will trump your bitch-ass plans no matter how farsighted you think you are: Last May, Taleb published The Black Swan: The Impact of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000PDZFCK","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16861,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-592-swan-huntley","url_meta":{"origin":5810,"position":1},"title":"Episode 592 – Swan Huntley","author":"Gil","date":"June 20, 2024","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 592: Swan Huntley \"I write all my books in first person because I'm very interested in denial, the space between what the character knows and what the reader knows about them.\" Author & illustrator Swan Huntley joins the show to celebrate her two new books, I WANT\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/huntleycomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C548&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/huntleycomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C548&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/huntleycomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C548&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/huntleycomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C548&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/huntleycomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C548&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2118,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-63008","url_meta":{"origin":5810,"position":2},"title":"What It Is: 6\/30\/08","author":"Gil","date":"June 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, along with more 10-K statements and annual reports for my Top Companies issue. What I'm listening to: 5:55 by Charlotte Gainsbourg again. And again. What I'm watching: Yankees-Mets, The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman,\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-63008#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000PDZFCK","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5799,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-121310","url_meta":{"origin":5810,"position":3},"title":"What It Is: 12\/13\/10","author":"Gil","date":"December 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: I sorta defaulted into reading Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell. I was feeling kinda meh one evening this week, and it was on my Kindle, and I thought, \"What the heck?\" I'm enjoying it, but I'm waiting for the bizarre structural trick that characterizes Mitchell's novels.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Andy Warhol\"","block_context":{"text":"Andy Warhol","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/tag\/andy-warhol"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0812974018","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5818,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-122710","url_meta":{"origin":5810,"position":4},"title":"What It Is: 12\/27\/10","author":"Gil","date":"December 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: I finished Black Swan Green on the 24th, read The Humbling on Christmas Day, and am undecided on what to start. Im tempted to begin Anthony Powell's A Dance To the Music of Time, but it is 12 books long. I should probably write a post about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6140,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/borders-raid","url_meta":{"origin":5810,"position":5},"title":"Borders Raid","author":"Gil","date":"September 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally made a foray to the local Borders store. I checked it out during the first week of bankruptcy, when prices were an amazing 20% off list. I felt bad that they were charging more in liquidation than Amazon was charging in regular operations. But I was next door,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0393079961","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5811,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5810\/revisions\/5811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}