the late August blog entry in which I bitch, moan, whine and shamelessly, shamelessly name drop

where to begin?

I went through another birthday last week.
my beloved took the day off from work and together we managed at least three things that, for me (not necessarily her), were lifetime firsts, including walk across the Queensboro Bridge.
oh yeah, I took the day off too.

however, though I have not by any stretch of the imagination set aside the Not Working project, the birthday (most likely) brought about much (much, much) activity on the other big project: lots of research and lots of interviewing, if no transcribing at all.
not even a little bit.

last Sunday I interviewed Sam Roberts, head of the Race Relations Project at Penn State University.
on Monday I interviewed Kimberly Willis Holt, resident of Amarillo, Texas and National Book Award winner for When Zachary Beaver Came to Town.

Tuesday and Wednesday were extremely busy (the types of days where you could legally be declared brain dead by, say, 7, 7:30 because you're spent, whupped, nothing's left) as, over the course of those two days, and with help from the spouse which, if not rendered, would've meant that I'd still be working, struggling, probably crying, I went over the copy edits on Tusk sent all the way from New Zealand. theoretically, according to the schedule at least, the book goes into production today (though it may already be tomorrow in New Zealand).

and if that wasn't enough to do, on Tuesday I interviewed the oldest son in America's first family of jazz, Branford Marsalis, New York Times Supreme Court correspondent Adam Liptak, and Brad Houser, bassist for Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians (and about 13 other bands though not always playing bass).
Wednesday I interviewed author Margot Mifflin and cartoonist Alison Bechdel.
one of those two were not scheduled, but I woke up to an e-mail, we found a mutual time and got it done.

similarly, nothing was scheduled for today but by dark I'd interviewed University of Tennessee law professor and InstaPundit Glenn Reynolds (a/k/a Glenn Harlan Reynolds) and musician Lolly Lee of Winston County, Alabama, and six-time Denver Broncos Pro Bowler Karl Mecklenburg.
and what all of these folks have in common in that they are all 49 years old. or at least they were when I talked to them (Branford turned 50 today).
so let's say that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were all extremely busy - good busy but busy nonetheless.

also, I'm old, I'm tired, my throat is swollen, my tongue hurts and I haven't had a cigarette in over 8 days so that's not the reason my throat is swollen and my tongue hurts.

rock and roll hoochie coo, lordy mama bite my shoes.