LISTENING
The Beatles "Revolver"
Duke Elllington "Cornell University: Second Set"
Arctic Monkeys
Bloc Party
Various Artists "Buddha Sunset"
The J. Geils Band "Anthology"
Cars Can Be Blue "All the Stuff We Do"
READING
"Cod" by Mark Kurlansky
"The Truth (with jokes)" by Al Franken
"The Atlas" by William T. Vollmann
"The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain: New Poems" by Charles Bukowski
THINKING
Throwing away the alarm clock my father always said, "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."
It was lights out at 8 p.m. in our house and we were up at dawn to the smell of coffee, frying bacon and scrambled eggs.
My father followed this general routine for a lifetime and died young, broke, and, I think, not too wise.
Taking note, I rejected his advice and it became, for me, late to bed and late to rise.
Now, I'm not saying I've conquered the world but I've avoided numberless early traffic jams, bypassed some common pitfalls and have met some strange, wonderful people one of whom was myself -- someone my father never knew.
-Charles Bukowski
