Saturday, August 10, 2002

 
Springsteen tickets went on sale for Orlando and Tampa this morning, and despite feeling a bit dodgy, I managed to get to Spec's, the nearest TicketMaster, shortly after 10. There was only one guy there buying tickets, and he remembered me from last time, two years ago. Not another soul in the store, except for the two bemused clerks. Of course, it is graduation day at UF-- the kids are all gone except for those busy graduating. But still. One other person came in before I left the store. The shows aren't until late November-- why they go on sale so bloody early is yet another tribute to TM's greed. They get to hold and make interest on my $600 for three months. I got the max of 4 for each show, so Lee and Linda are covered besides the two of us. I will see if DM can get me two more for Tampa so that I can offer them to friends.

Most of this week was spent in a (so far) futile struggle to get a new verion of LiveStats working. The install went way too easy-- about 5 hours-- and it worked okay for a day, but then I managed to screw up the log writing on the web server itself, and the program has been messed up ever since. I hate to think of uninstall/reinstall, but it may come to that. I just hope the software is not that fragile all the time.

I did leave Guards! Guards! by TT on Monday. Got another Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum but haven't started it yet. I finished Nick Hornby's How to be Good, which I'd been reading off and on for months-- heavy going, much angst. Then picked up About a Boy, intending to read just a page or two, and read it straight through in two sittings (woulda been one if I hadn't had to go to work yesterday). It was wonderful! I can see that Hugh Grant must be perfect for it; guess I'll have to see the flick. Not sure what I'll read next. Maybe French Lessons (haven't gotten through one of Peter Mayle's yet), maybe Adri's second book, Big Cherry Holler. Hard to believe that the college girl I met in South Bend in 1981 (and with whom I wrote love messages in the dust on Bruce's tour bus and tried to get into his hotel) is now a best-selling author. It was obvious she was talented, even then-- I remember Max took me to a one-woman play she'd written, directed, and starred in. I was flattered that she remembered me in 1988, when we all gathered in Indianapolis for that amazing TOL show. I wonder if she still likes Bruce. I wonder how Max is doing.
posted by Suzy 11:34 AM

Sunday, August 04, 2002

 
I'm ready to release my first book into the wild tomorrow. It will be Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. I could hardly give away Bill's hardbound copy, so I bought a paperback. Seems only appropriate, since I read it so recently, loved it so much, and it was recommended by both Bill and Neil (who also both pointed me toward the website, BookCrossing.com). I'll leave it at that place on campus by the auditorium known as Trumpet Touch.

Got the second garden plot mostly visible again before the daily deluge.Got the bills written while listening (for only the fourth time) to The Rising. It sounds better each time-- I can't believe how much I love that record-- even by his high standards, it's staggeringly brilliant. He is on the cover of Time and Rolling Stone this week-- shades of BITUSA. But I bet he takes it a bit more in stride this time, and has a better sense of why he is doing it.
posted by Suzy 11:37 PM