i decided, for reasons unknown, to do this. i didn't hear about it until monday, and i can't remember how i came across the website. i have never read that much david foster wallace and that fact never bothered me that much. but something told me to do it and i ordered it from amazon straightaway. it arrived at my office on thursday and i'm now on page 63, and although i can't yet articulate why, i'm sure i made the right decision. (HA to one of my best friends, who has read many of david foster wallace's essays, and who i was certain would enthusiastically support my choice to read infinite jest at this time- and maybe even decide to read it too- but instead who gave me THE hardest time about it. he thinks it's a horrible idea and tht i should stick to DFW's shorter works. i told him maybe i was up for a challenge and he said "it's a challenge like eating a whole pizza is a challenge. don't waste your time." except he MUST know that's another challenge i would NEVER think of as a waste of time.)
so it's a lovely afternoon here in LA, and i'm typing at my laptop from the dining room table with the windows wide open and the sunlight filtering in through the trees and this 100o-ish page novel sitting next to me, and i'm feeling all writerly and proud of myself. but ho, there's some sort of children's pool party going on in the bigass building across the street and they are BLASTING music. and every other song- no exaggeration- is the indiana jones theme song. and when they're not playing the indiana jones theme song, they're playing michael jackson songs. and i can't close the windows and turn on the AC because, of course, it's broken again and i have not yet scheduled a time for the plumbers to break open my closet wall to look at the condensation line for the second time in ten months.
this is not exactly creating an environment conducive to the reading of this mammoth tome.
when i started this post, indiana jones. as i'm finishing it, indiana jones again. i think they might have it on a loop. i don't understand. oh, listen, now it's the joe cocker version of "feelin' alright." strange choice for a children's pool party, but ok....at least it's not indiana jones.
oh well. onward.
