Further Reading: R. Pumphrey, 2001 January 21
iguanalickonastick: there's a book on experimental writing simply titled Oulipo that you may be
interested in, though it's a bit math-heavy.
loopbliss: oh.
iguanalickonastick: & it reads like a stereo installation manual
iguanalickonastick: how do you feel?
loopbliss: math. hmm. stereo installation manual. hmm.
loopbliss: I'm feeling not quite sure of myself.
iguanalickonastick: yes. yes. you've got to span outward sometime*
iguanalickonastick: not quite sure in what way(?)
loopbliss: If someone asked you if you thought they genuinely liked you and if you thought they
genuinely understood what was up with you as a person, would you want to slap them in the face
or ask them what they've been smoking lately?
loopbliss: Also (and this is a question to you), do you know anyone that you know from high
school or grade school in the same capacity that you knew them then?
iguanalickonastick: hold on one second: i've got answers to those questions. i'll be right
back:
iguanalickonastick: second question: not entirely valid because i was almost entirely socially
inept during high school.
iguanalickonastick: ionly speak to one person that i knew from that time of my life
loopbliss: Oh all right. Well, for a few exceptions I'm in the same rut (not rut. terrible to say that
this is the rut and not the otherwise).
iguanalickonastick: & for yr other issue there's not much to offer.
loopbliss: Ok. I probably should explain things further when I'm asking questions.
loopbliss: But I don't feel up to it tonight.
loopbliss: Not without prodding of course.
iguanalickonastick: what kind of situation is it?
loopbliss: Malicious, heinous prodding.
loopbliss: In what context?
iguanalickonastick: there's absolutely nothing wrong with being malicious
loopbliss: Do you want me to say that said person and I are acquaintances, friends, more so
(whatever that suggests)?
loopbliss: Of course not. Nothing that gets results is bad.
iguanalickonastick: idunno. Are you friends, acquaintances, or moreso?
loopbliss: I'm not sure. I can definitely say that I do like him in the simplest form of
definition.
loopbliss: Regarding, all possible other shades... I'm in doubt.
iguanalickonastick: that's an honest answer for him*
loopbliss: Did you read the story?
loopbliss: Someone did without my direct knowledge and it might've been you.
iguanalickonastick: i've only read what you've passed along, which i suppose implies
direct knowledge
loopbliss: Because it is, in part, about him. It's dedicated to the boy.
loopbliss: Did it look like it would take up eight pages single-spaced?
iguanalickonastick: definitely not then. i've only seen your short shorts
loopbliss: Oh. I'll send you it.
iguanalickonastick: so, ulitmately, if nothing else you've dedicated a good deal of
thought to him. so this all must mean Something.
loopbliss: Is this a clearly defined Something?
iguanalickonastick: no, not yet, it doesn't seem.
loopbliss: yeah. it is.
loopbliss: Ok.
loopbliss: He looks a heck of a lot like John Cusak who I find maddening to watch. As a
result?
loopbliss: Damn. I have just cause to hate myself now right. Well, maybe not just but cause all
right?
iguanalickonastick: ithink you're going a little overboard with all the self-examination. just
go with it & see how it all works out. you're not really in the realm of the concrete.
loopbliss: Is anyone?
loopbliss: Hell, he'd think I was going overboard anyway by asking him questions like that.
iguanalickonastick: i feel vaguely like hunter thompson upon finding a likeness in
doonsbury*
loopbliss: oh. yes.
loopbliss: how did he react to duke? *grin
loopbliss: how do you feel?
loopbliss: i'm actually reading thompson's proud highway at the moment. i want to hug him and
send him my life savings.
loopbliss: but i'm about forty years too late.
iguanalickonastick: dramatized. he has a very well-guarded property.
loopbliss: well-guarded property?
iguanalickonastick: yes, in that he owns guns, and uses them on his would-be
visitors.
loopbliss: oh, talking about thompson.
loopbliss: repeat, i'm am more than forty years too late.
loopbliss: though i still want to hug him a little.
loopbliss: how do you feel?
loopbliss: the same?
iguanalickonastick: he could use a hug, and a drink-refill.
iguanalickonastick: Dramatized*
loopbliss: ok. so i'm being accurate?
loopbliss: i'm throwing little things from other people in your character (anyway, you only get to
speak thrice).
iguanalickonastick: i'm not sure. i'm in the box & you're out of it. perhaps if we switched
places you could tell yourself that you did a good job*
loopbliss: oh hmm. i just used your name. we'll leave it at that.
iguanalickonastick: igrin> ithink i saw a version of this a few weeks ago that was shorter
& more hostile
loopbliss: more hostile, eh?
loopbliss: what do you mean?
loopbliss: how many characters do you count?
iguanalickonastick: fewer than a russian novel, but undefinable allthesame. speaking
characters?
loopbliss: well, aren't they all speaking?
loopbliss: i think there are four, but if there are, you ("un") wander off somewhere into oblivion
before the third part.
loopbliss: i don't think i've read many russian novels.
iguanalickonastick: i was thinking there was a fifth, but i don't see him any longer
loopbliss: is nabokov russian?
loopbliss: who would the fifth be?
loopbliss: deconstructionism is correct. stories completely until they are read.
iguanalickonastick: no, there are four. the fifth would be James, but he apparently has
yet to be invented.
loopbliss: oh, james is the girl.
loopbliss: ha.
iguanalickonastick: there IS a james* i thought i was dreaming(!)
loopbliss: same with another story of mine (perpetually in the works). who's alice? mustn't be
that pug nosed mcdonalds' clerk who is so undeniably a male. since he's referred to as a he. it
wasn't meant to be a feminist statement.
loopbliss: i think half of my creative essay writing class thinks i am. for quoting zinn.
loopbliss: and howard zinn's male!
iguanalickonastick: the other half will think you're a feminist for being female*
loopbliss: i hope he is.
loopbliss: yes, yes. they all must.
loopbliss: bastards.
iguanalickonastick: i stopped taking creative writing classes about five years ago. The
Class & i started working in different directions.
iguanalickonastick: thankyou for the personality test, by the way. i'm interested in
cataloging everyone i know. i found an accountant!!
loopbliss: i don't even like feminists. not simply because i'm a misogynist (but that is a point),
but because they're ultra-feminine (not a compliment. i'm just commenting on their horrid taste)
and then ultra-not. so there's nothing to like them for.
loopbliss: fun! i know one too.
loopbliss: he's the person i was speaking of earlier.
loopbliss: oh of course. but they're fun to be in. for people watching.
iguanalickonastick: it's where the hippies & goths get together to commiserate over
rhymed poetry.
loopbliss: delight. most of them are just idiots who think this will be an easy class.
iguanalickonastick: is it?
iguanalickonastick: it does, afterall come down to the Mark Inside*
loopbliss: yes. high school class.
loopbliss: mark inside?
iguanalickonastick: igrin. Hustlers of the world, there's one mark you can't escape, the
mark inside*
loopbliss: hmm.?
iguanalickonastick: alright. high school class.
loopbliss: yes.
loopbliss: question: do i write noticably like a female?
iguanalickonastick: i don't think your writing has a gender more than anyone else's,
except, say Ayn Rand
loopbliss: i've just read the gospel according to mark with introduction by nick cave.
loopbliss: frustrating. but i like jesus christ all the better for it.
iguanalickonastick: that's supposed to be the most insightful, compassionate gospel
loopbliss: cameron crowe just won something for almost famous.
loopbliss: so, there's nothing else close that i could read next?
iguanalickonastick: i never saw it but promise to rent it
iguanalickonastick: oh-- what about Ambrose Bierce?
loopbliss: when it's out. it's nice. i also have a copy of a lester bangs bio hanging out on my
bookshelf begging for my attention.
loopbliss: ah well. always the library.
loopbliss: i was really asking for something out of the bible.
loopbliss: ambrose pierce?
iguanalickonastick: nono-- Ambrose Bierce
loopbliss: hmm. i don't know.
loopbliss: don't know the name. might've heard it.
loopbliss: why?
iguanalickonastick: he wrote here in the City around the turn of the century. he wrote
the Devil's Dictionary.
iguanalickonastick: but his short fiction is right up your alley & down your street.
loopbliss: the devil's dictionary. sounds familiar?
loopbliss: ok.
loopbliss: i'll look for him
loopbliss: the proud highway is a long book. remember. and i have a very short attention
span.
iguanalickonastick: it was sort of a follow-up to Flaubert's (and you SHOULD read
flaubert) Dictionary of Common Terms
iguanalickonastick: that's why i said SHORT fiction*
loopbliss: hmm.
loopbliss: i know. i'll look for it.
loopbliss: i've heard of flaubert. haven't gotten around to it yet though.
loopbliss: i should also read don quixote? and not just the terribly cut down version were
reading in spanish v.
iguanalickonastick: i'm really a populist when it comes to literature (accessibility, that is--
contentually [iis that a word?] i'm ultra-elitist). my library is large, and it is
paperback*
iguanalickonastick: YES read quixote* i'll mail you my translation if you promise to send
it back*
iguanalickonastick: it's an old translation i found in the bookshop i lived across from in
britain
loopbliss: well, there is a copy in my school library.
loopbliss: i don't think you'd be amused at how late it would be when you received it back.
iguanalickonastick: i don't stamp books with due-dates
loopbliss: all the same.
loopbliss: really, you can send me it if you like. i'll probably get to it earlier than i would if you
didn't, but it will take me a while.
loopbliss: still as enthusiastic?
iguanalickonastick: it's an offer allthesame. you need a good translation though. it has
to do with the idea of "single intelligence--" thought being diluted through not only
translation after translation, but also through the elapse of time from the original work to
each new reinvention.
iguanalickonastick: it's entirely up to you*
loopbliss: hmm. all right then. when i receive it, i will start reading it right after i finish whatever
i'm reading at the moment.
loopbliss: judy nguyen-18 wilshire circle-dracut, ma 01826
iguanalickonastick: i'll take a peek for it, & send it out bookrate:
iguanalickonastick: unless sean still has it, in which case i'll send it out bookrate after i
have a drink with him.
loopbliss: ok.
iguanalickonastick: NEWS FLASH: Queen of Sheba Middle Eastern Market carries beef
jerky in two tantalizing flavours: Desert Delite & JUNGLE ADVENTURE*
loopbliss: sweet.
loopbliss: when's the last time i've eaten beef jerky?
loopbliss: go on.
iguanalickonastick: it was the beginning, and the end, of the story
iguanalickonastick: sigh!
iguanalickonastick: look, my mother is calling me, on the telephone!
loopbliss: oh ok.
iguanalickonastick: my parents love me, very much*
iguanalickonastick: and are glad to know i've been sleeping somewhat regularly
loopbliss: yes.
loopbliss: i wish mine did. maybe they do. but it's difficult to see.
iguanalickonastick: quick survey: you & your friends: parents, mostly married or mostly
divorced?
loopbliss: mostly married. it's hilarious.
loopbliss: or maybe they're mostly divorced. it depends. i think the closer ones are out of
divorced families.
loopbliss: i think it would be a heck of a lot easier on my part if they were divorced.
iguanalickonastick: you get along with one & not the other?
iguanalickonastick: my parent-offspring relationship used to be hostile at best
loopbliss: no. there would just be more people. new people.
iguanalickonastick: now i even visit at xmastime. of course, moving out helps.
iguanalickonastick: or, if you're my brother, just stay at home & try many, many drugs.
loopbliss: i don't know. i suppose i''ll wait and see. but it doesn't look promising. not from
here.
loopbliss: i'm straight edge.
loopbliss: well, i'm done for tonight. we'll talk later.
iguanalickonastick: iknow you are / igrin.
iguanalickonastick: over & out:
loopbliss: i'm what?
iguanalickonastick: straightedged
loopbliss: oh.
loopbliss: goodnight again. i hope you keep sleeping well.
iguanalickonastick: (echo) over & out:
previous home next
