good signs

So far so good; this week is better than last. Yesterday was productive, and by the end I was finding a good balance between big picture and details--one informing the other.

I've alluded to some instances of happenstance and coïncidence. Sometimes things come in threes. Recently, there's been a spate of mid-century German information coming in: from my choosing to watch Downfall to random articles in the NYtimes about Nazi propaganda films. And along the way, I randomly decided to pick up Adorno again, realizing later that he had to flee the Nazis and come to America in the late 30s.

This morning, though, there's a coïncidence that may make you believe in fate. I woke up, and had this song in my head, including the lines:

"must own video game system"
"neurotic and lonely average height"
"emotional problems....medicated"

Und so weiter. It's a love song. Obviously. From the perspective of a 20-year-old Jew living at home with his parents. It's part of his CraigsList Leider, a song cycle based on personal ads on CraigsList. Some can be really funny. Most, actually. I saw the guy who wrote it at a art space in Wicker Park--the one on North Avenue that used to be a church like Saint Somebody or Other. I think I went because there was an article in the NYtimes about the composer/songwriter/performer. And because it was a couple blocks from my then house.


So I was singing that song while doing the dishes, and then started breakfast. And in looking at the most read NYtimes articles, there was another article about this very guy, Gabriel Kahane. Funny, because I couldn't even remember his name, only the bit about neurotic and lonely.

I've noticed this before, enough to notice and be on the look-out for it. When I was in college, I woke up thinking Rocky Raccoon, and then, sure enough, it came on the radio later that day. Of all Beatles songs, that must be one of the least likely to hear on the radio.

This was, as far as I can tell, only the second article about this guy in the Times. And it happened to be Most Emailed? That part is actually the hardest to believe. I mean, he's a quirky composer/singer-songwriter. Not someone most people have heard of or care about. Strange days.

I've been noticing more of this type of thing this week. And I'm in a good mood--productive. I'm not totally sure how I got here, but I'm not complaining. Suffice it to say that from time to time you have to reflect on who you are and where you're going, but then you have to let go and just go. And then things just go your way. I should probably go to the casino on the way out of town. It's the same kind of spirit I had last time I went to one--in Detroit with my family. I had two dollars, gave one to my sister and we each played the slots. I won 5 bucks; she won 10.