finished the Murakami.  it was ok, 'though i'm thinking his earlier stuff was better.  i am always suspicious of those kinds of comparisons since there is so much subjectivity inherent to making such claims.   i will say i kept thinking, "Hurry up!  Hurry up!"  the pace is almost glacial. 

i've decided that i'm going to have to write letters to everyone in my address book; i've lost my mail ledger and since i suffer terribly from CRS (cain't remem'er shit) syndrome i don't have a clue as to who i do and do not owe letters so....some folks just will have to consider any mail blessings "gravy."  tho' i will say i finally got my mail from Trinidad and Tobago!!! it took nearly 3 months!!   usually only 3 weeks or so is all that is required.   i wonder if the Customs & Excise office was the trouble.

i was planning to watch a discussion between 3 Southern humor writers hosted by Gene Edwards but i fell asleep and woke up only the next day.   ah well.   probably needed the sleep more than the edification.  Cousin Fat Cat has the same problem (CRS) that i have......we're trying to remember a documentary on Southern writers that featured interviews with Walker Percy, Alice Walker, and others and one of the themes that developed in the various interviews  was the concept of Time and Deep Time in Southern writers (Eudora Welty in particular comes to my mind).