Just finished re-reading: William Kotzwinkle, Fata Morgana. I’ve spent thirty years trying to decide if that book is any good & now I’m going to stop. Next in line: Alfred Kubin, The Other Side. I enjoyed it last time, but I was younger & more physically fit. Re-reads that don’t make the cut go to the dump. Louis MacNeice made the cut but he still smells of cat vomit, so he’s for the dump too. I’m going to dump a load of old clothes, & a load of old notes. I love it when I get like this.
I washed my memory stick yesterday–40 degrees, short spin cycle–& it still works. Is that usual ?
>>I washed my memory stick yesterday–40 degrees, short spin cycle–& it still works. Is that usual ?
Bio or non-bio?
Too cruel. Not re-reads, but re-writes… dumped by a cat that decided to stand on the laptop I happened to be working on. Two days’ work vanished as fast as Persil’s bluey-whiteness removes stains. Is that usual?
I hate cats.
Lara: very usual. I think we can tell from the shape of the early universe that certain rule-like structures were built in, one of them being that the less backed-up your work is, the more a cat is likely to walk on the keyboard. Some Los Alamos guys have worked out exact ratios for that, but basically you’re fucked if you haven’t backed-up a minimum of 17 times.
Or keep far hence the cat that’s friend to men.
K: Well I don’t know, darling, do I ? It was in a plastic bottle on the futility room windowsill.
Anyway, it shd have cleaned up any viruses.
I’ll get my dry cleaned coat.
As long as you thoroughly dry before running an electric current, you can generally soak many electronics. I used to run my desktop keyboard through the dishwasher every couple months. There is some long term corrosion risk, but everything seems to be designed for disposability these days anyway…
memory stick, bio or not
the world has become a blizzard
only cats are unscathed
Mine’s been through the wash three or four times & still brings up everything I’ve written in the past two years.
It just makes me think everything on it must be rubbish.
But I have now insured myself by putting on it the complete works of Jane Austen, EA Poe, Trollope, Shakespeare, George Eliot and Milton. About 60MBs the lot. Let’s see what Indesit makes of that.
“Fata Morgana” sat untouched on my bookshelf for about twenty years until I finally read it last summer.
I don’t know if it’s any good either but I doubt it’s going to get the re-read treatment in this life.
Other old things can be sent to the dump too: knick-knacks, friends, ambitions, value systems, hopes… While you’re in the mood, why not try something like this? When you’re left standing in the cemetery in your undies, I’ll come and take a picture.
Hi Julian: I remember that. Interesting that his girlfriend is listed as one of his remaining possessions… Did he retain his undies ? I’d do my best to keep those, & my friends. (But as for the cat, after the Louis MacNeice incident he’s on his own.)
I feel the same way about Kotzwinkle. Fata Morgana had such promise, but did not deliver the goods. Nothing beats Uncle Silas.