Analog Sea. Not quite a book. Also I didn't finish it. And also this isn't quite a post about a book or film.

I'm in a slump. I'm struggling to get through my book club book (Neuromancer), journaling feels like a great effort, letter writing is near non-existent...

April has been full of erratic travel (some work, some family, some work & family). To complement this travel, my erratic reading has been full of starts and stops, and stops and starts, and reading paragraphs slowly and re-reading paragraphs even slower due to general distraction. I feel completely unable to conjure from the deep depths of my soul any quiet focus. I suppose this is an attempt.

After our first trip in April, I had the pleasant surprise of past Nick actually coming through for future Nick (which is also now past). A rarity for sure. Gemma and Walt and I returned to Chicago on a Tuesday. Work was fast approaching. But lo and behold I had forgotten I scheduled a day of recovery! so instead of returning to work 12 hours after returning home from the West Coast I found myself with most of weekday to myself. It turned out to be one of those sneakily beautiful fake spring Chicago days. 

I took my time leaving the house and made my way on the subway to our office with the intention of hanging a (very heavy) mirror, then buying books and records to leave at the office. After an hour and a failed attempt at hanging the mirror, then ultimately a second successful one, I made my way to the Fine Arts Building and the bookstore on the second floor, Exile in Bookville. It is a really lovely little bookstore. They do a great job of curating beautiful books.  I ended up buying The Pleasure of the Text by Roland Barthes. (I had just been discussing with a dear friend how in love with books I was and how it only increases with time.... It was an incredible boon!) I also happened upon lovely little editions of Analog Sea. The group who publishes it seems to be obsessed with text and books, and their online presence has only 41 words telling you to send them a letter! I haven't yet but I probably will this week. If I can get out a letter to my aunt and two birthday notes.  IDK what I'll say though. 

I've read about a quarter of Volume 1. It is fare perfect for the office. More journal or digest than a book, though it looks like a book. It is definitely an enjoyable mishmash. There is a piece about the incredible benefits of old (analog) phones vs. cellular phones that really sent me back to my cold garage on Sunset Dr. tethered to our kitchen phone in 1994 fumbling for words and listening to a girl or friend on the other end, all nervous energy and sighs and breath and charged silence.