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A Great Belly Warmer

Why should I make an effort when the best jokes just write themselves? (Oh, here's a helpful explanation.)

Thriving Office

I’m in the middle of moving to a quiet little attic ("loft" in the local parlance, but that’s just confusing to people back home who know that the lofts I used to live in meant something very different) in London.

that’s less glamorous than it sounds, in many ways. For one thing, I’m down in Zone 3, in the far eastern end of Tooting. Saying I’m moving to London is a similar obfuscatory truth to saying I grew up in New York City when it was really Staten Island, which only just barely counts. For another, it's a total wreck of a place. It's got a great volume — basically meaning it's a nice space if you ignore the physical stuff that actually encloses the spac e — and I have it all to myself and it's relatively cheap considering that, but as for the state of the way the place was fixed up and supposedly made habitable...well, I have never seen such appalling workmanship in my life.

And I lived in the middle of the projects in Bushwick, in a loft built out by a crackhead.

It will be OK once I hound the landlord about a couple of issues and complete a short list of minor repairs. Also, I’m just enough of a bohemian art fag still to pull off some clever camouflage with color, cheap furniture, and strategically positioned knickknacks and artwork on the walls.

I’m still living in Reading, even though I’ve had the new place for a couple of weeks already. Aside from the condition of the place, I still own nothing but books and cloths anymore, so I’ve been stocking up at the Ikea in Croydon, preparing to make the move. (Incidentally, the strangest part about the Ikea in Croydon is how perfectly it feels like every other Ikea I’ve every seen. It was hard to remember that I wasn't actually buying my bachelor-friendly kitchen-in-a-box back in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Except for the food in the café, which — being English — was worse than I could have imagined.) I can't really move in until I get the broadband hooked up, anyway, since I still need my home to be my office studio until I can find a proper work (and accompanying visa) situation.

What I can say is that a promising side venture is coming together as I continue my happy-go-lucky freelance career. Mr. Moore and I have joined forces to work on type and design projects with one another. Behold! — The Colour Grey! (Nothing to to see at the site yet, since we've been too busy with actual projects to deal with out own site yet, but give us a little time.)

The other big summer project will be getting Gina ready for a proper commercial release, hopefully before the year is out. I’m also going to speak at a conference in Cork in July, and do a little teaching in the Netherlands this August/September, which ought to be fun. Very interdisciplinary stuff, which I always love. More later on those, probably.

Wow, I really need to get out of bed and get to work now.