Ladies and gentlemen…boys and girls…cowpunchers, three-martini lunchers, and fellow CARPET mun…. well, never mind, but still. Yesterday Joe Spivey posted a fascinating video to his YouTube channel (“WHERE we discuss books and little else“), taking us through his process of penning a book review. The book in question was the new memoir by Liz Truss, which hardly seems worth reading, let alone reviewing, but nevertheless it gave me an idea. You see, it turns out Joe and I both do our reading recumbent on our beds, and Joe was nice enough to include a couple high-speed montages (which really brought out the incredulous twitching of his lips, as he absorbed Ms. Truss’s prose, quite nicely) showing him, in that position, going through a couple chapters.
Now, I could do that, I thought. But what would be the best time? Mostly, I read when I first get out of the shower, and for an hour or two prior to lights out. In the latter instance, I usually have on a t-shirt, underpants, and socks, all of which (and maybe more) Joe seems to wear as well – but in the former, well, it’s just your Gracie, au naturel, bare as the day she was born (presumably, anyway), air-drying her steaming-wet flesh as she reads (in the case of this morning) Dr. Warfield or some other similarly erudite thinker best read in the mornings, before one has encountered the day’s first cat vomit (if not something worse). And that, I think, is when I’m generally at my best, and consequently that would be the time to film.
Can you imagine? “Naked Gracie Reads.” Without even having to say one profound word (always chancy when cameras are rolling – or, in my case, even when they’re not), I would surely stand out among my fellow critics. And think of the views I would get! I’m sure YouTube’s ubiquitous “Men of Culture” would flock to my channel in droves! (The frumpy, slightly hypertensive, middle-aged couch-potato look is still in this year, right?) I’m on my way to buy a camera as we speak.
But first….
I have tried at several different stages of my life to get involved with online baseball sim communities, or Strat-O-Matic communities more specifically, and haven’t had much luck, and (with the laudable exceptions of the one and only Jeffrey Guterman and, occasionally, Dan Evensen) I haven’t had much luck of late, either, upon renewal of those efforts. My policy in such cases is to never draw any conclusions as to people’s motives, no matter how natural or even obvious those conclusions might seem, without there having been some kind of an explicit declaration on their part. (One time a guy told me, “We play Strato to get away from women.” My response: “Why do you think I play it, fella?”) But I’m also not going to keep engaging with people who refuse to engage with me back – which I think is a good policy for anyone of any sex (or, for that matter, when it comes to any kind of sex, though that’s another entry).
My lovely colleague Abigail Devoe has a new Vinyl Monday video up today on Pink Moon, and once again I remind myself that I need to start listening to Nick Drake more seriously. Possibly this push from Abby, whom I tend to follow rather slavishly (ah, if only!) will help on that score.
And finally….
If you can take your eyes off Olivia Warrington even for a moment when she’s in the circle, you’re either far more disciplined or far more stubbornly self-punishing than I. She didn’t pitch especially well this past weekend against Purdue Fort Wayne – but there’s more to life than winning every softball game (however satisfying that might be), and I just love the way that she carries herself on the field and how tall she stands at the heart of the diamond and how supportive she is of her teammates, even when they’re not playing precisely in ideal fashion behind her. There’s no doubt in my mind that Livvy – whose time at Detroit is swiftly coming to an end, a thought that makes my throat well up – is one of the most exquisitely beautiful athletic goddesses I’ve ever had the privilege of encountering in all my years at this, and I long to savour every single precious moment that I can of the rest of her career.
G'night Gracie 
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