Quotations from the seventh and eighth weeks of 2013

Despite much reading (including a really poorly written/translated book about Cezanne) and writing over the last two weeks, there has not been a particularly quotable quotation (well, nothing I've written down).  So I'm making up some of my own.

"The image of the tortured artist is inaccurate.  We are all tortured, but the artist has the patience and skill to articulate it."

"Life is bitter.  This makes alcohol taste so sweet."

"The sign of a good musician is showing how few notes you need to play."

That last one is something I posted to Twitter which is a much more relaxed, frivolous, and artistic attempt at social media.  It's not all about poop, but a lot of it is.

Quotations from the fourth week of 2013

Since I didn't write anything down from the fourth week of 2013 to type up, here are some of my own.

I read McCarthy's Suttree and reread The Sun Also Rises.  Every year I reread TSAR and it's probably the closest I get to religion.  It's like my Christmas--or rather my Hanukkah since I like to draw out the experience, savor the words, the style, the structure, the psychology, the story.  Many times the longer I spend reading a book, the more I enjoy it.  The novels that go by in a flash like an express train can be hard for me to remember.  The experience may have been enjoyable, but I didn't get a chance to read any of the graffiti on the boxcars.

Because I did start this blog under the guise of a baseball blog centered on the Cubs, I may as well mention that we are not much more than two months from the beginning of the season, and only a few weeks from the start of spring training.  I think what most concerns me is Spring.  I always feel much better and more optimistic when the weather warms.  So perhaps it is not the impending season that gets me more energetic as much as the growing sunlight and building warmth, the freedom allowed by the shedding the clothes and the generally positive disposition of the world around us when the sky is blue and the temperatures comfortable.  This is probably why we are so inclined to small talk about the weather and sports.

And now for some photos because if there is one thing tumblr has taught me, it's that people don't want to read, they want to look.