Arg. I am completely immobilized by this dread machine. Must. Move. From. It. I have a million things I have do in preparation for little brother's imminent arrival. To wit: laundry, shower, clean house and truck, de-smokify house and truck, purchase various products at Target. I also have to somehow fit in an 8 hour work day today so that I might take off more time this week when Shawn is actually here. I've been up since 7 am. I have managed to drink a pot of coffee. My eyes ache from lack of sleep and caffeine. I am filthy. I don't wanna do anything. Whine whine whine.

On a side note, I really don't mean to offend when I express my distaste for any writer or other maker of anything. So I don't like Dave Eggers (and I have read his book--I read it because I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I have yet to figure it out). While there were parts of the book that I found moving (the first chapters, for instance--especially the description of his father's death), I personally find his writing to be a bit self-satisfied, a bit narcissistic, a bit too self-referential and cute, a bit too in-the-know, hip to the scene, etc. I particularly dislike the entire section written like a Real World interview. It's the same reason I could never stomach Douglas Copeland. Or Jay McInerney, for that matter. I ain't hip to the post-modern sensibility, I guess. And I don't ever mention my like or dislike of a writer if I haven't read his/her work--I have read all of the writers I mention above. I'm not like that guy from Whit Stillman's Metropolitan (a movie I adore) who only reads the critics and forms his opinion thusly.

All that said, I absolutely respect everyone's right to disagree. My little brother Dan, whose taste I admire and whose writing I admire and whose brain is completely solid and right on, loves Dave Eggers. We've argued his merits out many a time and have agreed to disagree on this matter.

I always hesitate to express my dissatisfaction with such things because I don't want to put down anyone else's tastes. I also can't stand critics, as I might have mentioned before. I think it's terribly easy to pick apart someone else's work--it's less easy to stand firm about what you love in the face of other people's put-downs. At least for me, that's the case. It took me a long time to fess up to my love for Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte and musicals because both of my parents said these things were crap. But now I know better. So there's my caveat--everyone continue standing up for who and what you love. I'll try to do the same.