Still no word on my submissions to those two agents in NYC, but I'm hoping, especially with one of them. In the meantime, anyone want to help me edit my new book? The second half absolutely blows, and I know I went off-track somewhere... I just can't figure out where.

Reading one of my favorite sections of Proust's In Search of Lost Time... the second part of In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, the part where he, at sixteen, goes off with his Grandma and falls in love with a little gang of girls(?) (question mark because he's known to have switched the genders of people he'd been in homosexual relationships with) at the gorgeous seaside resort of Balbec on the Normandy coast. My first time through, I was struck by the beauty of this 320-page section. This time through, I'm still struck by the beauty and clarity of the writing, and plus I have a whole passel of memories from the first time I read this section, when I was hanging out on the Sorrento Coast of southern Italy. That's the great thing about rereading Proust... not only is one of his themes the layering of memories, but his writing makes you do the same thing with your own memories as well.

Oh, and jewfroart and I are going to see George Clinton and Funkadelic in Providence this Saturday. Whether you're into funk or not, I've heard that they put on an amazing show. Should I survive, I'll let you know how it was.