Nathan: June 2009

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a juicy personal post, or at least it feels that way, so I thought I’d dive in with what’s been going on with me.

First and foremost: I finished the book I’m writing! Granted, this is Draft #1, but after four years of writing six days a week (with only the occasional break here and there) it feels refreshing and wonderful to have reached this point. I have a couple friends who have agreed to read and edit it for me this summer so I can get cracking on Draft #2. Writing is a solitary and bizarre experience: I get up before the sun rises, drink my coffee to get the brain juices flowing, and then – WHAM! – I enter into the worlds of my characters. It will be….hmm….sad to say goodbye to these characters, though I do know it’s more of a see-you-soon. More like we’ll be moving to different cities where we just get to visit on vacations when we get time off of work. But they’re also ready to move on out back into the ether, and I can only hope I’m doing them justice with their tale. Folks from the next novel are patiently waiting on the ether-bench, gently nudging me with scene-snippets, visuals, a flash of a sentence here and here. They’re quite patient; they know I owe my time and loyalty to the others, to finish things up with finesse so I don’t stumble across the finish line; thus, I’ll be able to give my undivided attention to the newcomers when their story gets the royal treatment. As for you, my friends and readers, and especially to my family (who keeps asking: “Why don’t WE get to read it?”) I can just say this: I look forward to the day when you all hold a copy, and hopefully find a phrase or moment or character that you relish. Mom, Jordan, and Aaron: this book is FOR you….of course you don’t get to read it until it’s done and printed and bound up! That moment above all others, when you three get your copy, is the one I’m looking forward to most.

I am reading lots, as always. I think my “new” favorite author of the last few years has become Ray Bradbury. I just finished reading Something Wicked This Way Comes, and – for those of you with Carnival Souls, Cotton Candy veins – you’ll love the creepy, magical, nostalgic quality to this novel. You’ll also love the bonds that don’t break in the story: the family ties, the commitments to friendship. I’d say my favorite Ray Bradbury book I’ve read is Dandelion Wine, a coming-of-age tale from the ’50s. It centers around a couple 12-year-old boys who are experiencing that magical summer between childhood and adolescence. There’s magic, mystery, and melancholy aplenty: three very important M’s.

My newest musical obsession of the last couple years is Bat for Lashes. She has a way of tapping into your spiritual pulse with her voice and lyrics, her pop music that transcends and mends various cultures together. I just read an interview with Natasha Khan (aka Bat for Lashes), and she talked about going out into the forests at night, singing through branches of trees, holding the microphone up so the wind would get looped with her melodies. How cool is that, right? Her debut album is Fur and Gold, and her second album is Two Suns. I’m a huge fan of both, and would say I love them equally. Highlighted songs: “Prescilla”, “Daniel”, and “Pearl’s Dream”. If you haven’t watched the “Daniel” video (make youtube your friend), you’re really missing out.

My TV watching keeps dwindling, which is such a good thing. During periods in my life, I’ve been a huge TV addict, and – while I’m all for a really, really good show – I know it’s easy for me to get lost in all the crap, too. It helps that we haven’t had cable in a year, and that – because of the way our neighborhood is situated or whatnot – we don’t get any basic channels, either. But I do love the Multnomah County library system, and often get shows on DVD. My favorite discoveries in the past year have been Friday Night Lights and Brothers & Sisters. The former is, yes, about a high school football team in Texas. I’m not a football fan, nor a Texas fan really, but I am a huge fan of quality writing, with flawed, believable characters that you want to hug through the TV screen (it’s the part of me channeling Carol Anne from Poltergeist who says that!). As for Brothers & Sisters, I wrote a post about it a couple weeks back, so I’ll leave it at that.

My family is doing well, which is wonderful to say after a couple really tough years for the Bucks. Mom’s enjoying her zany experiences at Hippo Hardware, where she works part-time, and our cohorts – Ollie and Luna, our dogs – are as whacked out as the rest of us. Jordan landed seasonal work at Alaska’s Denali National Park, and Mom and I (and hopefully Aaron and Stephenie too) are flying out in August to be with Jordan and celebrate this 30th birthday. I’m looking forward to unwinding amongst all the “bloody red leaves” (Jordan’s choice of words to describe the autumnal weather and landscapes of Denali in August), and to being witness to the way the wildlife – caribou, eagles, bears, wolves – are just an everyday part of life. I anticipate lots of hikes and tours (and for those stolen moments, lots of reading and sleeping….and drinking, as the rock star in me does like to live it up on vacations). Aaron has been so frustrated since September, when he got back from grad school in Glasgow, and I’m thankful things are looking up for him with his two new jobs: one as a freelancing textile designer for a neckwear company and the other as an assistant to an interior designer. He and Stephenie are loving living together in Park Slope in Brooklyn, with their “child” Oscar the dog (whom I call “Buddha” for his Zen, go-with-the-flow nature).

I’ve been single for quite a long time now, and have been thinking it might be nice to get out there and go on a date. I don’t need to meet Mr. Forever or anything, but I’m thinking, “Yes, Nathan, you’ve done enough cocooning. Get the heck out there, Mister!” All in all, this long period of singlehood has been healing, rewarding, and necessary – but I’m over it! When I did get out there and date a bit about a year ago, I was blessed with a beautiful friendship that I hope continues for the long haul: Glenn’s. Imagine the love child of Crispin Glover and Tim Burton, and that’s sorta kinda what Glenn is like, a little bit. Speaking of friendships, isn’t it fascinating to watch them morph and change and grow and drift and strengthen and flounder and take root? A couple important friendships have, well, basically disintegrated at my fingertips, and others – some of them unexpected – have sprouted up like huge sunflowers. My friends mean the world to me, and you all know this: I have the best ones on the planet. Growing up awkward and lonely and confused, most of the folks in my life were imaginary ones, and to have real flesh-and-blood friends that I can hug, value, appreciate…..nothing gets better than that. What’s funny is my friends are all so incredibly different. Getting them in a room together has great entertainment value!

I think I’ll stop there for now. Lots more to say (isn’t there always?), but I’ll whip up another post soon enough. I love this time of year here in Portland, the start of summer, the long days, the beautiful weather. I’m looking forward to the many mini-adventures I have lined up over the next few months. I’ll end by saying I’ve been experiencing fascinating dreams, seeing spirits and sprites in the woods, communing with owls (and spiders too). No one said Life wasn’t interesting!