Gone to America

I’m still working. Still day to day. I could be finished by, oh, I don’t know, say… Wednesday. But I’ve thought that kind of thing before. The hours have eased off a bit, though – I’m earning a little less, but I can relax a little more. Things are still uncertain. It would be nice to be able to plan. My hair is growing unconscionably long – getting it cut is something I only ever think about when I’m bored, and I haven’t been bored much recently.

Money has finally started to trickle in – I’m a freelance hire, so I invoice, and there’s a fair old lag between invoice and payment. Add to that the seven days my bank takes to clear cheques over a certain amount, and I’ve been working for quite a while without seeing much. I’ve only just managed to amass enough to be worth paying the wire fee to send back to Dublin in a vainglorious attempt at beginning to scale the south face of my debt mountain. Paying a Euro debt by earning Dollars is really like swimming uphill – just stupid.

My stage managment debut went off swimmingly. I think it’s safe to say that that stage was managed like it’s never been managed before. The lights went on at the beginning, they went off at the end… Man, it was sweet. I rounded off the night at the Ear Inn, which I haven’t done for a few weeks. Good night. I got a lift home on the back of a bike. I haven’t been on the back of a bike since I lived with Zaini, and blasting through Manhattan at 3am while drunk was quite an experience. I thought I was going to lose my jacket going over the Queensboro Bridge – windy – but I didn’t. New York – there’s always another way to enjoy it. And thanks to Mike for the lift.

I don’t quite know what to do about the RNC being in town. I don’t mean “do about it” in the sense of “taking them out” – I’m no Bush supporter, but I’m no anarchist either. I mean I’m not quite sure how to best experience it. I feel I ought to be doing something – it’s a big and important event in a big and important election in a big important country, and I’m right here.

But what? I don’t want to protest, as I don’t have a vote and I don’t really feel it’s any of my business (I don’t think I’d be too comfortable with an American coming over to Ireland and protesting Bertie). I’ve found that I just don’t take photgraphs anymore – even when I have my camera with me. I’d always rather just watch – I feel that a camera just comes between me and the experience of whatever it is. I took a taxi to the bar last night, and we drove down ninth avenue, past the area that’s been more or less closed off. Lots of cops, lots of barriers, and floodlights turning night into day. I work downtown – on Broadway, just north of Houston – and the Convention is in Midtown, so I don’t know if it’ll affect me much. Unless, of course, there’s some sort of “incident”. I do tend to walk up to Union Square to catch the 4 or 5 uptown, and that area seems to be a popular staging place for protests, so maybe I’ll see something that’ll generate some insight into stuff.

I’ve been putting stuff on other people’s blogs again – I obnoxiously drove the comments on this entry way off topic. I’m not proud of it, but I couldn’t resist. And I found this website via www.ludonauts.com. It’s a wiki! It’s fantastic! I love wikis… I wish I’d figure out what to do with mine.

That is all… I think.