Doing a weblog is an art I do not understand, although other people seem to have gotten the knack of it. I guess we'll see how this goes. The feeling of talking to myself is very strong and not altogether encouraging. However, it's also kind of fun.

Why do I carry so damned much stuff? Just back from Atlanta and I don't think anyone since Princess Diana has needed to carry so much stuff for a five-day trip. I don't know what I think would happen if I didn't have two changes of clothes for every day, plus enough reading material for a week. I carried FOUR books with me (including one I bought in a panic at the airport) and a magazine. And the funny thing is, I did quite a bit of reading. Got caught up on the "Music" edition of Granta and read "Four Blondes" by Candice Bushnell in its entirety. It was all fun and games until I had to drag my two suitcases, tote bag, and purse out to the airport.

I think the coolest thing I read was a piece in Granta by Janice Galloway called "Clara" about the woman who eventually married Schumann. Nicely done and sort of impressionistic writing that tried to paint a picture of this woman's life. I know nothing about that kind of music but it made me pay attention, even as I ate a mini-pan pizza in the Atlanta Convention Center. Apparently this is going to be a full-length book sometime in 2002 so I'll need to watch for it.

Read 500 e-mail messages tonight. Most of them were on the March list and consisted of one-word posts like "JOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" On the Maud list they're all talking about journal keeping and the nature of using domestic help in pre-WWI America. On Chug lots of outrage about...something. Everybody's feeling their oats on the Internet these days I guess.