Hitting The Links: 6/16/24
We've got a bunch of great links, more obits than usual, a quick recap of the week, some great pix, an update on my leukemia status, and more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
The Week That Wasn’t
Sorry I’m late today. I had to get out at 8:30 a.m. to record a podcast in NYC — went great! coming late July! — got home and had to head out to my dad’s for a late Father’s Day lunch.
Last Wednesday’s email listed a bunch of highlights for the coming week. Here’s an update:
Wednesday - up to Boston, give presentation 11:30am, schmooze, Fenway tour, Phils-Sox game
Did all that. The session went great, & I got to schmooze plenty. Headed to the hotel after the 3rd inning, because I was pretty zonked (the day began at 3:30am). Had a great time, even if it WAS at Fenway:
Thursday - train to Stamford, drive home
Was going to take the 6:06am from Back Bay, but woke up so early I caught the 5:10am. I was a zombie most of the day, but I made it home alive, so that’s a win. Here’s the view from my hotel that morning:
Friday - work + oncologist appt. to see how my leukemia’s doing
If you had this box for the “Gil starts treatment for CLL” drawing, YOU LOSE, SUCKER! My WBC count came back perfectly fine: no significant increase, no progression, no need to consider treatment. I seriously thought my number was up this time, because I have been in rough shape for months, but it turns out that that’s all external stuff, with no impact on the time bomb in my blood & bones, so it’s another ~4 months until my next check in. Here’s a sketch of a succulent flower in the reception area of the cancer clinic.
Saturday - Catskills Fire Tower Challenge W/Old Friend, Part 2: Hunter Mountain hike, 4.7 miles, 2,000' climb on the front half
My pal called an audible and we did the Balsam Lake Mountain Fire Tower hike instead. We wound up doing 7.15 miles, 1,630’ climb, with 1,200 on the front 3 miles to the tower. We took a lollipop route, and the trail after the tower was BANANAS. But I’m far less sore than I was after last month’s Overlook Mountain Fire Tower hike. I fear we’ll hit that Hunter Mountain one when it’s hot/humid out, but we’ll manage. We have 3 more hikes to do for this challenge, plus a short walk to the 6th tower.
I posted a bunch of pix from the hike, esp. from the tower, on my Instagram. Here’s one of me & my friend, taken by the volunteers. (Oh, also, we came up with a Catskills folk-horror story involving migrating birds from Costa Rica and coconut tanning oil. We can get kinda loopy after a few hours together.)
Sunday - podcast in NYC 10am, maybe take Dad out for Father’s Day late lunch?, edit next week’s show
I recorded the podcast, decided to bring some BBQ over to Dad’s when I got home, so he wouldn’t have to go out in the world, and now I’m back here, wondering if I can edit next week’s show now, or just do it in my hotel room tomorrow night.
And here we are. There’s so much I didn’t tell/show you, including the Joe Franklin story, but maybe some other time. I’m tired, and the next 2 days still look like this:
Monday - train to DC, give 10-min. presentation at FDA workshop, hope no one asks me anything on my panel
Tuesday - lobbying visits on the Hill, potential meetings with [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], train to NWK, drive home
I wish there were more hours in the day, but I think I made a friend today, and I did something good for Dad, so hey. Still have to pack for the trip, set an alarm so I can wake up 15 minutes before it goes off, try to edit the show, think about new ways to let people down, etc.
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And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Stan Mack • Jim Moske • Adam Moss • Randy Fertel • D.W. Young • Jen Silverman • Leonard Barkan
RIP The Logo . . . RIP Rev. James Lawson . . . RIP Francoise Hardy . . . RIP Michael Mosley . . . RIP Akira Endo . . . RIP Josh Maravich . . . RIP Warren Winiarski . . . RIP Ben Potter . . . RIP Johnny Canales . . .
Oh, you may be inclined to shit-talk me after I’m dead, and I’d be fine with that, but you will not be able to match this obit for Scott Wampler.
Hey! Keith Knight is doing a Kickstarter to publish a new K Chronicles collection! Go support that!
And Richard Kadrey’s doing one, too, for a new edition of Kamikaze L’Amour! Make with the support!
As I’ve said, I always assume that once I mail a postcard, it’s lost in the ether. (Also, this article about the USPS’ overhaul and its finances doesn’t mention how its pension obligations are tied to its ‘loss’ each fiscal year.)
Go read this web-comic about addiction & the ICU, drawn by upcoming (this summer! or so we hope!) guest Jess Ruliffson, written by Ernesto Barbieri.
Dynamite excerpt from Griffin Dunne’s memoir about his father, and manliness.
Neat piece on Strasbourg’s book culture, in the year that it’s UNESCO’S World Book Capital.
I enjoyed this essay by next week’s guest, Swan Huntley, on coming out and what she’d tell her past selves.
Current/Recent Reading
Pilobolus: A Story of Dance and Life - Robert Pranzatelli
“I realized how this might seem through Tore’s eyes. But it would only be like this for the few weeks it would take him to actually get to know me and get a sense of what was what, I was a wannabe who was actually unable to write because I had nothing to say, who wasn’t honest enough with himself to draw the appropriate conclusions and was therefore trying to get a foot in the world of literature at any cost. Not as someone who created something himself, someone who wrote and was published, but as a parasite, as someone who wrote as others wrote, a second-rater.”
—Karl Ove Knausgaard (tr. Don Bartlett), My Struggle: Book 5. Got ~100 pages left before the finale
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
I didn’t get to finish my 5-day weights-yoga cycle last Friday-Tuesday, because the kitchen renovation guys were here late on Tuesday. I won’t be able to this week, either, since I’m traveling Monday-Tuesday. I won’t get to weights today, as I’ve got a fully belly, it’s late, and I don’t want to be up all night. But at least I got in that big ol’ hike yesterday. I sprinted up some of the big uphills, just to see how I’d do. I did fine.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Wednesday with a new episode (at last!), and on Sunday with links, books, & workout craziness, & sure maybe a little profundity or something.
There’s no cure, there’s no answer,