Anonymous yet personal, this Blog chronicles
the daily events and musings of Jim.
It provides an easy way for his friends and family to check in on him,
and serves as a online repository for his random
thoughts, kaleidoscopic flashbacks, and writings on an array of diverse topics.
“Deconstructing Jim” is simply here to
entertain you, but not intended for college credit.

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Chapel Hill, NC, United States

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Preparing the Bat Cave

It’s going to be another hot and humid summer day today. I feel like I’m in a sauna.

But yesterday proved to be productive. I spent the majority of Tuesday reorganizing my basement music workroom. Not only did I move the piano from one wall to the other (allowing for full reach of the keyboard and easy access to the desk), but shelves containing a treasure trove of musical scores were relocated to assume the spot where the piano had been sitting. The surface of my desk had accumulated a pile of miscellaneous papers and artifacts about a foot and a half deep. It took time to go through it all and sort objects out into various locations – including the trash. I now have a large box filled with pencil sketches for the beginnings of about a dozen different pieces written over the past years – all unorganized and raw (barely comprehensible) musical meanderings. These need to be reviewed.

The small room is now organized, clean, and ready for me to begin work. I will need to have the piano tuned (it has been years since the last one). Hopefully Hayg can do it this week. I’m going to make a sign to put on the basement music room door:




It’s dark, gloomy, cut off from the world, and a little musty – the perfect place to compose contemporary music.

And if I get lost, it's on Route 64...



Yesterday was also a day of waiting on hold to speak to an Unemployment Specialist. My application for unemployment is in the system, but it seems like a complex decentralized process with claims adjusters I’ve never met conferring with third party agents representing my former out-of-state (and out-of-mind) employer. But, as of yet, the system seems to work despite being bureaucratically Baroque. Although I will seriously be looking for a job, I’m grateful that unemployment insurance and some severance pay will hold me over until I do. I also intend to use the “time” to compose some music, and in a way it’s a little like being awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/