I remember when I was a kid and saw rex smith in "sooner or later", and how when he broke up with the girl because he found out she was 15 instead of 18, she was so distraught that she ran home and ate an entire Sara Lee frozen chocolate cake in one sitting, and how, at 8 years old, I was so excited about the possibility of future break-ups so I could get away with doing the same.
And another film: there's the mantra of the Tao of Steve -- be desireless, be excellent, be gone. We suck at the first; yet, currently, we seem to be pulling off the second. And regardless of everything, the third is due to happen in the morning. But what the mantra doesn't explain is how to get beyond the urge to pick up the phone between now and the 6 a.m. departure. This must be part of the "be desireless" section, at which I've already admitted to sucking. I can put love-struck characters together on the page, hook them up along perfectly measured beats, so why can't I manage this in my own life?
But lovers never reach fruition off the top -- it happens in the second act. At the end of the first act comes a setback, which I suppose puts me right on track.
1. Sugar
2. Butter
3. Coffee, and not just the "could I have 2/3rds decaf and the rest something really strong" concoction I'd been living on beforehand.
4. Bread. Oh, bread. There's nothing even close to the Atkin's diet over there.
5. Smoking. When in Rome/Berlin/Amsterdam/Bosnia/etc....
6. Snogging.
7. Football fixation.
8. Schinken. Or rather, I tried to take up schinken but, though I may be prodestant on the outside, my insides are a muslim/jewish battleground where no ham may enter.
9. Living life unplugged. No internet access. No cellphone.
10. The Pixies. Sigh.
