Day Four

Saturday. This is the midway point. I think can do this. 

More reading, this time at school in the studio. By Monday, I will most certainly have pinned down the nature of the Sublime. As usual, the folks at the coffee house were understanding of my not speaking, but alas, a cup of coffee is not a meal, and a man cannot live off of college-town sandwiches alone. It was unavoidable. 


Luckily, if you're like me, when you go to the grocery store, you're on a mission and don't speak to anyone even under normal circumstances. I grabbed some staples for the next few days (this is going to be a big week for tamales) and headed straight for the self-checkout line, which I always use; as a matter of fact, I could probably teach workshops for people who want to get through it as fast as possible. I got out of the store in record time, no problem. Even quiet people need to eat. 
Unfortunately, I saw one of the Print professors in the parking lot, who I guess has not been informed of what I'm doing. She smiled and waved as a half-walked/half-jogged by, and said to the woman she was speaking to, "Hey look! It's Brian! The gang's all here!"
Seeing as how she was talking to a complete stranger (to me anyway) and both of them were armed with young children, I thought it best to (surprise!) smile, wave, and keep making a b-line for my truck, rather than explain my social experiment in silence. 
I'll have to let her know what was up after Wednesday. 
I dropped off my food at school and made my over to Darin's house to see what he was up to. 


As it turned out, I had excellent timing. Having just got off from work, he was about to take Dash on a long walk, and asked me to join him. I wrote that I would. 
We walked for about 45 minutes around our beautiful and wacky neighborhood, stepping on train tracks, him talking and my listening, and me not taking pictures. I was reminded sharply again how understanding and wonderful this man is, that he's able to put up with my bizarre needs to make both my, and the lives of my friends, a source of consistent irritation with my projects. What a keeper. 


Dash, however, has not taken well to my performance at all. True, my and Dash's relationship has always been somewhat strained (I have, of course, substantially moved in on his territory), but we've since buried the hatchet, and taken up a new era in which as soon as I show my face in the kitchen window, he immediately tries to jump through it in an overzealous greeting. The first 15 minutes of each and every one of my visits to Darin's house are characterized with one or both of us interrupting our speech to each other, addressing the dog to "Get down! No jumping! Sit! Stay! Get down! NO JUMPING! NO!"
Oddly enough, my being silent has only increased this behavior. Dash will now actually not stop, at any point, whenever I am in the presence of his master any of the following: pawing at my face, sniffing at my crotch, putting his paws on my butt, thorough and noisy sniffing, humping my leg (or Darin's leg, for that matter), barking (and *whining*!), or a specialized combination of any of the above, as he perceives is necessary. 
It's as if if he's trying to irritate me into speech, and into chastising him. A glutton for punishment who's found himself with a castrated punisher. Joke's on you, cur! 
So we sat for about an hour or so on he porch, having wine, writing notes back and forth, and fighting the dog off our crotches. Pleasant. 
Then, print time.


I got back to school around 10pm, pulled everything out, and went at it. Again, I can't stress this enough, although I've felt a significant level of frustration, and sadness since taking this project on, my ability to generate ideas has shot through the roof. I've come up with more projects (too many to realistically do, in fact). If there was a manner to isolate all the negativity from this process, the depression, and frustration and the constant, "Why am I doing this to myself?" from this process, I seriously think it's something I would do on a regular basis just for the payoff of ideas. 
But that is far from being a reality, and right now, it mostly remains very difficult. 




Seeing as how it was daylight savings last night, I started speaking at 10 as opposed to 11 -- not that there was anyone around. I stayed at school printing until 3, went home and fell into bed. 
I'm over the hump. 
3 days left.