tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67931562011-04-22T16:53:28.919-04:00“Cuando amor no es locura, no es amor." - Pedro Calderon de la BarcaPaul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.comBlogger247125Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-81589664758812801412008-11-18T18:26:00.000-05:002008-11-18T18:28:15.513-05:002008-11-18T18:28:15.513-05:00

This blog is no more. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late blog. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It’s rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-blog.Go here instead.

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/11/this-blog-is-done.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-70702628667435964772008-10-03T10:33:00.001-04:002008-10-06T10:35:45.417-04:002008-10-06T10:35:45.417-04:00

Wherein anything goes.

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/10/free-for-all-fridays.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-51233592346750435442008-10-02T10:32:00.000-04:002008-10-06T10:35:16.811-04:002008-10-06T10:35:16.811-04:00

Wherein I rattle off tech jargon like a geek.

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/10/tech-thursdays.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-61931575737173277842008-10-01T10:31:00.001-04:002008-10-06T10:35:31.763-04:002008-10-06T10:35:31.763-04:00

Wherein weird shit is explored.

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/10/wtf-wednesdays.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-91458484051455670642008-09-30T10:30:00.001-04:002008-10-06T10:36:04.310-04:002008-10-06T10:36:04.310-04:00

Wherein I try to explain things.

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/clue-by-four-in-beta-cluesday.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-19972332286250072112008-09-29T20:51:00.002-04:002008-09-29T20:53:58.687-04:002008-09-29T20:53:58.687-04:00

I put my first post up on the new blog: "Men’s Monday #1: why do some guys “step up” when others don’t?"Trip on over there if you can. It's still pretty raw, but I'd like to see if anything doesn't work out of the box: commenting, RSS, whatever.

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/clue-by-four-in-beta-mens-monday.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-29241687068848256692008-09-28T19:18:00.003-04:002008-09-28T19:49:02.584-04:002008-09-28T19:49:02.584-04:00

Dear Readers (and in particular those of you who have hung in through my long, boring novel word count and subsequent allergy to writing)... I have, as they say in the trade, an announcement.I've been thinking for a while how to make this little online diary of mine into a much bloggier blog, one that might be of interest to more people. A random phrase dropped into conversation and a subsequent

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com4http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/like-2x4-of-awesome-upside-head.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-23111930311074776382008-09-16T22:58:00.005-04:002008-09-17T01:23:10.286-04:002008-09-17T01:23:10.286-04:00

Tonight I was delivered of a rough draft of a novel of speculative fiction, weighing in at 78 pages of single-spaced 12-point Helvetica. After 31 days of labor, I now have this sort of helpless squirming mass to deal with. Soon, the editing will begin, but for now... I think I'm going to stop writing for a while, stop thinking about writing, and re-connect with the rest of my life.Thanks to all

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com6http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/50022.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-63845026713803804662008-09-15T23:12:00.004-04:002008-09-15T23:23:33.247-04:002008-09-15T23:23:33.247-04:00

A totally scattered day. I'm coming to realize what a complete fucking creature of habit I am... I had to go on the run at 8 this morning because our landlord said we had to evacuate due to the fact that he decided he would be roachbombing the second floor. And yeah, that kind of is a sucky way to begin the day, but I shoud be able to roll with change better. I went to the gym and brought a

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com1http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-30-coming-in-under-wire-48043-words.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-71017342762163153572008-09-14T21:06:00.004-04:002008-09-14T22:30:22.704-04:002008-09-14T22:30:22.704-04:00

Well, I finally know exactly how this novel ends, and I can definitely say that it is going to have to begin differently. But that's cool. I wrote the novel to explore the question of "what would happen if what's going on in Iraq were going on in America?" Because what so few people seem to remember is that pre-war, pre-sanctions Iraq was a thoroughly modern, technologically advanced nation. When

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com1http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-29-o-eris-o-discordia-46747-words.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-67293626377081199752008-09-12T23:56:00.005-04:002008-09-13T08:10:15.068-04:002008-09-13T08:10:15.068-04:00

Woke up at a decent hour after a decent sleep, had a decent run and came home, consumed a decent breakfast. My plan was to go on up to the gym by Cleveland Circle, and I hopped on my trusty steel urban assault bicycle and headed out.I looked both ways, crossed Huntington... and got my front rim jammed into the track of the Green Line streetcar embedded in the roadbed. The rear wheel continued on

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-27-almost-became-roadkill-41884.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-82965725769735403802008-09-11T22:05:00.002-04:002008-09-11T22:18:57.787-04:002008-09-11T22:18:57.787-04:00

A scattered day. I got not such a great night's sleep, woke up with an inflamed tendon - and realized I had let myself run out of coffee. Much as I'd have liked to do a Peet's run, I decided to give my legs a rest. Instead I gave some business to the original J. P. Lick's on Centre Street, so I'll be starting the day with some fair-trade Ethiopian Harrar tomorrow.Not quite halfway through the

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-26-40611-words.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-87781464172461503962008-09-08T23:01:00.004-04:002008-09-08T23:08:40.224-04:002008-09-08T23:08:40.224-04:00

I got a shit-tay night's sleep last night, with a noisy roommate and my landlord busting in at 7am telling me they were towing cars on the street. Apparently on months where the first Monday is a holiday, they do street cleaning on the second Monday. I sleep-drove a block up the hill, figuring they'd do the second-Monday streets on the third Monday. Wrong.Towed, and ticketed. Love being a

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com2http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-23-37353-words.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-72310115430007325332008-09-07T21:45:00.003-04:002008-09-07T21:51:06.596-04:002008-09-07T21:51:06.596-04:00

They should totally have tropical storms around here more often.I slept incredibly deeply through the night, finally crawling my lazy ass out of bed after 9:30. I literally cannot remember the last time I did that without having been out drinking the night before. The sound of rain is an awesome sleeping pill... that, I guess, and burning a lot of calories training.Today was a beautiful day under

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com1http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-22-36099-words.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-80360747633754234712008-09-07T11:18:00.005-04:002008-09-07T22:30:21.162-04:002008-09-07T22:30:21.162-04:00

My favorite doomsday device comes on line this Wednesday:"I do not expect to be swallowed up by," said Evans. "I think nobody in their right mind expects to be swallowed up by hypothetical black holes which are created in the LHC." Just so. No particle physicist worth his salt wants to imagine spending eternity in the guts of a provisional idea whose merit requires evaluation. But the strangelets

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/swallowed-by-hypothesis.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-91988386558595025252008-09-06T22:21:00.002-04:002008-09-07T00:06:14.645-04:002008-09-07T00:06:14.645-04:00

I made the most of a gray Saturday and wrote, wrote, wrote. I had a crisis of inspiration, though, so I walked the two miles up to Brookline Booksmith for a recharge. I am so hungry for a book, but it just seemed like reading fiction right now would throw my style off. Especially since what I want more than anything is On the Road: The Original Scroll. I don't know what reading Kerouac now would

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-21-33339-words-and-tropical-storm.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-69401175476121418792008-09-05T22:33:00.010-04:002008-09-06T13:08:39.809-04:002008-09-06T13:08:39.809-04:00

I did some good race training on the wildest course one can imagine: the City of Boston.Downtown is, not to put too fine a point on it, a fucking vortex. The grid (such as it is, and it really isn't) does like a 45-degree shift as you enter the historical center of the city, and streets you had counted on as reliable eastish-westish axes turn back on themselves and parallel lines suddenly

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/31217-words-and-161-miles.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-24019474805410107792008-09-05T00:15:00.003-04:002008-09-05T00:24:25.384-04:002008-09-05T00:24:25.384-04:00

My friend called his wife from the L station, incoherently drunk, and let her take him to the detox center. Hopefully, when he dries out, he'll have enough sense to check himself into the sober living place and spend some time getting his life back. I can still hope... because while he's still drawing breath, there's hope.I drank caffeine at about 8 this evening (big risk) so I could catch up on

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com1http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-19-29799-words-and-some-peace.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-8404815210612248502008-09-04T12:46:00.006-04:002008-09-04T14:51:15.169-04:002008-09-04T14:51:15.169-04:00

As previously noted on this blog, I don't have a favored candidate in this election. In all the issues that are important to me, Obama and McCain adhere to the same program: a wildly assertive American imperialism, destruction of the natural environment, and government of big business, by big business and for big business.I know that I'd be leaving myself open to a charge of gross Naderism even

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/emperors-new-election-and-gutless.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-38178331878434122132008-09-03T13:23:00.005-04:002008-09-03T13:49:00.043-04:002008-09-03T13:49:00.043-04:00

My best friend on Earth was kicked out by his wife... close to a year of depression and alcoholism, violence and more stints in rehab than I can count (literally) had just finally wore her down. He's walking the streets, with no credit cards (she took his plastic) and I don't know how much cash. Slept outside last night.I tried to get him to go to a hotel, offered to pay... but he got

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com2http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/powerless.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-18117108818352369892008-09-02T08:00:00.006-04:002008-09-02T08:23:02.202-04:002008-09-02T08:23:02.202-04:00

Instead of writing this morning, I decided to write about writing, inspired by a meme my friend Michelle passed along. I have to say, I've never really thought about how I write as much as just doing it - so it's kind of interesting to see how many different styles and attitudes people have about the craft.1.  Do you write fiction or non-fiction? Or both? Both - I'm here a lot, obviously, and

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com1http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-and-how-i-write.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-88090068883959549552008-09-01T20:30:00.001-04:002008-09-01T20:34:22.425-04:002008-09-01T20:34:22.425-04:00

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com1http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-16-half-way-there-25880-words.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-7591050892363372132008-08-31T21:28:00.008-04:002008-09-01T08:21:09.573-04:002008-09-01T08:21:09.573-04:00

In the Mideastern cultures that birthed the major Western religions, the calendar followed the Moon rather than the Sun. In Judaism, it is the first day of Elul - as I was mentioning yesterday, the Kabbalistic teaching is that this month is powerful for drawing closer to the divine. It's also the first day of Ramadan in the Islamic calendar - observant Muslims throughout the world are fasting

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com1http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/08/day-15-22665-words-ramadan-and-elul-st.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-60834606798395112472008-08-30T18:30:00.003-04:002008-08-30T18:47:46.147-04:002008-08-30T18:47:46.147-04:00

Didn't make up all the lost ground I wanted to, but I took a bite. I also went for an awesome ride, got (mostly) unpacked and my kitchen set up, and recovered from the tragic loss of my coffee grinder. Fortunately I live in el barrio so it's now Café Bustelo all the way, papi.Going to a Kabbalah seminar tonight, because I'm gangsta like that. It's a new moon tonight (actually 4 this afternoon),

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com4http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/08/day-14-new-moon-in-virgo-21534-words.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793156.post-75118660559066357462008-08-29T21:26:00.005-04:002008-08-29T21:37:32.323-04:002008-08-29T21:37:32.323-04:00

I wrote a bunch this morning - still not caught up but I made some good headway after some Jolt Silver (still can't find my grinder!) and a fun run up and around Parker Hill. This is an awesome running neighborhood, lots of steep-ass climbs and killer views of downtown Boston and the Plain.Long work meeting today, and I busted out as soon as I could, tried out a new pub and checked out an art

Paul Daniel Ashnoreply@blogger.com0http://crazylike.blogspot.com/2008/08/day-13-19033-words-and-night-on-town.html