May 17th, 2009. 1210hrs --- Had an interesting gig last night; I sang “Sexual Healing” to the chef of the A1 Diner, who came out with some friends. It was good to have company; last Saturday I went out with Nicole and I've been missing her very much ever since. Hurry home, Nicole.

If there's a word for seafood-eating vegetarianism, that word now describes one more skinny white boy's diet. I've also been running and working out for a month. I've already developed some endurance, already developed some muscle. The discipline does me good. I'm being strategic about my life as a whole: cleaning the apartment, budgeting my money, budgeting my time. I want to get a hold on all that loose sand, all those loose minutes that aren't spent constructively. I know from rolling my spare change that small quantities of money add up over time; seconds and minutes add up the same way. I am a healthy, mentally sharp young person with access to many books and musical instruments---I'm streamlining everything in my life so that no moment, no resource is wasted if it could be spent well. When you've got a curious mind and something to exercise it on, life is good.

You might've noticed that I made a photographic appearance in the Kennebec Journal on Wednesday, in the Gardiner insert. It was great to see all these hardworking business owners getting attention throughout that section of the paper; I am a patron and a fan of all those establishments, I crack jokes and trade stories with their owners on a daily basis. My only gripe with the insert is that there are a lot of people missing from it, but many of the town's unique gems were covered, so I suppose I should shut up and be grateful.

A few weeks ago I went to a wine show with my boss to figure out what wines we want to bring into the cafe to sell. While there, we found a bottle called “Red Right Hand,” after the famous song by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. The cafe is looking good, by the way; we've got over 250 labels of wine and probably more than 100 microbrewery beers at this point. I still think we need more dry Rieslings. I don't drink wine often, but when I do I love dry Riesling.

Got some music in the mail this week: Dinosaur Jr.'s albums “Without a Sound” and “You're Living All Over Me,” Sam Cooke's “Ain't That Good News,” John Zorn's “Mysterium,” and Phantom Orchard's “Orra.” Also received Jorge Luis Borges's box of lectures that Harvard found in their archives recently. What an amazing man. Later today “Pillow Wand” by Thurston Moore and Nels Cline should arrive. Meanwhile I listen to even more Marvin Gaye. I can't get enough Marvin Gaye.

I hope you're happy, healthy, and productive. Thanks for reading this.