Room for Rent in San Miguel de Allende, $175

10 ft. X 20 ft.* Unfurnished, built in cabinets, large window (46" x 84") with beautiful view. Share kitchen, bathroom, living room and roof. Walking distance to Centro, near shops, parks, and bus stop. I have two dogs. (Total size is 10 x 20" but room connects with my bedroom, so there needs to be access through the room. See photos.) 1/2 utilities.

The neighborhood is primarily Mexican, so basic Spanish is a plus. This would also be the ideal home environment if you were going to attend one of the language schools in the area, but wanted more freedom coming and going than you would in a homestay situation.

 

Write me: marcosmalo then the squiggly a sign then gmail.com.

 

 

 

 

FLASHBACK: Leather Hyman

I spent part of yesterday listening to Leather Hyman's debut album, Host Body. I think it's held up quite well over time, both musically and lyrically. They were a fairly tight unit in the 90s indy/alt scene in L.A., and it's too bad they didn't receive the recognition they deserved. The production by Russian stadium rocker Val Gaina is fairly light and poppy in places, which I think contrasts nicely with the usually darker lyrics. I am given to understand that the group wasn't entirely happy with the pop direction, and self-produced their next two albums, Sunshine and Other Forms of Radiation and Dance Class Revolution, with the help of Steve Gregoropoulos of W.A.C.O.

The album starts off with Million Dollar world, which, while being alright, isn't one of their stronger songs. Next up is Away, which combines spacey guitar and viola with an elfin voice provided by Heather Lockie. There's some nice rhythm, including some driving drum sections by John whatsisname.

Frank follows, starting softly then building in intensity and interspersed with some sweet minor key guitar riffs from Lyman Chafee that vaguely reminds me of The second part of Clapton's Layla. It is a song of disillusioned innocence. There's strength in it, too, demonstrated by the lyrics: Poison generally makes you stronger/ either that or puts you down/ nothing's worth putting me down.

Track 4 is pussy, a light meditation on pets, meat, the cycle of life, and oral sex. Both the viola laden music and lyrics are great fun, especially Lyman's solo bits.

Girlfriend, track 5, is grungy and sensuous, tasty. Again, lyrics are striking and humorous: You won't leave when I ask/ do you understand English?/ I want to go to sleep for instance/ maybe I'm not articulating/ soon im going to kill you/ (scream of rage and frustration).

Next up is Trunk, a parable of female empowerment told from the male point of view. Sample lyrics: Do you remember when you had no legs?/ I liked you better then/ you lay on my back and I carried your weight/ I liked you better then/ but now you've got your own pair of legs/ supple and rippled and stronger than steel/ they carry you everywhere you want to go/ I liked you better then. I sort of recall at the time that the ironic nature of the song escaped a few people, and it had to be explained to them.

The following song, Steve McQueen is perhaps the most fun on the entire album. It is a celebration of the many roles played by Steve McQueen and the actor's overall bitchin' nature (remember when "bitchin'" was a common adjective?). Also, the organ is totally bitchin'. As far as I am concerned, there is no greater memorial to Steve McQueen.

Great, track 8, is OK. It's got nice bits, some nice bass lines from Pablo Garcia, but it just doesn't hold my attention like most of the other material on Host Body.

The wah wah magic of Rake also features some great background electronic effects from Garcia. (Garcia plays a more supporting role through much of this album, but his talent would really come to the fore in the next one, Sunshine and Other Forms of Radiation.) If I recall correctly, the song was inspired by a documentary on a young woman who had her back covered with a tattoo of angle wings. Either that, or I saw the documentary at roughly the same time. Regardless, the song and the doc are intertwined in my mind.

Imagine if the members of the VU went to Occidental College. That's the song Rake. It's beautiful. There's an undertone of C/W, but a New Yorky rendition, like The Stones playing Girl with Faraway Eyes rather than anything by The Eagles. "You kept me warm and dry." and "You were laughing with desperate joy."

The frenetic pace of Ritalin perfectly captures . . . taking Ritalin. What did you think I was going to say? For those too young to remember, or not born yet: Kids, we used to take a lot of drugs. Some of us more than others, and someone of us ended up in rehab, where we learned we were powerless over drugs, etc., and we wore turnips in our belts. Ritalin was a common study aid in school. So I don't know if you can relate to this song. Well maybe to the lyric, "I hope I die when I get old." That's pretty much timeless.

I mentioned The Velvet Underground a moment ago, and it wasn't by accident. Ritalin is followed by a very nice cover of All Tomorrow's Parties. It's a spacey and haunting rendition revealing the band's love of VU. Definitely worth a listen.

Last but not least is the title track, Host Body. The song is based on the aphid scene in Philip K. Dick's Scanner Darkly, but takes a slightly different tack, celebrating the symbiotic nature of our bodily environment. A heavy driving guitar and driving drumbeat underlie the partnership between paramecium and man. A spry coda recounts how "life begins again" after aphids have burrowed deep, layed eggs inside of us, hatched, and have begun to eat.

If you've read this far, thanks for participating in my nostalgia. I went to college with the members of Leather Hyman that perform on this album,and was good friends with Lyman and Heather. Pablo was not only a good friend, but a roommate for a period. I miss Leather Hyman and I miss my friends.

 

Monterrey: Mountains and Federales

First, the Mountains. The city of Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo is surrounded by very impressive mountains that loom over the highway that goes around the town. Some of these mountains are part of Parque Nacional Cumbres de Monterrey. I don't think the photo does just of the looming nature, but take my word for it, these things tower over you as you drive past.

A little after Monterrey, we passed a convoy of Federal Police trucks. Those are automatic weapons they are sporting, some variation of M4. As we passed, I noticed that they had very active eyes, scanning every other vehicle on the highway that came near, not taking anything for granted. Recall that the border area is basically a war zone. Most of Mexico is pretty safe, as safe as the U.S., anyway, but I and my travel companions choose not to linger here. We're just passing through as quickly as possible.

Right this moment we are in Laredo, i.e., the U.S. side of the border. Hopefully, each of us will have completed his or her business today, and well head south for an overnight in Saltillo this afternoon. Then San Miguel de Allende and home.

I had a reverse culture shock moment this morning when I noticed there was no wastebasket next to the toilet and I could flush the toilet paper. Mexican plumping is medieval, but you get used to not flushing TP. Sorry, no pics for this one. Maybe I'll devote a blog posts to this topic some time in the future.

Laredo, Mañana

I'm heading to Laredo tomorrow, with Robert H. and some others. We'll be staying at La Quinta Inn, near the freeway. Things to do: pick up care package from Dad at the USPO, General Delivery; renew visa; look for used DVDs of The Sound of Music and Cabaret for research for the novel. Don't ask! :D

Mariana is going to dog sit for me. I walked all over town today, looking for an open locksmith or hardware store (that's ferretería and cerrajería respectively). But it's Sunday. There was one ferretería open, but they didn't make keys. Bottom line is that I'll have to leave my only set with her. ¡Hijale!

Evening on Calle Cinco de Mayo

It had just grown dark and folks were saying buena noches instead of buenas tardes. Iggy, Angie, and I were coming from the little park of unknown name, where they had been playing with Timòn and I had been tutoring Timòn's owner in English.

There was a truck with a loudspeaker parked ahead of us, blaring music, but I wasn't really paying attention. It's election season in Mexico, and I hear or see trucks with loudspeakers at least five times a day. There was a trailer attached to the rear of the truck with signs on its frame, but it was too dark to read and I wasn't really paying attention. Suddenly Angie was acting spooky. She didn't want to walk past the truck, and I told her to "come on!" sternly. She bolted past and up the sidewalk about a block.

Iggy began barking in the direction of the trailer and I a large shape lunging at us at the same time I saw the bars and mesh holding it back. For a moment I thought it was a huge dog, a mastiff or something, then I saw it was a tiger! Iggy continued barking at it like the bravo he is. Angie wouldn't come any nearer. Both dogs moved into the middle of the street, to have a clear view in case there were any loose tigers about. I had to shepherd them back to the sidewalk before they were run over.

A few blocks later and we were home. I fed the dogs, then cooked and ate a light super. I hadn't written anything that morning because I had taken Mariana to DIF (Mexican social services) so she could get a disability card. She had shown up an hour late, then the address she had was wrong, but we found it eventually. It was afternoon by the time we were done, but Mariana hadn't brought any of her documents, so we will have to go back.

Anyway, back to that evening. Tigers. Home. Feeding of animals and myself. I was tired. I thought about writing, but decided against it because it stimulate me too much to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. I read for a while, set the alarm for early (so I could get a good start on writing in the morning). I turned off the light and went immediately to sleep. I think it was around 11.

At exactly 11:30 I was jolted awake by very loud clanging, very different from the school bells or the church bells. Looking out the window I saw two men prying open a metal cover in the middle of the cobblestone street just in front of the house, directly in front of my bedroom window, in fact. They peered into the hole with flashlights, then closed it and walked around the corner where they had some sort of encampment under the trees across the street.

I retrieved my field glasses and spied on them from the side window, hiding behind the curtain. The source of light in their camp was a gas torch with the oxygen turned down or off. The flame was long and yellow and flickered in the night air. One man was sitting on the curb, the other was in the street facing them. I couldn't make out their faces clearly. They were talking softly.

I went up on the roof and spied on them. I realized I was presenting my profile against the night sky, so I moved to where my back was against the wall of the rooftop laundry enclosure. I couldn't tell if they were up to no good or if they were supposed to be there. Behind them, in their "camp", lit by the torch, I could see tool boxes and shovels and other implements. Finally a truck pulled up. On the side ofthe truck was the logo for SAPASMA, the state water utility. So they were kosher. That was a relief. There was a conference with the driver, then the men piled their tools into the back of the truck. They got in and the truck drove off.

I went back to sleep.

An hour later, I was woken by the sound of a shovel scraping on the stones of the street! Ay vey! Oy caramba! It wasn't loud, they were trying to work quietly, but it was loud enough. They finished shortly before 2. I reset my alarm and went back to sleep.

I woke up 10 minutes before the alarm went off, but was still groggy an hour later, even after my coffee. I sat down in my camp chair, lit a cigarette, then wrote the scene where Bob offers Antler Man a job. It was about a thousand words, which seems to be my typical daily productivity since I began writing this novel. I thought about Billy Jack's play and wrote a page worth of notes on the play and an interview of him for the Paris Review. Not bad for a morning's work. I don't feel sheepish telling people I am a writer now.

I'm looking for a patron or patrons. If you want to help out a writer working on his first novel, drop me an email at marcosmalo c/o gmail.com. (replace the c/o with the "at" symbol) I'll send you the story so far. Fifty or a hundred bucks each month would make a huge difference. I'm hoping to have completed a first draft in about ten weeks. At that point I'll start looking for an agent or publisher, so if anyone has any contacts in the publishing biz, or is in the biz, let me know!

 

Hiking near the Jardín Botánico

Almost too tired to blog right now. Went on a terrific hike from my house in Colonia Allende to Charco del Ingenario, then down towards Presa de Obraje. We descended a cliff and boulder hopped down the arroyo where there were many pools. Here are the dogs enjoying one of them.

We emerged from the arroyo on the other end of town and walked home after a visit to Starbucks. My legs feel like rubber right now. Ok, now I'm too tired.


 

Searching for Tools

The stationary store (papelería) below my flat (departamento) has moved, so I don't have Internet. I'm going to need to call the cable company to get it installed, another large expense. Meanwhile, there is an Internet cafe down the street that is open late. I was there until almost midnight last night, struggling with, first, the Posterous blogging app and site, and then Blogsy (a blogging app) and Blogger. Blogsy is pretty cool, but a little complicated. It features drag and drop for fotos and can interface with many different online services.

 

Maybe Blogsy will work with Tumblr. I finally got sick of the Tumblr app, which is designed for the iPhone and is a pain to use on the iPad. It's not just the crudeness of an app rescaled to work on a larger screen, it's that phone sized apps just don't work as well on the bigger screen. It's a design problem, but not so much in the aesthetic sense (although scaled graphics do look kind of ugly), but in functionality. For example, the software keyboard is very limited for the smaller screen of a phone. It's probably functional and useful for thumb typing, but regular touch typing really sucks. Another example is that it doesn't have a landscape orientation.

 

Anyway, the Tumblr app sucks on the iPad. Just take my word for it.

 

The problem I had with the Posterous app was that while it does (sort of) work offline, it does this badly. I wrote a post offline that I was going to post later. When I was finished, I received repeated messages that the app was unable to connect. I wasn't even sure if it had saved the post. When I did finally get online, it got stuck trying to post for 20 minutes. There was a progress bar that showed "31%". That's when I started looking for another app. When I came back to the Posterous app, it had finally posted, but the headline was screwed up. (I'm not even sure if this was my error or the app's error.) The app wouldn't let me correct this. I would have to create an entirely new post and cut and paste from the old post. On top of this, I couldn't copy the text of the older post! Oh, and it's an iPhone app with the same limitations re: screen orientation and shitty keyboard. So, screw the Posterous app.

 

Parks near my house.

I live close to the corner of Cinco de Mayo and Manantial. There are two parks nearby that I like to take the dogs. I don't know the name of the closer one, but it's between Guadiana and Potranca, about a block West of Salida a Celaya.

 

The other park is Parque Benito Juarez, which is the main park here in SMA. It's between my house and El Centro, about two thirds of the way there. A bigger park, but not much bigger. Still, there are fountains and trees and it's very nice to walk or sit. Iggy and Angie really like the fountains, especially on days when it's hot.

Maybe I'll go more in depth on the parks in the future. I'm trying out a new app/platform combo.

 

 

 

New Blog (Take 2)

You'd think I was used to it by now. Starting over. Letting intentions fall by the wayside, then picking them up again. Thinking that a new tool or a new site or new circumstances might help, but knowing better.It's hard to start over, especially if I've let time pass. It's like that pile of dishes over there in the sink. I think about doing them, but then the thought of actually doing then becomes mentally painful. So I don't think about it much or put it off until some unspecified later.I'm 18 years clean and sober. I don't generally advertise this, but when people find out they sometimes congratulate me. They say I must have a lot of will power. On the contrary, it took a lot of won't power, which I seem to have in spades. Writing or doing dishes seems to take will power, of which I have little, apparently.But I need to write. It's not that I should, it's that I need to. There is so much in here, more than 40 years worth, that needs to be out there. I'm not bursting with it, but it needs to flow out. It feels more like the water inside a water heater, the scale and mineral deposits building up inside, forming a crust. I feel crusty.So, I will not despise this opportunity to write. I will take it and use it to the best of my ability for as long as . . . as long as I can, be that a day, a week, a month, a year.As painful as sitting down to write can be, I almost always feel better when I get up from it. Right now I feel six paragraphs better.(Originally posted on my Posterous blog two days ago, before I decided that despite Posterous being minimalist and simple and all that, it sucks and its iPad app sucks. Maybe I'm not doing it right.)