Volume 1

June 6th, 2016

I worked for ten hours today. I got about 2 and half minutes of music done. That finishes act one scene one. Tomorrow is scene two.

That Jenna woman left around 10:30 or so this morning. She said she was going to stay in a hotel for the next two nights. She seemed distressed. She was complaining about the heat of the house. She bemoaned the fact that her room had no fan. Also, she talked to herself as she was packing her car. Made a real big thing of it. I don’t know, to me it feels fine. It could be cooler I suppose, but it isn’t an issue. Then again, I’m not a woman in my 40’s. Who knows?

My work went well, but I am very tired. After I finished, I went outside and talked with Camille. I had barely spoken a work all day. It was a welcomed conversation. She is working on a mosaic for a downstairs bathroom. It is this intricate scene of a lighthouse in the distance. The ocean is in the background. Two fish will circle the drain. This shower, which is not yet complete, will be located inside a large bay window overlooking the front yard. Seems like a strange place for a shower. She showed me how she cuts the stone piece by piece. She said that her goal isn’t just to create a picture, but a texture. I found it interesting how similar the process of building a mosaic is to writing music. I guess that anything is a metaphor for anything – if you try hard enough.

It was nice to talk to someone. I didn’t realize how quickly I would grow lonely. We are all just constantly slammed over the head with external stimulation. So much so that to not be, even for a day, feels strange. I don’t feel bored. It isn’t that I long to stare at my phone. I just a feel lonely. Going a day without sharing a conversation with someone is hard. It’s an experience unlike any that I have never had. For the most part, I am enjoying it it. They told me that, in 6 days or so, someone else is coming to stay. That’ll be nice. Here’s to hoping it’s not another heat flash prone patron.

Day two is down. I have 3 more days until I complete the first act. Maybe once that is finished I will take a day to wander into town. Apparently, there is a pizza place. Either way, I’m not looking forward to driving back up the mountain.

June 7th, 2016

I woke up this morning well rested and ready to work. Scene 2 is 98% complete. I figure the tail ends of each scene will change as the next takes shape. I’ve decided not to sweat the last 10 seconds or so.

My readiness to work wasn’t met with inspiration. For the better part of an hour, I struggled to come up with anything worth putting down. Camille dropped by to ask how my day was going. I said, “Sometimes it is difficult to find the starting point”. She just smiled and said, “The beginning is always very hard, but ven you find it, it vill go very quickly”. Not long after I found that long sought after starting point. Camille was right in saying that, once found, it would go very quickly. I thought of an interesting little motive which I was able to spin into a number of phrases. From there, my work went very quickly. I reached the 2 and a half minute mark around 5:00 o’clock. After some quick revisions I felt satisfied with the day’s work around 6:00.

Soon after I finished for the day about 5 people showed up and brought a new piano into my room. Some real rough and tough mountain men. They continuously hassled me to play the new piano for them. I told them I was no Glenn Gould, but they were incredibly persistent. I thought, “Well, I guess these folks just carried a piano a hundred yards or so. The least I can do is play for them”. I played the only thing I knew that I would perform without error, the first movement of Philip Glass’s “Metamorphosis”. I’ve always really liked that piece (maybe because of how easy it is to play). After about 7 minutes of the same 3 phrases over and over I could tell they had had enough piano (and enough Philip Glass) to last them a lifetime. They stayed to talk with me for a little while longer. They were very nice, humble, and unassuming. All very admirable traits.

After talking to them, and having been satisfied with my work, I decided to take a short trip into town. I stopped and had a burger at the local restaurant. It is a small one horse town. The sort of place where you either move away, work at the restaurant, or you work at the other restaurant. Either way, everyone seems content.

On the way back to my car I was stopped by a girl. She appeared to be my age. She looked as though she was about to give out under the weight of a large backpack. She asked, “Do you know where the hostile is?”. I thought to myself “Jesus lady, this town has all of 6 buildings. If one of them is a hostile it shouldn’t be hard to find”. I apologized and told her that I wasn’t from there. Never, in the history of spoken word, has such an innocent statement started such a conversation.

She told me that her name was “Unbreakable Kelly”, but I must say, she looked a little broken today. She confessed to having survived a bear attack this morning. She went on to say that she had hitchhiked to Hot Springs after hiking around 15 miles. The poor damned fool said she had nowhere to stay. She went on to say that she was low on cash. I advised that she sleep in the forest (where she had presumably been sleeping for the past few weeks). I think she just wanted money. I didn’t give her any (as I had little to give her), but I did assure her that she was unbreakable. How funny it is, yesterday I longed for conversation. Today my first instinct was to get out of this one as quickly as possible. What fickle creatures we are.

Tomorrow, I will stick around the house. That Jenna woman is supposedly coming back at some point. Let’s hope a few nights in an air conditioned hotel has done her some well.