gershwin advises: keep muddling through

I just applied for a job that I would love to have. I suspect that they'll get ten million resumes and I'll never hear another thing about it, but it still felt good to put myself forward. Drafting a cover letter was so hard! (whine) I didn't want it to be just the same old "blah blah buzzword" cover letter, but on the other hand... what if that is what they're not just expecting, but want? So I had to strike a balance between "mumblemumble KEY WORDS USED IN AD mumblemumble" and "One word to describe my work ethic? Sassafrastacular." ANYWAY. It would be a great job for me, but I'm not holding my breath. The big step was applying, as I am one of the WORST self-promoters in the known universe.

Random Neighborhood Factoid: Just down the street from me is the school where Gus Van Sant filmed Elephant. (I didn't see it because violence of that sort really troubles me and stays with me forever -- even beautifully filmed arty violence.) I should say there is an enormous pile of rubble where the school used to be, since they have been bulldozing it for months. It was a middle school until condemned for radon poisoning! This neighborhood is on a gravel ridge which is great in case of earthquake (not uncommon since we are in volcano country after all), but B-A-D in cases of trapping poison gas. They finally tore it all the way down, which is good because it was looking pretty disreputable and was undoubtedly dangerous -- not just in the poison gas way, but in the giant pieces of glass and concrete may fall on your head way. (although I must admit it would be exactly the kind of place I would have snuck into when I was younger... if it weren't for the POISON GAS.)

ION, I have been listening to Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (conducted and arranged by Nelson Riddle) lately and it is SO GOOD I can hardly stand it! It's just lovely if I'm already in a good mood, likewise for sad or melancholy. I have been tripping over Gershwin a lot lately. You know how it is; you start seeing or hearing something, like musical whistling, chickens, or ... George and Ira Gershwin and then suddenly they are everywhere! Having this collection stare down from the shelf at me in the library seemed somehow inevitable. At any rate, I'm enjoying it much more than that dark period when Billy Joel muzak-stalked me. (seriously, I couldn't get into an elevator or go to a store without hearing yet again how he didn't start the fire. It was already burning, he insisted ad nauseam. The piano man doth protest too much, methinks. Those are years I will never get back!)

Anyway, I'm hearing lots of fantastic songs that I'd never heard before. This lyric from Stiff Upper Lip (originally sung by Gracie Allen in a movie called A Damsel in Distress) keeps popping up and seems apropos of my current state of mind: "sober or blotto, this is your motto/ keep muddling through!" Good advice, I think -- especially when it seems like a muddle is all that can be managed.

Now this is really unrelated to everything else, but I came across it and thought it was good: Daniel Handler in the NYT Magazine on philanthropy and the responsibility of having a lot of money.