David(a?)(elle) Chang!
While that Buddhist (?) question about if a tree falls in the woods and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound certainly works as one of these “whoa” questions, I’m not sure the same parallel can be made for a blogger who writes letters to another blogger. At the end of the day, even if I disappear off the face of the earth as I did for the past few days, you will always have a record of what you produced and you will always have someone else reading your entries, even if that person is not me. You may be asking why I disappeared and it should be obvious—work! It got so bad that guess what I missed on Friday—MAGIC! Can you believe that? Instead of going to that wonderful safe place that I look forward to every week to play a little cards, I was in the office, toiling over some stupid documents. Ah well.
On a more positive note, I have two poems forthcoming in Gargoyle (though I have to wait till next summer)! It’s been years really since I submitted work, but I guess in the past two months I’ve been getting antsy as I start to wonder when the inevitable “transition” will happen. I’m working on some other things and may need your eagle eyes.
So, mattresses. Getting a mattress can be very stressful. My first adult mattress was something I bought from a wholesaler in Chinatown. They had a series of mattresses in a basement, I laid on top of a bunch of them in order to pretend like comfort mattered, and then bought the cheapest one. It was about $90 if I remember correctly. The problem is that the delivery people were terrible. They rescheduled multiple times and on the day that it was supposed to be delivered, they showed up 4 hours late and still had the audacity to grumble when I only gave them a $20 delivery tip.
Fast forward to my current mattress. I went to Sleepy’s, which seems to have a store on every block, or they do when you happen to be looking for a mattress. I went in and they did that “lie down” thing somehow—“scientifically”—were able to find a mattress suited to the way I sleep. Of course, these mattresses all happened to be way above my budget, so when I explained what my constraints were, they took me downstairs to show me the non-showroom beds. The agent took two mattresses leaning against a wall and then put it on the ground and asked me to lie down and try them out. I remember being very self-conscious, lying down on that mattress, but in the spirit of doing adult things, I guess I just had to do it (or at least pretend to do it seriously, the same way I do when someone asks me to taste whether the wine is good. Do you know anyone who has ever said no?). Anyways, I bought the second cheapest mattress there and when I went to pay, they asked me whether I wanted to buy a mattress cover. They showed me different options and the agent stressed that people tended to buy the nicest one, something that made me want to roll my eyes given that he had just sold a basement model mattress instead of a showroom one. But, trying to show that I too could treat myself to something, I went ahead and bought the expensive cover. I can’t say that it has changed my life at all, but I guess it’s a good thing to have?
Anyways, I look forward to seeing you and the rest of the crew tomorrow.
Best,
Modellian
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