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By Andre Cornejo<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s the day before the deadline, and only now do I realize how pathetically far behind<\/p>\n I am on all of this writing I was supposed to do over the last 30 days. No reviews, <\/span><\/p>\n no editorials, and I haven’t transcribed the interview. The last month and a half have <\/span><\/p>\n been a complete write off for me. A haze of amber ale, cheap cigarettes, and very little <\/span><\/p>\n sleep. <\/span><\/p>\n I’ve been using the recent separation from my former partner as an excuse to stay<\/span><\/p>\n as diluted as possible, for as long as possible. This self serving lie has left me 2000<\/span><\/p>\n words behind my goal, and with no money for food or pleasure. The packages of chicken<\/span><\/p>\n noodle soup will run out in the next day or two, and it will be time to start considering<\/span><\/p>\n the cat\u2019s viable sources of nourishment. You’re first, Ms. Hubert. <\/span><\/p>\n On a far more gruelling note, I haven’t been able to contribute anything more than time to my band in far too long now. It’s making for some bleak realizations. I haven’t paid my share of the recording costs associated with our new album, which means that any potential release <\/span><\/p>\n date is constantly being pushed further back. I haven’t been putting any of my income <\/span><\/p>\n towards our van, and now beyond the maintenance and insurance costs that come with an ’89 <\/span><\/p>\n Chevy, the threat of it being taken by the animals we call collectors has become quite<\/span><\/p>\n real. A European leg of the tour we’re currently booking has been weeded out, to shift <\/span><\/p>\n more cash towards saving the van before the grave robbers come take her corpse away from<\/span><\/p>\n Very important things that I’ve treated as insignificant to the point of impending <\/span><\/p>\n doom. Important things that I’ve ignored while I drink every dollar I earn at the local<\/span><\/p>\n watering hole. Something that gets even easier to do when you start to make friends with<\/span><\/p>\n the staff and regular patrons. I’m not a socialite by nature, but I am a thirsty man, and<\/span><\/p>\n it’s no problem to chat up everybody in the room when you have a belly full of your <\/span><\/p>\n favourite beverages. I suppose what I’m getting at here, is that I’ve been extremely<\/span><\/p>\n wasteful, which isn’t at all a quality of anybody with strong moral fibre. One can’t just<\/span><\/p>\n sit back and hope for things to work themselves out. Hope is a cheap crutch for people<\/span><\/p>\n without ambition. Hope won’t get us to Halifax, and it certainly won’t feed us or fill the<\/span><\/p>\n gas tank. It’s high time to put an end to this terrible Fat Elvis impersonation, and get <\/span><\/p>\n down to brass tacks.<\/span><\/p>\n So what will this change consist of? What would this new approach look like? A perfect <\/span><\/p>\n machine has no need for a self destruct sequence. That is inherently human, and is the <\/span><\/p>\n exhausting wave I’ve been riding for much more than it’s worth. A perfect machine is <\/span><\/p>\n programmed and calibrated only for success. There is absolutely no room for distraction,<\/span><\/p>\n or unnecessary burning of fuel. This will prove to be the hardest change I need to make. <\/span><\/p>\n My favourite barkeeps will start to wonder where I’ve gone, but the implementation of 80%<\/span><\/p>\n abstinence is absolutely vital to the success of this new game plan. If I don’t stick to the <\/span><\/p>\n plan, I won’t be going on tour anytime soon. I’m lucky in that I have some new tools to <\/span><\/p>\n help me through this. Band practice is becoming more frequent, and is the perfect <\/span><\/p>\n distraction from any disgusting thing that might make me want to take myself out for the <\/span><\/p>\n night. Our new bassist is putting me to shame with her work ethic, and it’s proving to <\/span><\/p>\n light a new fire under my ass to stay productive, regardless of the time of day or state<\/span><\/p>\n of mind. I’ve also got this trusty new (old) SMITH-CORONA 2200 Typewriter that my best <\/span><\/p>\n friend, roommate, and musical soul mate found for me on his way home from work. This is<\/span><\/p>\n a beautiful thing, as since I’ve moved here, I haven’t had a computer to write, edit,<\/span><\/p>\n draft, and email finished work from. It’s been a massive boost the past couple of days<\/span><\/p>\n knowing that I can pump out a few rough copies on this typewriter and then only have to <\/span><\/p>\n bother someone to use their computer for a couple of minutes, instead of five hours of<\/span><\/p>\n transcribing, editing, and emailing. <\/span><\/p>\n Anyways, I suppose this thing has run on for too long already, and I should make some kind of all encompassing point to make this passable as something of an editorial, and not just<\/span><\/p>\n some rambling self deprecating think piece. GET TO WORK. Make plans, and make haste. <\/span><\/p>\n Understand what needs to be done for you to accomplish the tasks at hand, and throw as<\/span><\/p>\n much gasoline as necessary on the flames of desire. Stay as sharp as a new buck knife, <\/span><\/p>\n and cut down everything preventing you from realizing the fruits of your labour. <\/span><\/p>\n A wise alien residing in the Dagoba System once said, “There is no try. Only do, or do not.”<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Andre Cornejo It’s the day before the deadline, and only now do I realize how pathetically far behind I am on all of this writing I was supposed to do over the last 30 days. No reviews, no editorials, and I haven’t transcribed the interview. The last month and a half have been a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}