12/8 Catastrophic sleep, and yet a day on which I was mildly more productive than usual.

12/7 While J and I discuss electric violins, I understand the concept of amplification literally for the first time in my life.

12/6 Defensive Driving Class. The course is 95 Dollars, my lawyer had told me. If it doesn’t cost 95 Dollars, it’s not the right one. In the morning our driving instructor tells us that she had learned to be a nurse initially, but took over the driving school from her father. Then we watch videos about teenagers driving (“driving ambition”). Then brief episodes about problems such as: What do I do if kidnappers lock me in the trunk of the car, what if someone rams me from behind on a lonely highway, and how do I get out of car a that is sinking into water. In the afternoon emotional testimonies of people who ruined their lives with alcohol, drugs and cars, one and a half hours. Then ten questions on an exam sheet which we answer by circling TRUE or FALSE. Thanks for spending your Saturday with us. We were twelve on the zoom, myself one of three who were on camera at least briefly.

12/5 Fifty-one minutes of practice, until I was so stunned with what I could play that I happily stopped. Second episode of Plur1bus, with J. 

12/4 When the music is fun, practicing becomes harder: You need to actively find the things that are difficult, not indulge in the easy ones.

12/3 I accepted the deal from Georgia, and cancelled my flight. We also watched a few episodes of South Park and I realized, maybe not for the first time, but more clearly than ever, that nothing in South Park is invented, it’s actually really what America is.

12/2 News from Georgia. The prosecution offers me a deal where the charge is reduced to driving with the wrong license class, which is still a misdemeanor, but won’t really go on my criminal record, at least if you don’t look closely. (It won’t be reported to the state’s central criminal database, but will still be in the local court files.) Oh, and $750 in fines plus 6 hours defensive driving class – in person, over zoom.

The alternative would be to let it go to trial. This would cost another 2.5k in attorney fees alone, plus having to appear in person in Georgia once per month until the trial. And if convicted, possible jail time.

12/1 A text is good if it allowed the author to solve a problem that he could solve in no other way than through exactly that text. – How would that have to be transferred to music? Is the good thing about music that it doesn’t follow these categories? Music can be pleasing, but also innovative. Music also has, other than text, the component of technical brilliance. But it can also open worlds that could not be opened in any other way than through exactly that music.

11/30 Drove back to Newburgh. For the last two hours, I got into the zone and could drive pretty much effortlessly. 

J and I took stock of this weekend. I had started the sentence, and both of us said, at the exact same moment: kerfuffle. Much laughing.

11/29 Went to the Sports Bar and to ALDI with N, we don’t need anything more of Pittsburgh. Pool billiards in his gigantic lobby reminiscent of The Shining – we are all alone. Cards Against Humanity, including the unofficial extension pack Crabs Adjust Humidity.