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21 March 2005 to 25 February 2005
As I must assume you are already well aware, this story, or at least this draft, hardly qualifies as a mystery at all. Two things happen that might or might not have been the result of crimes, but the explanation for one materializes without any energy having been spent looking for it, and the other is rendered decisively moot at a point where there still seem to be several possibilities. Even curiosity is not invested in any single character for very long, so a reader with the hypothetical determination to try to interpolate a puzzle will do it without a consistent proxy within the story, which is usually even less satisfying than it sounds. I am often limited in the amount of procedural guidance I am able to offer within the field, anyway, and in this case my expertise is largely immaterial.  

But this is not your characters' fault, admittedly, and so perhaps should neither be yours. If the internal and collective dynamics among a set of people are sufficiently compelling and perhaps occasionally shocking, it is possible for the reader to have a sense of purpose where the narrative itself does not. If you opt to develop this project further, I have a few stray thoughts that may or may not be helpful, and may well be partially contradictory, so take them as you may.  

- Although it quickly becomes clear that your meticulous timeline is not a resolution device, it helps give the scene-structure something of an observant photographer's patient isolation of moments.  

- By shifting your narrative origin backwards in time, you could straightforwardly bring most of the flashbacks into the present, which I'm inclined to recommend. Admittedly this forces much of the now-present into the future tense, a technical flourish of which you're more than capable but maybe less than wise.  

- Combining your two major sets of characters might, in one time-consuming but ultimately tractable step, enrich their composite personality complexities. It would also eliminate the results of their deferred meeting, leaving your ending awkwardly unmotivated, but arguably it merely leaves the motivationlessness of the ending more directly exposed.  

- Your imposition of a moral climate is well organized, but remember that entropy is not exactly the same thing as amorality.  

- Serializing uncertainties sometimes allows them to unexplain and then complete each other, which can provide context for any number of dissatisfactions.  

- Some of our conversations, which in general I think you have fairly rendered here, may to modern readers be less interesting than the implied exchanges before and/or after them. Remember that syntheses translate less readily than theses.  

- I suggest that your own emotional loyalty undergoes two minor shifts and two major ones, and even if you disagree it might be a worthwhile exercise to identify the inflection points I mean.  

- Anywhere you find yourself paraphrasing history, see if you can't think of a way in which the context can be embedded into the responses themselves. I don't mean to obtusely surface your background into dialog, I mean to calculate the projection of the history onto the individual, and then let the silhouette represent the occlusion.  

- Ask your sister about method. Debating this between ourselves is only going to compound our ignorance. It may be more productive to pose the question in reverse.  
 

That's all I want to say for now. I have my usual reluctance to navigate when I'm being asked to steer. If I recall correctly, this Tuesday is your turn to choose a water and a Line.
Manic Street Preachers: Montana/Autumn/78 (2.3M mp3)  

I spent a while this afternoon loading my entire Manic Street Preachers collection and then sorting out duplicates and cleaning up the metadata. This is a dull and obsessive task, but it seems a lot more heroic when done with this song on repeat. Maybe the second-greatest b-side of all time. 1998, from CD1 of the two-single set for "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next".
Recent additions elsewhere on this site:
- an Apple Mail rule script
- an unplanned music review
- and a completely useless index of TWAS issues by title
0. We do not act. There is nothing.  

1. Or we act, but that is all. There is the fact of the thing that we do, and nothing more. No attention, to intent, no content, no life.  

2. When we are better, we try to act well. There is the fact of the thing that we do, and then there is the way in which we do it. There is attention, at least, but the lack of inattention is not enough. Attention is not purpose, not message, not inspiration.  

3. When we are better still, we act for a reason. There is what we do, and how we do it, and why. There is something we hope to accomplish, and a method in which we think it can be done, and then the things we do to see if we are right. But the lack of purposelessness is not enough, either. Purpose is not content, not spirit.  

4. When we are nearly ourselves, our actions are also ideas. We act not only in service of a particular goal, but of a story in which our purposes are explained. Our actions describe a way in which the world might be different. That is almost enough.  

5. And when we are completely ourselves, what we do originates from a spark inside of us. The story is the expression of a divinity, and the purpose serves a story we not only write but believe, and our diligence is thus spiritual instead of mechanical, and our actions are worthy of our moments and our breath.  
 

5. Every fully human action begins in Anima. Every action, from the epic to the occupational, should be founded in the immanence of self. Morality is the steadfast refusal to allow ourselves to inhabit only part of our nature. Whatever you do, do it as if you are you, as if you will be accountable to yourself for every moment of this life, forever.  

4. Art is the expression of Anima. Everything you do should express something you believe. There is no empty action, there are only the actions that tell the stories we mean, and the actions that tell stories we didn't consider. Consider your stories.  

3. Design is the method of Art, of how we span the difference between the world without our Art and the world that is touched by it. We must understand the context into which we act, and know how we hope to change it. This is neither abstract nor optional, and is part of the conception, not the implementation. Understand before you plan, and plan before you act.  

2. Craft is the unfolding of Design. We carry ourselves into stories and plans, and then into work that is ennobled by us, and ennobles us. We act to change the world, and the world is important and deserves our care. These are the words of the story we hope to tell about how we could be. Let your smallest details evoke the grandest revelation.  

1. Production is the translation of Craft into patience. In the end, there is always what is done. There is waiting, and repetition, and correction, and walking across rooms and writing down numbers, and starting over. Know what your work requires, and refuse to resent it.  
 

0. And here is the most critical and pressing permanent truth of the appearance of good and evil in daily human effort: It is impossible to assemble this moral structure of action in reverse. You cannot, no matter how sorely and casually and frequently you are tempted, start with Production. It is pointless to demand that unmotivated actions be informed by Craft, inane to attempt to interpolate Design into unsolicited diligence, idiotic to hope to derive Art from undirected intents, and profoundly offensive to try to stipulate something in which to believe. Every fully human action begins in Anima, and evolves in these irreducible stages. Not only is there no shorter way, there is no other way at all. To act otherwise is destruction. To act otherwise is to consume moments and breath and return inevitably to nothing, bringing the world with you.
Just because I can, here's the last ten hours of music iTunes has played me.  

# Artist Song Time
1Garnet Crow 忘れ咲き 4:58
2スピッツ ほのほ 4:18
3Feel So Bad KALLO-KALLO-KALLO 3:39
4Trans Am Outmoder 3:42
5Miller, Scott Fairest of the Seasons 3:38
6Zeppet Store エヴリィ 4:36
7Darling, Julia Blue 4:03
8Feel So Bad 今日はクリスマス 3:20
9Breeders Cannonball 3:33
10Stretch Princess Angels 5:00
11Whitley, Chris Cool Wooden Crosses 2:44
12Amos, Tori Concertina 3:56
13Amos, Tori Lust 3:53
14Feel So Bad ENDORPHINE 4:00
15My Bloody Valentine Nothing Much To Lose 3:17
16Production Club Man on the Scene (feat. the Incredible Moses Leroy) 3:30
17Runrig Day Of Days 3:37
18Fake? Drip 4:56
19Feel So Bad 愛しているのに 3:42
20HIM Love You Like I Do 5:14
21Siam Shade 1/3 の純情な感情 3:44
22Suran Song in Stag No Don't Stop 3:52
23Siam Shade アドレナリン 4:28
24Amos, Tori Cloud on My Tongue 4:43
25Field Mice Clearer 3:54
26Fredriksson, Marie Vidare igen 3:28
27Moore, Abra I Win 4:22
28Garnet Crow 夕月夜 4:15
29Sarge Stall (Live) 3:26
30New Pornographers Chump Change 4:18
31Amos, Tori Cruel 4:07
32Utada Hikaru Animato 4:31
33Fiona In My Blood 4:09
34Gackt Lust for blood 5:11
35Feel So Bad グレチャウゾ 4:56
36Radiohead A Wolf At The Door -It Girl, Rag Doll- 3:21
37HIM Rebel Yell (Live) 5:13
38元ちとせ 凛とする -strings version- 4:51
39Glay アイ 3:56
40Do As Infinity 菜ノ花畑 3:36
41Feel So Bad 今夜はおしゃれをして 3:59
42BUMP OF CHICKEN 夢の飼い主 4:49
43Douglas Fir At the Hotel 2:59
44Leo, Ted / Pharmacists The One Who Got Us Out 3:04
45Low I Started A Joke 4:28
46Twigs Slumber 2:44
47Feel So Bad Deeper 2:42
48Feel So Bad オーブントースター 3:17
49矢井田瞳 明日からの手紙 4:50
50Frames Sickbeds 4:12
51Corrs Summer Sunshine 2:53
52pillows Plastic Flower 4:11
53Big Country Perfect World 3:16
54brilliant green Wishing You 3:02
55Supercar Love Forever 4:11
56Ladysmith Black Mambazo Wangibambezela 4:59
57Martin, Charlotte Parade On 4:15
58HIM In Joy And Sorrow 3:35
59Siam Shade Love Vampire 4:39
60Sarge Detroit Star-Lite 3:33
61Feel So Bad 今日は今日、気ままに 3:00
62Mandalay You Forget 5:04
63Sarge Dear Josie, Love Robyn 3:01
64Primitons City People 3:32
65Amos, Tori Parasol 3:54
66Amos, Tori Sweet The Sting 4:16
67Amos, Tori The Power of Orange Knickers 3:36
68Amos, Tori Jamaica Inn 4:03
69Amos, Tori Barons of Suburbia 5:21
70Amos, Tori Sleeps with Butterflies 3:36
71Amos, Tori General Joy 4:13
72Amos, Tori Mother Revolution 3:58
73Amos, Tori Ribbons Undone 4:30
74Amos, Tori Cars and Guitars 3:45
75Amos, Tori Witness 6:06
76Amos, Tori Original Sinsuality 2:02
77Amos, Tori Ireland 3:49
78Amos, Tori The Beekeeper 6:50
79Amos, Tori Martha's Foolish Ginger 4:22
80Amos, Tori Hoochie Woman 2:34
81Amos, Tori Goodbye Pisces 3:36
82Amos, Tori Marys of the Sea 5:11
83Amos, Tori Toast 3:42
84New Model Army Brother 5:58
85New Model Army Higher Wall 4:22
86New Model Army Flying Through the Smoke 3:13
87New Model Army You Weren't There 3:36
88New Model Army Orange Tree Roads 3:56
89New Model Army Someone Like Jesus 6:36
90New Model Army Stranger 3:35
91New Model Army R&R 3:37
92New Model Army Snelsmore Wood 4:14
93New Model Army Paekakariki Beach 4:43
94New Model Army Christian Militia 3:25
95New Model Army Notice Me 2:38
96New Model Army Smalltown England 3:21
97New Model Army Vengeance 4:06
98Ida Laurel Blues 4:50
99Ida 599 5:29
100Ida Late Blues 5:24
101Ida Mine 5:31
102Ida What Can I Do 2:57
103Ida The Details 4:38
104Ida Sundown 6:42
105Ida Written On My Face 3:50
106Ida The Morning 7:30
107Ida Forgive 7:31
108Garnet Crow 夏の幻 3:55
109Tullycraft Wild Bikini 2:34
110Trembling Blue Stars Helen Reddy 4:25
111Springfield, Rick Hole In My Heart 3:12
112September When When I Drive 2:18
113Lucksmiths Moving 2:51
114Lucksmiths Transportine 4:11
115Frames Revelate 4:33
116Zeppet Store INNOCENCE 3:55
117HIM Wicked Game (666-Remix) 3:54
118Amos, Tori Hey Jupiter 5:11
119Manic Street Preachers Solitude Sometimes Is 3:21
120Siam Shade 素顔のままで 4:26
121mcdonald, glenn Confetti Beams 3:03
122Keene, Tommy Disarray 3:07
123Aberdeen Emma's House 3:56
124New Pornographers The Laws Have Changed 3:26
125Into Eternity Beginning Of The End 4:39
126スピッツ みそか 4:37
127Utada Hikaru Exdous '04 4:32
128Frames Fake 3:59
129Manda and the Marbles Upside Down 3:18
130Low California 3:23
131Blue Nile I Love This Life 4:04
132Manic Street Preachers No Jubilees 3:44
133Wedding Present Ringway to SEATAC 2:43
134Ida Honeyslide 3:37
135Gackt 精一杯のサヨナラ 4:44
136Gackt Tea Cup 5:28
137Gackt Etude 6:24
138Gackt ありったけの愛で〜Llv〜 5:36
139Gackt ピース 4:12
140Gackt この夜が終わる前に 4:58
141Gackt 君に逢いたくて 5:33
142Gackt Dears〜LLV〜 6:58
143Gackt サクラソウ 2:42
144Gackt Love Letter 4:55
Spitz: Misoka (3.2M mp3)  

This week this seems like the quintessential rock song to me. And it's only more quintessential if you don't speak the language.
If nothing occurs to you, open the tiniest window to somewhere else.
Stochastic in our causes, patriots in a republic of disingenuity, discarders of our angels, prophets of the silently unwound, we cede imbalance to inertia and the slow wind to the quickening hours. Give us reticence to the measure of our tolled waiting, and open ways that we may be escaped by the enchantments we helped tether. And we kneel in parted seas, shelter us with black clouds and the sinuous disenfranchisement of sand. When we stray from the islands of your tenuous grace, lead us to half-hatched disarray and limn our scars in the exhalations of convulsive repose. Give us panic for wakefulness, and tiny hatreds for eyes. Place our souls in the thick throats of lost doves, and our doubts in the deepest vaults of your sightless candor. Lead us to webs of dread and the shut exits of last year's mice, and let their thinset tremors smooth us as we diminish. We are the unmoved and the yet to know; we are the hollows of the bled and the disintegrated confidence of our practice. We are always here, and we are nowhere found.  

So we are undone.
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