What came first – the music or the misery? Did I listen to the music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to the music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?

Definitely avoid going out with ugly girls who say they want to be models. Not because they're ugly, but because they're mad".

Several months later, and I have finally read one of the three (books), even though I wanted to read all three of them immediately. What happened in between? Other books, is what happened. Other books, other moods, other obligations, other appetites, other reading journeys.

Tuesday night I reorganized my record collection. I often do this at periods of emotional stress. There are some people who would find this a pretty dull way to spend an evening, but I'm not one of them. This is my life, and it's nice to be able to wade in it, immerse your arms in it, touch it.

Sarcasm and compassion are two of the qualities that make life on Earth tolerable.

I really don't want to be boring, and so many books are so boring!

Everything's complicated, even those things that seem flat in their bleakness or sadness.