astralwerks hq in ny (they share space with caroline distro) is just the sleek, swank, spacious suite you'd imagine: polished wood floors, brushed metal railings, walls thickly papered with staccato rainbows of promo posters and the occasional gold record, guitar-rawk blaring from down the hall. quasi-minimalism manicured (like aka) but not fake-feeling (like tower). and not so much as a vestibule to cushion the transition as you step out of the dingy elevator.

i waited on a deep leather couch, paging through some old dj mag, which i exchanged for foucault as nina took a bit longer to arrive. then she did and led me upstairs, to an office full of cds and a guy called dave. i was a bit slow to readjust as she shifted abruptly into snappy interview mode ("tell me about working at the studio! why this shift in interest to labels? why astralwerks?" she spit, before i could start answering the first one) and then into "marvelous! that sounds great!" end-of-interview optimistic-but-noncommital mode. i don't think i was very eloquent, and i probably should have asked some more questions at the end (like: "when should i expect to hear from you?") but whatever, i'm sure it was fine. i'm sure my iterated enthusiasm and openness to gruntwork must have made a good impression, not to mention my snappy outfit (leftovers from last monday, with the white tie thanks) and my clean-shaven smiling-sullenboyish charm.

probably my mild daze had something to do with the fact that i didn't let myself eat or drink or anything during the whole trip, and that i wiled traintime stuffing my head with theory rubbish (though discipline and punish is wicked fun, and the crystalline deconstruction in a nutshell is the best derrida i've encountered yet: it made me smile repeatedly with the long-sought connections it elicited - to mauss, kierkegaard, geertz, mannipeanism, religious relativism, etc. - with the fluency and imprecision/laxity of conversational speech.) but i mostly pinned it on the still tired-y. i promised myself to shut-eye the rest of each train leg, once i finished this chapter or whatever, but i usually finished just as we pulled into station.

it all happened so fast. i was only actually in the city for an hour. i didn't even have to ride the subway, so i didn't find out whether my old metrocards are empty or not (asw is five blocks away from penn). even the few minutes walk back and forth was heartwarming though, especially on the wider streets where the sun could make it through and the otherwise cool sidewalks grew far warmer than the windy 30th st. platform. other than that, the nicest bit of the trip was running into ruby at the swat station, on his way to the opening day met's game (his tradition), and having the ride into 30th with him (would have been njt too, but the game started earlier than he thought.) i can't believe he still doesn't know you.

hmph. this week could be tricky, but if i make it through there will be rock and debauchery on the other end. must dash now to meet with esterling! who i can count on to remember that we sometimes eat dinner together on mondays. how nice.

my life line swerves
kinda like a sine curve