I Live In San Francisco Now

Hey how's it going? Yeah sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. It's been a ragged couple of months. In August I took all my stuff out of storage in Portland and drove it down to California. That's when I found out that everything I own including furniture could fit inside a rented Nissan Sentra, which is like a budget clown car. I have very little. It's kind of good in a Buddhist sort of way I guess but I'm from America so it might be depressing, I'm not sure.

After sleeping on my friend's couch for a few weeks I finally found a place in San Francisco, and I had to buy some chairs so I went to the Office Max down the street. I worked in an Office Max back in Jersey one summer. My favorite memory is of the time my boss asked me to take a floor model desk set out behind the dumpster and break it into pieces with a hammer. There was some minor flaw in the wood and it couldn't be sold. When I asked him why I had to destroy it he said "So no one else can have it." It was one of those sad and important life lessons that stays with you even though you don't want it to. I left the store without buying anything--not because of my conscience really, it was more that the dude behind the counter was prohibitively ugly and I didn't feel like waiting in line--but then a few days later I found two chairs on a street corner for free. If there's a moral in the story I have no idea what it is, but at least I don't have to sit on the floor anymore.

And look at me, I'm going to be reading at Wordstock in Portland, Oregon this weekend, Sunday the 11th at 5:00 pm. It's a big literary festival with lots of good writers and I'm going to read some pages from Apathy and maybe a tiny section from the new thing I'm working on--world premier!--so if you're in town come on by. And even more important than that the day before is my birthday. Whether you show for the reading or not, you should probably buy me a present either way. Thanks...........Paul

Comments

[Nick]

Glad to hear you found a place to live; whereabouts in the city are you? (I'm not asking for your address, just your general vicinity) Also, an early happy birthday wish is in order.

It would be awesome if you could do a reading in San Francisco that isn't at a 21+ bar, so I could actually come.

I'd like you to know I've lent my copy of Apathy out to four different people (one of which was my English teacher) in the past few months. Spreadin' the word the old-fashioned way. :D

[Nora]

San Francisco seems to be the best for furnishing your place for free (my brother finds everything he needs by accident).
And in line with the movie theater that serves beer - I hear there's a laundromat called BrainWash that does the same!

[Chewbacca]

RRRWAAAALLLLLGGGHHHHLLLLWWWWHHHHHHHHHHGGGGRRRRAAAAAAAWWWLLWWWLLLLLLLWWWWWLWWWLLLLLRRRR!

Is wookie for: I love you!

[Peter]

Hey, awesome reading at Wordstock. I was the guy laughing like an asthmatic Snarf from Thundercats.
When people ask how my trip to Portland went, I tell them about how it's always dangerous when your blood comes into contact with another man's feces.

[ironkidd]

When is this new thing your working on going to be available to the masses who are dying for more Paul Neilan? Hmmm?

[Paul Neilan]

Hey Nick, I live in the Richmond neighborhood. So far it's a good time. And thanks for showing up at the reading there Peter. I always feel bad cursing that much in public but it has to be done. I don't know when the new thing's going to be finished, but I read some of it to a friend of mine the other day and she made me stop halfway through. She was like "I can't take any more of this right now. Please." I'm not sure if that's a good sign but I thought it was kind of funny........Paul

[Jake]

Paul! You're back! Awesome. Congrats on moving to San Francisco (Which I just discovered it a very hard word to spell...)
I hope every thing goes well for you there. I've never lived in California, but I've visited a few times and I always have a great time.

Also, happy belated birthday a while ago. I would have gotten this to you sooner, but I forgot what day it was. So long as I don't have a pay, go down to Chinatown and buy one of those giant fortune cookies and a big bottle of Maotai on me.

[Kevin]

Hey, man. I'm reading Apathy and it's rare I do this but I just came across yer' blog and thought I would tell you how much I dig the book. Made me laugh a lot on the train today and I got more bad looks than the rambling schizophrenic three seats down from me. That's an accomplishment.
Bravo.
Kevin

[J.Shayne]

Know where a great place for a reading would be? New York City. I dont know, thats just what I've heard.

[Jack]

Paul, I just loved your book and I think I may have to join the growing list of posters in love with you. I saw you read and I think you are super cute. I had heard some rumors about your sexuality but your love of hockey and move to SF seems to confirm them. Don't worry my boyfriend is big, but openminded! See you at your next reading. XOXO Jack

[Jill]

Ooooh! Sounds like he wants to put it in your butt!

[Eric]

This blog reminds me of your writing. In particular, this entry involving pretending to shop at Whole Foods in order to eat their food while wandering the aisles. If you come across a few spare minutes, it is worth a read:

http://forksplit.blogspot.com/2007/09/starfucker_25.html

[Kaitlin]

Did you ever see the movie Haiku Tunnel? It's about a temp who goes "perm" in the "imaginary city of San Franslisco." It's rather humorous and seems like it'd be your kinda thang.

[Jack]

Obviously i was only kidding. Paul is quite the ladies man. The book was great, can't wait for what's next.

[Bill]

0101011101100101001000000110011101101111011101000010000001110100011010000110010100100000011100100110010101100001011011000010000001101100011010010111011001100101001000000111001101101000011010010111010000100000011001100111001001101111011011010010000001100110011100100110111101101110011101000010000001110100011011110010000001100010011000010110001101101011001000000000110100001010001000000010000000100000001000000010000000100000001000000010000000100000001000000101010001101111001000000110110101111001001000000111000001100101011011110111000001101100011001010010000001101001011011100010000001110100011010000110010100100000011101110110111101110010011011000110010000101100001000000111011101101000011001010111001001100101001000000111010001101000011001010010000001100110011101010110001101101011001000000111100101101111011101010010000001100001011101000011111100100000000011010000101000100000001000000010000000100000001000000010000000100000001000000010000000100000010101110110100001100101011100100110010100100000011011010111100100100000011011100110100101100111011001110110000101111010001000000110100101110011001000000110000101110100001111110010000000101000011110000011001000101001001000000000110100001010001000000010000000100000001000000010000000100000001000000010000000100000001000000101011101101000011001010111001001100101001000000111010001101000011001010010000001100110011101010110001101101011001000000110110101111001001000000110001001101001011101000110001101101000011001010111001100100000011000010111010000111111001000000000110100001010001000000010000000100000001000000010000000100000001000000010000000100000001000000101011101101000011001010111001001100101001000000110110101111001001000000110001001101001011101000110001101101000011001010111001100100000011010010111001100100000011000010111010000111111

[Eric Simplot]

I read Apathy in less than two days when I took a trip to Seattle. It was such a page turner I couldn't stop, and it is a must read while riding public transportation. Thank you Paul.

-E

[Snoop Dogg]

Yo. Yo shizzle is the real dizzle my nizzle.

[dennis mahagin]

Paul,

Exit left from PDX?
Excellent move.

But I wonder:

Would Sooj approve?

Apathetically yours,

DM

[mario kazaz]

Paul i just started reading you novel an i fucking you it..really! i dont really read books in inglish but for some reason i told my save; lets give this guy a chances...ended up loving you shit, really. am from mexico and i live in Houston t.x. when are you coming down here?

[Allie]

I just wanted to tell you how much I loved the book. It's probably my favorite book I've read all year. I work in a bookstore and probably hand sold 20 copies--probably could've sold more if we hadn't kept running out! Anyway, Columbus, Ohio loves you1

[Bold Lentil]

Dude - the copy of Apathy that I found in the bathroom at work had the reader's guide torn out of it. Major bummer for the book club. best

[Cal Santos]

Hey Paul - loved the book and have given copies to a few friends. You should get another reading together at the 540.....missed the first one.

[Rene]

Quit being an asshole and write something new.

[Conner]

Yeah so, first off, I loved the book ... too much, maybe. And second, You either obviously know or didn't know at all, but the post-rock band Isis has an album called 'Panopticon.' Out of curiosity, did you name the insurance company after the album or was it a coincidence?

[Lenny]

I bought your hardcover and hit my father over the head with it. Now he's suing me so thanks a lot, dick.
In all seriousness, I'm a huge fan of Apathy. Not to sound gay or optimistic, but it's inspired me. I haven't read a book this many times since Choke first came out in paperback.
It's about time sombody wrote this shit.