Can't stop now

Notice given to the landlord that I'll be vacating the premises at the end of March. Slowly but surely unloading much of the stuff I've accumulated here over the past ten years. Aside from bringing in a little extra scratch to help defray moving expenses, it feels liberating to be stripping down to the essentials. I am reminded of the story of John Freyer, the Iowa man who undertook to sell everything he owned over the Internet. I am an admirer, if not always a successful practitioner, of simple living.

I don't know if I'll get to the point of being able to fit my life into the trunk of an aging Honda Accord (is it a requirement of the WGA that all aspiring screenwriters who move to Los Angeles drive 10-year old Accords?). But by the time I've finished cleaning house, the hope is to have: (1) significantly less crap altogether to drag to the other side of the country; and (2) fewer distractions from the writing process when I hit the ground. It's easy, when presented with hundreds of channels of television programs daily and 2-disc special editions of the week's latest DVD releases, to forget that there's quality storytelling and old-timey radio entertainment free for the taking through public radio. And even the commercial radio stations in Los Angeles can't be any worse than the airwaves wasteland that pervades Baltimore. Looks like Sarah Vowell and I will be spending a lot more time together now.