don't let these things slide

I just want to apologize for all the nasty things I may have said about Megabus. Indeed if you write them a demand letter threatening legal action, they will in fact send you a cheque for $42.50. 

Sometimes you’re on a bus trip from L.A. to San Francisco and then the bus breaks down a lot of times in the middle of the desert. Some passengers chose to make a big fuss and complain to the driver about the fact of the mechanical failure which was undeniable and not his fault, while the rest of us just kind of bought a beer from the gas station, took a seat on the ground and took in the sun.

Eventually, though, it got to a point where the breakdown was really putting in jeopardy my missing my show, and so it ended up that I ended catching a cab, running into the room, and getting there with just one comic left in order to close out the night. But those nights make for good nights. 

Later I contacted Megabus asking for the reimbursement of my ticket and the loss suffered of the cab fare. Megabus denied that they were four hours late to arrive in San Francisco, even though they were, and said that they provide restitution only for delays upwards of two hours.  

So I emailed them back, they emailed me back, I emailed them back, and they just lied and lied and lied and refused to acknowledge their responsibility. Eventually I mailed them the following letter.  Apparently the cheque is in the mail.

(It’s the principle of the thing. Also, I need the money. Writing these kinds of letters is what makes the world a better place.)

April 1, 2015 

Via First-Class Mail

Megabus

2001 S Manchester Ave

Anaheim CA, 92808

Re: Demand for Payment

To whom it may concern,

Please be advised that Megabus owes me the sum of $42.50 because your bus, identified in the Appendix, broke down on account of mechanical failure en route and arrived to San Francisco approximately four hours later than as advertised. According to the Terms & Conditions on your website, for such a delay I am owed the reimbursement of my ticket, for which I paid US$27.50. In addition, because of your delay, I was forced to take a cab to an appointment, which cost me US$15.00. Had your bus not been delayed more than two hours, I certainly would have had time to walk the US$15.00 distance, as I had planned to do, when purchasing my ticket in reliance of your advertised arrival time. This too is a loss and delay for which you are liable. You are not, as per your Terms & Conditions, exempt from these losses or delays. 

I have been in correspondence with Megabus via email over this matter. You acknowledge that the bus was delayed on account of mechanical issues, but claim falsely that the delay was for 1 hour 23 minutes. In fact on account of these mechanical issues the bus arrived approximately 4 hours late.

This will be Megabus’ only chance to settle this matter before I file suit against Megabus in Small Claims Court. I am agreeable to a lump sum payment or to a payment plan. Please contact me on or before April 6, 2015 for the purpose of settling this matter. If I do not hear from Megabus on or before April 6, 2015 I will file a lawsuit against Megabus without further notice. It is in Megabus’ best interest to settle this matter before a lawsuit is filed. 

Based on the foregoing, I expect payment in the amount of US$42.50 made payable to me, My Street Number and Name, My City, My Province, My Postal Code no later than April 13, 2015. (I can be reached at My Number.) If Megabus decides to ignore this demand for payment, I will pursue all its legal remedies without further notice to Megabus. This letter serves as evidence that I have attempted to resolve this matter informally.

Sincerely, 

David Heti

ingrate

"First, what is meant by anguish? The existentialists say at once that man is anguish. What that means is this: the man who involves himself and who realizes that he is not only the person he chooses to be, but also a lawmaker who is, at the same time, choosing all mankind as well as himself, cannot help escape the feeling of his total and deep responsibility. Of course, there are many people who are not anxious; but we claim that they are hiding their anxiety; that they are fleeing from it. Certainly, many people believe that when they do something, they themselves are the only ones involved, and when someone says to them, 'What if everyone acted that way?' they shrug their shoulders and answer, 'Everyone doesn't act that way.' But really, one should always ask himself, 'What would happen if everybody looked at things that way?' There is no escaping this disturbing thought except by a kind of double-dealing. A man who lies and makes excuses for himself by saying 'not everybody does that,' is someone with an uneasy conscience, because the act of lying implies that a universal value is conferred upon the lie."

No external speakers on public transit, people.

three-letter word seven-letter word two-letter word three-letter world four-letter word

Two-letter word one-letter word three-letter word six-letter word seven-letter word four-letter word four-letter word two-letter word three-letter word three-letter word four-letter word three-letter word six-letter word five-letter word two-letter word three-letter word four-letter word, “three-letter word five-letter word, five-letter word four-letter word three-letter word six-letter word two-letter word two-letter word nine-letter word three-letter word?” Three-letter word one-letter word three-letter word, “three-letter word two-letter word five-letter word six-letter word; five-letter word five-letter word four-letter word five-letter word four-letter word four-letter word four-letter word!”

RBC

Goddamn douche bag of a bank manager greet me with "hey buddy" again?!? Never in the most wildest of mental(ly) defective dreams could I imagine ever greeting a client in such a way (in a professional context). Is it because of the way that I carry myself? Dress myself? Wear my beard?

Going back to the bank to tell him that he inspires zero confidence in his whatever official duties, the just plain old and simple stupidity of his look only confuses and serves to confuse. (Am I wrong? Is it what others like?) He doesn't even have the good sense to just sit there and listen and be spoken to.

"Oh, no, it's just the way I talk with everybody. It's just my manner like that. It's friendly like that."

Last time he gave me the wrong numbers because he's incompetent, and I had to figure it out myself. But then maybe he's right about other things? Am I being too uptight? Bus drivers call me sir.

So you leave without saying much of anything because 1) he really may be sincerely mentally impaired, and 2) who's to know what's right? Who's to know what's wrong?

To commit (a) genocide. Just to have that sense of self. The pride and self-certainty.

no choice

So many complicated emotions, arguably, about not taking the flight that I could have taken. Supposed to be in L.A. for a show this evening but then there were strong headwinds (apparently) and then passengers with some sort of random designation on their boarding passes were told that they could not board. I was not one of those designated randomly and there was a moment of relief, but, then, they went back and announced that those others who were not designated and would give up their seats would receive an $800 voucher for future air travel. (Whether for one purchase or flight alone could not be verified.)

There is a show tonight (on which I am booked), but not a great show tonight, though it's in a great room apparently. I don't have much money, and a flight is a flight is a flight, but, money comes and goes, yet, a voucher for a future flight isn't really so much of a money-saving event as it is a promise of the eventual spending of more money. Will this voucher flight be one I'll have had to have taken anyway? (How so?) Will it be or have been a wholly elective flight? Will it lead to more stand-up? Will it lead to more, better stand-up adventure?

I had no place to sleep tonight and the plan was to arrive at the show and make friends and go to another show and then be taken in for the night. That would have led to some show and some friends and community, possibly, whereas now I have a hotel room (complimentarily) and I will be sitting there alone in a room that could be anywhere (i.e., not in the heart of the entertainment world). But, isn't that the whole point of the trip? That is, to be out and doing weird things? (But, then, cannot a whole new flight allow for so much other adventure? A whole new similar trip?)

It's easy not to do stand-up. (It's easy not to travel.) What if work soon comes naturally which will demand too much flying? What if I won't have any other flight to which I will want to put toward the voucher? All of these (Hollywood) stories are about taking weird chances and getting on weird shows, but, then, as well, I was mistakenly booked on the *previous* month's show, though, odds are I would have been let up at this night nonetheless.

Also, $20 in airport food vouchers isn't bad. That I can use. And, then, this wouldn't have been written, but who cares. Then, something else would have happened. Not worth thinking about. It's probably not worth thinking about. Don't even like L.A.

on even too much on comedy and comics on comedy

'If you name the behaviour of an individual, you reveal it to him; he sees himself. And since you are at the same time naming it to all others, he knows that he is seen at the moment he sees himself. The furtive gesture which he forgot while making it, begins to exist beyond all measure, to exist for everybody; it is integrated into the objective mind; it takes on new dimensions; it is retrieved. After that, how can you expect him to act in the same way? Either he will persist in his behaviour out of obstinacy and with full knowledge of what he is doing, or he will give it up.' - Sartre, yep

they should have sent an attorney

Sometimes you've a super lovely and beautiful, and amazing and crazy smart, and intelligent, etc. and famous sister, and they write articles about her. And then a fact checker gets in touch with you.

Hi R. Please see the answers I've inserted. (Also, I've only tried to answer honestly. Sorry if what I've written comes off as otherwise!)

Best,

David

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015, R. wrote:

Hi David,

I work for R. and am fact-checking a profile on your sister Sheila by R. I wonder if you'd be able to answer the following questions just to ensure everything is factually correct:

1.     Are you Sheila Heti’s younger brother?

 Yes.

2.     Did Sheila always have a strong artistic vision growing up?

I'm not really able to speak to what another person's vision is, or was, always. Also, I was born after Sheila. (Colloquially, sure, I guess, but, I can't give this question a straight answer.)

3.     Would you say you are comfortable presenting yourself as an unsavoury character?

I'm not sure what you mean by my "self." As a person? A comic? A comedic persona?

4.     Is Sheila also?

I would ask the same question as above. (That said, I'm not sure I'm able to speak to what Sheila feels.)

5.     Do you take pleasure in presenting yourself in this way and don’t care what others think?

 See above.

6.     Does Sheila also?

 See above.

7.     Do you have any regret about any of the content of your stand-up?

Sure.

Thanks very much,

R.

back to the steak

Over about maybe seven or eight months ago now I ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for a steak dinner. It was come up with and run and executed at a time in the midst of a slow summer of stand-up and nothing much to do, and, in all honestly, I wanted a steak.

Nothing more, nothing less than a steak dinner is what I wanted and what I asked for and what I got. I think it was $83 I asked for, and, lo and behold, within the six days or so for which the campaign was to run, I raised more than I would need for the $83 (perhaps it was $86 in the end, though I don't remember), and I just want to say that I am sorry right now for not having fulfilled my "rewards" or whatnot to those who contributed two or more dollars to the campaign, to whom I had promised to provide a written account of my experience of the steak. It just so happened to be the case that the very next morning after the steak dinner I left to go on a very long and arduous and hilariously fun and time-consuming comedy tour, nothing of which of it so much allowed me to feel too terribly about the my having failed to meet my obligation. Thankfully, none of my two-dollars-or-more steak dinner backers (enthusiasts) chose to complain to Kickstarter or demand their money back.

Also, another reason for having failed to provide the written account was because in my grand ambition I actually arranged to have the entire meal experience captured on film--which I did--but which then left me with so much goddamn footage of me eating and ordering assessing that I was effectively paralysed from taking any action in light, and in the face, of such near-infinite editing possibilities.

It's come to a time, however, that I think a part of the video ought to come out, if, for no other reason, than that it is the end of the year and it's a time to cross things off of one's thousands of lists and this one in particular has been weighing on me especially heavily over the last very long while.

n.b. I would like to make it ridiculously clear that a very good and lovely friend of mine was so kind enough to record the steak dinner herself that I felt terrible for her then having either to i) not eat at all while I was eating, or ii) pay for her fine steak dinner at a fine steak dinner-eating establishment, that I generously or respectfully or fairly paid for her dinner, which ended up costing me far more than what I'd raised online (that is, my dinner was covered by the funds, but then I ended up paying for an-other entire steak dinner entirely). Indeed, and, in fact, I ended up spending far more on that one night than I had in so many, perhaps several years prior. Still, here we are.

(Oh yeah--and, of note--this whole steak dinner thing was done long before that whole egg salad thing. The guy raised, what, $50,000 or something? I mean, fuck him, kind of; but, more importantly, contrary to whatever Morgan O'Shea might have to say, it's not that he did the same thing but more funnily (a terrible adverb, incidentally). Rather, asking for a steak dinner is a thing different altogether than asking for an egg salad. The entire spirit and hilarity and idea are other. Perhaps he did something wholly better, but, certainly we didn't do the same thing but differently. I never wanted, nor was the intention ever, to raise much money ever (in fact, at one point I asked or told people, please, to stop giving me money), but, then again, so did too maybe the other guy.)

convort

me:  hello?

anyway, you will send me something to make me feel better than all of the dep wine in the world or dep.

if we're only here to be happy, doesn't that make happiness seem a bit ridiculous? how're you supposed to enjoy happiness? 

Morty:  david, hello! trying to impersonate the uncle on seinfeld. i was going to send you an email telling you that i walked by a homeless person eating a burger in front of dick's (you loved that place!), and i guess i was staring too long, which i do sometimes, and he said, "what, you've never seen a homeless man eat his breakfast before?" anyway, i just kept walking but felt that i should tell you about it. you and i do talk about the homeless a lot

me:  good, this is nice. so it seems like it's other people or something which makes life better. (and, incidentally--yes--I in fact have seen a homeless man eating a bag of dicks)

wait! get someone else to read you that last line

it can't be read!

as in "red"

well, oh, shit.

Morty:  are you drunk? it's ok if you're drunk 

me:  I finished off last night's wine this morning, but, no, not drunk

Morty:  aww

me:  If I were drunk, would I be able to...be driving a car right now?

I took my logic 

Morty:  last night's wine is the album title

no driving!

me:  oh, I had a good title the other day! all I write down now are the next album titles

can we talk about your rape here?

Morty:  me too

me:  is that ok to put online?

Morty:  oh that's unfair!

now i’ve been flagged

me:  I don't want to get you in trouble or nuthin

oh no!

Morty:  as long as we can talk about your rape too

me:  let's talk about each other's friend's respective rapes

Morty:  our rape

yes, yes, i agree

me:  I never agreed to share that with you

Morty:  well, you can never tell with rape

me:  is this like improv or can I just stop this now?

Morty:  can stop anytime

me:  sometimes I remember that if you stop trying it doesn't matter. then it gets bad

me:  I wrote this joke about listing things that aren't funny. Then I list things. And then I say that it was in some way a rape joke.

Morty:  i like it!

me:  oh the album title:

It's ok to enjoy yourself

enh

also, for a tour, I was thinking: Fat Love Hope

Morty:  you've no business using the word fat! but it works

me:  or love or hope, really

thanks! I think it's a weirdo title and people won't know what to take from it

Morty:  it hits all the demographics

me:  do you want a partner or do you want to be single?

Morty:  haha. what the hell kind of question is this?

is dying alone an option?

me:  first, dying alone isn't an option. we all die alone

Morty:  i know!

me:  second!

it's a question that's come up from having an apartment to myself for two weeks and no shows in this city

Morty:  did you order a wife for me for christmas?

me:  a rental. she'll only offer affection, though. it's nothing sexual

Morty:  boo

you suck at presents!

me:  I kind of had this realization that what a comic does is go out every night and look for love and confirmation and recognition, when most people just get that de facto by walking in their front door every night

so, my point is, why not just get that de facto?

Morty:  god that's a horrible thought

me:  plus, you don't even know these people

what do you care what they think? you think anyone really cares what they think? you think they care what you think?

I've got three more rhetorical questions to complete my treatise

Morty:  please stop

me:  hahaha

why exactly?

Morty:  i don't know

me:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiiyq2xrSI0

because of the truth this idea holds?

Morty:  fucking make me watch a video

me:  haha

I was typing--I think this is the new form: I think that we're bringing back the dialogue. dialectic, Socratic method, everything

I feel it

Morty:  hey, shut up! i'm trying to listen to this song

me:  can I post this on my site as some sort of -- haha -- as if it's a piece or something? I'll redact your name or change it to a similar name

Morty:  enh, this song is only ok. it works in the movie ghost, but i don't know

this conversation?

me:  It's sort of, like, giving me something to put into the world under the guise of being a comic, without having really done anything

yes

but it would be for art and David's sake

sakes

art's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWqax9iHfRU

Morty:  i don't know, i can't have my name appearing next to word rape in google searches, not again at least

me:  look! that never went so far!

it almost looks as if Elvis is jerking off two dicks at the piano kind of

Morty:  haha. fat elvis

me:  have you seen that video where fat elvis dies on top of Lenny Bruce?

Morty:  link?

me:  uuhhh....

Morty:  let's have it!

me:  I'll type it in!

Morty:  k

me:  nah, not funny enough

Morty:  i agree

me:  oh, George Carlin comes up

not funny enough

Morty:  so predictable

me:  haha

Morty:  no accusation of rape, though

me:  and what's a chained melody, you know?

that's what they were saying about Cosby

Morty:  good point

well, carlin's dead. he's got that

me:  right, like that Jimmy Saville guy

I thought that when all those hundreds of allegations came out after his death, it was a chilling lesson for anyone who hadn't committed any sexual improprieties

you miss 100% of the shots you never take

Morty:  let me look up jimmy saville fucking hell

me:  just don't send me a link

Morty:  fucking wikipedia with their fucking fundraising

oh i remember that guy

ok

haha. to your earlier joke

me:  thanks

Morty:  99 percent of life is showing up

me:  is there tax on this?

Morty:  i don't know. ask woody, that's where i heard that line

me:  wait, but you never responded to my comment about comics are just looking for love

you just said it was a horrible thing to say and then moved on

Morty:  yes, david, i am looking for love. jesus christ

me:  hard to type you're laughing when doing that clapping laughing

but your work isn't looking for love

Morty:  yes it is!

me:  and it's not a gamble every night

Morty:  many lines of work are seeking attention, and yes it is a gamble every time, but in a different form

me:  right. I guess the idea's to have happiness elsewhere

Morty:  yes, otherwise you put too much weight on the career thing, and then if that doesn't work out, you're fucked

see: every comic who's died

me:  ergch.

Morty:  yes, well

me:  but some died with loved ones

Morty:  some

me:  but not many?

Morty:  williams did

me:  is that a terrible joke?

Morty:  even hedberg, technically. had a wife

me:  oh, you mean died prematurely?

Morty:  no, i meant he had love in his life or something, but still destroyed himself

not sure what the joke is

me:  right, right

Morty:  now that i think about, i'm not sure how love play in

me:  ?

that was half a heart

Morty:  ah! i'm lost now in this conversation. we should be on the phone

me:  I don't know. I like this

Morty:  this is fine

i'm saying that perhaps finding love doesn't always help comics survive

me:  wait--so your sort of starting out position is that comics are in terrible places?

Morty:  not all. i always think of famous ones, but there are plenty who this doesn't apply to really, like seinfeld, gaffigan, regan, etc.

me:  right. as a side note, I don't like any of those comics

Morty:  so predictable!

i knew that

i do

me:  I think I'm just starting to see the endpoint of being single. I think the older you get the less interesting it becomes

Morty:  who is she, heti? and when is the wedding?

me:  well, we broke up ten years ago. she's getting married next week

no, I have no idea

Morty:  aww

anyway, i don't disagree with anything you said

me:  ok

I mean, humans don't make much sense, and life doesn't make much sense, but, if human life, humans like other humans

me:  it's not unethical to be in a relationship, is it?

Morty:  what? no

sillyhead

me:  but, if they make you happy

that's not selfish?

Morty:  oh stop it. like you care

but no, not selfish

me:  I think I care. (ok.) like, I'm not sure how having a kid is anything but selfish

far more selfish than actually just finding someone who's already alive and making them somehow a part of your life

Morty:  i think basically it's just nice to have someone to get meals with

me:  haha. well, kind of, yeah

you're kind of just killing time together

Morty:  yeah

me:  I don't think it's much more complex than that

otherwise you're getting together for other reasons? (e.g., the Clintons)

Morty:  i'm worried that we're both going to disappear into the next world or something

me:  another world!

no thanks

Morty:  yes, there are very few power couples in the comedy world

me:  no, but I think that's what a marriage is: just someone you want to sit around with

Morty:  look, are you going to find me a wife or not?

me:  actually that's my ok cupid tagline or whatever

I can try to find you a wife

Morty:  good

me:  do you have minimum legs requirement?

is it negotiable?

Morty:  haha. two preferably. also two arms, two ears, two vaginas, etc.

me:  because one leg these days--one leg!

Morty:  ewww

me:  you know that old song: one leg per vagina...

Morty:  who am i, paul mccartney?

good song

me:  paul once actually asked me that himself

Morty:  lucky

me:  greatest day of his life

Morty:  of course

me:  I wonder if when a celebrity gets alzheimer's, can they remember themselves as celebrity after they've forgotten themselves as self?

Morty:  na

me:  all I’m saying is, it's worth signing your headshots while you can

Morty:  haha, jesus

me:  who knows?

it's like Pascal's wager

are you looking for a person/wife/wife-person?

the funny thing is: when you want a wife, you can't look for a wife

that's the oldest Chinese wisdom in the book

Morty:  yes. i generally feel better around women

fucking chinese

me:  haha

me:  alright

Morty:  agreed

me:  last question

maybe

what should I do with the impulse not to put out things into the world? it's paralyzing, especially for someone who's basically trying to do that for a living

sometimes saying or contributing anything seems so terrible. there seems to be so much, too much shit out there

Morty:  david, a comedy career is like a shark. it has to keep moving or it dies, and what we have here is a dead shark. anyway, i don't actually feel that you have a problem with that since you put out more stuff than most people i know. people i know who actually have a problem with that don't put stuff out there. if you want to tell jokes to drunk people for money instead of telling jokes to coworkers in an office than you will have to keep putting stuff out and stop this needless introspection about it. just put good stuff out, that's what matters

me:  I guess you pare it down. I suppose needless introspection. and, yes, good stuff

ok. thanks

me:  (that last line about putting out good stuff, too, is pretty much a Woody Allen line. when the aliens come down and tell him to just tell better jokes)

Morty:  haha, didn't realize that

me:  and, honestly, though, if I cut out some stuff, could I post this conversation to my site? I'm just thinking that it might be some neat new thing. we have podcasts now, which is oftentimes just a conversation between two people. this is the same, but in text, and might have a different appeal

Morty:  ha, i love that you're concerned about putting stuff out into the world and yet you want to put up a chat which is the most narcissistic thing in existence. don't everyone think the chats they have with friends are interesting, but i guess i'm okay with it. would need to see it first, i think

supposed to say don’t forget...

me:  well, but we're objectively funny people

Morty:  you know it!

me:  I'll run it by you. plus, I can give you an old Jewish name if you lie

like

Morty:  morty

me:  I might be M F!

I was going to be morty!

Morty:  no way!

me:  totally!

we can both be morty

Morty:  deal!

me:  perfect

on some the joke and its relation to the unconscious

On doing some reading on comedy, I happened upon this passage of Freud's, which I think is quite beautiful. My posting it in no way points to any particular political, social etc. Just, jokes.

I would gladly do without all the avenues to gratification that society disapproves of, but am I certain society will reward my self-denial—even though with some postponement—by opening to me one of the permitted avenues? it is possible to say out loud what these jokes whisper: that the wishes and desires of human beings have a right to make themselves heard as much as demanding and ruthless morality, and in our times it has been said in forceful and stirring sentences that this morality is only the selfish ordinance of the rich and powerful few who are able to satisfy their wishes without postponement at any time. as long as the art of healing has not gone further in making our life more certain, and as long as social arrangements do not do more to make it more agreeable, the voice in us that rebels against the demands of morality will not be stifled. in the end every honest person will make this admission, at least to themselves. this conflict can only be decided by a roundabout route via a fresh insight. we must link our lives to that of others in such a way, we must be able to identify with others so closely, that we are able to overcome the curtailment of our own lifetime; and we may not fulfil the demands of our own needs illegitimately, but must leave them unfulfilled, because only the continued existence of so many unfulfilled demands is able to develop the power to change the social order. but not all personal needs can be postponed and transferred to others in this way, and a universal and ultimate solution to the conflict does not exist

on fiction

I think the problem with--that the problem with--stand-up is that it's all of your first-person thoughts and times presented and put forth and told to others as if your own (as your own). Unlike a story or an idea or a fiction which can be presented and represented as if of that of a character or abstracted, no one really wants to see anything other than the person the person in front of him or herself on stage, understandably. But, then, what if one doesn't always want to have to be sharing for all one's moments and thoughts and weirdo or not private experiences? Then what do you have?

comedy ain't going to write itself

Much has been going on it seems and each day is so weirdly far different from the last, but then it all fades away and you wake up again wondering what's to do. There's a returning to and back again between "wanting to kill yourself" (colloquially, hyperbolically) and "being totally accepting of death and the idea of dying at this moment" (genuinely). The former is nothing new but the latter is unusual-, uncomfortably calming. Doesn't help with sleep. I'm sure much was lost in the flood.

There are details, details, but they slip away. I think that perhaps it's best simply to do another interesting day as opposed to attempt to remember what happened; but, when you're an old man in a bed in an old folks' home (if that happens), what will you do (i.e., with your time)? Reading old letters makes me small.

Though unrelated, again in January and February I'll be teaching a course in comedy writing at McGill. The first time 'round the course went apparently quite swimmingly and hence this time it is happening again. Students kept returning to lecture each week, they said they learned something, I was offered places to crash in different cities, we had lunch.

my bagel for a bagel

Well, I often take a lot of time and thinking and rethinking, actually, when writing these such things, but it's been a ridiculously crazy time the past couple of weeks, driving most days--Montreal-Halifax-NYC-Toronto, places in-between--and I'm just tired. So, I'm just going to put out here more or less as is a couple of bagel-related pieces--one written and one spoken--about what I think and feel about bagel.

Basically, I wrote a piece saying why Montreal bagels are superior to NYC bagels, and then some in fact quite kind hoo-ha wrote some junk arguing the opposite. Then we had a little debate-cum-argument over the radio*, as I was in a car and in traffic, about nine hours into a drive. We arrived, though, to the show on time, and did a good show. Then we went to sleep and drove again. But, now, bagels:

1) New York Bagels Suck (article) and

2) Joshua David Stein Variety Hour...Half Hour (radio)

*My mother writes that Joshua "kept interrupting you, and had too many objections. No wonder Helen couldn't give you justice."

lots of and too much

Lots of and too much has gone on and it seems or appears to be a shame to let it have all gone to waste so perhaps it need not at this time. Just little things, which, it sometimes seems, are what will make up a life and then you're ok to forget because you think that the idea is not to remember but live such that each you get more of this anew. For instance, there's a joke about having all of my mementos from my 20s thrown out accidentally and being upset by this on account of now no longer having anything to put around my room when in an old folks home so as to communicate to the nurses that I am or in fact was a real person and that I should be turned over because bed sores are terrible. Even as an invalid you can feel bed sores most likely.

Yesterday evening a man in the locker room of the place where I go swimming said hello and struck up a conversation as we undressed. It turns out he knew my name and that he was a listener of I Have a Problem and that he might have a problem already, stemming simply from what he'd heard on the episodes he'd listened to. Anyway, the point is that it's a nice thing to have formed some sort of a human relationship by way of little things put out into the world. Similarly, it kind of shocked me one evening to realize that this guy wanted to come to a performance but couldn't see any dates listed and so didn't. It had almost literally never occurred to me that people who actually enjoy comedy would want to refer to a Dates or Shows section of a site and so go to some shows. I'd only thought that all of this web presentation was for the sake of promoters and optics and festival programmers trying to get a sense of where you were and what you were doing in your weeks. So, anyway, there'll be some changes made today. Now there'll be a more of a genuine attempt to be genuine. (It's all performance, though, too.)

another email from mom

Where are you David? In Toronto? At dad's place?

I have some discount coupons to McDonald's. Do you want them?

Love,

Mom

a magyar nép zivataros századaiból

Below is a translation of the Hungarian national anthem. This is what I have to deal with. Wonderful soups.

O Lord, bless the nation of Hungary

With your grace and bounty

Extend over it your guarding arm

During strife with its enemies

Long torn by ill fate

Bring upon it a time of relief

This nation has suffered for all sins

Of the past and of the future!

You brought our ancestors up

Over the Carpathians' holy peaks

By You was won a beautiful homeland

For Bendeguz's sons

And wherever flow the rivers of

The Tisza and the Danube

Árpád our hero's descendants

Will root and bloom

For us on the plains of the Kuns

You ripened the wheat

In the grape fields of Tokaj

You dripped sweet nectar

Our flag you often planted

On the wild Turk's earthworks

And under Mátyás' grave army whimpered

Vienna's "proud fort."

Ah, but for our sins

Anger gathered in Your bosom

And You struck with Your lightning

From Your thundering clouds

Now the plundering Mongols' arrows

You swamped over us

Then the Turks' slave yoke

We took upon our shoulders.

How often came from the mouths

Of Osman's barbarian nation

Over the corpses of our defeated army

A victory song!

How often did your own son agress

My homeland, upon your breast,

And you became because of your own sons

Your own sons' funeral urn!

The fugitive hid, and towards him

The sword reached into his cave

Looking everywhere he could not find

His home in his homeland

Climbs the mountain, descends the valley

Sadness and despair his companions

Sea of blood beneath his feet

Ocean of flame above.

Castle stood, now a heap of stones

Happiness and joy fluttered,

Groans of death, weeping

Now sound in their place.

And Ah! Freedom does not bloom

From the blood of the dead,

Tortuous slavery's tears fall

From the burning eyes of the orphans!

Pity, O Lord, the Hungarians

Who are tossed by waves of danger

Extend over it your guarding arm

On the sea of its misery

Long torn by ill fate

Bring upon it a time of relief

They who have suffered for all sins

Of the past and of the future!

a little Elvis

Here's a piece on an Elvis Fest that I wrote for Vice. They edited some out, which is perfectly fine, sort of removing my voice just a bit and making it kinder to the people at the Festival. My Mother says that she enjoyed all of it save for the part about making the woman come. (Oh, Mom.) An ex of mine sent it to her own mother.

Upon its publication I was followed on Twitter by two Elvis groups. About a day later they left, which makes sense.

my legal clinic course experience

My Legal Clinic Course (LCC) experience with the McGill Centre for Intellectual Property Policy (CIPP), under the supervision of Professor Prie, has fallen somewhat short of my expectations. Had I better understood the nature of the work I would be assigned, I doubt I would have applied for the opening. Although I may have somewhat misunderstood the position as described in the LCC Handbook*, I feel there was no good reason to imagine that I would be acting as little more than an editor, if not, at times, a copyeditor. Though I imagine, from the simple act of painstakingly ordering words on a page, I derive more pure literary pleasure than most, I would have preferred nonetheless to have spent more time engaging with substantive legal issues.

My first assignment was to increase the readability of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of the Canadian Public Domain Registry website: a free and publicly accessible online database of information regarding the copyright status of literary works published in Canada. For the purpose of helping uninitiated users of the website most thoroughly understand their rights and obligations in regard to inventive and creative works, my task was to articulate relatively basic copyright concepts in the most easily accessible language. Shorter sentences were best.

As most of the content had been drafted already by the time I received the FAQ, most of my work involved increasing clarity and precision, cutting extraneous material, and creating a more logical order of entries. Though I was not introduced to any copyright principles or theories different from those to which, in my Intellectual and Industrial Property course, I had been already exposed necessarily, I would say that I am now, in general, more comfortable with copyright law.

My work was assigned to me either in person or via email. From time to time, I would submit my edits and Professor Prie would give me feedback. She seemed to be quite pleased with my suggested improvements and has already forwarded my FAQ final draft to Creative Commons, which oversees the Registry website. On the several occasions Professor Prie and I met, we basically discussed how the FAQ ought to read, so as to best further Creative Commons’ goal of promoting public access to copyrighted works. In general, I was given a great degree of freedom to make those changes I thought most effective. Similarly, as the assignment was fairly straightforward, my work was essentially unsupervised.

Probably my biggest regret in regard to my Clinic placement is not having completed my hundred hours. At our very first meeting, Professor Prie told me that though I could do the work on my own time, I should be careful not to leave it all to the end of term. Though I have no one to blame but myself for being in the position of having to finish my time once the semester ends (and summer begins), I wish she, as my supervisor, had been a little less easygoing with deadlines. To my defence, there were certainly times when Professor Prie could have been a little more prompt in responding to my emails requesting the feedback necessary for me to continue my work; but, then again, when I did not hear back from her, I really should have been more persistent. All that said, depending on the week, I would do anywhere from twenty hours of work to none at all.

Having completed the FAQ edit, my second assignment, which I received several days ago, is to edit a memo announcing a call for submissions to a volume of essays on the topic of Canadian digital technology networks. Although, to be fair, the call is—at almost thirteen hundred words—quite extensive, I am not looking especially forward to what will essentially be the preparation of an advertisement. While, once again, I very much do enjoy the craft of careful writing itself, I had hoped that my Clinic experience would prove to be of somewhat more value to my principally legal, law school education.

Aside from my obvious disappointment with the subject matter of my assigned work, my first suggestion for how to improve the Legal Clinic Course would be to do away with the requirement that in order to successfully complete any placement, one must log a hundred hours of work. In my mind, there is no necessary correlation between the amount of time I put into a project and either 1) the quality of the work produced or 2) the educational value of having done the work. Furthermore, being told, at the very beginning, that all I was expected to do was “just put in the hours” made it difficult to see my efforts as much more than busy-work. If nothing else, my time with the CIPP has felt less like school, and more like a part-time job.

What I found most rewarding about my placement was the degree of autonomy I was given. I very much appreciated the fact that Professor Prie trusted me to work alone, giving me essentially free rein to make those changes I deemed necessary. Of course, with all this freedom, I ran a little astray with my scheduling, but I suppose that will just have to count as a part of what I will have learnt.

Finally, I appreciated the opportunity to gain three credits for doing work that will go out and into the world. Similarly, the further I get through law school, the more interested I am in putting my efforts towards something that is not, at least in large part, about winning a good letter grade. As insignificant as it may be, I really do hope to see my words grace the electronic pages of the Canadian Public Domain Registry website, helping people to better understand their intellectual property rights and obligations.

*The Handbook describes the nature of the work as, “Public interest research on intellectual property and development policy. Legal research and writing experience; brief/memo drafting; public information presentations; review and comment on/revision of legal documents.”

steak dinner!

Let's do this, people!

Now with steak dinner radio interview and holier-than-thou CTV News Montreal person who sits.

actual angry or indignant email series, part one

Dear Ms. D,

I am a student at the Faculty of Law, about to enter my second year of the B.C.L./LL.B. program. Ms. Q suggested I contact you regarding a concern of mine.

On July 12th, during the Student Affairs Office's clean-up of the basement lockers, a number of my belongings were taken from my locker and thrown out. Ms. Q has said that for the purposes of the cleaning, the locker had been deemed abandoned, and she accordingly discarded of its contents. However, I feel that as the SAO ought to have known that the locker was mine, the locker was incorrectly deemed abandoned, and hence my things were wrongly thrown out.

As in accordance with the SAO's own regulations, I registered my locker with the office at the beginning of May, in order to have its use throughout the summer. I was told that while the SAO prefers students to register for lockers in one area of the basement, it was perfectly fine for me to take the locker I did.

For the first month and a half of summer, I used the locker to store only my own belongings. Sometimes I would lock the locker and sometimes I would leave the locker unlocked. After feeling as though the locker's contents were sufficiently safe, I began storing University library books there as well, which I had taken out under a card issued to me under Professor T's name, as I am currently working as her research assistant. On the day the locker was cleaned out, it contained (to the best of my recollection) a towel, t-shirt, shoulder-bag, at least three DVDs, and approximately twenty library books. 

The reason I was given for why my locker was deemed abandoned was because there was no lock on it. (It was also suggested that a pink sticky-note ought to have been there as well, but I'm a little unclear on this, as well as uncertain as to how a student is supposed to be able to ensure that a sticky-note on the outside of a locker is not disrupted.) However, I strongly feel that this is no justification for throwing out the contents of the locker, as I was told that I would be given the use of a locker so long as I simply registered it with the SAO. I was never told that either leaving a locker unlocked would forfeit my use of the locker, or that the "use" of a locker meant that the locker had to be locked. Indeed, signs in the locker areas mention nothing about needing to keep one's locker locked in order to retain its use; they only indicate that one needs to register one's locker, which - according to my understanding - I did.

Had my things been stolen, I would have accepted full responsibility. Similarly, had the library books gone missing, I would have paid for their replacement, for I would have been the one at fault. However, what did happen was that the very office which granted me the use of the locker was the one which deemed it abandoned, and felt justified in discarding of its contents, without so much as sending me email, either before or after the fact. Indeed, I only found out about my locker being cleaned out through the library staff. In my mind, the situation is analogous to a professor leaving his/her office unlocked over night, only to discover the next morning that the University authority which assigns offices has cleaned out the space.

Some of the things in my locker can be easily repurchased, and some of them had a great deal of sentimental value, and simply cannot be replaced. Once again, had they been stolen, I would have no one to blame but myself.

It is an awful feeling to be unable to trust my locker to the very authority which issues and operates the lockers. I feel as though the SAO was fully wrong to have thrown-out my belongings. I have raised the issue with Ms. Q and Mr. D, and they maintain that there was no wrongdoing on the SAO's part, but that I am at fault. However, I write to you today in the hope that, from your office, I will receive both compensation for what I've lost, and an apology.

Sincerely,

David Heti