Ocelopotamus

Next Wednesday, September 19, I’m going to be participating in a way-fun event called The Nod, in which some of Chicago’s best bloggers will be reading posts from their blogs live at the Uptown Writer’s Space.

And for some reason they’ve asked me to be on the bill, as well. Possibly to make the rest of them look good by comparison. (You always need someone to anchor the curve!)

The evening is being organized by local theater and comedy gurus Don Hall (of Angry White Guy in Chicago) and Joe Janes (of Bite and Smile).

I’ll hand the mike over to Don, and let him describe it in his own words:

On September 19 (Wednesday), Joe Janes and I are putting together a very special evening. It’s called The Nod with Don Hall and Joe Janes: 8pm at The Uptown Writer’s Space at 4802 North Broadway. $5 donation requested. It features Dave Awl, myself, Joe Janes, Nat Topping and Thea Lux with Greg Wendling, Keri Myslinski, Amy Guth , Claire Micklin and others.

The Nod is an event for bloggers.

The first half is an open mic for bloggers, sort of. It will featured bloggers reading works from their website. Interested bloggers must be confirmed in advance. To be confirmed, send an e-mail with a link to your site to thenod.don.joe@gmail.com.

The second half will feature me, Joe Janes, Thea Lux, Dave Awl and Nat Topping reading pieces from their blogs all trading off in a free form wacky existential kind of style thing.

If you’re a blogging type and live in Chicago, shoot us an email and join in or just come by, have some snacks and booze and listen in. It should be fun and an opportunity to pull the white-eyed, hairless Morlocks from their cave-like holes and get a little sun.

Wait, no one told me sunlight was part of the deal. I’m going to have to carry a parasol or something.

There’s even an official blog for The Nod, where you can read “best of” posts by some of the participants.

And now, let me tack on a little bit of meta.

Ironically, right about the same time I’m doing this public event that could possibly attract two or even three new visitors to this silly blog, I’m going to have to take a total break from blogging for a couple of weeks.

Here’s the deal: I have to move to a new apartment October 1st. Those of you who’ve known me personally might have some inkling what this means, or even have memories of my last move four years ago, which some have compared to the final hour of a German opera only with more blood and wailing, and less bassoon.

At any rate, the next few weeks will be chaos gently stirred with pandemonium as I try to pack up (or purge) my library of around a thousand books, about as many CDs, several hundred spiral notebooks full of stupid poems from high school, ten years’ worth of old Neo-Futurist scripts, Too Much Light menus and business meeting agendas I still haven’t managed to sift through, and of course Mr. Blue and Kiwi’s collection of 200 lovingly mutilated cat toys.

And then I get to replay the entire drama in reverse on the other end, after the move.

All while copyediting a 500-page book about iLife ’08 on a rush schedule. Just in case y’all didn’t think I had a day job. (I use the term “day” loosely.)

So — blogging is going to become increasingly scattershot around these parts, and then sometime in the next week or so, I’ll be declaring OcPot officially on hiatus until the second week of October or so.

Will the world still remember me then? Will you? And will the hoi polloi still be mad for tea-upon-ice when the cool autumnal weather sets in?

Time will tell, mes amis.