Apologies for the brief absence. In the interest of maximizing my productivity and meeting my deadline with HarperCollins – the kind folks who bought the book I am contractually obligated to deliver this month – I locked myself in a house with no other humans, no internet and no TV for nearly two weeks. During that time I wrote quite a lot and learned many things:
-It is scary being in a house by yourself. In New York City I have a doorman and one point of entry. In a house there is no doorman, multiple points of entry, and me sleeping with a bread knife.
-It is nice being in a house by yourself when not focused on the fact you’re in a house by yourself.
-When I am in a house by myself working on the book I’m contractually obligated to deliver to the publisher in two weeks, I don’t shave and I walk around thinking out loud. This might mean I’m crazy.
-Being without internet for nearly two weeks made me realize how addicted I was to the acquisition of unimportant information. Not being able to get instant answers to questions like “What happened to Wham’s Andrew Ridgely?” means more time spent being productive.
Brian Sack
I started Banterist in 2003 after this conversation with my cat. It led to all sorts of good things.
Your writings have me laughing aloud in inappropriate places (mobile device hazard). I’m glad you’re back and haven’t given up on your faceless, spell-checking, update-addicted mob, nay, army, of followers.
Welcome back and let us know about the book release details.
Also, please ignore the ridiculous signature my “RIM-device” adds to my emails and makes me appear to be an arrogant ass….
Maybe I am?
Oh well. I’d like to think that I’d remove it if I could.
After retiring from active music-making, though active in music-writing under various pseudonyms, Ridgeley became a prominent environmentalist in the cause of water quality at English surfing beaches and riverways.
He had begun surfing in the early 1990s. While surfing with his brother off the coast of England, both men contracted a waterborne illness from the raw sewage being discharged from a nearby pipe. After recovering from his illness, Ridgeley gave an interview with The Times. He went on to become an environmental activist in the cause of water quality, working with the UK charity, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).
Ridgeley is a partner in an English business that makes surfing equipment. He frequently lends both his name and donates money to help pass laws against the discharge of raw sewage in UK offshore waters. Ridgeley’s and SAS’s efforts enjoyed success in recent years, having influence upon numerous safe sewage laws that have virtually eliminated E. coli illness and deaths in the UK.
He now lives in Cornwall, England, in a restored 15th-century property with his partner Keren Woodward [1] (of the 1980s pop group Bananarama).
Trivia
Indie pop group Black Box Recorder wrote a song in tribute, entitled “Andrew Ridgeley” on their 2003 album Passionoia.
Ridgeley is a supporter of Queens Park Rangers F.C. and can be seen wearing their kit in the music video for the Wham! single, “Freedom”.
c/o Answer.com
When my sister acquired her first place she spent several months sleeping on the couch with a hammer. Her reason for sleeping on the couch was the ability to guard both entrances to the apartment. Her other reason for prefering the couch was the ability to spy (before sleeping, of course) on the people who parked their cars and then walked through the drive-thru ATM. The hammer was her weapon of choice in case of an intruder. She informs me that it is preferable to a knife because it is impossible to cut oneself when grabbing it in a sleep befudled state.
Her paranoia has ceased since acquiring a husband. I think that the current theory is that an intruder would have to take out the more obvious threat first, giving her time to escape.
I can help. I was at a library conference in Edinburgh a few years ago, staying in a students’ hall of residence – fried breakfast and everything – and sitting next to me at breakfast was Andrew Ridgeley. He was in town for the Open Golf or some such. I was so excited I could hardly eat my sausage.
Where’s Andrew?
Slowly – very slowly – look behind you.
Being without internet also means not being able to copypaste funny texts to your friends instead of being productive.
Andrew Ridgeley is shacked up with Keren, the fit one from Bananarama. He plays a lot of golf.
You a dad again yet?
Jon
PS – James starts New School in the Fall on a ‘Creative Writing’ degree.