After delivering the papers this morning, I decided to walk to the library. It was cold outside, but after a few minutes, I forgot that it was cold, and the walk was enjoyable. I didn't want to sit at home all day, sulking.

Homes used to tell me about J.S. Bach all the time. He said that he felt much smarter each time he listened to Bach's music. I decided to check him out and give him a listen. As I was looking through the Cds, I found a folded piece of paper. I don't know why, but I reached down and grabbed it and unfolded it. There was a call number scrawled in pencil across it and after I grabbed a few Cds, I went to find the book on the piece of paper. It led me to a collection of short stories by a woman named Lydia Davis. Even though they were short stories, some stories were just a few sentences! For example:

They Take Turns Using a Word They Like

A brief conversation

"It's extraordinary," says one woman.

"It is extraordinary," says the other.

That's it. That's the whole story!

Then, I flipped through the collection, and read one of the longer stories, entitled "Glenn Gould" and I was surprised to find that Glenn Gould played Bach on several of the Cds that I was checking out. What a coincidence! I don't believe in coincidences, but this was...weird.

I called Rick from the library payphone and I explained to him what happened. He told me that I was meant to be at library and that the note was meant for me and that I had allowed myself to find the note and that I had allowed myself to be led to Lydia Davis' book. He said: "Curt, you've turned on your faucet. Keep it up!"

When I got home, I felt like there were butterflies in my stomach and I made a large batch of cinnamon candied lemon peel butter. And I felt strangely happy. I listened to Bach and I did feel smarter! It was like listening to a giant puzzle being formed and broken and formed again. It made perfect sense. Thousands of notes, with purpose!

I pulled out the road atlas and tried to figure out where I might like to go on my vision quest. Upstate New York is beautiful. West Virginia could be wild. Even though Michigan is a little bit of a hike, I bet it would be worthwhile.

I'll have to give an update tomorrow.

Now, I have to get going to chess club.