November 17, 2007 -- Saturday afternoon

Reading The Tao of Sobriety: Helping you to recover from alcohol and drug addiction, by David Gregson and Jay S. Efran. This is his second day of no alcohol and no cigarettes. Congratulations! He said that smoking deadens the senses and today, he can feel textures so much more. So far, the book talks about self-reflection, and how it's both good and bad.

What he recommends--The Wounded Fisher King and the Handless Maiden: Understanding the Wounded Feeling Function in Masculine and Feminine Psychology, by Robert Johnson, a Jungian analyst. The book explores two myths to explain male and female loneliness and lack of meaning in life.

He's been reading short stories by Haruki Murakami, which he finds dreamy, with opportunities for reflection on minute feelings that you would otherwise pass over, like what you feel when you see a piece of trash on the street.

If he were to write a book, it would come from the dreams he's had. He would use major dream figures as characters and create an internal dialog with them and let them grow, see what the characters have to tell him. Converse with the fair maidens.