| Subject: Chat with Catalina Saldaña |
| From: "Catalina Saldaña" <cat.salda@gmail.com> |
5:16 PM Catalina: hey
hows the new place?
me: it's pretty awesome
5:17 PM Mirna has a lot of cool stuff I'd forgotten about
like a hundred VHS movies
plus, I'm not living with failed human beings anymore
5:18 PM Carl move into his new place?
Catalina: no
but hes not always staying at my place
5:19 PM sometimes he stays at his house, not the new apt
its kinda weird
me: is he going to be having his kids over?
Catalina: over at his place?
me: yeah
Catalina: i would imagine. Its a 2 bedroom so he is going to set up the 2nd bedroom for them
hes very attached to those kids
5:20 PM me: if so, you're going to be in a stepmom sort of position
a pseudo-stepmom
Catalina: yeah i dont plan on meeting them for a very very long time
maybe never
theyll hate me anyway and i am scared of them
5:21 PM kids these days, you gotta watch out for them
or something
me: I'd imagine
they're all going to be sort of crazy
Catalina: ill read the emails you sent
i had not checked my email in a bit
feeling to blah
too blah
me: the important one concerns a freelance gig
5:22 PM I was offered a monthly column for Skeptical Inquirer
and I could use medical info
Catalina: i can barely type i feel so blah, my hands feel too heavy to move them
ok
let me read now
me: okay yo
5:23 PM Catalina: whats the CSI website?
5:24 PM me: this should be it
http://www.csicop.org/si/
so
if you think up a concept for an article
5:25 PM something involving medical science, particularly if it's falsely replicated in some supernatural manner
and provide me with just a few notes regarding whatever the topic is
5:26 PM I'll write it and do any other necessary research and split the money with you and also give you a "contributed to" credit
so $150 for you
Catalina: ok, by when do you want to do this?
5:27 PM me: I'm doing one a month, so there's no rush, we can plan to do one sometime in the near future.
I've already got ideas for first column anyway
so just keep it in mind
Catalina: what are your ideas?
5:28 PM me: probably going to do something on intelligent design and the recent history, near-future status of the movement surrounding it
Catalina: i see
5:29 PM me: or maybe something else, haven't thought about it yet, concentrating on the Project 3Jane thing
also
I went to Miriam's place with her two days ago
and I'm laying in bed working on my laptop
and her ex-boyfriend suddenly appears
as he lived with her until recently
Catalina: haha
5:30 PM was it awkward?
5:31 PM me: and says, "Time to go, bro."
sorry, had a call
so
he's this really douche 45 year old guy
5:32 PM and starts yelling at me and telling me I've got to leave, and meanwhile I'm looking for my pants
so I get my voice recorder out of my bag and stick it in my pocket while he's out of the room
and then record all of his crazy and incriminating nonsense
5:33 PM Catalina: what did miriam say?
me: like him threatening to throw my laptop out the window and whatnot
they were arguing about the lease and whatnot
anyway, later
5:34 PM he called me and said he wanted to be friends
and told me that his best friend is ceo of Little, Brown publishing
which is clearly nonsense
and offers to set me up with a meeting with the ceo
so, he's obviously fucking crazy
Catalina: so he wants to kill you
5:35 PM me: but anyway, I got ten minutes of him being clearly insane and threatening on my recorder
5:36 PM but then he just moved his stuff out and left anyway so I guess he's not really a threat anymore
also, I need to break up with Miriam
I went to this party with her
and all of her bestest friends were really hot
5:37 PM one of them keeps asking me about my life and whatnot and about Miriam and I explain that I'm seeing other girls and that Miriam is aware of this
and then she runs over to Miriam and tells her all of this
and then Miriam acts as if she had no idea even though she did
5:38 PM and runs off to go be upset
and etc
also I don't really like her
5:39 PM Catalina: so are you guys still talking?
me: yeah, it was resolved in ten minutes, she got over whatever it is that she thought she needed to get over
5:40 PM and she came back with me
Catalina: womem
women
me: no shit
Catalina: see i cant type
me: what's wrong with you again?
Catalina: my hands are too heavy
me: tired?
Catalina: i guess so
me: this place really is awesome
Catalina: i have not slept in several nights
5:41 PM since i got really fucked up on thursday. thats the last night i slept well
me: Mirna is going to run my life for me again and otherwise take care of me
Catalina: thats nice
i wish i had someone do that for me
me: you don't need it
I really do
I'm incapable of taking care of myself
5:42 PM Catalina: not true
maybe not good care
but youve kept yourself alive
5:43 PM me: yeah, I'm pretty awesome
so, how's work
also
you've got a couple of papers you've co-written, right?
Catalina: no one can argue that
no
A letter
which is published
me: I thought you did
Catalina: and working on a paper now
5:44 PM me: you haven't had any authorship credits on any papers at all?
Catalina: no
cause i keep fucking up
5:45 PM the letter was only a big deal because it was in the new england journal
and because it was about something i actually sort of cared about
its so hard for me to care about things
5:46 PM anyway the paper that im working on with my boss is about something i have no interest in at all
5:47 PM me: do you have any way of seeking other people with medical backgrounds with which to do such a paper?
Catalina: oh ive had plenty of chances
i have carl
me: or would you need access to Columbia's actual research anyway?
Catalina: but i just dont feel like doing it
me: well, aside from the Skeptic Inquirer
5:48 PM we could do something for Skeptic
and something else
Catalina: when i said i wanted to write stuff i didnt mean anything real
i meant like whats written on a box of cookies
chessmen has pretty funny stuff written on them
stupid shit
me: I guess I could harass you until you do it
5:49 PM Catalina: greeting cards
me: you could be a copywriter
Catalina: i could write greeting cards
me: do you really want to?
I've got contact info
Catalina: i dont know
me: for a couple of greeting card companies
Catalina: really
thats funny
5:50 PM me: almost worked for one of the cleverer ones when I first moved here, decided to decline
Catalina: why?
me: got another offer to be the chief writer for a political outlet founded by CNET guys
5:51 PM anyway, you could try to do greeting cards freelance
just get their submission guidelines and write a few
they pay well
Catalina: really?
5:52 PM me: long story short, you should really get off your ass and do some freelancing with me and on your own as well
Catalina: ok
me: so that you can do that or other things that are more easily done when one has that in one's background
Catalina: what i want is a job where i am mostly left alone
me: also, easy money
Catalina: where i dont have needy patients calling me all the time
me: well, that's it
if you do some medical writing
Catalina: i want as little contact with people as possible
5:53 PM ok
me: you probably need to get out of your job ASAP no matter what
5:54 PM also
gotta go
give me a call some time
Catalina: ok
id love to see your new place if possible
also: http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazine/archive/2010/02/features/carl-hart-the-drug-data-pusher.aspx
5:55 PM bye