what we talk about when we talk about love

Luckily for me I decided to marry Marri Coen, and she's been real good about keeping me line. When I fall on the front line she is there to pick up the slack, change the diapers, and post on our blog. For that I am truly grateful.
I've spent the last four days in a drunken stupor in front of the TV, and watched 65 teams want to become national champions. Because of my bracket I've been dismissive of teams such as CalState Fullerton and Texas A&M Arlington. American University has not crossed my mind, and I've scoffed at George Mason, who have not been this year's George Mason. I feel kinda' bad about that, mostly because I just realized that most of the guys out there on the floor are younger than me, and it feels weird rooting against little kids. But also, as a sports fan it's kind of my solemn duty to support the underdog unless there's a team I care about. And my bracket makes me forget that. It's a philosophical quandary. It's hard supporting Duke, it means that I've sold my soul for 2 points in a NCAA bracket, but then I realize that beating Eddie is worth much more than my soul, so I feel better about the whole thing.
Eddie is my American tutor. He teaches me how to be an American-- under his influence I have become a smoker, a drinker, a drug addict, and a jobless, prospectless 23 year old grad student. Needless to say, beating Eddie in our March Madness pool is about all life is worth right now.
I am also writing a story about war. It is depressing. I have so far killed seven characters in the first four pages. For those of you who were closely following my thesis, my first draft involved killing all my characters by about page 70. I think this is a worrying tendency on my part, but no matter how many characters I kill, my story will still be better than 'A History of Love', which is a terrible story.
This is despite the fact that Nicole Krauss is very high on the MFA Hall of Fame board. For those of you who don't know, MFA students/programs have a very special breed of the caste system, and authors are organized in a terribly hierarchical manner. I am not sure of the exact rules, but a reliable rule of thumb is that the less books you sell the more famous you are. I will, of course, explore this thesis further in due course.