the holy lightning stone and the caffeine-soaked fleece

I'm looking for a holy grail, a light bulb, a philosopher's stone or some other sort of trite metaphor for inspiration. Maybe I need to retreat to the mountains. Stand under a heavy waterfall and promise - to no one in particular - that I'll find the inspiration to be inspired...someday. Would it take an extended train ride along the English countryside? (Hey it worked for Rowling) Or maybe I should throw a tea party for myself and my closest writer friends (if I had any) and we could transition naturally from gossiping over finger sandwiches to writing the greatest thriller novels of all time.

Should I beat the morning rush at the closest cafe and plop myself on the seat closest to an outlet? Maybe I could plug in my laptop and just...let the magic happen. Coffee combined with dim lighting, slow jazz, and a humming orchestra of latte machines and idle chatter make up a mecca of productivity. Right?

Or maybe what I really need is a pep talk. Some rah-rah-sis-boom-bah to hype myself up. But for what? For a tortuous commute? Endless spreadsheets reconciling payroll ledger after payroll ledger? This must be my passion, because why else would I be doing it? Not for the money. Please. Not for the pats in the back I get for a job well done (never happens). And especially not for the backhanded compliments from someone who looks like a perpetually angry, chewy piece of rotten mochi. (Fuck you very. Fuck you so much.)

Like I said, I'm looking for the holy grail. Or like the golden fleece or something. But at my current state I likely won't find shit because I don't know what I'm looking for and I keep making shitty excuses (by way of poorly inserted parentheticals) in my prose. Also non-sequiturs. Might as well call it a night.

3.11

"Japan memorialized the more than 190,000 people who were killed one year ago when a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck the northeastern coast and triggered a devastating tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Emperor Akihito led millions of citizens in a minute's silence at a ceremony in Tokyo's National Theatre...

According to official data, more than 340,000 people are still living in temporary homes. The quake struck at 2:46 pm on March 11 last year and triggered a tsunami that was 128 feet tall at its highest point, laying waste to entire towns as it came ashore." (Bloomberg News)