Monday, May 9, 2011

i'm tired (and complainy - WARNING)

i'm tired of this veil that has been hanging on me for the past few months. it's heavy. it skews my vision. it slows me down in every way. it's physical and emotional and mental and i feel like it's draining me of every last ounce of anything i have.
it started out mentally, just not wanting to be at work because i work for assholes in a soul-sucking profession. and it's not like i even make a lot of money. who would WANT to go to work?

and now it's getting physical and emotional all at the same time... i haven't been able to make my body do anything outside of it's normal routine for about a month and a half now. and i'm getting really freaking tired of it. i'm so tired of being tired. i finally kicked my own ass this afternoon and made myself do an hour of yoga and it was all i could do to stay awake. i've been eating minorly badly for a while now and i can't get myself out of it. because hot chocolate from a pouch just sounds so much better than anything else right now. i haven't been able to get warm. i'm in three layers of clothes and i have the heater on all the time. and i'm still cold. i've been fading in and out of mental consciousness and it makes me physically dizzy. here's some TMI: i drink more than a gallon of water a day and, at the end of the day, my pee is still pretty yellow. after a gallon of water, there shouldn't be a lick of canary in there.
i have an appointment for a physical and a full lab workup this week, but i'm pretty sure they're going to tell me that i'm healthy as an ox and want to put me on anti-depressants. those will just make me a raging asshole. i'd much rather be eeyore than angry, ragy tigger.

and then there's the emotional stuff. i know i do this to myself: physically distancing myself from all the people that i love so that i don't have an outlet. i want so bad to have actual arms here that i can wrap myself in and just relax for a little bit because i know that there's someone there to share it, even if it is just for five minutes, ten minutes, an hour. i'm so tired of being the one that has to see or find my light. i want so badly right now to see it reflected back at me from someone else. physically. i know it's there, it's just this shroud dims it so much and i'm looking so hard for it sometimes that it makes me have terrible vision, trying to see it through everything else. that makes my eyes tired.

and i don't want to be that asshole that keeps complaining about the weather. i refuse to believe that the weather is the sole cause of my feeling this way.

so, i'm not even lilli von schtupp tired, i'm just fuckin' done. dammit.

Friday, April 15, 2011

in the philosophy class

there is a young buck.
he encompasses everything a young buck could be descriptive of: strapping, dark, young, trying to figure out who he wants to be when he grows up and all full of that "fake it 'til you make it" that comes with being a young dude. example: he's from toronto, but describes himself as european. what? he wants to be a crooked accountant. he has a lot of growing up to do.
he's french-canadian. and charming. with crooked teeth. but i'm really turned off by his youngness.
and he's... intrigued by? enamored with? fascinated by? me, which confounds me to no end. he won't let me listen to the class most of the time, as he keeps trying to get my attention. and then he asks questions that i don't really want to answer, so i give some vague answer that is true, in the meta sense, and now he has to "figure me out." i don't mean for that to happen. is that what flirting is?

my bets are on that he's going to try and find a way to ask me to "hang out" before the class is over. i've done young before. i don't like it because they need guidance and don't want to teach or guide in that way, i want to be taught. and they're totally lazy in the sack which should really be the only thing they're good for.
i have a scarce few weeks to figure out how to say no to him gently.
maybe my movie recommendation will freak him out. here's hoping.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

dear adam cohen:

being the SXSW enthusiast that i am, and being that i couldn't attend this year's festival, a co-worker of mine let me know about this interview you gave to npr just after the festival. i listened. and then i wanted to viscously box your ears like a victorian-era governess.

you moan about how "there's nothing. there's no more gold bullion. there's no more — unless you're lady gaga — you're trying to make a fast buck in the slow lane." no shit sherlock! have you not been paying attention? what's left of the "music industry" isn't giving out contracts - "gold bullion" - anymore unless you've already done all the hard work yourself. do you think stefani germanotta walked into interscope and said, "hey, i have this crazy idea that others have done before - ya know, like kiss meets madonna - wanna gimme a contract?" and they did it? i think not.
you, with the three major labels you've been on - the three major labels you've released material for - are complaining about what ISN'T at sxsw anymore? whether you took advantage of it or not, you had/have so many more opportunities for success than a vast majority of artists out there. with your father being who he is (leonard cohen), you not only get a top quality education in lyricism that NO ONE ELSE on this planet has access to, but you also have access to the people who's sole job it is to "make" a congenial, yet cool, outside image: presumably a team of professional marketers, promoters, agents, etc. to whom you (i assume) could go to and ask for advice on how to best promote this, or how to make that more palatable to a large audience instead of having to flounder like everyone else does.
what exactly were you expecting to find at sxsw that you don't have or haven't already had? little leprechauns wearing cowboy hats and carrying pots of gold and fans, handing them out willy-nilly? unicorns that poo elves who will give you money and make you feel good about "just being you"?

let's say you were expecting to get a contract with a label at sxsw. what exactly does that mean anymore? labels don't want to give you money for promotion, so, while you may have an advance with which to make a record, who's going to promote it for you? who's going to print posters and man your facebook page and send out newsletters and keep you interactive and relevant with your fans on a daily basis? not your label. YOU.
in exchange only for the money to make your album, you get to deal with a label, a conglomerate of people and boards, who are going to tell you that 4 of your 13 songs aren't acceptable and track 5 is ok, but it needs a little more zip and can't you get me one really obvious song that we can MAYBE get the radios to play so it looks like we're trying to promote you? is that the kind of artistic freedom you were looking for at sxsw?

you know adam, there are a lot of technologies and "movements" out there these days where you can live comfortably (not a favorite word of mine) and still do what you love through the kindness and generosity of fans. sites like kickstarter.com can help you raise the money on your own to fund your record, promotion and maybe even a tour.
for example: matt the electrician, an austin-based artist that i've become friends with over the years, just recently used this platform with screaming success. he initially set up the drive for 30 days with a goal of $8,000, only enough to get the bones of his record off the ground. after a small amount of promotion and THREE days, he had the $8,000. after the 30 day drive period, he had more than $25,000 donated by friends, family and fans to get his record made and do whatever he needed to do to get it promoted. and he gets all this without the strings and demands that traditional labels would put on him.
interesting, no? i guess this is what happens when you work hard and put a little pride in yourself and what you've decided to do for a living instead of leaving it up to others who have only a tiny fraction of the vested interest that YOU have in, oh i don't know, your life - your success.

yes, $25,000 is no pot o' gold, but matt's no lady gaga either. you must have some inkling of how uncomfortable she is ALL THE TIME. those crazy shoes she wears? she wears them all the time. she's the equivalent of christian bale's twins and the chinese magician in "the prestige": she lives her illusion. if you want to give up your essence, your self, for total and complete public consumption as lady gaga has, then do it, and watch the money roll in. but, until then, realize there are sacrifices and hard work that come with creating and having fans and, therefore, creating and having success in the music industry.

so, adam cohen, i'm curious what kind of experience you were expecting, what experience would have made you happy with sxsw.

sincerely,

an avid music fan who hates whiners.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

backyard

lying on our backs in the soft grass looking up at the stars. the night is warm and sultry, the grass cool and refreshing. the cicadas click and whirl and fill up the night. you take my hand and we just breathe.



"what are you thinking?"

what am i thinking? do you really want to know? because it's crowded in there.

squeezing my hand gently, "tell me."

ok... i'm thinking about how i can smell the warm scent of your skin and how it blends with the smell of the grass and the earth, making me feel safe and snug. how i want to curl up in that smell and live the rest of my life from it. how you make me feel safe without even realizing. i'm thinking of how it scares my heart that anyone, besides me, has the tiniest amount of power to make me feel safe. i'm thinking how it scares my brain more that my (perhaps unfounded) trust and confidence in you trumps my heart's fear of you making me feel safe, making me ok with and able to look objectively at that fear.
i'm thinking about how i would give you anything you ask of me. how i'd probably give it to you even if you didn't ask. how i want to give you only the best me, which is a me that doesn't exist yet, but will when i have a master's degree in my hand. i'm thinking about how you're going to ask for me before the best me is here. i'm thinking about how i'm going to explain to you that the me that i want to give to you isn't here yet in a way that you'll understand.

i'm thinking about that house on five acres with a guest house and outbuildings and a chicken coop and a wet weather creek and lots of trees and pretty slopes with tiny bluebonnets. i'm thinking about how it's just far away enough to be away, but close enough that it doesn't feel like a burden to go to town. i'm thinking about the hammock on the trees upwind from the chicken coop. about swinging lazily on it with you at dusk, watching the fireflies come out to light up the indigo sky. about having horses and dogs and any random animal that comes to live on the "farm". about growing our own vegetables and having lemon, almond, fig, apple and orange trees so we don't ever have to leave that blissful corner. about how avocado trees might not be worth the trouble. avocado smoothies, mmmmmm... ok, they might be worth the trouble.

i'm thinking about where my nest is. or where it will be. and where the sticks and straw are so i can see the materials i'm working with.

i'm thinking about how both feeling the world move underneath my back and feeling your blood pump through your hand makes me dizzy in the most delicious way.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

boo!

the mean queens go to the pool at night! BUMMER.

tonight was my first time back in the pool in four months and... i didn't die. this is the first time, though, that i didn't feel AWESOME times 100 about 4 laps in. i think that means i really needed it.

but man, oh man! those queens are MEAN who are at the pool! DAMN! i hope they're not there everyday.

there's this woman...

i want to shake her. she sits in the office next to me. i'm not really in an office, more of an open space, but she's in an office and our desks share a wall.

she's always yelling about something. it's her normal tone of voice, to yell. like she was raised in an environment of exploding bombs: literal ones.

after a week, i started to tune her out because she was only yelling at me about 28% of the time.

but, isn't it lazy and supremely rude to yell at people all the time? it's starting to feel like it.

i know she has an inside voice, i've heard her use it on VERY rare occasions.

maybe a good rap on her throat would shut her up.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

hint fiction

this morning on the bus, i read all of the book hint fiction and loved it. these were my favorites:

"before perseus"
Medusa heaves his rigid stone form off herself and cries granite tears. The hat wasn't enough, she thinks. I need some blindfolds.

"chaste"
I always thought it would hurt more but I kind of liked it. He hoped I would. And technically, I'm still a virgin. Amen.

"jermaine's postscript to his seventh-grade poem assignment:
Ms. Tyler, the girl part was about Shantell. Please don't tell anyone.

"free enterprise"
Retail. Thirty-nine hours a week for eighteen years, she says, proud. Like she's a survivor of rape and she knows it.

"ransom"
Broke and desperate, I kidnapped myself.
Ransom notes were sent to interested parties. Later, I sent hair and fingernails, too.
They insisted on an ear.

"breaking labor news"
Our job was to lubricate the time machine and keep it oiled, but man, we just now found out we're being paid by the hour.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

how is it?

that it took me 30 years to make my first apple pipe?? ha!

and how is it that i can recite all the words of "blazing saddles" now even better than when i'm not baked?

Friday, March 11, 2011

to all the office husbands: past, present and future

i have known you for two months. we have a light, casual friendship on a professional level because (since "office" is in your title) you don't get to see me drunk. we have lunch once every couple of weeks. you give advice on dude stuff that some always single girls don't know or don't have the patience for or care to learn about: selling cars, fixing macinery like washing machines, putting together stereo components, etc.
in exchange, i am awesome, smart, funny and i actually listen to - and am usually interested in - what you want to talk about, which is generally the stuff you like the most. all of this AND i'm not that hard on the eyes. what more could an office mate want?

so, office husband, when you tell me that you and your REAL wife are splitting up, please don't be offended when i do not accept your invitations to "hang out" outside of work hours. i am really not interested in you physically and am only marginally interested in you otherwise because you are able to hold a conversation that doesn't revolve solely around your car or your phancypants condo. as a matter of fact, your increase attentions toward me in this short period of time now make me uncomfortable. VERY uncomfortable. because i know that there is more than a little part of you hoping to get me drunk enough to let my defenses down... as evidenced that one time that you got drunk over lunch and told me so.

this is not the first time this has happened. or the second. so, believe me when i say this: our friendship needs to be put on hold until you get a girlfriend. a girlfriend who is not me.

i'm totally not sorry that i am so awesome. but you don't get to dip your wick in this company pot.

kisses!

shannon

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

so until we meet again, i suppose we're just friends

my arm tucked tightly in the crook of your elbow, my hand wrapped up around your arm. i feel tall walking next to you, as though i'm a match for you tonight, even though you tower a head over me. you squeeze me closer to you as you walk me to my car - in step, in silence.

it's drizzling but not enough to notice, not enough to get wet.

when we get to the car, we hold onto each other as though we are the last things we will ever hold. it's not urgent, it's not binding, it's not gripping. it's not fraught with need, only with want - newly realized want. this is what holding should be. we envelop each other equally; my face buried in your chest, your face buried in my hair.
after a long while, we look at each other, smile and say "hi", seeing one another through a new pair of eyes. six years of curiosity, wonder, unspoken and undefinable feelings and inexplicable kinship come to a head as lips meet. tentatively at first, neither truly expecting to find that they are magnets willing themselves together; spinning around each other's surface trying to find the most sticky spot, only to find that they are all sticky in vastly different ways. furtive exploration of mouths and cheeks and tongues and chins ensues: wordlessly, breathlessly.
you pull away abruptly, sighing forcefully, saying "we shouldn't have done that." i stumble over the usual words - the wrong words - for what feels like hours when, in the heat of the moment, you exclaim - proclaim - that my wrong words are right for you, my wrong words are what you want.
confirmation that the heat of the moment is the truest of moments.
it was so unexpected that i didn't ask for clarification. i didn't ask the questions that later popped into my head, into my "right" mind. that was probably for the best.
i rest my forehead on your chest, neither of us want to let go, nor do we know how to proceed. we catch our breath and look at each other again, navigating eyes and faces to find out where we are, forgetting the magnets that live in our lips as they meet again - the only natural course, the only natural response. we give in and let them guide us, pausing for breath but no more words.

your pocket buzzes: the herald reminding us that time continues on and ours is coming to a close. our lips meet again in what we silently tell each other is a farewell kiss, foolishly thinking we have a modicum of control where out mouths are concerned. when they've had their momentary fill, we breathe and unexpected words of intimacy and consolation spill forth from the unknown: whispered softly, heard loudly.
we kiss once more - this time, more in control of our faculties - and say good bye with admonishments to take care of ourselves: take care of ourselves in exactly the way we know we can't right now.
we detach our bodies
gripping arms
sliding down to hands
as we back away from each other, not wanting to break the connection.

it's only after you're standing on the sidewalk and i've opened the car door do i realize that it's raining. really raining. and it has been the whole time, evidenced only by my hand plastering my hair to my face as i try to pry my mind from the fog.

***

this is a first time. this is a moment in time. perhaps it will be another year - another six years - before it happens again for the second time. but now i finally know what all those fairy tale kisses are about: those princesses are being awakened from an old habit, an old notion, an old feeling and seeing the world with new eyes - no more terrible vision. there is an energy within now; not nervous or anxious or scared, but an energy that requires attention: a whirlwind in the heart that finally started spinning the right way.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

what i require

for the past 10 years i've been stubbornly single while secretly flirting with the idea of a relationship. with a dude. that i can kiss and hug and talk to and have sex with. sometimes dangerously so, sometimes disastrously so, sometimes shamelessly so. i've broken my own heart countless times in thinking about it, ogling and leering at it. i've been my own personal tease.

and since the tease is all about being vague, i have been afraid to put into words what i require in a romantic partner. afraid because words can limit the possibilities of awesomeness of this mythical person. i haven't lived enough life to know what this "everything" that a partner should be entails - i hope to never know because that means i'm still being surprised. i have been afraid because these words, while not carved in stone, are most definitely not drawn in sand either, making it hard to justify changes and corrections and evolutions.
i equate stating what i require to defining a "type" and i don't have a "type" to be honest. at least not in the conventional definition - i have no feature requirements (barring height because i've learned my lesson more than once with this), no job requirement, no income requirement, no kid wanting requirement or marriage requirement, etc. not that this is an invitation to the slackers out there, oh no, because you'll be joyfully working hard for this radtasticness, just not in the conventional way.

i've just recently started being comfortable even discussing aloud what my "requirements" are of a partner. as a matter of fact, i started thinking about this solely because a person i know, who i thought would be the consummate single person for the rest of their life mentioned in passing that they knew what they wanted in a relationship. and it shocked me and surprised me that they were even thinking about it. i couldn't let that stand! so, taking after the only person i've talked about this with, i'm going to put it down in writing so i can stop thinking about it.

these requirements are in no particular order:

- communication: i am a tactless and honest person. i don't know how to lie. as a matter of fact, i start to stutter and stumble over my words terribly when i attempt, what i believe to be, a blatant lie so, i'm going to be communicating with you FP (fictional partner - FP from now on) and i would very much appreciate the same courtesy. if we're not having enough sex for your liking FP, please tell me, i would be more than happy to fix that for you. if you don't like the way i kiss with a little nibble FP, please think of a solution that will satisfy you and tell me about it. if you don't like that i wake up in the double digits on the weekends because you feel like the day gets wasted and you start to resent me for it, by god! wake me up and tell me! i'm a big girl and i know that EVERYONE is different, but FP, i need you to realize that i cannot read your mind.
my parents have been married for 30 years. they still don't talk to each other. i see how they walk on eggshells around each other because of it and it kills me.

- attention: i'm not good at being in the spotlight, so i'm not saying i'm that girl who needs everything to be about me. rather, what i require from you FP, is for you to realize that i'm in the room when we're in the same place. we don't have to be attached at the hip, but it would be nice to feel your eyes on me at some point of the evening - preferably with salacious intentions behind them.
i would like it if you made me feel like enough of a girl with your attention that it encourages me to wear dresses - i would wear them for you FP - because i look pretty in them and have fabulous legs that go all the way up to my ass and because dresses almost demand that the wearer be treated like a girl.
say we're in a relationship that puts thousands of miles of physical distance between us... this attention would then be in the form of phone calls or letters (yes, real ones with stamps and handwriting and invisible skin flakes so i can get the tiniest whiff of you from the letter) or electronic communications. if you are text-happy or email-happy, i require a minimum of one phone call per week so i can put a voice to the attention that i'm getting, so it can feel real instead of mechanical. i can be very good at phone sex when necessary. i've watched a lot of porn (understatement). i know what they say. there is a distance caveat as well, but that is to be discussed at another time FP.

- affection: boy! is this an important one! the last relationship i was in, we had an unspoken "one foot" rule that was to be obeyed in public. well, HE had this rule. as in, there was always one foot distance between our physical beings when we were out together. i did not like this. and it will not be tolerated this time FP. there are several reasons that this will not stand.
i'm not saying that we need to be attached at the lip or be THAT pair that is disgustingly handsy and grindy and moany, the pair that everyone in the room is looking at and thinking "unless they throw down right here in the middle of the floor and give everyone a show, they need to find a freakin' bathroom stall". i would prefer if we weren't that pair.
what i require is the knowledge that i can run up to you in a room of people, grab your arm and whisper something pertinent, inane, silly or random in your ear whilst "unintentionally" rubbing my boob against your arm and leave you with a kiss on the neck just below your ear simply because i feel like it and not have you freak out that i'm touching you in public.
i like to touch and to be touched... any and all synonyms of the word "touch" - i like them all. i also like to hold hands. A LOT. i like that more than sex, to be honest. it makes me feel accepted and wanted and that's important to anyone. damn, that's another physical requirement - you'll need at least one hand FP.

- companionship: i require that you like to spend time with me. i know that's a deal-breaker for some, but seriously, you want my cooter? i want you to put some genuine time into it. i don't want to spend every excruciating second of every minute of every day with you and have you LOVE it, no. there's no might about it - i would definitely kill you were that the case. but i want you to say "yes" to my invitations to go see shows or a movie with me. or... OR i want you to invite me to something you want to go to - motocross, monster truck rally, lumberjack guild, hockey game, etc. - so we can spend time together. dates! dates, not "hanging out", are good! i like to do a lot of things so give me a try, i probably won't say no. unless you're talking about seal clubbing. or dog fighting. or going to a casino - don't ever invite me to a casino or place of gambling. this will be further discussed at a later date.

- passion: i require that you be passionate about something that is not me. bees. nascar. hand models. toy trains. the environment. lumberjacking. spoon collecting. road trips. foot-sploshing porn. hipsters. satanism. the demise of hipsters.
i want to listen to you talk about something that makes you light up from the inside. something that gets you excited like a little child. because, if you're excited about it, i'm bound to be curious and, in turn, get excited for you once you start telling me all about it. something that gets you so excited that you bounce a little while talking about it without even realizing. it doesn't have to be what you do for a living, although that is an added bonus, but, perhaps, something that makes what you do for a living worth it.
it is unacceptable if i ask you on our first date "what do you like to do?" and your only answer is "play on the computer" even after the 4th time i've asked you, implying "i understand that you like to play on the computer, could you maybe tell me what games you play on the computer?"

- sex: uhm... it is REQUIRED that you not be afraid of sex FP. it is REQUIRED that you like sex, love it even. i've met those dudes who are afraid and who don't like it before. surprising and FRUSTRATING. i like to have sex. a lot. and i like exploring new ways to have sex. a lot. i will NEVER be that woman that withholds sex for something. i'm just punishing myself then as well, right? right. i have no size requirements and we can work on stamina of all sorts together. if you've got all of the above as well as enthusiasm and willingness to learn and take direction, i have a feeling we'd be able to work it all out.

**THE KEY**: yes, you can have everything above and still not get it right. the key to all this is:
you need to be happy in, or find happiness in, being these things for me. otherwise everything is doomed from the start.
i'm extremely sensitive to how people are feeling - i can sense resentment and grumpiness and frustration and all these negative feelings and those feelings taint the wonderful things you do for me (or my magical cooter) making them bad and gross and... sullied. everything above is too pure and good to ever be sullied. sullying is not tolerated.
i've completed an informal survey of coffee shop patrons and 100% of them stated that, yes, they broke up with (or were broken up with by) their past partners because it just didn't make them happy to make their partners happy anymore. i know that happens. i know that people change. i like that people change, but don't let your unhappiness turn into resentment FP - go back to the first item on the list and talk to me about it.

with the above the more menial wants are:
- height: i'm 5'10". that's 177cm for you metric folks. i really need you to be at least 6' (183cm) tall because i don't want to deal with the asshole that comes out because of a measly 1.5 inches. and it would be nice and interesting to learn how to wear and walk in heels.
- challenge me!: this does not mean abuse me. :)
- be a meat eater: i am. like that and like that but still eat meat like that.
- do not take yourself too seriously. if you can't laugh at you, i will eventually begin to hate you and you will probably end up having a heart attack.
- like "blazing saddles": this shouldn't be difficult, it's only the greatest movie ever made. and if you are offended by it, the probability is HIGH that i will offend you at some point.

let me wrap this up by saying that i'm not requiring anything on this list that i'm not willing to give. excited about giving, even! at all. if i'm nothing else, i'm painfully fair.

Monday, December 13, 2010

my darling dearest seven:

it has been almost 2 months since i've written here! since i've visited you! i blame the writing class. that's all over. for now. until january 8th.
what i have learned from that class is that it takes a different kind of stamina than i have currently to write all the time and to write to someone else's specifications. the latter is the harder part, really. i'm still astounded by how utterly exhausted i was almost immediately upon completion of that class. and since i didn't have the luxury of sleeping in the next day or the day after that, i had to wait until friday night and saturday before i could truly give in to the tyty. and boy, did i ever. i slept soundly and throughly from 11:30pm to 4:15pm - 16 hours!! whoa! that's kind of unacceptable. :)

so, in an effort to increase my writing stamina, i intend to do a little writing all through this break. first things first, i'm going to do my kanye geek out for megz. then, i've been tossing around a dream expansion/maybe short story thing. but i'm not sure about that one. i'll take ideas from other people as well to see what happens.

i am thoroughly enjoying reading for pleasure right now - mr. wesley stace is pulling me along at a gentle pace, but i have a feeling it's going to get meatier in a bit - we're onto the shaving part already!

i promise not to neglect you so in the future. i need to see you as the valuable tool that you are and take advantage of you!

kisses!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

i love tom waits (but not only for the reasons you may think)

i LOVE tom waits. he fills my geeky heart to beyond full for several reasons.
yes, he's an incredible and unique artist and musician in his own right, making use of the tools at his disposal, whether they're "acceptable" to others (the mainstream) or not.
yes, he writes awesomely rad songs and has a wonderful vision of music that he manages to convey in the most unexpected ways.

but today, i love tom waits because he too, is a music geek. and now i feel like i can relate on a completely different level.
tom waits is one of MAYBE a handful of musicians who would be able to say "i don't go see live music. why should i?" or "i don't like live shows or listening to other musicians - it distracts my 'vision' and songwriting ability" and have those sentiments not distract from the value of my listening experience.

i do not understand musicians who don't go to live shows or listen to music. i don't understand writers who don't read. i don't understand artists who don't enjoy art. i know these people, but i do not understand them.
and, admittedly, i'm judgy of them because it seems snooty to me. how can you think that you have nothing to learn from others who are doing the same thing you are on some level? that you're the be all and end all? how can your music, writing, art, etc. grow if you limit your perspective so much? how can you NOT find something to appreciate?

*tangent start*
ten years ago i dated a musician who didn't go to live shows of current musicians, who didn't listen to other current music. he wouldn't go see or listen to anyone who started making music during or after he started making music because "they're doing the same thing as i am" (his words, not mine) it took all i had not to say, "yeah, well, they're playing to *insert any number here* people every night and you're not. you don't think you might have something to learn from them? you don't think there's something to appreciate about that?" i had to keep the peace somehow, right? sensitive guy joes, those musicians. he wasn't very good then and something tells me he isn't very good now.
besides, he made me go see the cure. and i didn't like the cure to begin with, but seeing robert smith blown up into a large sad clown with bad makeup and scraggly, electrified hair only made me pity him, not appreciate him.
*tangent end*

but tom waits? tom waits goes to live shows. tom waits is geeky enough about music that he'll call up his "people" and say, "how do i get to talk to _______?"
and then it happens.
and then he writes about it.
in mojo.
and it's awesome.
as a matter of fact, the first line in the article i just read (thanks meg) is, "i first saw hank iii maybe two years ago..." implying that he's seen hank iii live more than once!
what??!

TOM WAITS IS A MUSIC GEEK.

it is my dream that one day i will have some kind of mystical sway and that i will have "people" that i can "call" and say "how do i get to talk to tom waits?" so we can geek out together about music and books and everything.
and then it'll happen.
and then i'll write about it.
it won't show up anywhere. except, maybe, here.
and then he'll write about it.
in mojo.
and it will be incredibly surreal and awesome.

i think i'm just going to use awesome one more time in this post.

awesome.

Friday, October 22, 2010

advice

from one "professional" to... all you out there.
if you intend to purchase a home or refinance your current home, do everyone involved in the process a favor:

do NOT send double-sided copies of the information we request, you patchouli-doused hippies. this does NOT save trees. you know why? because we just make copies of the other sides and VOILA! another tree dead.
as well, do not provide items that are STAPLED. nonono. we're smart and can figure out when one bank statement ends and another begins. we remove the staples anyway. and if we miss one, it totally fucks up the endless copying we have to do.

we understand that you do this out of the kindness of your heart, thinking that it helps us and/or the precious "environment".
that's very nice of you.
really
.
.
.
but when you do this we totally call you nasty names behind your back and curse the horse you rode in on.
just letting you know.

Friday, October 15, 2010

w.h.i.s.k.e.y.

"what does a double jamesons run here?"
"five (shown with her delicate hand, each digit splayed)"
"three shots please." as i lay my id and the twenty dollar bill flat on the mahogany
she brings the three double shots over, examines my id and takes the cash
"do you want to ope..." "wait"
"i don't need anything back. keep it"
first shot goes down. deep and sweet
"are you su.."
halfway through the second shot...
"please. keep it."
"ok."

"rough day?"
"understatement." as i pick up the third
the third is gone and i leave the cellar. 1/3 of the people who saw me come in are watching me leave

i feel it pouring down my esophagus. warm and tingly, as i round onto overton
i feel it warming me on my left
then on my right

in my tummy now - as i head home in the chill
so warm and comforting
it's in my intestines now
as i step into my apartment
i can feel the comforting tingle in my toes
as i crack open another oatmeal creme pie
"mmmm.... whiskey. you make everything ... almost... livable."

Thursday, October 14, 2010

learning

the hard way that there is an enormously ravenous divide between "will do" and "want to".

only sometimes is there an imperceptible and highly-precarious bridge between the two.

too bad it can't be as fun as "3 the hard way" (HA!) or even "7 the hard way".(OUCH!)

Saturday, October 9, 2010

thinking

i choose to think about the rain as iocaine powder: with exposure to small doses and gradual increases, i will eventually build up an immunity.

Friday, October 1, 2010

i'm just going to say it:

going out by yourself is RIDICULOUSLY LAME.

for years now i've done almost all my "socializing" (i use that term extremely loosely) by going out by myself - not going out alone to meet up with people, but...

going. out. alone. full stop.
no one to dance with, no one to laugh with, no one to talk to, no one to observe other people with, no one to share awesome rad new bands with. you get the picture.
oh, and you're also that chick that people look at with pity because you're alone, but they don't pity your situation enough to want to talk to you. i get those looks EVERYDAY.

over the years i've kept my chin up about it. i tell everyone "it's all good, i LIKE doing things on my own". which was true at one time. and which is still true SOMETIMES. but doing things alone is so much more rad when you have the option of going with someone else. you savor the time alone more.
sweetly supportive people in couple units try their best to grin and say "that's great that you can do that!" while inwardly thinking, "gee, that sucks." and they're right. it sucks limey donkey balls.

i'm so over this. it has just gotten worse with time, not better. i do this to myself and i wish i knew how to stop.

joel plaskett radness couldn't even get me out of this funk, so i'm pulling out the big guns: "the incredible mr. limpet". this better work.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

touch

human touch is a strong and incredible tool that i don't think enough of us realize we have at our disposal. it makes us feel connected to one another. it promotes trust in one another. it allows for the trade of energy between people. the way people touch one another speaks volumes about how they feel about each other.
for me, personally, touch relaxes. and, since i don't get a lot of it, it haunts me.

the feeling of a hand at the small of my back makes me feel protected and guided. and i'm totally cool if that hand "accidentally" moves down to grab a little ass.
the feeling of a hand stroking my back in long, assertive strokes makes me limp and purr like a kitten. it's soothing and relaxing - the more assertive the pressure, the more relaxed i get. i feel like i can let the world go and breathe the way i'm meant to breathe when someone strokes my back like that.
hugs are awesome. with the right hug, i can melt into the other person and not even notice the world around me which is a right tough thing for me to do any other time. a hug lets me forget about all the aholes i have to deal with on a daily basis. and there are so many different kinds of hugs for different situations, they're like languages in their variety and, therefore, fascinating to me.
i loath to mention this, but i think it's a lovely idea: we all know my slight disdain for one jason "chapman" (ok, jason mraz - but he sounds like tracy chapman!) but that dude has a tattoo on his shoulder that simply says "rest area" and i LOVE that idea. because it's so true. and that's what hugs do - they're fuel.
kisses are similar to hugs, but the minor differences make them vastly different. i don't even think i have words for kisses, all i know is that my mouth and i remember them all. some, most definitely, more than others.
holding hands has to be my most cherished form of touch. more than hugs, more than kissing, more than sex, more than anything else is holding hands. its such a simple gesture and it says so much, consciously and unconsciously. holding hands between friends and lovers says (to me) "hey, i'm hanging out with/lovin' on this person and i don't care who knows it." holding hands is subtle and powerful. lots of energy, calming, healing, nurturing energy is passed through the hands.

i think about all these things, and in this detail, because i CRAVE human touch. and as much as i crave it, is as little of it as i receive.
the last hug i had was just over a month ago. the last hand holding, as well, just over a month ago. the last squishy, melty, "let everything go" hug, 5 months ago. last drunken kiss, january 3, 2010. last sober kiss, 1 year ago.

i can't remember the last time someone held my hand in public.

these statistics make me sad. they make me feel cold. they make me feel unlovable and untouchable. they make me feel empty and devoid of human connection. and i'm not sure how to make it better. do i just go up to random strangers and say "hey, let's hold hands"?

like that's going to win me any favors.

thanks for the vent, blog.