1:32 PM - An electrical emergency is avoided thanks to the arrival of the maintenance guy.

my handwriting as crappy font.

Pirate Hat

For Halloween. Just need some newspaper and your hands. And a head to wear it on. And a marker maybe to draw a skull and cross bones.

Is that Buddy Holly? Who's that other guy?

Caption Contest

Include a caption and win fabulous prizes!

Something nice for your eyes.

The bosses earning their keep.

Belief and Technique for Modern Prose

LIST OF ESSENTIALS

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house
4. Be in love with yr life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Dont think of words when you stop but to see the picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Lonliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure. coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in heaven

(from Jack Kerouac's Essentials of Spontaneous Prose)

Depend On Love

Classic k_sra

Lyrics:

Forget those moments
burdened down by shame,
forget the voices
throwing on the blame.
All the things that you've been through
they prove that you were true
and they never can reclaim.
Oh, you are not the same.

Forget rejection
and those dismissive eyes
forget the backs turned
when they heard the lies.
Darling, I have seen the way
you live from day to day
and there's nothing to despise.
Oh, these are your skies.

Forget your anger
with those who were so blind.
Just take a deep breath
and leave it all behind.
I know all will soon be well,
I'd never leave you if you fell,
there's a way to rise above:
oh, depend on love.

battery/two wires/peanut butter

stronger than peanut butter.
(Ok, I had no peanut butter.)
for Chez Joel.

Word Drive

Give Generously

It seems that in this modern world, those who already have a full lexicon continuely amass more, while the word-deprived waste away on verbage such as "like" and "um."
This verbal disparity is a serious social problem and entirely unnecessary. If those who had 10,000 words or more in their vocabulary would donate fifty words to the verbless a great deal of suffering could be eradicated.

This Word Drive will help to collect unused words for needy lexicons in the area. If you have words you no longer need, please contribute.

Donations needed:

1) Gently used vernacular

2) Out of date slang words and phrases

3) Foreign words (in good condition)

4) Parts of speech you don't really understand

5) Big words that are gathering dust

6) Book, movie, song titles you would prefer never to speak of again

7) Onomatopoeium you no longer need

8) Other words

Your donation, which is (syn)tax deductible, could spell out a whole new lyphe for someone in need.

Thank you.

Noble Maloof Update

He's still there, most days, on the bus, sitting, looking on longingly as I walk past him in the aisle to find a seat. Far from him. He hasn't risked another chase-down in the middle of downtown. No jars of jam or messages on slips of wolf-paper. He's just there in his kanga cap with his hairy ears that don't hear so well.

I just haven't had the energy of late to plop down next to him and say, "So, where were you born, Noble?" When that day comes (and I'm really feeling my oats) you'll hear all about it. In the meantime I sit somewhere else and read a book or watch the landscape rush by.

Just like always.

Shamus

Pundit Bandwagon Alligator Scout
Whaler Swizzle Hexagon Napkin

Muddy Buddies

We're disguised.

Name three things

...you'd like to see in a photo together. If I think I can get all three in one shot, I'll take the picture and post it here.

No promises, but I need a stunt to pull.

M stands for...

Random Photo

It's just really random.

Ulterior Motor Vehicle

I decided four blogs were not enough. So here's another. It's poetry mostly. Poetry that doesn't rhyme or make much sense and doesn't really care what you think of it.* Just like cats.

Drive carefully.

(*if you ignore the fact that I have enabled comments, that is...)

The Cautious Thrill-Seeker

Learned something new about myself: I'm an HSP. That's right. Scored pretty high on that test, I did. Apparently, I have a high capacity for taking in details. Oh and I have a rich inner life. On the downside, it also makes me more cautious and more easily overwhelmed by change and new things. Spiffy.

On the other hand, I'm also an HSS (scroll halfway down page to read blurb). So while I am careful about what I get into and get stressed out easily, I also crave excitement and new sensations...

Duh. It's like having the gas and the brakes on my life at all times. No wonder I burn so much rubber to get not very far.

I remember one time in Canada I dropped my dad at class and then drove the car home with the parking brake on. Couldn't figure out why the car was driving funny. Noticed it of course, when I tried to park the car and the brake was up. But I guess that pretty clearly explains the way I operate most of the time. It's kind of sad, if you think about it, but at least I don't feel quite so bad for not accomplishing all those things I told myself I should have done by now.

I used to say, "Nobody likes a cautious thrill-seeker." Now I am one.

Wichita II

Thanks to John (vocals, guitar) and Joel (sound) for getting this version out so quick. I find it eminently listenable. And I feel like a songwriter. *sniff*

Today's For True Cartoon

Song Bird

I looked for you in yellow sky,
I fought and died for you in battlefields of snow,
I wrote your red song in my sleep,
my slender fingers embraced the pen
as you crept away.

Wichita

Written in a fit of lonliness on my 24th Bday. This song is written from a man's perspective. I think I wrote it about myself. To myself from someone else. Or I wrote it as somebody else to me. Same thing. So it sounds lesbo. I like it too much to change it. I am actually hoping (hint hint) that our friends from Nashville will like it enough to at least record it for me. I'd love to hear a man sing it.

Lyrics

easy girl
on the eyes
wish that I could make her see
how much I love her

gentle girl
she can be so kind
wish that I could make her feel
how much I love her

I can hear a train go by
in the background when she calls me
I can hear a radiator
in the background when she calls me
I can hear a man's voice
in the background when she calls me
from her new place
in Wichita

brilliant girl
bright as the sun
wish that I could make her know
how much I love her

voice like snow
falling in december
wonder why she can't hear
how much I love her

and I can hear a train go by
in the background when she calls me
I can hear a radiator
in the background when she calls me
I can hear a man's voice
in the background when she calls me
from her new place
in Wichita

Where's Calum?

I miss Calum. Smart, funny, inspired Calum. Where is he?

Give one ping if you're still alive.
Two pings if you no longer visit this website.
Three pings for everything else.

Power Lunch

I took a digital camera and a fiver out on lunch today, inspired by El Fid's post and the website it rode in on to buy a toy car and photograph it on the streets of Cleveland looking like a real car. There's something pleasing about carrying a bright red car around town, believe me. The first shot you see (below) was taken near an appreciative panhandler. He pointed a finger at me and said, "You're cool! You're cool!" He also asked if I would take his picture, which I did. When his back was turned. I'm not sure that counts. Anyways, I didn't eat lunch, because I was too busy on this little mission. I submitted my photos to dubster.com and hopefully soon my photos will appear in their gallery and I will impress my friends. I can't wait.


Is the street wet?
No. That's a trash can lid.

Toy Car on Street.

Close To You

Song Puppet's choice today, folks!

The Three Musketeers

I've unlocked the office and settled in for another Monday of work. Not quite oriented to the weekend being over and still clinging to the soft warmth of my bed. And the Three Musketeers enter, dressed in royal blue and white from head to foot. The same colors they wear every day. Two of them sport gold front teeth. Clint is the undisputed leader. The other two are almost insignificant. Only there to lend the boy band effect. Or more precisely the intimidation effect. They are young, but have already learned that three young men in blue are much more threatening than one. Clint drops a receipt I wrote a couple months ago on my desk. "I'd like a refund." "For the housing?" I ask. "Yes." His little brother drops his receipt on my desk, "So would I." Followed by his cousin, "Me too." "What happened?" I ask. "They been jerking our chain for too long," says Clint, "and now I want my money back." His cousin quietly lips the words in the background, 'I want my motherfuckin' money back.' I make a couple of phone calls while the Three Musketeers continue to incite themselves to more anger. I take a number where I can reach them when I have their money and Clint marches out. Followed by his boys. Inseparable.

Little White Different

So, my sis and I are driving somewhere when I see a little white desk by the side of the road. A little crappy, plywood desk that someone is getting rid of and has left out in the rain and falling leaves. "A desk!" I say. Well, actually it's more of a plaintive wail. All my previous attempts at getting a desk had been thwarted. I'd tried to beg, borrow, buy and steal and thus far I had no reward for my endeavors and here all of a sudden is a little white desk on the side of the road. It's too good. My sister, very kindly doubles back in her rental SUV. I jump out and assess. It's small and fairly clean. It's missing the keyboard tray, but otherwise intact. She rolls down her window. "Well?" "I'm gonna take it," I'm smiling. "It's ugly," she says. I look down at the little white desk. "You're not ugly, you're nice." I hoist it into the car, only marring the plastic interior a little in the process.

Once home I clean off the dirt and leaves that have collected on top and wipe down the sides and the cpu shelf. "Do you think it smells?" asks my sister. "No," I say defensively. "Don't worry," I whisper, "You don't smell bad." I set it against the window and pull up my plastic lawn chair. I place my laptop and important papers on top and sit down.

No more checkbook balancing on the bed, no essay writing in the armchair.

At last. I feel like a person.

Friday Fun Day

I have no time to write a post. But I love you all and you're the best and we can get through this rough time together.

Have fun. It's Friday! Family is in town. We're all gonna have a good time. We're gonna party like it's 2004.