post the hundred-thirty-first, 2013

do i feel like it is right around the corner?
do you feel like it is right around the corner?

only you know where you're going.
we can all see where you've been.
and it's right around the corner.
right around the corner.
it's right around the corner, again.

and they will say you're crazy,
watching wheels go round and round.
counting flowers on the wall.
but you want to fall in love -
through the piña coladas,
you want to fall in love.
like old friends, bookends.

but you tried, sometimes,
and you found
that you did get
what you needed.

and they will say you're crazy,
watching wheels go round and round.
counting flowers on the wall.
but you want to fall in love.
through the piña coladas,
you want to fall in love.
like old friends, bookends.

only you know where you're going.
we can all see where you've been.

purple rain.
peace out.
















{ack: lennon; dewitt; isaak; holmes; simon; jagger/richards; nelson}

post the hundred-thirtieth, 2013

i can see now that i should have just said "stay", 

although i'm sure you'd still have left me here. 

the difference being i'd have spoken my mind, 

and could have let you go, my conscience clear. 

cause as it stands now i can't help but think 

i let you down somehow by letting go. 

if you were waiting for one word from me...

well, it's too late now. guess we'll never know. 

post the hundred-twenty-ninth, 2013

Judging by the daily temps, you'd think it fall
Until a calendar you do procure to
Look up dates and still
You can't believe how mild it is, from glen to plain to hill.

post the hundred-twenty-eighth, 2013

what if you had a whole lot to say and not much time to say it.
what if the world were coming to an end.
what if a meteor were going to hit the earth.
unless you recited hamlet in its entirety.
in five minutes.
or less.
what then?

what if you had a whole lot to do and not much time to do it.
what if the world were coming to an end.
what if a meteor were going to hit the earth.
unless you ran from boston to los angeles.
in five minutes.
or less.
what then?

what if you had a whole lot to think about and not much time to think it.
what if the world were coming to an end.
what if a meteor were going to hit the earth.
unless you proved that 10 is a solitary number.
in five minutes.
or less.
what then?

what if you had a whole lot to write and not much time to write it.
what if the world were coming to an end.
what if a meteor were going to hit the earth.
unless you wrote every story of your life.
in five minutes.
or less.
what then?

what then?
what. then.
what would you do.
then?

well.

if i had a whole lot to say and not much time to say it.
if i had a whole lot to do and not much time to do it.
if i had a whole lot to think about and not much time to think it.
if i had a whole lot to write and not much time to write it.
if the world were coming to an end.
if a meteor were going to hit the earth.
unless i were a hero.
in five minutes.
or less.

then.

i would wish upon that shooting star.
i'd wish with all my mind and heart.
i'd wish the earth would be okay.
and you and i'd be here to stay.

post the hundred-twenty-seventh, 2013

steppin' up to the step -- steppin'!
steppin' up! steppin' up to the step!
look smart, now -- now you're steppin'!
look smart -- put the pep in your step!

circle 'round down now to a circle!
circle 'round down now! circle 'round!
bring it down, circle 'round, to a circle!
to a circle, bring it down, bring it 'round!

steppin' up to the step -- steppin'!
steppin' up! steppin' up to the step!
look smart, now -- now you're steppin'!
look smart -- put the pep in your step!

clap your hands, right now -- just clap 'em!
clap your hands, right now, give a clap!
clap your hands to the band, you can clap 'em!
clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap, clap-clap CLAP!

steppin' up to the step -- steppin'!
steppin' up! steppin' up to the step!
look smart, now -- now you're steppin'!
look smart -- put the pep in your step!

circle 'round down now to a circle!
circle 'round down now! circle 'round!
bring it down, circle 'round, to a circle!
to a circle, bring it down, bring it 'round!

steppin' up to the step -- steppin'!
steppin' up! steppin' up to the step!
look smart, now -- now you're steppin'!
look smart -- put the pep in your step!

clap your hands, right now -- just clap 'em!
clap your hands, right now, give a clap!
clap your hands to the band, you can clap 'em!
clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap, clap-clap CLAP!

post the hundred-twenty-sixth, 2013

this just dawned on me. if you can plug your computer into someone else's television then log into your uverse account on the computer, you can watch your recorded shows on their television. this is cool if you've recorded a sporting event, movie, or even regular television show and want to watch it somewhere else.

we've been wanting to hook a computer up to our television and we even got the cables and we even have an old laptop that would probably do the trick. so, why don't we? ugh. why don't you. i mean, gosh, it sounds like a pain in the ass. pluswise, we get it all hooked up, what do we do with it? watch our uverse recordings? umm... we can already do that with the "receiver" that, you know, comes with the system? yeah, so...

(i realize this is boring, and sorry and whatnot, but i am just messing about until i have built up more lives in candy crush.)

post the hundred-twenty-fifth, 2013

okay, i was going to tell you the books i've read this year, but unfortunately, i have done a really poor job of keeping track, but i am going to give it a shot, but the list is sort of pathetic anyway, sort of lacking, but of course lacking is in the eyes of the beholder, so maybe i shouldn't be so hard on myself, because, i mean, it's better than nothing, right?


storybound by marissa burt
the witch's daughter by paula brackston
the road not taken and other poems (poetry [duh])by robert frost
freaks (short story) by tess gerritsen
the journal of best practices (non fiction) by david finch

harry potter series by jk rowling
and the sorcerer's stone
and the chamber of secrets
and the prisoner of azkaban
and the goblet of fire (currently)

post the hundred-twenty-fourth, 2013

three things from today.

1. this morning, the skies threatened rain. listening to the morning weather forecast while sitting down to breakfast, we learned the storms were due to hit the city simultaneous to rush hour. i bolted my honeyed english muffin and fled. racing the rain north, i arrived in the car park as the first drops began to fall. i hardly needed the much-disliked umbrella.

2. this evening, i purchased fancy kitchen knives from a door-to-door salesman who'd been a varsity soccer player at the high school down the road. he's working to save money to pay college expenses. all my kitchen knives are bogus. so... here's a kid we know, respect, and want to support, selling something that will replace, with one piece, multiple bogus pieces cluttering up the kitchen. boom. sold.

3. today i realized that i have a crush on candy crush saga and seem to be playing it all the time. my mind, which needs little prodding to merrily explore insanity, now sees threes-across everywhere and distracts me during business meetings rearranging my coworkers faces, pushing noses up between eyes to make three-across. the reasonable thing would be to stop playing.

post the hundred-twenty-third, 2013

lights out.
you stare at the ceiling, waiting
for the room to quiet.
listen to the other girls drift off,
one by one by one.
there's ten in all, counting you,
so it's nine of them -
nine pillows shift,
nine blankets rustle,
nine sets of springs squeal
as nine little bodies squirm.
until finally,
one by one by one,
they still.
the room fills with the rhythm of eighteen sleeping lungs.

gently, push back the sheets, the blanket,
and ease out of the squeaky bed
to sit crosslegged on cold linoleum
pulling on socks, lacing keds.
reach under the bed to retrieve
the flashlight and sweatshirt
from where you stowed them.
then rise slowly, cautiously,
alert to any hint of wakefulness among the nine,
and step carefully over the cracked vinyl
between the beds
around the detritus of ten girls,
your path sporadically lit by a moon
trying valiantly to show the clouds who's boss.

at the end of the room you pause,
look back over the room,
and notice a pair of eyes watching you.
"go to sleep, mae-bell," you whisper.
"where are you going, 'lecia?"
"to the pot," you whisper sternly,
"you to back to sleep."

and then you turn quickly and walk out the door,
into the cedar-scented night.

post the hundred-twenty-second, 2013

take it in your hand.
feel its cold metal surface.
slide your hand down its smoothness.
you realize you're starting to be... excited -
just holding it,
and you try to calm down.
but you feel so... so powerful
just holding it, you feel powerful.
(even though it belongs to your dad.)
and you think how easy it would be
to put it into your backpack
and take it to school.
oh, you'd show donny and that stupid bradley forsont -
you'd show them who's boss.
who's a man.
you'd show them...
then your mom's calling
"suppertime!"
and just like that you're afraid,
can't believe you even have it in your hands,
and you shove it back into the fridge
with the rest of the six pack.
run in from the garage feeling relieved
to eat your macaroni and fish sticks
while watching sponge bob.

post the hundred-twenty-first, 2013

duodenum is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
yucca is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
duty is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
codswallop is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
mastication is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
bifurcate is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
eschew is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
scuttlebutt is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
tuber is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
succotash is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)
titter is a funny word
(sounds funny, i mean)
when i hear it i can't help but laugh
(more common than it'd seem)

post the hundred-twentieth, 2013

they've changed the bags the grapes come in. did you notice? the bags used to be that soft pliable plastic they use for breadbags. they're now a stiff crinkly plastic like cellophane in an easter basket. the deli now uses this plastic, too, for the meat and cheese bags. bags in both implementations changed in the past 2 or 3 weeks. why? well, i don't know, but i did find this chart on a bag company's website:

Film	Description	OTR (cc/m2)*	MVTR (g/m2)*
Foil	Aluminum	0	0
EVOH	Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol	0.6	100
MPET	Metalized Polyester	0.95	1.2
KPET	Saran Coated PET	7.8	7.55
PET	Polyester	85	55
Nylon	Nylon	95	260
OPP	Polypropylene	2000	8
LLDPE	Polyethylene	2500	17

well. i guess we can all agree that clears things right on up.

in my continued search for grape-packaging enlightenment, i found this article from the no-doubt highly trafficked "produce news" website. (the produce news -- covering fresh produce around the globe since 1897... #notshittingyou) this article extols the glories of the "grab and go" bag -- 2012's the latest trend in grape packaging. 2012?! we are woefully behind.

i searched the website for quite a while and didn't find any answers, but you'll be happy to hear that i did find a voluminous list email addresses for staff of the produce news (covering fresh produce around the globe since 1897). i sent an email to the editor. i'll let you know what i find out.

post the hundred-nineteenth, 2013

another article i was reading today pointed to this interview with umberto eco. i recommend it highly. he has several fine points to make, about lists and what it means to be human.

"Culture isn't knowing when Napoleon died. Culture means knowing how I can find out in two minutes."

"The list is the mark of a highly advanced, cultivated society because a list allows us to question the essential definitions. The essential definition is primitive compared with the list."

"we like lists because we don't want to die."

mr eco says that the list is the origin of culture, but i think he means something like a harbinger, as opposed to something like an engine. at the dawn of culture, you'll see lists. on the first day, on the second day, et cetera. x begat y begat z and so on. we make lists of things we want to remember, our history, where we came from -- we list our past. we make lists of things we want to do, to get, to be -- we list our future. we are defined by lists.

mr eco says this stems from our innate desire to make infinity comprehensible, to impose order on the universe. that makes sense both for lists and for early culture -- i mean, early in a developing culture, making sense of things and imposing order would both be paramount, and both are reasons to make lists.

he's talking about histories, collections, dictionaries, encyclopaedias -- big, important, shared lists -- but he also recognizes the cultural significance of "the shopping list, the will, the menu". he says, "the list doesn't destroy culture; it creates it."

we are surrounded by lists and potential lists. everything is or can be quantified. schedules are lists of tasks and dates. receipts are lists of things purchased. a skin care regimen, a recipe for pimento cheese, a marathon training plan, a class syllabus -- all lists. we have lists that we call lists (contact lists, grocery lists, birthday lists), and we have other words for list (ballot, menu, agenda, outline). there are lists in our heads and lists on paper, cultural and small group and personal lists.

i like lists.

i frequently select articles with "list" in the title because the implication is the information will be chunked and organized. articles, by their nature, are information delivery vehicles, and i don't have a desire to read the fluff to find the meat. just break out the damn meat into a list. sure, leave the fluff. whatever. i am not going to read it anyway.

on the other hand, lists in stories bug the hell out of me. it's like, what are you playing at, author? the opposite of the article, where list is king, the story is meant to be fluff, and the list is a lame attempt to fill up pages. lists in storytelling are lazy.

when mr eco says we like lists "because we don't want to die", he's describing the endlessness of lists. there are endless opportunities to list endless items on endless lists, and the infinity of it is comforting in it's death-defiance. even paintings are pieces of lists, he says. "A person contemplating a painting feels a need to open the frame and see what things look like to the left and to the right of the painting. This sort of painting is truly like a list, a cutout of infinity."

"a cutout of infinity"...

in my pocket is a scrap of paper and on that paper there is writing and that writing reads: eggs, milk, bread. same as a lightening bug in a jar patterns a star from the wide swath of stars in the universe, this humble grocery list in my pocket is "a cutout of infinity".

post the hundred-eighteenth, 2013

if you build an ice-scraping machine out of pasta, you get a macaroni ________ !

if you use apples, oranges, and pears to make beachwear, you get a _____ ______ swimsuit!

if you build rooftop rain catchers from a churned dairy product, it's a butter ______!

if you use an individual baked good to make winter footware it's a ___ ____ ice skate!
fr
if you build a vehicle from a savory roasted fowl, it's a duck _____ !

if you use a small mid-eastern fruit to make a hairpiece, it's a ___ wig!

if you build a communication device from rustic fried bread, it's a cornpone _________!

post the hundred-seventeenth, 2013

dark sky
silver sliver
moon high
footfalls
on the sidewalk
midnight i walk
with the moon

post the hundred-sixteenth, 2013

so, today i decided to revisit the location of THIS RUN.

except today i'd go directly to the greenway section. i figure it'll be about 2 miles to the trailhead i'd used before, then 2 miles back.

the first half-mile is downhill, a nice start. at the bottom i go left, up a hill, and through a connector road. about 12 minutes in, i am at the trail split, then it's onto the trail, past the concrete plant, past the warehouse backs, the train tracks, the wickitywack billy jack.

what?

so, i get to the trailhead about 24 minutes in. hmm. that's a bit more than i'd expected, but i am feeling pretty good, and it's all homeward from here, right? it's gonna be fine. except... it's homeward, sure, but it's a lot of uphills. not sure how that happened, because it didn't feel like i was going DOWNhill on the way out.

it's beginning to feel pretty hot, humid, and my legs are tired. my breathing is okay, though, and i hold it together till around 34 mins. at that point, i walk a bit, maybe 3, 4 mins. i pick it up again, but around 42 mins, maybe 45, my sweat is drying. otherwise, i feel fine -- tired, but fine. i consider continuing but i can't deny the voice that's telling me, not sweating in the july heat isn't normal.

i shut things down and walk it in, past the bank, whose clock reads 88º, and the tv station display has 92º. i walk about 15 minutes. when i get back, i map the route. 5 miles. 5 miles in an hour.

i wouldn't say i am happy with this. i mean, i guess it's to be expected -- out of shape, in the heat. i guess i can admit it's to be expected. yeah, sure. it is what it is. right? yeah, sure. live to fight another day. yeah, sure.

* sigh *

post the hundred-fifteenth, 2013

here's what i learned today: aioli is mayonnaise. whaaat? HEY. AIOLI! what are you playing at? okay, technically, you are mayonnaise with garlic, but still. STILL. i thought you were some fancy french sauce with fancy french sauce ingredients. HA. not so much. "garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and egg yolks", id est: M.A.Y.O. colour me disappointed.

here's what i found yesterday: google ngram viewer. google "google ngram viewer" and you can find it, too. what it is is a search across all the books in the google book index, including books published in 1800 up through 2008. how it works is you type in your search terms and in return you see a chart which demonstrates frequency of those terms in the books. because it's a chart, you can really see the ups and downs of a word's use through the years. so, that's fun in and of itself. even MORE fun is to enter two similar words -- simian and ape, kindergarten and nursery school, blacktop and asphalt -- or three if you can think of three. it's cool to see words that go in and out of favor.

here's what the weather lady just said: this is the 6th coolest start for july on record. 6th coolest! maybe if it wore a leather and drove a harley it could move up the list.