hank

'when the spirit wanes, the form appears' -c.b.
to all and any fans of charles bukowski, do yourself a favor and go see 'born into this'.  if you are not a fan of bukowski, do yourself a favor and pick up one of his books and read it to the end. 

 

dnc?

the democratic national convention is in full swing here in boston, and while it is calm and quiet on the streets of this town, due to a mass exodus of all employees, students and residents...it is still a little strange.  i don't know if on a normal day in boston, i would walk through the public garden in my daily commute and onto the street to see five delivery trucks, sides plastered with large, graphic pictures of mutilated, bloody, unborn babies...probably not.  i can't properly describe how offended i was by these trucks...i honestly wanted to stop one of them and ask them what exactly was the point of what they were doing ???  the answer, unfortunately, would have probably involved much spitting and yelling.  in between dry heaves, i was quite baffled.  how can a logical, and obviously very organized, group of people even think that you're going to change someone's opinion by cleverly manipulating medical photographs of dead deformed babies on photoshop.  they were pictures of full term babies!!!  
like i said...baffled.

 

 

 

democratics

it's the beginning of the democratic convention in boston. anticipating a crazy chaotic mess when i woke this morning, i was pleasantly surprised to find boston completely calm, almost ghostly. barely any cars on the road, the trains were practically empty for a monday morning, and the sidewalks were a little desolate.
other than the demostraters, protesters, and constant low flying helicopter presence, things are just peachy.
i honestly think everyone just stayed home. how odd.

iraq

My War: Fear and Loathing in Iraq

....this is a really great blog, with interesting comments as well. granted, it's a little "right of center", but it is pretty raw and fairly clever...and covered in irony in spots.

reading...

pnin by vladimir nabokov

my favorite line from the book so far:
"he had a deep admiration for the zipper."

things learned...

while being one of the best albums ever recorded, at least in the top ten, bruce springsteen's 'nebraska' is not a good headphone album for the hustle and bustle of the morning commute into boston. fyi.

now reading...

in the wake of madness: the murderous voyage of the whaleship sharon' by joan druett

. 
i would like to say that i quite enjoy the fact that it is now very fashionable for non fiction to read like fiction, no matter the subject.  everything from salt, to maps, to dictionary origins are being written about as if they were the most exiting things one could ever possibly read about.
why it wasn't always done this way, i'll never know.
 

babies and bathwater

making an unfortunate, and never to be repeated, mistake yesterday, i had (or tried to have) a political debate with my mother.  it was spurred by the fact that she was horrified to learn that i was voting for kerry, and i was even more horrified to learn that she was voting for bush (especially, since she lives in tennessee and it's a fairly important swing state).  i couldn't believe just how angry it made me that my own mother had been sucked into the right wing propaganda that infects the south.  she raved about what a horrible character kerry was, and how we have to stand behind our president, and that they should send michael moore (or, "that lying bastard") to prison.  of course, she had no facts to back any of this up, so it was pointless, absolutely pointless to try to have any sort of debate whatsoever.  what saddened me more, is that my younger brother is in the marines and will soon be shipped to one of two places, iraq or afghanistan.  a fact which, i think, causes my mother to actually put full faith in what she hears on the right wing talk shows that she listens to.  it's the only way for her to deal with the fact that he could possibly be killed...it would be impossible for her to think that he might die for the horrible reasons that he actually might die for.  the propaganda she listens to makes it sound noble, it makes sense of the entire situation, when the situation, in actuality, doesn't make sense at all.
i hung up the phone feeling tired, and beaten, and depressed.  even more depressing was my lack of faith in the "new" administration, or the "johns" as they've so affectionately been referred to.  unfortunately, i subscribe to the "anyone but bush" mentality, which is so rampant these days...and it make me incredibly sad, and nervous. 
so, bottom line, to keep my sanity...no more political discussions with my mother.  whatsoever.  period.
 
 
 

peeking

on my daily commute i see many odd things...as i'm sure we all do.  this morning, while trying desperately to get involved in my book (yes, 'master and margarita', i will try to finish you again, though, this is turning into quite a disfunctional relationship, you know), i noticed that the guy sitting beside me and the girl on the other side of me were doing the same crossword puzzle.  one in ink, one in pencil.  just as i noticed this, i also noticed that the 'one in ink' was copying answers from the 'one in pencil'.   sneaky, sly little bastard.  the most humerous part about this, is that the crossword puzzle they were trying to finish was the one from the free handout paper "the boston metro"...how hard could it be?  um, mr.cheating in ink, who are you trying to impress by getting all of the spaces filled? 
  

white teeth

i finished reading white teeth. i liked it. i could wax on a little about why ,exactly, i like it, but i won't..having done that a little earlier. one thing i will say, to anyone who happens to have been raised as a jehovah's witness reading the book, it IS a work of fiction. there are many, many misconceptions in the book about being a jehovah's witness (including basic docterines and practices). it gets a little frustrating, but you soon realize that she was using these misconceptions to further the plot of the book, and make the story a bit more interesting. it is still a great read, especially considering she wrote it when she was 23 years old.

banjar

a show last night at johnny d's in davis square. danny barnes, banjo virtouoso, oldtime songwriting wonder, ex leader of the bad livers. i have never seen a man treat an instrument as if he were playing 'with it', rather than playing 'it'. i mean to say, the banjo seemed almost seperate from him, as if they had an understanding before the show...
"now, i will hold you up properly, and pick the proper strings, and you just, you know, do your thing..how's that sound?"
"ok then."
...it was raw but flawless.
he played a few covers, including becks "loser" and george jones "he stopped loving her today" (which brought me to tears, of course, as that song always does, no matter the day or the hour).
check him out if you've never heard, you won't be disappointed: http://www.dannybarnes.com/

frankly my dear...

i hate the movie, gone with the wind...i think it's an extremely long stint of dribble...but this, i think, is histerical, and quite relative, don't you think?
"Fiddle-dee-dee. War, war, war. This war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored I could scream." - Scarlett O'Hara

miss zadie

currently reading zadie smith 'white teeth'...it takes quite a bit for me to get interested in modern fiction, and she is very young, so i was apprehensive (because i tend to be snotty like that, she's actually my age)...now that i am 367 pages into the book, i can't believe how well i am enjoying it. she is a superb story teller, reminding me mostly of rushdie, a bit of tom robbins mixed in there (but not on purpose i imagine). it's hard to say without sounding like mush, but she writes with wisdom, without sounding 'old'. and for the summer months, it is the perfect read...being not too heavy, but still intelligent and beautiful. i would highly recommend it.

irritation #1654

if you are someone who is constantly talking...chatter chatter chatter...with opinions that have no basis in fact or logic, could you please be quiet? or in the least, when someone is annoyed enough by your constant tripe to try contradicting you, open your ears and shut your mouth.

hung out to dry

red line:eight fifteen in the morning.
find a seat. thank god, a seat. smells. breath. bad breath. armpits. perfume. feet. ass. shampoo, or lack of. greasy noses. dirty earlobes. bumps..bumps...wobbles...bumps. speeds up...slows down..stop..go. only a few more stops...you can make it...keep it down...keep it down. change trains. green line. two stops. bagel. water. headache. phones. i made it.

a list of three names..

zelda
esme
trilby

living is easy...

a list of things that have been on my list of things to do for around ten years now:
1. learn another language, possibly french
2. get up earlier in the morning
3. eat healthier
4. read more
5. write more
6. learn to sew
7. go to school

there are many more. each time i write them, it feels like the first time i've written them...is my memory that bad? denial, i think.

cubes

it is completely quiet in the office. almost total silence except for the sporadic clicking of keys, and shuffling of papers coming from the woman in the cube next to mine. no radio, no chatter...just mind numbing waves of white air conditioner noise seeping into my brain.
i am almost to an understanding of why so many people have blogs...i see everyone on the train every day at five o'clock, desperate for some sort of human contact. or maybe not. maybe just desperate to be heard, to speak, to hear something other than eight hours of cube noise.

i have a phone i can answer, but as i am a "temp to perm" employee, i have nothing else to do but answer this one phone. it rings, every five minutes or so, the phone calls last as long as it takes the person on the other end to ask for the person they wish to speak with, and no longer, ever.

i suppose it's nice to be here. i have a big window, overlooking fountains. and it is quiet, of course...saving my ears. i read now, quite a bit. zadie smith, the author of choice at the moment. a pleasant summer read.

no complaining...right?