happy-go-lucky

tender film with a lead that warms up to you as the story unfolds. the funniest and most heart-breaking parts occur during poppy's driving lesson's with scott. the parallel between his suffering and her student's difficulties at school was an interesting and subtle way to show the importance of someone like poppy-- someone who posses that attitude towards life and believes change can occur. overall, an accurate portrayal of an average life lived in a not-so-average way. not sure what role the youngest sister played in the movie, though.

disparate

this green light glows steady
this green light blinks on
this green light jitters nervous
all through the dawn.

11:31, a description

diction changed when the person did.

the cat's claws chasing the screen-- sped the cursor on, fleeing for its life. into the future it went-- content to muse
on the past. ignore the present.

the words exchanged inter-state.

some music.

eyes closing to open up real wide.

this experiment, a collision of gnats.
the uncertainty principle of gnats.

sorry to have dragged you into this, mr. heisenberg.

white teeth- zadie smith

And there should be nothing to worry about and there is nothing to worry about, except maybe that outside in the streets it is cold packed on cold, even the dogshit has crystallized, there is the first suggestion of ice on the windscreens and Clara has been in that house through the winters. She knows what it means. Oh, wonderfully bright at 6:00 a.m., yes, wonderfully clear for an hour. But the shorter the days, the longer the nights, the darker the house, the easier it is, the easier it is, the easier it is, to mistake a shadow for the writing on the wall, the sound of overland footsteps for the distant crack of thunder, and the midnight chime of a New Year clock for the bell that tolls for the end of the world.

tiny feelings

two gentle paws and the warm breath of an animal finally out of hiding-- the way something so fleeting can so quickly reassure

overhearing an exuberant and familiar voice spout unfamiliar plans-- realizing the reassuring is not immune to fleeing or fragility

now chilled skin where touch just left. a man asked me today, "is it snowing?"

playing catch up

i had a scary realization when trying to decide when to visit a friend in arkon, the coldest place on earth. knowing my schedule from now to august is pretty packed, i told her september or october would probably work well for a visit. it wasn't until i reread the sentence, and october jumped out screaming, "i have the potential to be very cold!"

my brain hasn't totally processed that it's summer, let alone that winter will inevitably return again. i think all i do in this blog is muse about the passage of time, but if it's supposed to be a reflection of my thoughts, that's about right.

so time's been flying by in a constructive, productive, fun-filled way by doing the following:

-signing a lease on a new place; the first floor of a house with a backyard and front stoop for not a penny more than we're paying currently and many steps closer to the el.

-picking up advanced reader's copies of books for free at annual conference in anaheim.

-finding out way more than is probably professional advisable about the sex lives of my coworkers over dinner.

-listening to new music like foals (who bloc party wanted to be but never will be)

-getting knocked by a cab on my bike

-addressing wedding invitations for a friend's wedding

-spending $200 on music tickets

-starting fiddle lessons

-bike riding and beach riding

-watching movies and not really watching movies

-being thankful; in comparison to last winter, it all seems too easy.

improv

before it gets to be july and i get totally out of habit with this, i'll post a quickie about improv.
that was apparently the them of last week, when i attended my first ever improv comedy show on tuesday and a jazz concert featuring, saxophonist, wayne shorter on friday.

obviously, both shows spoke to the act of improv in their own way, but both were hard to believe. the improv show was split into two acts, the first being bassprov. it's a two-red-necks-sitting-in-a-boat-lines-lying-fat-chewing spiel. that night they were joined by a third. they took 3 suggestions from the audience, the lights dimmed, and they took off. (well, after the lights came back up.) perhaps the most impressive thing was that they were able to circulate back to the starting point of the conversation without reusing the same jokes.

the jazz concert was also my first time at symphony center. we sat so far up you had to hold on with two hands to the handrail when walking down the stairs because the vertigo was so bad. that's a pretty good metaphor for the concert. i was way in over my head but fascinated. the guy's 75 years old and not only did he not take an intermission he didn't stop playing for an 1h45m. unbelievable.

being a musician that was trained in a strict classical style, a poet that reads from the page, and more or less a person that hides from spontaneity, i admire those who can improvise. tonight at my first fiddle lesson, my teacher drew an interesting comparison. he said that although it's true, improvising consists of playing from your mind not the page, it's a lot like speaking. there are certain patterns and ideas you follow. it's not like each time you play you're coming up with something completely new, just like each time you speak you don't create new words. so this seems to crack the code to improv a tiny bit, but it's still greek to me.