Astronomy

So there are a lot of things that I was going to do over the Summer that I never did. Many of these things began with the letter S. I did other things instead, and I have plenty of regrets.

Here is one regret: On more than one occasion I thought about poems I know involving stars. I always remembered First World and The Song of Wandering Angus and Poema Veinte. There's this other poem I memorized in high school - A Song by Joseph Brodsky, and it's been bugging me for a while that there's one line of it that I couldn't remember. Last night I looked it up, and it's this: I wish you were here, dear, I wish you were here. I wish I knew no astronomy when stars appear, when the moon skims the water that sighs and shifts in its slumber. I wish it were still a quarter to dial your number. The one part I couldn't remember was I wish I knew no astronomy when stars appear. I really regret not having remembered that line because it's one of my favorites in the poem, and I could have added this to the poems I know about stars when thinking about those things. Also, who knows how many girls would have fallen in love with me had I remembered it? Seven or eight is the best estimate according to this site.

California

I feel that a blog post is in order, because I've moved to a new place. Some people would like updates, I'm sure. Tell them they're free to call me.

Here's something I haven't told anyone yet, though: near the library there's some kind of tree or plant or other botanical item with this terrible smell. At first I thought the older, very heavy-set man sitting on a bench there had been smoking pot. This turned out not to be the case. Either that, or he left a very lingering smell. He was a large man, so I guess it's more than possible that he would leave a lingering smell.

So one time I went up the canyon with some friends and there was a bonfire and we came home smelling like smoke. If we told you we'd met with some people who were smoking pot and that's what had scented all our clothing, we may or may not have been lying.

I think landscape designers and grounds crews and landscapers should be required to study plant odors.

I think green is a fine color for a room.


Sometimes I think, what if? That's a dangerous thing to think. I apologize to anyone who has been hurt by my thinking, what if?

Here's a statistic: AT UC Davis, on peak days, there are 20,000 to 30,000 bicycles on campus. Today is not a peak day.

Note 4

It's a dry place, my place of birth. So the rain at the airport when I landed was unexpected. But it seemed right. This land is, after all, a part of me, and I a part of it, I guess. When I look out of the small airplane window and see it streaked with rain as we taxi to our gate, I imagine sorrow, pain, memories not easily forgotten, a thousand memories too quickly remembered, Springs and Summers and silence, and I am not really surprised even in this dry place.

A Second Lovesong

So this baby goat loved
his mother very much.

"I love you, mother,
very much. May I climb
onto your back to be
near to you?"

So he would climb onto
his mother's soft back
and stand there for hours.

The view from up there
was incredible. He could
see into the next pen,
out across the yard,
dozens of other goats
who all gazed back up at
him in admiration.

Maybe the best idea I've ever had

"I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum. I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a staring point of zero. I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap & still comes out on top." - Claes Oldenburg

So I'm going to need 100 second graders. We're going to do 2nd grade flash mobs, but very carefully rehearsed ones. One of them will involve the Olympic fountain at the Gateway in Salt Lake, 100 plastic bottles of different colors, and a carefully choreographed dance.

I just need someone who can help me find willing second graders, someone with a lot of plastic bottles, and someone who can choreograph bottle fountain dances.

August 13, 2009

So here's the breakdown:

Imagine a really hot day, but that you don't want to be hot. That's about the feeling. But the AC's out, so what can you do? You live with it.

And you remember that winter is coming, which is only momentarily comforting, 'cause you really hate the cold.

Here's the idea: A boxer, a prizefighter. One of the best in the world. Win after win after win. Championships. Trips across continents. And then a change of plans, a dying father, a decision to leave the ring, and then an ordinary life. Not unlike a lot of stories, but instead of going back to the ring in a miraculous comeback, he moves to a little town and gets involved in local politics with dreams of ruling the world again only to find that everyone's corrupt. He tries to make reforms, can't beat the system, so he just goes back to his house with dreams of planting a plum orchard in his big back yard. But he knows he's going to need more land and a lot of money for the start-up costs. So he just stays put, deals with the murder of his dog, and lives one day at a time. And the drunk guy who thinks about hitting on his wife while they're out for a walk would do well to reconsider.

Don't worry, though, because at least winter is beautiful. If you really hated it that much, you'd have moved by now. And dreams of a plum orchard are more than enough.

Elder Holland on Lot's Wife, Paraphrasedish

Her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future. In short, she doubted the Lord's ability to give her something better than she already had.

At the risk of repeating myself.

"The sage is full of anxiety and indecision in undertaking anything, and so he is always successful."

This is a quote that I've used before, but I felt like repeating it so that it would be seen/seen again. It's always reminded me of you. Whatever that means to you.

I'm done

I'm done being miserable, thanks for your patience.

It's funny how long it's been since I've had pancakes for breakfast. It's not uncommon for me to think, "Maybe I could make pancakes this morning." But I never do. This morning, for example, I will have cereal again.

Lunch is anyone's guess.

Understanding

Suddenly, I feel like I understand Charles Bukowski a little better. Not his actual poetry, I haven't read that.

You win some, you lose some.

Today, I did some of each. I hope.

Something along those lines

Here we go... Have you ever read the book Frankenstein? By Mary Shelley? I haven't, and I only partially regret that. There are a lot of books out there, and I can only read so many of them in my lifetime. Do you think Eternity will be enough time to read every book? Or will there be an eternal stream of new books being published? This is one of the great questions that must come to haunt each of us at one point or another in our lives. Here's another: If you were a seagull, where would you live? I mean, it's just as cheap to live in Vancouver as it is to live in Costa Azul. Etc. So your choice wouldn't be based on monetary concerns. This may just haunt me for the rest of my life, because I'll never know the answer. And I'll always wonder if maybe I'd be one of those seagulls at Cape Henlopen. And I'll always wonder if I would be a happy seagull at Cape Henlopen. Or would I have doubts about my choice of residence? Would I dream of Miami Beach or La Verkin or Akron at night, and wake up with cold sweats? This will haunt me: do seagulls have cold sweats when they doubt? What about French Fries? Would I eat French Fries as a Seagull?

Here's the frightening thing: These questions are really starting to bother me. Not the French Fries. I really don't give a dang whether I'd eat French Fries or not. I don't really give a dang that French Fries is generally not written with the first letters capitalized. But the other seagull questions are starting to bother me. If I were a Spanish Seagull, I'd be a gaviota. I think I could live with that.

My Greatest Passion

Yesterday, my life changed forever: I rode on a MONORAIL! Among other things... But let me tell you why my greatest passion is: MONORAIL. They go on just one track! They're in the AIR! They're featured in the song Johnny on the MONORAIL by the Buggles!

I didn't take this photograph, but I could have because I WAS ON THIS MONORAIL! Actually, I sort of did take this photograph, but in a different sense than is usually implied when one says that he or she took a photograph. I took it from this web page: MONORAIL!!!

I now know all about the Supreme Court from 1967 to 1980.

You name it, I know it. Or I'll make it up. I can even make it sound pretty convincing.

Best Fourth of July Ever

Take that, October 19

So you remember how I said that Sunday, October 19, 2008 had been one of the best days of my life? Monday, June 22, 2009 beat it hands down. Some of you will eventually know why, I reckon. Others may or may not figure it out.

Let me tell you this, which is completely unrelated:

I'm going to Salem today to vote on the bond election for the Nebo School District. I plan to vote in favor.

Pain and Lilies

I saw pain two times in the desert.

For what am I looking?

I thought it was appropriate for crushed aspirin to fall from my backpack onto the sand. But it wasn't nearly enough. Sometimes the desert reminds me of a song I hate, sometimes it reminds me of immensity, sometimes I cry with those who aren't actually crying. I do not think that they will cry for me.

"When you expect your opponent to yield you should also avoid hurting him." This came in a fortune cookie, written on a fortune. Probably in 2000 or 2001. Have you ever wondered if maybe you are that opponent whom you should avoid hurting? Have you ever wondered if maybe you should have licked up that aspirin despite the sand that would come with it? Have you ever written an essay about love crushed, only to discover you were both mortar and pestle and sand grain and aspirin?

"What's the point of forgetting if it's followed by dying?"

This is my Memorial Day 2009.

National Turtle Wax Gifting Day

Also National Turtle Wax Gifting Day.

National Toaster Gifting Day

May 22, 2009 will be National Toaster Gifting Day. Like a Billiken, it's luckier to receive a toaster as a gift than to buy your own. Luckier still to steal one.

I just ate a lot of guacamole

It wasn't even very good guacamole.