Reading, writing, rapping, and differential equations.

Overheard in my house today:

(In singsong voice)

Odile's got ears where her nose should be
I wonder what she hears when she smells me!

What's new? Well all kindsa shit. Painting the front porch chocolate brown with oil paints. It looks beautiful and yummy, but I'm worried that the sun will make it scorching hot. I'm thinking about lining the side of the porch with lattice and growing plants on it to block the sun out.

Getting back into film again. Bought a bunch of film, dusted off the old cameras, been shooting a lot, got some chemicals for film developing and print making. Got some good shots so far, but I'm still torn between film and digital. They both have their pros and cons. I'm thinking about just getting a good digital point and shoot- that way we can take quick pics and video, but when we want to take an "artistic" shot we can break out the film cameras. One of my prints got chosen to be in the Blue Moon customer show (I actually like this one better)- no big deal, but it was cool to get picked. Their annual customer shows are the coolest photo exhibits I've ever seen. The spread of voices and styles is insane, and they really do try to pick only stunning photos. I don't think mine really qualifies. I'm sure they were just trying to keep me coming back, which I will be doing anyway, but it's a nice gesture.

Going to SF next week for Ryan Leblanc's (yes, that Ryan!) wedding. Should be exciting and fun. We have a little money, so it's not going to break the bank like we were worried, and after SF we're going to go up to Eureka and stay with a friend, then do the redwoods, then stop in Medford and stay with Corinne's parents. Nice leisurely drive back. I've done the SF to PDX drive a few times now and it ain't all that great. 101 sounds much nicer than I-5...

Just watched::: Wholphin #3 (methinks)- pretty good! There's a Paul Rudd/Amy Lippmann piece that's well done, a Guy Maddin ripoff piece that was cool, an obvious lift, but great in its own way, a piece on drunk bees (they get kicked out of the hive until their hangovers wear off; some of them return to the hive but some head straight back to the bar (the bar being a weird plant that has fermented juice coming out of it)), a musical piece where someone attacks a full drum kit with a semi-automatic weapon (the cymbals were surprisingly resilient), some guy who likes to hang on vertical poles with just one leg and one arm (he seems kinda... out of it, but there's a twist at the end of this mini-documentary). Needless to say, if you haven't seen any of the Wholphins, check them out. They are without a doubt the best quarterly DVD magazine out there. They may be the only one, but that doesn't detract from this kudos. It's put out by McSweeney's, so take that as you will.

I dreamed some crazy dreams last night. High school people everywhere, people that I remember from high school days. Not just my high school, but all the high schools around where I grew up. My dream was stinking with high schoolers. I had Odile on one arm and some paraphernalia in the other... I lost Odile wandering through throngs of old acquaintances and enemies. I was freaking OUT- she was about 2 months old in the dream- Corinne eventually found her, but she was hurt and I felt awful. I woke up, went back to sleep and dreamed an alternate ending: someone who looked like Tom Hanks had a submarine and a side-kick and they took Odile away to a faraway black market.

Books I'm reading and you probably won't:

Beginning Game Development with Python and Pygame- I want to get some Python under my belt and this seemed like a fun way to do that. Python is an interesting language- I like the way it tells you that you've fucked up as you're programming. Pretty handy.

Faraday's Experimental Researches in Electricity- Faraday's the guy who really nailed down what the hell was happening with electricity and magnetism. This book is a compendium of his experiments that he gave to students, along with annotations to help the reader follow. Very cool stuff actually. It gives a good insight into what is going on in the weird world of electricity.

Understanding Renewable Energy Resources- Not for the meek, lots of calculus and physics in here; good for the up and coming renewable energy engineer- that's me! Could it be you?

The girls are doing well, they need lots of outside time, even if they don't think so. It's good for them to get the hell out and go crazy- they seem to do better away from the house and preferably with lots of other kids they can pester and psycho-analyze. Heavy on the psycho.

Some cool links that have come my way:

carboard and conductive paint noise maker

My new hot thing (there's a little store in Fubonn here in Portland called serenity arts that has an amazing selection at great prices)

get weird

Thanks go to Mo for this one great way to make your enemies love you

Kyusu-ishi since I've gone completely out of my mind tea crazy, I've been drooling over some of these amazing teapots. They also have iron teacups on this site- what could be more zen manly? you drop your tea cup and instead of breaking it demolishes the floor! cool.

A little somethin for the ladies

Blat From the Pat: March 24, 2003 (not edited for brevity, but with updated notes)

I've been sitting at home smoking weed and taking vitamins. It's certainly the life. Now I just need to find a way to succour those who would sustain me with gifts of blinding penchant created during my sojourn.

this is pretty bad. boring to start, mealy-mouthed to end, doesn't even warrant being typed up, but too late!

There she sat, cramming garamyacin into her open wounds. She didn't grimace, not even at the sight of us soldiers. She was running from us when she landed in the spike and sprite pit on Canterburry Square. A trail of blood led us to where she has made a pre-fab shopping mall for pubescent girls and dormice.

well, this is obv. also crap. it's one of my aborted attempts to stimulate even just a short story with a couple of spastic mind strokes. the formula is very obvious to any masochist who spends time studying my inane rantings: start with some splash of nonsensical pap; take this very seriously and stretch it to meet a bit of dark reality; continue stretching til it pops; start again. artistic, huh? check out the next piece for proof.

Mable brazed her hand over the pile of bills sitting on the table. (ok, I broke the formula here, but all I did was flip the starter weirdness with the later straight story, watch:) She left a streak of blood, especially on the Ben Franklins. "Smelly, do you really think they'll let us slip out of the country and into some droll sea-shanty town in the Caribbean?"
"Hell yeah, Mabez," answered Corky Smelly. "I got fifty mill riding on Garrison Keillor in the eighth and that's enough to set the whole of the damn west on edge!"
Just then the Department of Homeland Security kicked the door down and took a huge shit on their pile of money.

in retrospect: wouldn't it have been just a bit funnier if someone,anyone other than the dept. of home. sec. had kicked the door down? geez. this was all done on a typewriter, stream of consc. so I guess you get what you pay for. This was my mind at work, getting shit out and down quickly, so you can't hope for golden nuggets to sprinkle down like that. but it's a bummer knowing that my mind doesn't work fast enough to realize that the most obvious choice is going to be the most boring one.

April 23, 2003

Gabriel sat in a puddle of warm spring water, the sun slid down his back and landed at the end of his spine, caressing his entire frame with ravenous glee. His sarong slid down and Dawn glanced at him through the fabric of her blouse as she pulled it over her head. The sarong tightened slightly as we watched her undress, as her breasts shot out of their holsters. She clutched at the nipples and gave Gabriel another quick darting glance- their eyes met for a moment- their passion increasing exponentially then. Dawn dove into the spring, cracking her head on the rocks, and the spring grew red with love.

really, what on earth could I say about this?

here's another word splurge, these were the equivalent of cleaning cobwebs out of the attic, except imagine yourself showing off to no-one while you were waving the old witch's broom in dark musty crevices

Hallelujah paralysis zygote homeopath gargantuan hemophiliac barbituate feral lapidary taxonomy gavel regal lucid lurid usage tree topsoil meander thrice located in arboreal territory nutmeg nutshell poisonous neanderthal calligraphy monstrosity huntington downs placid meanderings diametrically opposed squadrons of lust mudslinging mustering felching filaments leading kite strings astray undermining intentions ocularly upwards, sidelongly glancing at tentaments of dismay and prejudice internment camps swelling with good folk piercings pissing off father like people engendering a generation-

Fontainbleu considers his cuticles and grimaces at Jupiter's allegory sweltering in the sunlamp of Merces. Pulitzer pulls up his testicle shaped pants and dances down Broadway with a dagger across his eyebrows- "Anyone here willing to wager a lightyear's wages that Richard TRICKSON Nixon was a hermaphrodite?" His lacy filaments spread in effervescent sacrament across the rabble.

well, I don't know whether to thank or blame Willy Burroughs. I'll leave that up to you. Sorry for the pain, more to come!

The Reasons

Throw another blog on the pile, I'm aware this is ludicrous, but I've been writing more lately, life's changed, things are flowing around some rocks, hung up on others, so the other blogs/journals/bullshit doesn't seem right, so I'm starting fresh with this hunk of unmoldy cheese.

Thanks to Wiley Wiggins, who made everything okay again.

It's a cold-ass summer morning, and I think I'm finally realizing two things: I like having the NY Times (even though I don't have it right now), and Portland is just a cold town, doesn't matter what time of the year it is. It can drop into the 50's in the middle of summer, so keep your scarf close to your vest.

In personal news, I feel from the hammock, onto a poorly placed log and gummed up my shoulders and necks. And experiments show that sitting in front of a computer is not really the fastest way to get sore nex back to normal.

Here's the obligatory children photo:



Completely torn between film and digital. Film just feels right, but the hassle factor is high. So also is the art factor. Digital... easy peasey, but the look is never quite right, unless I can get a hold of a super fancy digi-camera. Torn torn torn, maybe I should just strike it rich and get both.

Keep an eye on this spot, I promise to update often with tales of broken shoulders and pictures of beautiful girls.