Falling and Laughing

This is the glamorous.: My one-sided conversation with the guy on the scooter as the bus taking me to work stalked behind him this morning.

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:30:22 -0400

This is the glamorous.: My one-sided conversation with the guy on the scooter as the bus taking me to work stalked behind him this morning.:

“What are you doing there champ. Corduroy suit? It’s still August, dude. It doesn’t matter how cool it is out today, it’s still August. I’m pretty sure the inverse rule to wearing white beyond Labor Day is no corduroy before Labor Day. I will give you that, it’s a nice suit.

Given that your bus was loop-bound, it could be that this gentleman was just an extreme Silver Jews fan. From “Black and Brown Blues” (Emphasis added—Ed.):

When I go downtown
I always wear a corduroy suit
cause it’s made of a hundred gutters
that the rain can run right through

"In 1966 he succeeded Stephen Spender as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress — a job we..."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:36:00 -0400

“In 1966 he succeeded Stephen Spender as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress — a job we now call poet laureate — and he enjoyed his term in a way few have since. He held a news conference, ripping into Dylan Thomas for who knows what.”

- “Deliverance, by James Dickey, turns 40”

James Dickey, two-fisted poet laureate. The U.S. started going soft when its poet laureates stopped delivering ranting press conferences. W.S. Merwin, you reading this? You need to get drunk, call in some reporters, and tear Billy Collins a new one. Also, Garrison Keillor should be strongly rebuked, both on general grounds and specifically for his foray into the erotic sonnetry. C’mon, W.S. Do the right thing for America.

My Mantra

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:43:00 -0400

For some while now I have been interested in transcendental meditation—the kind that the Beatles ran off to India to learn, and that David Lynch espouses.

It’s pretty complicated to get into it, though—my understanding is that you have to go to Iowa and take an intensive weeklong course, at the end of which you receive your own personal mantra, the sound-phrase you recite when performing your meditation.

Until I’m able to take the trip to Iowa, I’ve been using what I think of as a placeholder mantra for myself. I repeat it over and over in times of difficulty, and it calms me down. When you get your actual mantra, I think you’re supposed to keep it like a secret, but since this is just a placeholder, I thought I’d share it with you in case you want to use it. It’s “quonset hut.” Here’s how you do it:

Quonset hut
Quonset hut
Quonset hut
[repeat 437 times]

HTH

I had a dream, I had an awesome dream

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 13:22:54 -0400

Being pulled on a tiny sleigh by Bruce Springsteen. He was pulling me pretty fast (unconscious “Born to Run” reference?), but in the dream I really wanted a lash so I could make him go faster. If I see Inception, will it teach me how to conjure a lash in a dream?

Man, I wanted that lash so bad.

This is how Gem has been sleeping lately to stay chillwave. You...

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 18:03:52 -0400

This is how Gem has been sleeping lately to stay chillwave. You can kinda see the one box fan on the floor; there is an additional fan out of frame so she is getting a two-way breeze on her belly.

P.S. Sometimes I let G sleep in my bed DON’T JUDGE

“There is a Place,” Silver Jews

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:48:00 -0400

“There is a Place,” Silver Jews

Dear readers of F+L, Hi, how has your summer been? Mine’s...

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:46:00 -0400

Dear readers of F+L,

Hi, how has your summer been? Mine’s been really chillwave. By that I mean I’ve been listening to Waves, Beach Coast, Best House, and a lot of other underground bands you probably haven’t heard of.

I also went to summer day camp, where I crafted an extremely complex Ojo de Dios (God’s Eye) using particolored yarn, multiple sticks, and Native American imagery (pictured above). Not a bad day’s work, right?

Anyway, speaking of chilling, I’ve also been away because I’ve been doing some pro bono marketing work for the American Energy Conservation Alliance. They needed some catchy slogans for their summer reduce-air-conditioning-usage campaign, so I did some blue-sky concepting with them and came up with the following slogans, which you’ve probably seen on posters, bookmarks, etc:

Don’t be an energ-loser
Keep the ‘stat [thermostat] warm 2 B cool.
It isn’t hot 2 B cool

N.B. “Cool” is being used in two different senses above. Some people (dunces) have complained that this is confusing. I condemn them.

N.N.B. The last slogan was accompanied by a caricature of Paris Hilton in order to connect with the tween demo.

In conclusion, the previous things I mentioned above consist of what I’ve been doing this summer.

As for this blog intanet site, I might start musing, riffing, etc. on here again soon.

Yours correspondentially,

Erik

Photo

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:39:45 -0400

— This dropdown caused me to pause and think hard for a...

Fri, 28 May 2010 22:08:00 -0400

—

This dropdown caused me to pause and think hard for a moment about who I like better: animals or children.

If there's one thing I love hearing at the gym, it's the Old School 70s Funk channel

Fri, 28 May 2010 17:26:49 -0400

Because I like to feel super mellow and loose when I work out.

Being haunted by a tiny ghost would be the cutest scary thing.

Fri, 28 May 2010 13:16:11 -0400

Being haunted by a tiny ghost would be the cutest scary thing.

I'm not trying to show off or anything, but I just curled Gemma.

Mon, 24 May 2010 20:33:00 -0400

For like 8 reps¹.

My initial plan was to bench press her, but she was being too wiggly.

At any rate, you may consider this your warning w/r/t the inadvisability of fucking with me.

—
_{1 “Repetitions”^a
_{a “Times”}}

New life motto. (photo source)

Sat, 22 May 2010 10:50:29 -0400

New life motto.

_{(photo source)}

You've been using it for so long I feel shameful asking now, but what does PMA mean?

I'll probably remember/figure it out as soon as I click submit.

Wed, 19 May 2010 15:05:00 -0400

Vicky asked me this so long ago! And now another tumblr friend has asked, so let me tell you about PMA. PMA = Positive Mental Attitude, and it was the driving ethos of DC rasta/hardcore outfit Bad Brains. Whenever I feel the world getting the better of me, I try to imagine a tiny H.R. I can pull out of my pocket and have shout the lyrics of “Attitude” in my ear:

Don’t care what they may say
We got that attitude!
Don’t care what they may do
We got that attitude!

Hey, we got that P.M.A.!
Hey, we got the P.M.A.!
Hey, we got the P.M.A.!

Don’t care what they may say
We got that attitude!
Don’t care what they may do
We got that attitude!

Hey, we got that P.M.A.!
Hey, we got the P.M.A.!
Hey, we got the P.M.A.!

We got that attitude!
We got that attitude!

We got the P.M.A.!
We got that attitude!
We got the P.M.A.!
We got that attitude!

Watch this, it’s amazing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWWI2rGdda4

KICKBOXING BABIES

Wed, 19 May 2010 14:50:53 -0400

KICKBOXING BABIES

Sorry I didn’t preface the previous post with a FEELINGS...

Wed, 19 May 2010 14:50:13 -0400

Sorry I didn’t preface the previous post with a FEELINGS ALERT. I am fine and mainly thinking happy/PMA thoughts today. Here are some kickboxing babies!

I lost a good friend a year ago today. R.I.P. Belle. There will...

Wed, 19 May 2010 14:13:35 -0400

I lost a good friend a year ago today. R.I.P. Belle. There will never be another little furry lady like you and I miss you all the time.

I came home—what was it, a week ago? a month...

Sun, 16 May 2010 20:36:00 -0400

Goodies! Bookmarks, band-aids, candy!

Best bookmarks ever

Scary spiderweb from Fallie's bookmark

Finn did this with her non-dominant hand

Super scary monster plasters!

I'M PRETTY SURE THESE ARE FO ME!!!

I came home—what was it, a week ago? a month ago?—from my overseas odyssey to a heart-punchingly wonderful package from Brerfly, Mumblelard, and the Skull Girls. I am belatedly chronicling its wonders here in hopes that they will put as large a grin on your gob as they did on mine and K’s.

Especially of note:
(1) Fallie’s monster yelling GOOD LUCK!!!! with bonus FOUR LEAF CLOVER!!!
(2) Finn executed her adorable-food-with-faces with her non-dominant hand whilst the usual one was IN A CAST!!!

Brerfly, Mumblelard, Finn, Fallie: My Very Favorite Family I’ve Never Met.

There ought to be a law… …that, when you are eating...

Fri, 14 May 2010 22:09:42 -0400

There ought to be a law…

…that, when you are eating a large floppy piece of pizza, and you fold it in half lengthwise to facilitate the eating of it, you have to yell out, “PIZZA TACO!”

Also (this would be a subarticle of the law), you have to yell it in the Novelty Italian-ah Pizz-a Chef-uh Voice-ah!

AK KEYBOARD FACE! AK KEYBOARD FACE!

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:06:00 -0400

AK KEYBOARD FACE! AK KEYBOARD FACE!

Falling and Laughing

This is the glamorous.: My one-sided conversation with the guy on the scooter as the bus taking me to work stalked behind him this morning.

"In 1966 he succeeded Stephen Spender as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress — a job we..."

My Mantra

I had a dream, I had an awesome dream

This is how Gem has been sleeping lately to stay chillwave. You...

“There is a Place,” Silver Jews

Dear readers of F+L, Hi, how has your summer been? Mine’s...

Photo

— This dropdown caused me to pause and think hard for a...

If there's one thing I love hearing at the gym, it's the Old School 70s Funk channel

Being haunted by a tiny ghost would be the cutest scary thing.

I'm not trying to show off or anything, but I just curled Gemma.

New life motto. (photo source)

You've been using it for so long I feel shameful asking now, but what does PMA mean? I'll probably remember/figure it out as soon as I click submit.

KICKBOXING BABIES

Sorry I didn’t preface the previous post with a FEELINGS...

I lost a good friend a year ago today. R.I.P. Belle. There will...

I came home—what was it, a week ago? a month...

There ought to be a law… …that, when you are eating...

AK KEYBOARD FACE! AK KEYBOARD FACE!

You've been using it for so long I feel shameful asking now, but what does PMA mean?

I'll probably remember/figure it out as soon as I click submit.