6/25/12: My life thus far
has been composed of a series of violent growth spurts punctuated by moments of
sleepy over-confidence.
6/23/12: I was going to
write 'my body is trying to sabotage me', but then I realized I--as a
materialist--can't say that. I would have to say 'I am trying to sabotage me',
which sounds much more alarming.
6/21/12: My favorite
parts of a project are the beginning and end. It's fun to create something, and
it's fun to receive the payoff at the end. There's an anxiety in the middle
though: What if this fails? Do you really know what you're doing? If someone
dies because of this, will your insurance cover it? I'm really starting to
think that's an important part of it though. It would be hard to enjoy the
beginning and ending part if it weren't for the anxious middle.
6/20/12: I just saw my
first anti-Romney ad. The most striking thing about it was that none of the
photos they showed of Romney were bad. Usually the opposition tries to find the
most unflattering images of their opponent that they can find, but Romney looks
like a soap opera leading man in every one.
6/20/12: Oh, the
humanity: I found a 'Big Texas Cookie' in my office desk. It is wrapped, but it
doesn't have an expiration date on it. I vaguely remember picking it up at a
staff meeting around 5 or 6 months ago. I'm thinking about eating it...how will
this end?
6/19/12: Pearl Jam's
'Vitalogy' is the greatest mainstream rock album to come out in the 90's.
6/19/12: "In any
moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best
thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing." -
Theodore Roosevelt
6/18/12: I wish Ryan
Kennebeck wasn't dead. I loved him. I think he would have been great in his
30's.
6/16/12: I wonder what it
would be like to be normal.
6/15/12: Just had the
uncomfortable and somewhat surreal experience of explaining to my oldest two
sons why one of them is circumcized while his two younger brothers aren't. To
hear the words 'because in the bible, god asked Abraham to cut part of his
son's penis off to prove his dedication to him' come out of your mouth--and to
see the look of stupified horror on the faces of your children--when explaining
why you decided to subject one of them to a non-essential surgical procedure,
is unnerving.
6/15/12: Spencer, Jack,
and I watched 'The Grey' last night. Wonderful, inspirational movie. I'm adding
Liam Neeson's character to my growing roster of atheist movie heroes.
6/14/12: someone wrote
'RAP MUSIC' on the tube slide at the playground with a big black permanent
marker.
6/13/12: yesterday I took
little Spencer to work with me, and he sat through the staff meeting I presided
over. Just now, he walked into his bedroom--where Jack and I were playing table
hockey--and read a draft of his next 'team meeting' to us from a green
composition book he was carrying. He acknowledged that they hadn't been making
as many comic books as they had planned, but reassured his team that he had a
plan to order more supplies.
6/11/12: There's a man
screaming into a bullhorn about Jesus across the street. He seems to be
enjoying himself.
6/9/12: "No
interesting project can be embarked on without fear. I shall be scared to death
half the time." ~ frank chichester
6/9/12: I took Jack
to the mall today to spend his birthday money (he bought a cool hat, a dr. Who
shirt, and an Adventure Time sword), and there was a man in his late fifties
wearing khaki shorts and a green polo shirt sitting on a bench. A teenage girl
(maybe 18 or 19) wearing a loose, bohemian style blouse and a very short skirt
walked past him. He looked at her with a very sad, hungry, longing expression.
Clearly, he felt like he had missed some opportunities in his youth.
6/8/12: I think the movie
versions of The Watchmen and V for Vendetta are both better than the comic book
versions.
6/7/12: "So the LORD
God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you
above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust all the days of your life...and, just as a bonus, for
some reason your zipper will always be down, especially when you are speaking
to large groups, even if you're pretty sure you zipped the damned thing back up
the last time you used it." - Genesis 3:14
6/4/12: Sometimes I
think I'm in the mood to listen to intense metal music, but after about two or
three songs I'm like, 'jeez, what's this guy so upset about?', and then I
switch back to my regular snotty art rock.
6/4/12: Langston just sat
absolutely still while I pulled a tremendous splinter from the heel of his foot
with a pair of tweezers ('tremendous' may not be the right word here: lots of
things look tremendous compared to a 1 year old's heel). I expected some
pushback; at least a little crying. Instead, he was pretty interested in the
whole procedure, and he gave me a hug when I handed him the splinter (which was
basically the size of a table leg). I have some cool little people in my life.
6/3/12: Just because I am
a nerd, I present my top 5 albums of all time:
1) Crash Test
Dummies: A Worm's Life
2) Frank Black
& The Catholics: Dog In Sand
3) Pulp: This Is
Hardcore
4) The Bad Plus:
These Are The Vistas
5) Hawksley Workman: For Him & The Girls
Please buy all of these albums immediately if you
do not already own them.
6/2/12: I just got
myself trapped in a stereotypical sitcom-husband situation: I was telling my
wife about a girl someone tried to hook me up with in high school in spite of
the fact that 'she was way too beautiful for me'. My attempts to try to walk
back that statement (and the implication that someone who would date me
wouldn't necessarily be less than beautiful) only dug the hole deeper. The only
thing lacking was the laugh track.
6/1/12: cool, drizzly
weather like this nourishes my dark little soul. This is a good day to listen
to Morrissey at a high volume while cleaning the house with all the windows
open.
