2/14: Snow sculptures wait under lights across the street from my hotel.
2/15: The plane feels like it's descending too quickly -- it always does, but especially today -- so I keep talking like my voice alone will keep us in the air.
2/16: No one seems to know when spring comes to Bellingham. July, some people tell me. It's already here, others say.
2/17: The word Olentangy conjures both the river -- the muddy water, the yellowish froth -- and the mini-mall.
2/18: G. has a fierce fast-ball, and he can aim, too, and when he aims at you, you're in trouble.
2/19: A girl with curly hair at the childcare place is throwing a fit when we arrive. The other kids mostly watch her, and one boy keeps going down the slide over and over.
2/20: Peeling corn at the counter, and throwing the husks on the floor.
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The class sits in a circle. Is the guy next to the teacher making a paper airplane? Does he realize how odd his mannerisms are, continually getting up throw bits of stuff in the trash? Stop it, he's a human being, not a fiction character to lampoon.
ReplyDeleteThere is a broken man, yet look how he is still ambulatory. You can see the pieces of his broken psyche shift and jiggle as he walks, even when he breathes. I don't have any sutures to offer him.
You where a mistake - I'm going to edit the world until you're essential to everything.
I had a moment of peace today. out the window a robin sat perfectly still in span of sunlight. Green grass came to life. Afterwards, that experience was rather boring. Peace is just an emotion, a neutral time between other feelings. Being free from worry is a good goal, but perfect peace isn't what it's hyped up to be. Id rather be doing something useful than to stand around feeling peace. I think people who talk up peace don't know what they are looking for. They really just want a break, an inner rest equal to physical relaxation. I achieved it. Peace was good. It's not a worthy end goal though. There are better things than that.
In a devastated future, ipods are the new currency. Everyone has hope that someone will be able to get them running some day, and all that old music will be worth its weight in gold. After all, the only source of music these days is roving bands of folk singers in a world with no electricity.
That was when Palmer stopped believing in shape. When those lion jaws came down on his shoulder, crushing it together, removing a bite out of the shape Palmer had lived in for forty-seven years, the concept of shape broke then.
Imagine his chagrin, all his life they told him he was allergic to nuts. Now, trapped on the second floor of a three story condo after the earthquake, pinned under a sofa, by the collapsed mini bar, nothing to eat but a sack of unshelled nuts. He was so hungry the thought that he was starving seemed ever more real. Am I the first to commit suicide by nuts? he thought. they where hard to crack using an ashtray and a geode paperweight. In the dark he contemplated a lifetime of missed opportunities. To eat nuts.
2/14 Today is officially my 2nd year celebrating the big Vday. We made sushi...it is amazing how one's emotions can shift from pure hope and excitement to disappointment and just being pissed off when something as basic as RICE doesn't cook correctly. That simple ingredient was the foundation for our beautiful meal. We ate at 11 pm.
ReplyDelete2/15 Sleeping is absolutely marvelous. I never used to be able to sleep in like I can now, 1 pm is usually my wakeup time. Today I woke to the sound of my own laughter. A dream that laughed me awake, I love those ones...
2/16 I am now realizing, I have an amusement park in my brain. When I dream, I go back to it every now and then. The water slide is always broken, and it's always night time. I am so predictable...
2/17 The old man in the yellow raincoat with the white beard and bicycle helmet is in Fred Meyer. I think we've all seen him riding his bike, it's all he does really. Ever since someone dressed up as his on Halloween, I have much respect for him...so I stare at him in the bread section.
2/18 I think I have a severe disorder when it comes to public chewing. If I see anyone chewing, hear it, see it, smell it, become hit with flying shrapnel from it...I can't stand it. I still can't handle eating around my closest friend, it's that disconnection of the brain where they tune out and don't even realize all the horrible sounds they are letting out. Misery.
2/19 Time goes so much faster with every day I age. It has nearly doubled from when I was a kid.
2/20 Puppies smell absolutely amazing :)
for the previous post, I am on my mom's computer, the internet broke at my house! I can't seem to post without it being in her name, it's AMY GRAFSTROM ha
ReplyDelete2/14: The sky is rather bright but cloudy tonight. I can’t see if there is an aurora borealis, but wonder if that’s where the brightness comes from.
ReplyDelete2/15: Heart shaped ice cubes melting in my Diet Coke seem sort of sad.
2/16: I’ve noticed that some people who have lived here for all of their lives think that Bellingham is a big city.
2/17: Happy faces drawn in the morning frost of car windows can brighten up a hectic morning.
2/18: Today I have observed that some times I am too busy to be all that observant.
2/19: Now that my dog learned how to “speak” he thinks I want to hear him bark every time I look at him. After he barks he sits there, proudly, waiting for the applause.
2/20: Today my daughter made a beverage from water and powder candy left over from Valentine’s Day. The drink is pink, murky, and lumpy and doesn’t actually look like something I’d want to drink. Not only is she delighted with herself for making it up, she’s going to start her own recipe book.
This week’s theme: Things out of place
ReplyDeleteSaturday 2/14: A homeless man shuffles down the alley holding a bouquet of cellophane-wrapped flowers to his chest.
Sunday 2/15: It’s February in the Pacific Northwest, but today I woke with sunshine on my toes.
Monday 2/16: There are seven bobby pins stuck in the arm of my couch. An oversized, overstuffed pincushion.
Tuesday 2/17: A young man wielding a four-foot dowel sprints through Red Square.
Wednesday 2/18: A fly lands on my nose and, I think, is trying to mesmerize me with his spindly bug arms.
Thursday 2/19: The dome of the mountain pokes through the fog. Its base is a cloud, its slopes blurred. Protruding from water-colored nothingness.
Friday 2/20: Night. A cop flips on his lights, no siren, then stops dead in the middle of the intersection. He gets out of the car, opens the trunk and pulls out a broom. He sweeps. The cloud of dirt glows green then yellow then red.
2/14: Nothing says "Happy Valentines" like a spoon fed dish of drunken noodle.
ReplyDelete2/15: A black classic car reads "California SPECIAL" on the back and glows purple under the light.
2/16: A sugar- and caffiene-free late is called the "Why Bother?" My girlfriend doesn't approve. I approve entirely.
2/17: I was relieved this morning to find that the pearl necklace was in fact not in my posession
2/18: My perfect attendance was today undone by frozen yogert (soft serve, of course). Little did I know the yogurt was framed by too few hands acting under the direction of the smoothie, who planned the whole thing.
2/19: The Indian Giver is a young woman in nursing attire guiding a spaceship back to it's launch pad. I suspect space will miss it.
2/20: "Get out of here" has had more posotive association in my life than negative.
2/14- Scallops don't always taste exactly like scallops. It depends on how they are cooked and what with.
ReplyDelete2/15- Kissing is worse than being ignored when you have to say good-bye to it.
2/16- How sad is it when you have to pretend to go to the bathroom to pee when really you are throwing up from being hung over?
2/17- Each car was taking people to places that were not where they wanted to be.
2/18- I walked to school with my Ipod ringing in my ears and felt like a had my own theme music to the day. I didn't care who noticed, they should.
2/19- A boy with clumsy green eyes embraces the negative grin that mutual friends overwhelmingly give.
2/20- Its staying lighter later and ansy doesn't even begin to describe the week's end.
2/14- On some evening I didn't notice it started being light out again at 5 PM.
ReplyDelete2/15- The sound a CD makes when you drop it on a hard surface reveals the fact that it's actually worthless junk.
2/16- When I first noticed people on MySpace and Facebook at school, they tried to hide it. Now there is usually someone within my range of vision that sits, not even pretending to work, and looks at pictures of their friends at parties for the duration of the time I'm in the lab.
2/17- A kid is walking down the street in front of me and his pants are only being held up by his hand, which grips a wad of the fabric high on one leg.
2/18- Auto glass is weird when it breaks. Little crystal cubes instead of glass.
2/19- I don't understand why it's okay to come up to someone who's reading and ask, "Hey, what are you reading?"
2/20- The college-aged people who walk through my alley late at night remind me of myself in middle school. They yell and laugh and break stuff in the alley, and then when I turn on my porch light I hear, "Shit! Let's go!" and look out the window to see them all sprinting away. They look like huge little kids, running like that.
2/14/09 – His friend was born with one kidney and died with a bottle in his hand on Valentine’s Day.
ReplyDelete2/15/09 – “The doggie at my house of cards!” she told her mother.
2/16/09 – He crawled into her bed and pulled he covers over his head without removing his jeans. He liked napping while she was at work.
2/17/09 – If an avocado cost $2.00 and about only one third of it is the fruit, you just paid $1.12 for a peel and pit.
2/18/09 – Her hair never looked the same two days in a row, always disheveled and stretched out from static and humidity.
2/19/09 – “Everything we know about the outside world is learned from tabloids while waiting in line at the grocery store,” her roommate commented when she was rejected in her attempt to install the Internet.
2/20/09 – Upon waking at the campsite, they discovered that their tent had blow away and their truck was stolen.
2/14 - A couple sits in a movie theater with four children in between them.
ReplyDelete2/15 - The smell of burnt english muffins mixes with a sweet strawberry candle. Burnt Muffin Strawberry could be a new fragrance.
2/16 - Cars whirl past Enchanted Village. Their headlights illuminate the desolate slip n'slides closed until summer.
2/17 - Arrogance permeates the office.
2/18 - A bobby pin rests in the kitchen cupboard next to the cheeze-its and parmesan gold fish. How did that get there?
2/19 - "I may be down, but I'm never out."
2/20 - Packing for the alcohol-heavy weekend in Portland was easy. She planned on wearing the same outfit both days.
Saturday-I believe I lost my faith on the way to the Meridian Care for Pets last year. My dog was put down there, but soon after, a friend who worked there told me they freeze the dead animals so they don't smell up the vet area.
ReplyDeleteSunday-A shoe lace clogs up the kitchen sink's drain. No kids live in the house.
Monday-Seven buttons are stacked on top of the drier. Mrs. Sunich is testing her assured policy that her new drier is "quiet without rumble" as the store owner promised.
Tuesday-She didn't know how to tell her daughter.
Wednesday-The mail hadn't come in weeks. She started to wonder where her husband had gone. He was supposed to be back a week ago. Had he played double jeopardy?
Thursday-An orange lollipop choked the baby. The doctor didn't know what to say.
Friday-Two students goof off. And then there was a huge crash.
2-14 He said, "Didn't you get my letter?" I wondered if he'd even sent one.
ReplyDelete2-15 I exercise and exercise and still get out of breath from walking up that hill
2-16 The quiet, bespectacled mother was nothing like her loud attitude daughter
2-17 It is extremely awkward everytime the RA decides to stop by for a chat
2-18 I'm so tired of staring at screens. They're everywhere.
2-19 two girls walked by, one in a bathrobe, the other just in a bathing suit at 11 at night. It was hard to keep a straight face walking past. I mean, coat, anyone?
2-20 A girl kept getting pestered by a guy for her friend's number. She tried to send 'god, he's so annoying' to the friend, but accidentally sent it to the guy instead
WEEK 8:
ReplyDelete2/14/09 – His friend was born with one kidney and died with a bottle in his hand on Valentine’s Day.
2/15/09 – “The doggie at my house of cards!” she told her mother.
2/16/09 – He crawled into her bed and pulled he covers over his head without removing his jeans. He liked napping while she was at work.
2/17/09 – If an avocado cost $2.00 and about only one third of it is the fruit, you just paid $1.12 for a peel and pit.
2/18/09 – Her hair never looked the same two days in a row, always disheveled and stretched out from static and humidity.
2/19/09 – “Everything we know about the outside world is learned from tabloids while waiting in line at the grocery store,” her roommate commented when she was rejected in her attempt to install the Internet.
2/20/09 – Upon waking at the campsite, they discovered that their tent had blow away and their truck was stolen.
REAL WEEK 8: (I don't know how to delete that other one)
ReplyDelete2/21/09 – Her jaw ached from grinding her teeth, but it felt awkward to discontinue the movement.
2/22/09 – The dark of winter provided earlier bedtimes and reasons to remain indoors. No one wondered why he wasn’t “outside having fun” on a Friday night when it was pitch black and raining, giving him several more hours to hide and read without the guilt of being anti-social.
2/23/09 – The apartment was bare and smelled of moldy fruit and incense. The walls were bare but for a few painting down by the occupants. All the furniture was small and neat, very odd for college students.
2/24/09 – The library’s new hours included constant closure on Monday, the best day to do homework.
2/25/09 – The worse the economy gets, the looser a company’s morals become. No one cares about anything besides their job. It’s all about who you know and who you can tare down to ensure your employment. A company is based on values, but run on politics and the best liars and performers.
2/26/09 – You can’t smell the freshly printed pages of an E-Book, or feel the soft texture of the paper between your thumb and forefinger as you turn each page. You can’t drift through the shelved of a used E-Book store and find a volume covered in the thoughts and questions of another’s experience of that story, scribbled in the margins and between the lines. You can’t hear the spine of an E-Book crack its welcome to a reader who waited in line to receive the first shipment of a new novel. You can’t fall asleep with an E-Book across your belly, too enthralled to put it down and go to sleep. You can’t write an inscription on the title page on an E-Book as a gift. You cannot read an E-Book by candlelight when the power is out.
2/27/09 – She collected nametags. She worked at a thrift store that accepted clothing donations. Many people turned in shirts with nametags sown onto them or still pined into the breast pocket, She slipped these into her pocket and took them home.
Feb. 16: If I do not gather the oral histories of the elders in my life, who will?
ReplyDeleteFeb 17: An empty stage, painted black with one bright spot of light in the middle - heaven or hell or both?
Feb 18: I stop visiting him over a year ago. He'd be so excited to see me. But soon he'd forget that I had been there, yet remain excited, and proceed to tear his room apart, looking for something important he'd lost.
Feb 19: Holly keeps bees, in hives outside, and she also has a glassed in hive in her bedroom. I watched them long and hard, while Holly bustled around, planting seeds in trays indoors, pursuing her life's goal of never needing to go to a grocery store ever again.
Feb 20: Been happily married for ten years, and our friends fuss over us, asking our secret, maybe telling us they feel jealous, yet everyone knows that no one would wish to be married to either one of us.
If times get hard, you bunnies die.
2-14: It certainly is an economic crisis. The LaRouche Squad wanted me to buy their propaganda this time. For $25.
ReplyDelete~
Who would buy propaganda for $25? If you want me to join your team, pay me $25.
2-15: Today’s discovery: applying eyeliner consists of drawing dangerously close to your eye with a sharpened pencil. Men, I shit you not.
2-16: They never seem to do those tours on a typical rainy Bellingham day.
2-17: Have you ever really thought about this? I mean, REALLY? Fact: there is a mechanism in every pair of pants and underwear that I own. The sole purpose of this mechanism is for me to stick my penis out of my pants. It serves no other function. All these years, and it only now just struck me how absurd/hilarious that is. It's just so... anatomical.
2-18: If I combined all the books I am halfway through, I could have actually finished some of them.
2-19: Crowded room. Lots of chatter. Suddenly it's quiet. Everyone looks around. No one seems to know why it's quiet, so chatter resumes. What an odd and beautiful social phenomenon.
2-20: The sky is an impossible color. It seems at once orange and purple. I can't even explain it.
If you put ctrl F all periods in a word document, and increase the print to size 14, your papers grow wonderfully before your eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe trash man refuses to take the trash because the lid does not sit flush on the can.
Beef is the only meat worth cooking, you can't mess it up. Oh it's raw? Nope. Just rare.
I watched you lick the stamp and seal the envelope, and I tried not to make it sexual.
Bring the sun to me and I will hold it my hand for as long as I possibly can.