5/16: Burrata. The world's best cheese. (This is not a joke, people. Get thee to a Trader Joe.)
5/17: A slug on the carpet. We three bend down to examine it like it is a brand new species.
5/18: Even having lived away from Florida for almost ten years, I still compare too many things to Disney. Today: when G. went across a puddle in his wagon, I said, "It's like a real life Jungle Ride."
5/19: Awkwardfamilyphotos.com. If you haven't seen it, you really should.
5/20: The notes for my new novel ending are covered in dog footprints.
5/21: I have a hard time trusting my gaydar these days. It goes off at all the wrong people.
5/22: From an interview with Sam Ligon, on the seductive dangers of over-editing: "And I think many writers rewrite and rewrite and rewrite, and I think it occurs to many writers, as it does to me sort of late in the process: If I can just, finally, cut every single fucking word from this piece, it will be perfect."
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(Sat) 5/16: The coyotes aren’t around today.
ReplyDelete(Sun) 5/17: The trail runs west along the hillside and a long phantasmagoria of pines, and somewhere near the center of those woods we find a single orchid, a "Calypso bulbosa," like a last, bright memory of spring.
(Mon) 5/18: The living room floor is a crowd, screaming: “Vacuum me!”
(Tues) 5/19: Too many run-on sentences, run-on sentences, run-on sentences.
(Wed) 5/20: Both pizzas end up about twenty minutes over-cooked.
(Thurs) 5/21: There are only five cupcakes in a box that should hold six, but I’m pretty exhausted by now, and a little disoriented from physics homework, and I tell my sister: “Find the magnitude of the ‘sugar charge’ of the ‘non-real’ cupcake needed to balance the ‘sugar charge’ of the remaining five cupcakes if each ‘real’ cupcake has a charge of +500 units.” The correct answer is -2500.
(Fri) 5/22: I discover black marks all over the bathroom floor, as if my feet have been steeping quietly for the past few minutes.
5/19/09
ReplyDeleteI saw a beaver today, the first one I’ve seen in the wild since we climbed out to the lake last summer. It was swimming underneath a bridge heavy with traffic, the brown stream sprinkled with litter. Its back glistened in the sun, a graceful v-shaped wake following it like a shadow.
5/20/09
My roommate and I buy mint from Joe’s Garden and put it out on our patio, proud as two mothers. Within an hour both are wilted in the heat.
5/21/09
People who think English majors don’t actually do “homework” need to try it for themselves. I was reminded of what Sam Ligon said earlier about people not understanding a writer’s work. I told my friends I was an artist; and no, I did not have time to play Munchkin. Writers are so misunderstood.
5/22/09
Three comics in the newspaper included references to Twitter. Three.
5/23/09
R. and I shopped at Winco and Walmart. When we emerged into the bright spring morning, I felt like a lab rat blinking in the sun after spending hours in a florescent-lit maze.
5/24/09
The girl in the table across from ours was showing her friend cards she had made. For every single one, and there were at least five total, the friend widened her eyes spectacularly and said “OOOH! I love it!” exactly the same way.
5/25/09
The homeless man (who was on the same corner yesterday) now has a guitar. His cardboard sign is taped to it, and he strums enthusiastically. The blue tape acts as a hinge as the sign swings back and froth.
05/18- As I sit in the computer lab working on my assignment, I realize how much I love it mainly because I'm not at my apartment dealing with my roomates. Homework has become my escape.
ReplyDelete5/19- B. asks me to show her some old cheers during club and I say I forgot them all yet the minute I start to do one they all come back to me.
5/20- After busting my butt to get homework done so I could go out, the outing wasn't what I had expected. Apparently Wed. night is a horrible night to try to go dancing.
5/21- I had forgotten how much I love to go dancing at Rumors until tonight. My friends and I go and have fun without having to worry about men trying to grind on you. I also got to dance with a French guy who kept asking me how old I was. He was a fun dancer but apparently didn't believe that I was 22.
5/22- I got a slushi today with K. it was great until she started feeling sick because she hadn't ate food all day.
5-23- I realized I was the youngest person at the SCD dance in Langley it was a fun realization. I also go to flirt with the older men in kilts. I don't understand why many guys don't like kilts, it easily makes you 50% more attractive and seem more confident. Thats why the Highland games are so dangerous, it's like putting beer goggles on, the minute they take off the kilt you realize that they aren't so attractive... oops.
5/23- I take a two hour nap after work and listen to people laugh as they walk by my window. Then I dream that my roommate took all my stuff when she moved out.
5/24- After sleeping till noon, I woke up with a stuff nose and can't stop sneezing. Worst time to get sick...:(
5/18 - I sit outside and read downtown by the scepter. As a car turns the corner, its passenger leans out the window and asks, “Are you reading Huck Finn?” and then laughs maniacally.
ReplyDelete5/19 - Everything today is confusing. Except for “Glee”. This is something I can understand.
5/20 - Prospective renters are wandering through my hallways and looking in my room. I’m not ready yet.
5/21 - I’m not entirely sure this day existed.
5/22 - I wonder why they even bother removing bathroom graffiti anymore.
5/23 - It’s always exciting to take the wrong bus.
5/24 - One man who is extremely invested in the conversation, one woman who isn’t.
5/25 - Well, I guess we found the nude beach.
5/17- All my friends are juggling at least three men.
ReplyDelete5/18- I watched Troy last night, then I went to a show at the Underground. An old woman walks in wearing a black cape tightly tied at the waist, and I notice she has like a poop mustache or something, but when she gets closer I realize it's just brown lipstick on her quivering wrinkled lips. Then she stands right behind me and I visualized her driving a spear into my shoulder, killing me in that famous Achilles way.
5/19- I don't speak well at interviews.
5/20- My roommate forgot to take her ADHD pill. She shook her leg violently under the table in that nervous tick way, and I had to count in my head, and say, "forget about it, forget about it, forget about it." I'm afraid that if my future child has ADHD, or any habits that mock it, I will hurt them. Or have ulcers. Or a heart attack. Or I will be a mean mean mother.
5/21- I feel overlooked, always.
5/22- I stow away in the stockroom to edit papers and read. Someone working the bar comes in and doesn't see me. I say, "Hello there. Don't be scared." And they say, "Oh Jesus."
5/23- I have never felt this much pain in my life. If you want to feel strong and are okay with not being able to walk for a while, like days, run the ski to sea leg. If you want to celebrate after, maybe don't do it too hard. Vodka and dancing was a bad choice for the quads ripping through my thighs.
5/16: Like many restaurants, my workplace has a dining room as well as a separate lounge. At least once a month, a customer will walk in the front door and ask me if they can still get Greek food at the Mexican restaurant in the back, pointing at the lounge. The only thing I can figure is that as soon as they see the METAXA mural on the wall, the M, E and X jump out at them and their brain tastes chips and salsa. They all seem to like the idea, so I've never bothered to correct anyone.
ReplyDelete5/17: Nicknames are given only to the most hated customers. Itchy, Rib Bitch, Bad Eye. The bosses are Highwater and Thirsty (aka Little Robbin Redbreast or Lucifer).
5/18: The reservation is for 20-30 people, at 8:30. We usually close at 9. A man sincerely thanks me for my service, asks me how I memorize everything, says I'm wonderful. Says "wow." A woman stage whispers to him, "It's her JOB."
5/19: Conversation on the bus.
Bus driver: Next stop, courthouse.
Woman: Oh, shit!
Man: What, hon?
Woman: I need to go to the courthouse!
Man: What for?
Woman: I got to turn in my application for a public defender.
Man: Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! I need a public defender, too!
5/20: The occasion of red punch is so infrequent anymore that the audience is unable to wait for polite moments to refill their plastic cups. I think of my grandmother, scooping sherbet, instead of the words coming from the podium. The punch is tapped before the reading is over, and suddenly, the seats are uncomfortable and the weather looks really nice outside.
5/21: My coworker tells me all about her new grill. How fun it was to cook dinner on her deck, how yummy, how ready for summer she is. She knows that I know she's a vegetarian, but just in case I've forgotten, she explains that while her boyfriend had real bratwurst that was gray and blue and so disgusting that it makes her want to puke right now just thinking about it, she had a veggie dog. I look at her closely, trying not to look like I am, to see if there's a flicker of memory from a few weeks ago when she begged me to swear myself to secrecy so she could confess to, only days before: craving a "beef" burger, covertly eating it, and finding it delicious. My guess is no, she does not remember, much like most of the things she tells me in a blackout.
5/22: The boss's kids want sodas, so I ask their mother if it's okay. She says, "I zon't care. Geev zim vhat zay vant. Geev zim... sleeping peels."
5/19: The grass grows green here.
ReplyDelete5/20: Your book, worn and used at the edges, reminds me of my books. We are both proper book lovers.
5/21: I can buy a saddle at Henderson's Bookstore for $55. I've always wanted a horse.
5/22: I knit while you read. We'd be the perfect couple, me making you sweaters and you reading me poetry.
5/23: I've always liked it when you wear plaid.
5/24: Benji swims to the top of his tank, begging for food. He flutters his fins and looks up at me. Perhaps I should get a fish.
5/25: You were born today, but I never knew you. I never spoke to you. I don't know what your voice sounds like. I do, however, know that you loved to climb trees. And you cared for your sister more than I ever could. I wish I had known you, not replaced you.
5/16: I think the reason why it can be difficult to draw stuff (from memory) is because you can’t really picture it. In memory, the image is fuzzy—things get pictured the way we think they are, not the way they actually are. All those tiny little details escape the mind.
ReplyDelete5/17: Her voice is shrill, piercing through the sound of waves and children’s laughter, rivaling the calls of gulls.
5/18: “You can tell which people are doing power points,” says my coworker.
519: At least 10 minutes for my email to load an “internet cannot display” window when I am perfectly connected to the net. Thanks outlook.
5/20: My buzzer rings at 9:15am, then two knocks at the door, and when my sister and I stumble out of our rooms, still half asleep, to get the door, we are confronted with four students and one nicely dressed woman with a clip board, who claims she has an appointment to show our apartment and seems confused by our unkempt appearances.
5/21: Mall security keeps circling us—at any minute we might get scolded for loitering.
5/22: K. lost her phone in the theatre. I tell her it didn’t work anyway. She gives me a scathing look and says she wants the pictures.
5/23: It’s warmer hunkered down in the sand, with the wind flowing over skin instead of against it.
5/18 - A girl is talking to her friend: "I eat oragnes so much that I've started to smell like them." They walk past and as soon as they're upwind, I know what she is talking about!
ReplyDelete5/19 - Antihistamine medicine should always be taken concurrently with a nap -- not with class! The box says: "Don't give to a child to make them sleepy."
5/20 - 1:35 AM is a truly great time to start your epic, and I mean "epic," Latin choir song that becomes hip-hop. No, I didn't need my sleep at all.
5/21 - During the Sam Ligon reading, an aphid-like bug (could've been an aphid -- didn't really check) was crawling on my neck. I felt the crawling and picked it off, squishing it -- now I had to do all of this without fidgeting too much 'cause the setting didn't allow for that. Then I found the leg.
5/22 - Amelia Earhart said "Dammit!" and a kid behind us gasped "She swore!"
5/23 - Rebel's 11th birthday. He still has so much spunk in him! It's partly attributed to his breed, but also partly to his good quality food. Don't feed your dog Old Roy unless you want them to get sick and die. We feed our dogs Wellness.
5/24 - Hanging lights and organizing them is hard without a crescent wrench! My fingers aren't strong enough.
5/18: don’t give another damn college work pamphlet, dammit!
ReplyDelete5/19: who put that brick there?
5/20: perfect day. Warm and breezy. Plenty of reasons to be here.
5/21: another long day and I get to end it with you.
5/22: we sat in the second to last row in the entire stadium. The game was four hours long. But the Mariners won and I got a bobblehead so it’s all good.
5/23: pressure to be outside increased with the heat and the sunrays.
5/24: my house is like a tin can.
5/25: it’s the end of the year and I’m not stressed or scared. Should I feel like this? Am I allowed?
5/18 - I keep walking past that wierd thing hanging from the trees near the Art building, what the hell is it?
ReplyDelete5/19 - Only two more weeks left of lowering prices at 6 AM in the morning...
5/20 - I've started hemorrhaging my shifts to focus on schoolwork as this quarter is hell.
5/21 - So I stopped in and heard that one of the guys at Joes that I work with said he wanted to stab my manager in the heart... Kind of crazy... He still works there oddly enough because they don't want to hire someone new.
5/22 - Well they don't have to worry about him shooting anyone because we just shipped all our guns to the Lakewood store.
5/23 - Schedule is out for Memorial day weekend, and I work the whole thing except for the day itself which would pay for the two days I am working... Conspiracy? I think so.
5/24 - My girlfriend is really frustrated lately, I can't tell if it is because I am so busy at school/work, or if she hates her major and doesn't know what direction she wants to head in life.
5/17-I never understood Red Dwarf. I want to get it, I just don't.
ReplyDelete5/18-Bought Bella her first pair of ladies size shoes. It would be more monumental if they didn't cost ten dollars more, but it's still quite a shock.
5/19-My dreams at night continue to haunt me. I wake up feeling unrested and puzzled.
5/20-At what point will I make it out of here? I've got the DSHS blues.
5/21-Quite honestly, I'd like to be done with school today forever! And ever!
5/22-Something is wrong with my toenail.
5/23-I don't know what kind of birds these are that fly over my house this time every year, but their squawking is not a pretty sound. Still, I always find it comforting.
5/16/09:
ReplyDeleteThe tender spots, where the flesh had been irked by bloodsuckers, puffed out in a rough patch of red and pink—the tip of the mounds burning open, glistening with pus and a prick of raw flesh.
5/17/09:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The television networks really have to pull their heads out of their asses and take a look around. Who knows, maybe the demographics are slipping and our gene pool really is falling back into a trend where we choose to numb that apparatus in our skulls rather than stimulate it. I can forgive the fact that people need anesthetics from time to time. God knows I need it when the shit-storm clouds decide to gather. But still…you have to wonder what goes through the minds of people who’ve canceled shows like Pushing Daisies or Arrested Development or Firefly or the such n’ such, so n’ so. Cable has good stuff, HBO and AMC are catching on—but lately it just seems like it’s all privatized brains. Sitcoms need to fight their masters for a decent share of the gray matter! Screw you Fox! God I hate it when I sound like this…
5/18/09:
Only the moody can accept that the world is, at once, both an ugly and beautiful place without reservation—they see it that way every day.
5/19/09:
There’s nothing wrong with self delusion as long as you’re the one doing the deluding, right?
5/20/09:
The world is made by extremists and inherited by moderates.
5/21/09:
Once you plateau, life gets boring usually. Maybe that’s why the rich celebrities and other such people get so strange and weird with their hobbies—all the lavish fetishes. I don’t wanna sound like the preachy blue-collar mouthpiece because I’m obviously not that. No, my heart-ache goes much deeper I think. But it is sad though. They’ve forgotten how to enjoy the simple pleasures of mobility and instead have reaped the rewards of stasis, writhing and clawing at a ceiling in hopes of breaking through to something more transcendent or meaningful, that is, the ones who’ve reached the summit only to expect something more. If you stand still for too long, more than moss starts to grow and before you know it the only things that please you in life are high-priced hookers and vintage muscle cars you don’t know how to drive, maybe comfort narcotics, or solid-gold toilets and friends who never know or remember your last name. People who take pleasure in exploiting and abusing themselves only to find that there’s nothing left to lose except grabbing for love or affection that isn’t really there. The only real joy I’ve really seen in life is in the progression—the glory really is in the struggle and dreams are only important when you have to fight for them.
5/22/09:
The bees and cicadas melted together in the still summer air. From afar, like an invisible symphony that chirps, crackles and hums through the thickets and tufts of rhododendrons, I can hear them. Like the static buzz of the earth, the dirt and soil—the forest nearby.
5/23/09:
Music gets to be very personal when you can really feel it working on your body—when it synchronizes with the palpitations in your chest, the hollow thump of a bass or drum tapping your intestines, strumming your ribcage, making an instrument out of you.