pumpkins

turn or burn

we went to petsmart this evening. while allowing sofie to explore, i crossed paths with an old lady not unlike the one pictured above. except she had silver-dyed-red hair & really bad acne. without even an introduction she said to me 'go to church tomorrow'. i said 'excuse me?', thinking i must have misunderstood or at least overlooked some subtlety of tone or mannerism that would explain her presumptuous command. again she said, very bluntly, 'go to church tomorrow', to which i responded 'we are'. then, as she was moving along, she said 'i hope you know the Lord'. this is what i like to call a drive-by. i feel it is an appropriate term, borrowed of course from drive-by shootings and the like. drive-by evangelising carries with it many similarities. first, the element of surprise is important if you want to get a clear shot at your intended prey, if they see you coming they are likely to take refuge behind something that will protect them from your projectile [like i did when i ducked behind a display a few moments later to avoid another attack]. second, once you have them where you want them, you must strike hard and fast, otherwise you might miss, or they might be able to wage a counter-attack. finally, make a quick escape [or never come to a complete stop] to ensure that you get away clean and live to tussle another day. hers was a textbook mission, following all 3 cardinal rules. perhaps 'fiddy' or some other hard-core gangsta conducted a seminar that she was able to attend. i may never know what becomes of the old lady. i do know, however, that as riled as i was by what she said and how, i can't imagine that she is often very well received. at this jucture i am tempted to go into a tirade about why 'going witnessing' is so contrary to what spreading the good news was [i believe] meant to be. for the same reasons that what dr. phil so abrasively does on his show are very liberally [in my opinion] placed in the same category as true therapy. when you evangelize/therapize AT another person, what you are doing is completely devoid of any context [shared relationship] to give you the credibility for your actions to take any root. both examples make me sad. i imagine that this old lady has about as much positive, real-life effect as mr. mcgraw, and she's not making near as much money at it.

p.s. amanda had a slightly different reaction when i told her what happened. fearing that the old lady has 'powers', we will definitely be seen in a pew tomorrow.

ok, i made that up. really i just wanted to use the word 'powers '...

part-y?, because i gotta

pippi & ritchie, mordecai, ritchie & mr. rogers.

i hesitate to post at this time, but i have a policy that i will not go to bed until i have had enough h20 to counteract the amount of jäger i consumed at the party. i have yet to be 'hung over', and i do not intend to start now. many apologies to those i may have texted during the evening, i can't entirely recall my motivations for initiating contact, but i hope that my garbled messages were well received. the party at jenn's was a good time. we had several well known characters represented; ritchie tenenbaum & mordecai, pippi longstocking & mr. nielson, mr. rogers, wilma flintstone, woodland fairy, calvin & hobbes, michael myers, jesus [complete with cross & wwid sticker], werewolf, dorothy & toto, slutty nun, etc... it was a good time. too good for some. as you can see from the photo, mordecai fell prey to strong drink. all in all a festive halloween extravaganza. maybe we will have another shin-dig on the morrow.

in other news, i finished out the week having worked hard, & was surprised to receive a 1 dollar an hour raise from my starting wage. that is certainly good news.

numba 1 in the hood G

meatwad of aqua teen hunger force fame, modeling his new ipod mini. this quote references the 'MC Peepants' episode where a giant diaper-wearing spider gets meatwad & carl addicted to candy with plans to harness their caffeine dependent bodies to help drill into hell. sounds strange, i know. it's not my favorite episode, but MC Peepants is the disguise that the spider takes on, putting out an annoying cd single called 'i want candy' which subliminally gets them hooked. i've totally got it on dvd if you wanna borrow. i think my jack-o-lantern may take the form of meatwad this year...

p.s. new sofie pictures have been added to the dogblog.

farm-aid

i'm new to the farm-aid scene, but i was looking at their new book the other night at borders & became intrigued. more.

class

so another night of group psychotherapy class... not as traumatic as last weekend, but just as boring. i'm thrilled about tomorrow, we get to spend the whole day doing student presentations and effectively teaching ourselves. ah, a great way to spend a lovely fall saturday. alot of this material is kind of redundant, but i guess for those who have not yet done groups it might be helpful. after tomorrow, only 2 more weekends worth of class and that's it for grad school! i'm sure i will miss it, but right now being done sounds pretty nice.

my mom called again today... i havent called back yet.

remorse

master splinter of teenage mutant ninja turtles fame

did you ever have a sudden, uncontrollable, and profoundly unsettling flashback of something really embarassing you did as a kid [or yesterday]? well, as you may have guessed, i had one such experience this very evening while watching a cartoon. as much as it pains me to reveal this, i must. you know, since we agreed to 'no secrets', & 'complete honesty' in our last DTR. well, here goes; after watching ninja turtles the movie [when i was about 8 or 9] i felt compelled to try and meditate like they did in the movie, when they saw cool visions and stuff. the only problem was that i chose to do it at school during recess on the playground. yes, i sat, lotus style, eyes closed, on the slab pretending to be meditating [i even quietly hummed]. my goal was twofold; first, as i mentioned above, i wanted to experience the astral world, second, i thought i would look & be very cool. as you can imagine, i spent a great deal of time alone as a kid...

Rocinate

ester drang's new full length Rocinate is now available for pre-order. slated to be released january 24, 2006. listen to come back alive here.

[artwork & some musical themes based on cervantes' don quixote, rocinate being the name of his trusty horse]

a corpse bride & a provocative discourse

i won't say i regret seeing tim burton's latest, but it wasn't quite as good as i had hoped. if you're on the fence, maybe you should see the other movie. oh, & be warned, its kind of a musical.

after the movie, we sat outside of starbucks on this fine fall eve, & had a time of pleasant & enjoyable conversation. however, one particular exchange is worth relaying here [or my best attempt to recapture it]. in the middle of our discussion of a variety of topics, a girl who i'm guessing was between the ages of 17 & 20 ran screaming past us because she had recognized another group of people, stopping about 3 feet behind me to have a loud group conversation. after her intitial outburst, i didn't pay too much attention, until about 5 minutes later when their proximity & volume began to oppress me in a profound way. seeking relief, i looked across the table at sam &, interrupting our own group conversation, very matter-of-factly [& loudly] began the following:
J: '...so the doctor said the itching should die down now if i keep using the ointment...'
[as if we had rehearsed, sam responded in kind]
S: 'yeah, but like i said, you've got to make sure & rub it in really well...'
J:' at least its not burning like it was, and he said i'm not contagious anymore, thank God ...'
S:' i couldn't believe that you gave it to me just from shaking hands...'
J: 'listen, can i apologize for that again? i know you said we were cool, but...'
S: 'i just appreciate those pills, they really did the trick for us [motioning toward beth]...'
J: 'well i'm glad they did somebody some good... they were worthless to us [motioning toward amanda]...'
[noticeable stirring begins within other group]
J: 'if she'd been open & honest with me in the first place, this could have all been avoided' [J & S share a long laugh, by the end of this statement the other group is ghosttown]
[scene]
i can't claim with any certainty that we drove them away, but i like to think it was no coincidence that they suddenly dispersed amidst our pseudo-STD banter. even if subliminally, it's nice to know that you can still get what you want in life with a few carefully chosen words. who knows, maybe they'll think twice before their next indiscriminate encounter with an attractive stranger...

TRAPEZIUS a novel by jöe sjölin

midway trough the day yesterday, my neck became stiff and sore, and i began to have trouble turning it even a quarter of the way without it feeling really painful. as the evening wore on, i had less and less mobility, even after taking a muscle relaxer given me by the friendly neighborhood apothecary. i went to bed hoping for some relief by the time i woke up.

as i reached to shut off the alarm this morning, i had to stop myself from hollering out in pain. it was even worse when i tried to sit up, spreading through my entire back, and taking my breath away. i finally was able to reach my cell phone and call those i work with to let them know of my plight, and that i would be useless if i tried to join them today. this diagram helps demonstrate the most affected area: the trapezius regions [yes, both of them]. i started thinking back to when/ how i must have done this, and realized that, on tuesday, we were stapling 4'x8' sheets of plywood above our heads, and having to hold them using whatever means available. at times, i was supporting my end with the top of my head when i needed a hand free. i have learned a valuable lesson. if you know anyone who has a spare trapezius or two, remember me to them.

i was also thinking during my last couple days as a carpenter, that this is the first job i have had in a very long time in which i cannot operate out of an intuitive mindset. i can't just go along and respond in a given situation based on a gut feeling, or use relational tactics to address problems. wood and nails are not willing to engage me on that level. this is very concrete work, with very specific rules and steps that must be followed to get the desired result. i am both excited, and newly struck with the amount of learning i have before me. i look forward to more, sans any further neck injuries.

i finally reached a point this week where i feel like me is coming back. for so many months i felt so overwhelmed, stretched too thin, and burned out. i even started to feel that way about my internship, which i really enjoy. after quiting my hopeless job, things did not get better right away. even during the time between jobs, i felt like anytime i had something i needed to to, it was this oppressive/ invasive thing that was asking more of me than i had to give. finally, i feel like i'm at least back to zero and out of the red in terms of emotional bankruptcy. i feel like i am going to meet the challenges and demands of life instead of desperately trying to keep up. everything is becoming more enjoyable again. i had one of those i'm a kickass therapist nights last night. life is good.

we also had shiny rehearsal last night. jenn has more photos up for your viewing pleasure, and hopefully soon we will have a myspace site up for others to listen to our musical prowess.

dungarees

i dug out a pair of old jeans to wear to work today. admittedly, they were severely tight, but i figured they would stretch out as the day wore on. about 10 minutes into the drive to work, i realized that i was losing feeling from the waist down. they were actually CUTTING OFF MY CIRCULATION!!! i spent the rest of the day with them unbuttoned in front, the only thing keeping them up and hiding my shame being my tool belt and untucked t-shirt. yeah, that's the way i roll.

bicycles & phone calls

amanda pops a wheelie, jöe looks very tough, and sofie gives the camera a grin

yes, we went biking today. this was the first time since last summer. pretty pathetic, huh? anyway, it was a good time, and sofie only endangered my life once by stopping right in front of me to pick up an old dirty sock. i just barely managed not to go over the handlebars and not to give her a french-fry in the b-hole. wouldn't have been pretty. thats about the most excitement i've had this weekend. class pretty much sucked. we had some people making mountains out of mole-hills and generally being asses to others, and we all had to sit in there and deal with it because its group psychotherapy class so we had to work through it. the class wasn't a total waste, but it definitely was a drag.

so i called my mom back and talked with her awhile. it was her birthday today. man was it weird. weird. weird. weird. weird. i havent spoken with her in a few years. and we have not had much interaction at all since i was about 10. she's been in prison for more than half of my life, off and on. she had 3-4 years left on her time, but she just got out a week ago on parole. anyway, that's why i was so surprised to hear from her. it is difficult to know how to sincerely respond when a virtual stranger says 'i love you' over the phone. that and the fact that my grandmother [who raised me] would consider it a betrayal that i was even talking with her. its all so very complicated. alot to think about while i hit things with a hammer tomorrow....

golf

a gentleman's game

great odin's raven!

FINALLY saw Anchorman tonight, amidst fears that it could not live up to its reputation. but, rest easy, Ron Burgundy is all that he was foretold to be. how could some have told me that it flat 'wasn't funny' ? i mean, maybe i could see people not loving it, but c'mon, you can't argue with that mustache [its a scientific fact].

received a voicemail from my mother this evening... some of you know what a shocker that was. more as it develops, and i am sure that it will.

tomorrow: GOLF. yes, my hardworking carpentry crew will be participating in a golf tournament fundraiser tomorrow. my appearance will not be unlike mr. burgundy himself. should be a good time. and no, i am not a golfer.

stay classy.

new news

this and more news weekly from the onion

see also the sneeze

so i started the whole construction thing today. i think i'm gonna really like it, but i have a ton to learn. i am sunburned and sore. nothing like a good days' honest work to show you how pathetically out of shape you are. this shall be therapeutic.

construction update

ok, so now it is official, i will be starting monday the 10th and entering the world of house-building. i will be working with my good friends jon & bryan, & all will be well in the world. the phone job was a snap, but since i could only get 20 hrs a week, i was limited on how much i could make. this will still allow flexibility to do the things i need to school/ career-wise, as well as being an opportunity for me to learn all the necessaries to building.