here's to the new

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Franklin D. Roosevelt

The last year is nearly over: a year that found Fresh traveling to Australia for more than half the year, exploring asia even more and eventually coming back to the US.

I refuse to say it was short or flew by, even though a year is not quite as long as we usually think. When I look back, I did a lot this year, and where I was last year is certainly not where I am now. (I do wish I were embarking on another trip right around the corner, however) On that note, I am accepting applications for those interested in traveling to South America, and riding a motorcycle back to Chicago - or as close to it as possible.

Reflection is important, but in the transition to the new year, I feel like it's best to look forward. I've tied up the knots I could in 2007, and am looking forward to building new and reinforcing old bridges in '08. The year-end break forces this type of broad reflection, which most often leads to cliched responses and inaccurate, broad statements. It was a year, this is a month, this is a day, this is an hour, this is a minute, a second, of life. Time to live.

taking things apart in order to put them together.

quote:
Everybody believes in something and everybody, by virtue of the fact that they believe in something, use that something to support their own existence.
- Frank Zappa

the holidays are upon us yet again like a possessed reindeer whose had too much egg nog. we have no choice - this is what they are - a rabid commercialism, fake snow, bells ringing, people freezing, lights twinklings, cash registers chi-chinging, schools closing, children yelling, children screaming!, songs being played non-stop for 2.5 months.

the holidays are certainly an experience. I feel like they should be announced officially at some point by the guy who does line-ups at basketball games and draws word out like bubble gum to make them sound dramatic. WELLLLLCCCCOOOMMMMMEEEEE TOOOOO the HOOLLLLLLLLIIIIDDAAAAYYYYYSSS!

that said, i had a great welcome to the holidays this weekend. i wandered about my little ukrainian village covered in snow like a child in a blanket, looking for a place to get my hair chopped. the first place only spoke spanish, and i pantomimed hair cut and they pantomimed, or rather, said, "no." I think they were busy.

Next place I bumped into was also markedly Hispanic, Puerto Rican, to be exact, and was blasting Spanish crooners at 11 AM. Upon sitting down to wait to sit down again, I realized why. 1. This was Franco's haircuttery. 1a. Franco is a fat, bald, homosexual, Puerto Rican man. 2. Franco made egg nog that morning and it was really good and everyone got as much as they wanted. I read Kurt Vonnegut, drank the best egg nog I've ever had, listened to Spanish crooners mixed with some original belting of Franco, and smiled.

Welcome to the holidays.

blues whistling competition

"Somebody just stole my magic dancing slippers."
- Written on the Wind 1956


winter

outside the wind blows
inside the heat purrs
in the doorway the mind coils
slowly around itself and falls asleep.

ideas and ideas and a few more ideas

Quote:
It feels like you observe the world around you but you're not really a part of it. - Manu

I have a wonderful cat named Bacon that sleeps next to me most of the day while I work on the computer. The best part is when I get up to get something, the cat often follows, meows a bit, and then goes to sleep again. The only problem is the cat sleeps on my clothes on my bed, and that's one thing I'm supposed to clean up.

The world is a strange place. A few weeks ago I was sitting outside in a cafe with some friends and a strange man that seemed much like a bum came right up to our table - we tried to speculate why he chose our table - and came to no conclusion - and he said "the world is going to end today and I'm going to end it." Then I think he asked us how we were. It was really strange. He also had a balloon tied to his pants, which he later lost. 5 minutes afterwards he was walking down the street in the opposite direction carrying a bottle of alcohol and no balloon. Apparently, he traded the balloon for alcohol. I want to find the source.

And no matter how crazy he seemed, I must say, I was kind of worried. I eventually forgot it even happened, which happens when you have terrible memory, but until that point of memory loss, it was pretty odd. Not only that, it was a perfectly good day - not one of the dismally grey days which we have to look forward to soon. It just wasn't appropriate for the world to end that day. And it didn't. I think.

Fresh

telekinetic golf balls

"Many can argue, not many converse."

• A. Bronson Alcott

La Biblioteca, the apartment in which I live, had a housewarming fandango last evening. Bacon, our cat, was ecstatic to see so many people. So ecstatic in fact, that she left out the front door at one point in the evening.

I was most personally satisfied that our apartment was successfully cleaned and presentable before the party. It seems a strange thing, but I walked the apartment, up and down, beer in hand, about 3 times before the party started - proudly strutting like the lead male of the pride, down our incredibly long hallway, looking at flickering candles, clean floors, nice music, and the occasional man on fire music video playing on the television. If no one had shown up to the party, I would have gone to sleep in my off-to-the-side bedroom a contented dweller.

Alas, people did show up! And most were very pleasant companions in our housewarming party journey. We had one character that showed up nearly on time and he held down the party with the three of us for the first hour or so. From there, more people scattered in and things became a bit more lively and smiley. A few guests were particularly strange - one said "man" as about every other word in conversation. It would seem that is a trend these days. Except, this particular "friend" used man in really strange conversations. At one point, no doubt encouraged by alcohol, he walked up to someone at the party and said "MAN! I heard you say something about freedom MAN, MAN tell me about freedom. Tell me everything you know MAN."

It's too bad this comment was made very near the end of the party, so I kind of helped usher this man out the door without fully realizing the extent to which we experience freedom. However, I don't think the party was long enough even if he asked the question right at the beginning and showed up before our other party-holder-downer first guest.

All in all, it was good. A small step in the party sense. A large step in the arrangement of household things. Hooray Martha Stewart.

fresh.

madness is radness

quote:

"it's much easier to pick someone up if they are unconscious." - a sunday morning brunch comment that woke me up a bit.

so, who would have thought that Griese would go down and Rexie would have a chance, in the manyeth of his 11th hours, to redeem himself. did he? no. did i pick him up on my fantasy team to bench him just in case? yes.

see, i believe in hard work - and grossman works hard, so they say. i care not how many interceptions he has thrown, how silly he looks in interviews when people ask tough questions, how he seems to lack peripheral vision altogether, and i will trust that he can at least warm my hypothetical fantasy bench better than Damon Huard, who I had for quarterback this week (in place of Tom Brady who is on a bye week) and who earned a solemn negative 3 points for my team.

2 notes: 1. i'm still going to win this week. 2. just in case you're wondering, i'm 1st in my fantasy league, and i DO take pride in it. i like to tell random people on the street how hypothetically killer my team is, like the fine employees at Wendy's.

cheers.

obsessions with miniature balls of cheese

quote:

"do you think i'm here for your entertainment? i ain't no fucking disney channel"
a quote from a poem at a conference at columbia. not exactly kid-appropriate, seeing as we brought high schoolers to it.

my roommate, mr. p-zip, got nintendo wii this week. that was especially fun, and a bit strange and unexpected. my favorite moments have been when playing tennis and flailing arms wildly, we have hit other people and things in the apartment - never causing permanant desctruction. in addition, when one of us plays near the net and keeps hitting the ball, we call them a "net-snake." now, i can't tell you why this is so funny, but it is. and you would understand if you were a net-snake as well.

pilgrims eat jelly donuts and get sticky

quote:

"yo man, hey man, right man."

i went to the local pizza place - humboldt pie - last evening. it was splendid really, but i always get this feeling like i don't fit there. for one, most people drink coffee and sit on laptops on the periphery of the restaurant. i usually sit somewhere middleish and make all kinds of racket with loud stories. i notice the stares from faces lit up like jack-o-lanterns from the laptops cradled on their tables (sorry, had to make the halloween reference). if you are one of these people or ever have been one of these people, understand this: there is a world outside your laptop and you are in it.

when i awkwardly left my table to order a sandwich, i was greeted by the cashier / sandwich guy with lots of "man." he said, "hey, man." "good choice, man." "alright man, i'll bring that our to your table man." and, of course, when he lay down my food he said, "here you go, man."

i felt especially assured of my manhood. i didn't have to do my usual nightly check. i thank you. man.

powerful elastic cords

quote: "kumquat, vonderfulen, ploop"
The three current favorite words of our domicile.

Halloween is on the horizon, and for the first time I can remember since my mother had complete artistic control over my Halloween costume, I have a costume before the day of Halloween. I remember a couple years ago I found an over-sized sweater, ripped jeans and a grey newsies hat in my closet and I called myself an Irish Longshoresmen. I don't know if such a thing exists, however, I can tell you that the title of the costume did me well. The costume, a collection of mismatched oversized clothes that most nearly represented a homeless newpaper boy, did not do me quite as well.

Situation 1 (over loud music):
Hey! How are you doing?!
Great! What are you?
Oh, I'm a scottish longshoremen! *
Ha, OK.
(exeunt)

Note * I changed the title throughout the night, due to varying sobriety, lack of known distinguishing traits between Scottish and Irish Longshoresmen, complete idioticness.

Situation 2 (in the bathroom, over peeing, music in order of disturbance):
Pregnant Pause
Dude, what are you?
Pregnant Pause
(Exuent)

Happy Halloween everyone. Tis' the weekend for parties. Drive safe, avoid eggs.

Oh, and if you do see me, I'll have a whip. That's my only clue. Dismissed.

So, it probably shouldn't have been 72 degrees in late October. But it sure was nice.

swimming in circles of influence bespectacled with beer goggles

quote:

Determine never to be idle... It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing. Thomas Jefferson

most nights i go to bars, which is just a handful of nights every month (perhaps this is why), i find myself staring at some decoration on the wall, notch(es) in the table, white spot on the wall, the evenness of the brick work, counting the track lights highlighting random pieces of art such as a giant dead and seemingly moaning fish last night, and, eventually, if given proper time and beer, composing all these observations into a thesis in which i debate the overall theme of the bar compared to its clientele and wonder what precisely IS being accomplished.

usually, i can't find anything being accomplished at all and so i reach a sort of stand still. (in the case of last night, i couldn't even decide what the theme of the bar was as it had palm trees and coconuts, but dark brick walls and modern art that looked like the type of geometric graphics i traced on my folders in jr. high.)

it's usually at this point that i glance around me at the people who seem confident, the people who want to seem confident but are clutching the beer too tightly relying on it as a prop the way fighters used to clutch swords, or whose eyes betray his/her physical composure and hipster dress by darting across the room each time they think they might be noticed. this is frustrating, so i go to the bathroom, hoping to find relief with a bit of solace (i always choose a stall, when available). i return to the scene of the bar with fresh eyes and order a new drink and repeat.

let the kittens lick our hair and drink our lemonade

quote of the day:

"An extensive series of slight bends in principal are responsible for the freedom of our world today."
- ranting at the bus stop before the inclement october storm

i begin. breathe. a blog.

electronic thoughts, albeit with a bit of lint. i exhale digital dust, (1's and 0's fornicate in the air). i'm afraid of this format, but i will embrace it as comfortably as possible. (imagine a figure hugging a bulky computer monitor).

it's awkward like a miniature walrus doing gymnastics in a bowl of jello, but it might just work.

keep the address in the case of accidental brilliance.