Vince Guaraldi, Man for All Seasons

Okay. So first of all, you need to know that I'm not that kind of guy who listens to Christmas music* all year long.

*I am the kind of guy who listenss to Christmas music all year long.

I'm not the person who's blasting Jingle Bells in July just to prove the festivus in my soul in the blistering Texas heat to the person waiting at the red light next to me. That person is a person you usually want to punch in the nose, and then yell, "Wait until November! Happy Fourth", or something along those lines.

BUT I am the person who will listen to Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas ALL YEAR LONG. July, August, May, October, Whatever and Whenever. Because it makes me feel good. Makes me feel great, in fact. I listen to it when I need to feel calm and not upset, like therapy. Christmas therapy? I know every note to Christmas Time is Here and Skating is time to whistle along while I love to scat sing to O Tannenbaum. And Linus and Lucy is tucked in there like a friendly gem which I always remember with a fond, "Oh yeah! This song". Such a wonderful thing that never gets old. And it isn't just Vince. Sometimes there's Bing. And Brubeck (makes GREAT Christmas stuff! Who knew?) They're all allowed to come with.

I've been listening to Christmas jazz for two weeks straight now, inspired by my constant playing of Vince Guaraldi's album, and quite honestly getting fed up with just how short it is! I need more than that approximately 45 minutes of Christmas jazz bliss. So thanks to Pandora, my wish has come true! Vince Guaraldi Trio Radio, all day, all night. It hasn't gotten old yet. This is probably aided by the fact that my roommate and I have been baking too, bent on making the whole apartment a holiday experience before November even starts!

Is it ever wrong to reminisce about great past memories and to generate warm feelings in our apartment? I should hope not. Come over! Let's hear it together. You won't be disappointed.

REI Garage Sale=Best Value for Misers Like Me

So I'm a member of REI, and let's be honest, I'm a pretty green outdoorsmen. I've always wanted to be more of one, with dreadlocks and lots of anklets and tan and really good at climbing rocks and a wearer of bandanas, except they look cool. One of those. Biggest obstacle to me becoming this=equipment is ridiculously expensive, and you need some essentials to get started. The only problem is I'm po', and I'm a penny-pincher. (I'm Scottish. Deal with it).


Well, I've been balding since I was 17, I'm more of a bracelet-man myself, my skin is as pale as a translucent moonfish, and I'm mediocre at rock climbing. I do wear bandanas, though. I'll leave it at that.

So before you get all concerned with my stereotyping or self-confidence issues or my penchant for placing too much importance on some "cool person" image I've created for myself, let me just say that I'm proud to be a member of REI.. I'm one step closer to being the adventurer I long to be. And I'm okay with my skin color and my premature balding and the fact that I'm a rock-climbing student with much to learn (though I'm doing alright for myself). And dreads (dreds?)smell bad anyway.

That being said, REI has a members-only garage sale every year in the summer, and boy howdy, there are so good deals. Seriously. All the garage sale goods are used items, either once (i.e. some kid bought boots and thought they hurt, but the jokes on him because all boots are supposed to hurt for a while) or many times (we'll get to that later). Even if I bought a pair of shoes from REI in 1979 (I was born in 1987), I could waltz in today and return them for a refund , and then my boots would get sold in the sale! Amazing.
Okay, so people camp out (that's a funny) for this thing, no joke. Crowds of people clamboring for marked down goods. And REI is not cheap, but this stuff=real cheap. So the crowds didn't surprise me. Here's what I bought. Prepare for jealousy:

LOWA Renegade GTX Mid (Narrow Width) Hiking Boots

RETAIL: $199.95

MY PRICE: $18.83

The previous owner had them a week and thought them too narrow (narrow width! Duh!)

AND....

REI Brand Cruise UL 60 2007 Lightweight Backpack

RETAIL: $103.99

MY PRICE: $19.83

I found this covertly sitting in the back with the full-price packs. It's like heaven, it's so light. People were glaring at me the whole time with slanted eyes, all up in my biz about me having the pack and not them. No joke. I saw hate come out of these people. But I found it! Geez.

AND...

Kelty Trail Dome 4

RETAIL: $179.95

MY PRICE: $24.83

So this purportedly had two broken poles and 1 rain-canopy pole was absent. No problem. It was used, for sure, but people were buying literally buggy-fulls of discount tents. I had to get what I could. I unrolled it later and it's crazy-ripped. There's a foot-long rip near the door and a big puncture rip near it, and there's no pegs! I can't complain too much, though. Look at that price!

I also bought a baby caribiner and a Nalgene, but those weren't discounted and thus, not too interesting. All in all, it was awesome savings times. Check out the final savings manifest:

FINAL SAVINGS MANIFEST

Total Retail Value: $483.89

Total Reduced Value: $63.49

Total Savings: $420.40

Woah baby! That's alot of money. I'm on the way. Next time you see me I'll be munching granola on a mountain top in the haze of a campfire in front of my Kelty Trail Dome 4. Probably.

Thanks REI and customers who didn't like your merchandise!

Latest Regret #1345.4A: Not Learning Lindy Hop

I love swing dancing. East coast swing dancing, let me clarify. Westies out there will be horrified if I don't specify. They are serious. Like gang serious. 

But the thing is, like working out, me going dancing doesn't happen enough. Every so often on wednesday or saturday when dancing is nigh in Dallas, (which it is yearly-ask me! We'll go as per your impetus), I finally get myself on the dance floor, provided there are people there with me (at least one, and not even a girl). I love it! And I dream to learn more.

I want a great pair of shoes so I can finally do the Lindy hop! It's such a fast, exuberant dance that can really get crazy! If you haven't seen it, get on that: 

Not sped up a all either. Those dancers are legit. I have seen this. 

So I'll be able to do that. One day. That's the dream. 

I can dance that fast in my heart, I just need someone to learn with!

Doesn't it just look amazing? 

Sons of Hermann Hall, every wednesday 5$ 

and Sammon Arts Center, every saturday 7$! Better than a movie, I swear.

Simmer Time

So I've been playing around with cooking lately. It being summer I have more time on my hands! As per my limited budget, there aren't many options by way of dinner. It's usually chicken and something made of carbohydrates, like pasta or rice, or it's cereal or yogurt or even a sandwich! Thrills. 

I love to cook but it's just so freakin expensive. Luckily I have a pretty good selection of herbs and chicken is a versatile bird, you know? Lately I've been getting risky. I mean, even if it's terrible, I'm still the only one eating it, so no one has to suffer but me. I think it's an honor code or something. If you cook it, you eat it, you know?

So last night was my most successful experiment! It could have been awful. I decided to make some chicken and rice and I wanted a glaze of honey with something special in it. Here's my recipe! You can try it.

chicken breast sauteed in olive oil and garlic, then simmered for 15 minutes in a mixture of

honey, water, a bit more olive oil, cinnamon, pepper, and curry powder. 

I served it over jasmine rice. delicious. though it still needs something else, maybe some red pepper or something to give it some zing.

Waiting on the Rain

This morning, being home, I decided, as I often do, to work and read out in my backyard. I had to hurry and make it out before it started raining because I wanted to get to my seat under our pavilion. It was so exciting! I had to gather my books and supplies and scamper out there before the drops started to fall, and for some reason I felt like a little kid again. Sadly, it only sprinkled for about 5 minutes, but Texas is like that. It fools you into thinking it's going to do one thing when it does a completely different thing. I kinda like that, though. Regardless, I'm sitting under my pavilion in the sun. 

But this is similar to many things in life I think. We see an opportunity and make a decision about it. We get excited and prepared to experience that opportunity, run outside, arms full of hope, ready to accept it full on and with an open heart, and bam! It's something completely different entirely, something you did not ever see coming! It may be worse, it may be better than before-but either way it's completely different and completely disappointing for a bit. It kinda knocks the wind out of your sails, you know? But at this point, I think you have two choices. Important ones. 

One: You decide to hold resentment against that changed opportunity and grow jaded about taking chances on similar opportunities ever again. You keep your hope and your heart to yourself and wait for the chance to use them only on your terms and not on the terms of an unknown situation. In other words, you go inside and watch through the window, hating the sun and resenting the rain for not meeting you when you wanted it to. 

or 

Two: You accept the difference and see what you can do with the new set of circumstances using the things you brought with you, your heart and your hopes. You sit under the pavilion anyway, though it's in the sun and not the rain. You wanted the rain, you got the sun, but if you wait, maybe the rain will come again. 

I decided to wait in the sun. It's much better this way, I'd say.

Disney One Liners

Let's take a look at Disney's latest films. Simplicity seems to be the idea prevailing: "Earth" ,"Oceans",  "Up". 

One word, big movie. Kinda brilliant. I like it, anyway. Though I do think it's a bit presumptuous of Disney to adopt the word "Earth" for their movie, as if they are trying to sum up "Earth" within the frame of one tiny movie that follows the lives of three different species of animals around the whole planet to stand for all creatures great and small. This, I suppose, asks a question about the meaning of movies to us folks. How much does a movie about something shape our perception of that real life thing? Do we think Planet Earth can be summed up in "Earth"? Probably not. But it just seems like now that word is owned by Disney and their 2-hour interpretation of it, do you know what I mean? Some of that word's power is held within Disney's movie now. How much of our perception of Vietnam is shaped by movies, of warfare, of romance, of what it is to die, anything? This may be an old question but an interesting one. 

Thanks Walt. 

A Paltry Showing

For anyone interested in 19 pictures I've taken, have a look!

I'm working on centralizing all of my photos from the different cameras/computers they sit on. They're really all over the place. More will come! But enjoy this little snippet of fun, mostly from my schooling in Taos, NM last summer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryknoe/

Stuck on Me

I'm running against a bit of a wall, trying to get some breakthrough in idea generation. Mostly it's a wall of my own construction: I haven't tried hard enough and thinking what doesn't come easily isn't worth it, at least not yet. This is false! And since when has any really good idea that needed no editing or reevaluating just popped right into your head without any work/preparation/effort?

Not to say work/preparation/effort are at 0% at all. No, I'd say they're at 74-76.5% out of 100%. But you know, you just stop after the ideas trickle and cease and you just want to sit around for days instead of actually working? Maybe you'll toss the problem a couple minutes of thought but nothing too concentrated-even though the deadline looms agonizingly close and huge! What's up with this habit of work? Is it common? It certainly isn't welcome.

But check out this Russian and Brazilian graffiti I found recently as part of my researches! I loved it. And to imagine living near this just makes me smile. Enjoy work I certainly didn't do but respect! Civil disobedience can be so rewarding sometimes.

isn't it wonderful how Pemuky (the artist) used the moss and cracks and local foliage to make this work so integrated into its surrounding?!!

Check out more at this fantastic archive: www.graffiti.org

Back in the Biz-United States of Disunity

It's time to get back at it, being creative and thoughtful. Not that these things ever cease. But to be so publicly? A different matter entirely!


Here's something I've been thinking about.

I've been thinking about how un-unified we are as a people. How afraid we are of true community-true reliance and trust in others, which, in fact, is the way we were meant to live I think! Consider this bit of a stream of a conciousness entry I've written about this:

"
We, as a people, and I’m talking mostly to the largely Anglo and non-recently-emigrated minorities who call themselves Americans, are taught that success and good living is achieved alone. Let me rephrase this, that to be a successful American is to pull your own self up by your bootstraps and make something of yourself-to not depend on anybody else for anything but to use people for what they give to you, not for the community that is possible. To have a woman be your wife to you, to have your grocer give you goods, to have your doctor give you medicine. But you are your own person who has chosen to accept these things and you are an island, just like Donne liked to say. You are alone and that’s truly the best way to be. The American way, in fact. To be independent
"


I'm thinking about writing a play about this. There's more to these thoughts, as well. Mostly about what the hope is, not the criticisms, what life should be about. Consider this as well:

"

LET ME POSIT SOMETHING NEW: DON’T LIVE SO YOU CAN MAKE MONEY AND THUS COUNT YOURSELF SUCCESSFUL. Not just an anti-materialism rant or something or some trite summary that “true wealth is in friends” or “the heart” or in “non-monetary things, etc. etc“. BUT that we, as Americans, have been lied to about the meaning of success and sadly have built our society around that meaning, which is to say, we’ve built our society around the structure of hard-working individual people working hard and making money and spinning the wheels of capitalism round and round thinking that that is the only true purpose in life AND THAT by fulfilling this American freedom of individual success, we can be ANYTHING WE WANT and eventually, if we work hard enough, be able to afford WHATEVER WE WANT which will make us feel happy. BUT this isn’t true. It is simply NOT TRUE. Not everyone can have all that much money, most people won’t get to work a job all that close to what they truly enjoy doing, most everyone will struggle and toil to make ends meat for years and years, and the American dream just isn’t possible for a large amount of Americans. But here’s the deal. Instead of pointing fingers and blaming the founding fathers or Ronald Reagan or Adam Smith or Karl Marx or whomever for creating or challenging and thus renewing with vigor this, our fair country’s sorely dissatisfying capitalistic success, instead of getting angry for being duped or feeling hopeless because you’ll never get that raise or that yacht or that house, instead of all that negativity and bitterness and blame and self-loathing, FORGET ABOUT THE MONEY. Because guess what, IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY. You don’t believe me? Walk out into the street and get hit by a car. IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY. Because it isn’t. What is it about? It’s about brevity. It’s about preciousness, immediacy, present-tense, look-up-at-the-sky-and-breathe-in-the-free-beautiful-air-all-around-you-ness.It’s about the fact that having enough fiat money sitting in a bank vault just doesn’t make you feel any better deep deep deep deep down where the human in you lives on, yelling at your heart and your brain all day long that it all just isn‘t enough.
"

What do you think?