a million little pieces

a million little pieces, originally uploaded by emdot.

I typically don't read Oprah's book club books, but I am a sucker for "recovery" books. (No, no, I myself am not an addict -- I just love the realness and rawness of recovery books).

The lovely sweetdogk, who is also my next-door-neighbor (but only for a few more weeks --tears--), heard about it and picked it up. She's a big reader and she said, "you can read it when I'm done. It's about an addict, so I know you'll love it." And I clapped my hands in anticipation. Good writing and addiction? Purr purr purr.

Then my mom picked it up and devoured it. She picked it up and read it because she heard someone say "I usually hate Oprah book club books, but this one? I couldn't put it down!" And my mom was thinking how much she typically hated OBC books, too and went out straight away and bought it and consumed it and licked her lips and then her fingers still loving the taste of the perfection of the book and then passed it on to me.

I began it late Saturday night. Sunday morning and early afternoon was spent with my good friend Heather, down from Berkeley, but the afternoon was thisbookonly. (Okay, did take breaks to upload bee picture and to watch Curb and Extras).

This morning I took advantage of my extra hour by reading another 60 pages. Only 40 left, but I must go to work.

Anyway. If you like addiction/recovery true story books, don't miss this one.

Take Off

Take Off, originally uploaded by Catherine Jamieson.

ways i am not fun

1. Probably missing the Jackson Browne concert that I have a free ticket to
2. Halloween? I really can't be bothered

strange things i love

1. Corvids of any nature
2. The smell of skunk (well, from a distance at least)
3. Doing the dishes

things that feel overwhelming

1. Keeping up with photographs and photographers on flickr
2. Dealing with my gmail inbox
3. Making plans in advance

recent fun things

1. Lunch with Ingrid from Sweden and she went over the many weird Swedish sounds with me
2. Yelling at the many Apprenti with my friends on TV night
3. Doing some unexpected graphic design
4. Designing web sites. I am geeking out
5. Amazing talks lately with each of my parents

please, no, stop

1. Aaron Neville

please, yes, more

1. Connick, Marsalis Celebrate New Orleans Roots
2. White House Indictment
3. An awakened mind that expresses itself in compassionate action to alleviate suffering
4. Getting Unstuck

the postcard project: san luis obispo, california.

the postcard project: san luis obispo, california., originally uploaded by snowdeal.

yea!

my postcard to little odin got posted to flickr. :)

Two Poems

poppies and morninglories, originally uploaded by emdot.

Two poems that have meant a lot to me over the years.
maybe they will touch your heart, too.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

— Mary Oliver

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

— David Wagoner

sock it to me

i want this book.

much more to blog (or so it feels like), but now i must go over to kb's house so we can yell at the tv set while watching martha's apprentice.

two horoscopes

Monday morning Rebel sent me this:

...I decided to put together a horoscope for you today....here goes ;)

Who knew you were so damn good at drawing with your toes baby? Or figuring out how to caulk holes without any caulk? Be surprised by some of your hidden talents today lover! You're ready to make constructive changes right now, and to make them quickly! Try harder than usual to manage your time wisely, 'measure twice and cut once.' Do it right the first time sugar!

As to the romance bit.....The best romance is a fun romance -- don't forget to play. Seriousness is overrated.

Bottom line is...the universe has set you up with nothing but lovely green lights. Take advantage of it quickly hawchie chawchie! It don't get much better than that!

And oh, yeah...I FUCKING LOVE YOU!

Now I couldn't tell if she had really found that or had made it up on the spot. Either way, there seems to be a trend in the stars as the following came from Brezny:

It's high time for you to lose control—in the most constructive way possible, please. You can no longer afford to be as tightly wound as you've been lately. To get yourself in the mood for breakthroughs that will prevent breakdowns, consider carrying out some of the following acts. Fingerpaint on your TV screen. Dance on your bed, imitating a black bear that has drunk a bottle of vodka. Ask an intimate friend to use lipstick to write "I am inscrutable" on your belly. Have dinner with a person who makes you uncomfortable in an interesting way. Buy a bull penis walking stick at Bumsteer.com and use it on a stroll to the corner store. Write candid confessional letters to people from whom you've been hiding an important truth, but don't mail the letters.

*choosing to ignore the walking stick suggestion. but besides that one, you gotta admit, good advice.

Shadowy striker tickles the balancing blue dribbler from behind.

Shadowy striker tickles the balancing blue dribbler from behind., originally uploaded by ahmedzahid.

happy little photo for a tuesday morning smile break. what is cuter than this? and i love the shadows of the children out of the shot.

currently reading: garlic and sapphires

currently reading: garlic and sapphires, originally uploaded by emdot.

Reading: books

I heard the former NYTimes food critic interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air last year, talking about her latest book Garlic and Sapphires. And while I didn't look up the book then, it must have stayed with me because when I saw this book returned and sitting in a cart to be reshelved I snatched it up immediately.

I'm about halfway done and the chapters are a study of the sensuous -- what food looks like, smells like, tastes like, and feels like in the mouth. It makes me want to greatly rethink how I make my food choices and call up an exboyfriend who is quite the gourmand to go out for a fine meal.

Reading: email

In an email from a friend regarding a recent personal challenge I went through:

People have weird ideas about being tough and about bravery. But you can't be brave unless you're really scared, and you can't be tough unless you have something to overcome. That you managed as well as you did for as long as you did...well, brave and tough. There it is.

Words I will treasure for quite a long while.

local and tasty

local and tasty, originally uploaded by emdot.

Found from Kottke.org (my home away from home; I rarely check boingboing anymore), a wine professional makes a list of the bottles she'd buy if she was down to her last $10. I'm thinking this page needs to go into my del.icio.us and pronto.

» Tight Wine (for under $10)

october 5: wallace stevens crazy day

yesterday shall be remembered as the day of the wallace stevens coincidences.

• first, i get an email with a stevens line in the subject and a few more stevens lines in the email.
  Beneath every no
  Lays a passion for yes that has never been broken.


• then i get a stanza in a comment stream in flickr


• THEN i read caterina and she has a stevens stanza and story in her blog

That's a whole lotta Stevens coincidences for a short 24-hours, I must say.

souper star

souper star, originally uploaded by emdot.

three favorite words:
- bittersweet
- kittycorner
- lazybones

(i think i like compounds)

meanwhile, from brezny:
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In his "MuseLetter," Richard Heinberg writes that Jesus "taught renunciation of ephemeral desires, fearless and carefree public behavior, and contempt for riches." This happens to be a precise prescription for those of you who hope to put yourself in maximum alignment with cosmic rhythms in the coming week. I suggest you suspend your pursuit of the relatively trivial goals that soak up an inordinate amount of your attention, and instead intensify your devotion to your single most important reason for living. This should help you lose your unnecessary inhibitions. It should also free you from any delusions you might have that greed is normal or that you need *more* than enough of anything.

Doctor, Doctor 705

Doctor, Doctor 705, originally uploaded by lorenzodom.

Really fun, short slide show from lorenzodom of a guy dancing in Central Park. Set the slideshow interval to one second for best effect.

» Little Central Park Boogie

i love dr. john

And so should you. Tonight when I shoulda been putting myself to bed I decided to listen to a little Fresh Air (yes, I'm a bonafide NPR geek. and proud.). Specifically, the Fresh Air show from my birthday, cuz I realized I hadn't listened to it yet. And since my birthday was closely after Katrina became the name we shall not speak in the south, the show was all New Orleans for sixty beautiful minutes.

I say I love Dr. John, but it's not like I own CDs. It's not that I don't want to own CDs. Actually, I don't understand why I don't have his CDs. I will remedy this week. Anyway, I'm doing the tangent shuffle. Let me tell you why I love Dr. John.

In SLO County we have this thing called the Blues Festival which takes place every Memorial Day weekend (specifically, the Sunday before Memorial Day proper) in Avila Beach. It is fun. It is sunny. It is on the beach. There is booze. There is blues. And there is dancing.

The first Blues Festival I went to featured Dr. John as the headline act. And I couldn't sit down if I had willed my body with all my collective brain power. Dr. John rocked the house and I gotta be honest: the Blues Festival has never been as much for me since.

He's just a bad ass. Plain. Simple. Dr. John? Bad ass. And his music is perfect to dance to. Lopey. Jumpy. Mellow in hip moving groove. Carefree and passionate at the same time. Perfect for sunshine. Perfect for smoky bar time, too, I bet. Perfect in its weird voodoo perfection. And that sums up New Orleans too, doesn't it? Cuz NOLA is perfect in its weird voodoo perfection as well.

Listen to the Fresh Air interview and pronto so you will agree with me and fall in Dr. John love as well.

» Dr. John on Fresh Air

JARVIS

JARVIS, originally uploaded by defekto.

jarvis was a well-read and polite dog.