1 more 101

1. family

2. friends

3. sleep

4. early mornings

5. sunlight

6. warmth

7. cheap clothes

8. crocs

9. music

10. pianos

11. cds

12. ipods

13. books

14. paper and pencils

15. color

16. sight

17. smell

18. snuggles

19. hugs

20. kisses

21. caring touches

22. baby kitties

23. momo

24. understanding

25. patience

26. warm drinks

27. secret smiles

28. holding hands

29. sharing meals

30. employment

31. choice

32. quiet

33. canvas

34. macbooks

35. delete keys

36. massages

37. candles

38. hardwood floors

39. recycling

40. saving

41. ice

42. homemade whipped cream

43. applesauce and curry

44. warm socks

45. bubble baths

46. sleepovers

47. cellphones

48. internet

49. picture frames

50. photos

51. acrylic paint

52. authors

53. ideals

54. imagination

55. cartoons

56. fairies

57. growing up

58. finding money

59. paying bills on time

60. unexpected phone calls

61. surprise encounters

62. electricity

63. home

64. memory

65. arrested development

66. busy bee

67. storytime

68. fold-out-couches

69. wii

70. sidewalks

71. mountains

72. oceans

73. seashells

74. dental floss

75. homemade gifts

76. days off from work

77. cars

78. opportunity

79. windows

80. universities

81. bath robes

82. halloween

83. film

84. t-shirts

85. borrowed hoodies

86. family dinner

87. wine

88. coffee

89. toast and oranges

90. juice

91. photos

92. family history

93. secret bonds

94. cuddled toes

95. butter and syrup

96. down blankets

97. hot water

98. rolling papers

99. sex

100. symmetry

101. aluminum cans

On Reading and Writing a Blog

So, I couldn't help but go back through our older posts and re-read them. I got to our first 'family small writing' the one on writing... And even in such a short amount of time, there's more to say.

I read Rob's post tonight on facebook about writing. Rob is hilarious: 

He has a knack for catching the irony in most aspects of human existence, and ... if you catch him at the right time ... you'll keel over in a pleasing, yet painful fit of laughter. (the kind where your stomach muscles clench up enough for you to loose five pounds and gain a six pack, but where you don't want that feeling of understanding the ridiculousness to leave because it may be forgotten)

So, back to the topic: why do we write?

I said in my last post that blogs for me were for practice, which they still are. But, they've also become a sort of journal. A place I can share my 'musings' with the people I love most. I've started a book for an independent study for school. I like my book and what I've written so far. It's lacking in detail, but that's how I write: I get the basics down and add the backdrop later. 

I thrived on the discipline of the class... and my teacher has dropped off the face of the internet (it was an independent study and we worked through email -- I've never even met her) Anyway, eventually, my progress on the book stopped. I've written enough before (not that any of it's necessarily worth reading), but enough to know that there is no such thing as writers block. You write, or you don't. That doesn't mean it's all good, but there's no excuse to not keep writing. 

My reasons for stopping are lame and boring and there's no chain of events that would explain them---I just stopped. And then I just continued to forget to write at all. 

But, reading Rob's note tonight reminded me to write (thanks for that Rob!) --- And so I blog...

...on writing:

Why do we (writers) write? What's the need? Do we express ourselves better on the 'read' word as oppose to the spoken? Do we all have something to say that should be recorded?

I know I don't have the complete answer... but, I write because I can take the time to say exactly what I want to when I write. I can add the bits that make the story and take out the insignificant details. I can formulate a bit of story that is told, read, and remembered the way I want it to be (at least to me, and in some ways by other readers --- but I won't get into that).

 

I also write because I like creating a story. I like to imagine a situation and the things that would make it better or worse. Or, imagine the characters I would like to meet. I like to explain living through story. I like myth and tradition in books. I like adventure and magic. 

Sometimes life is monotonous and sometimes it's exciting --- it can be anything you want it to be when you write it. 

Random Thoughts: On the ever present distant future....

Cell Phones and Internet access have made communication and complicated tasks seem easy... but I've found that once you're hooked, once you depend on them for school, or work, or even pleasure, it's almost impossible to escape. 

I spent my first morning at the beach working on programming for my preschool camps so I could get orders in on time and dealing with a 'serious car issue'. I could do these things because my Mom was nice enough to drop me off at a small coffee shop on the island that offers internet access and because I gave my cell number to the auto-shop to contact me with any 'issues' (that I hoped weren't there). 

Once you've given yourself the ability to make contact at anytime, anyplace, in any situation, you've also given others the ability to make contact with you.

....I don't know which I would prefer. Either way, the problems exist, it's just a matter of when they're taken care of. I guess if I want to keep up with the rest of the world, be able to drive home on Sunday, and keep my job, I need to 'be reachable'.

Random thoughts on the night of Barack Obama's acceptance speech

I'm listening to the trance album "From Here We Go Sublime" by the Field and reading Pitchforkmedia.com's list of the top 200 albums of the 60's. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to go over to a friends house and hear Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) on his dad's record player or sitting at the community pool and hearing Del Shannon's "Runaway" on the radio. At a time when the wealth of all collected culture is at my fingertips, I feel overwhelmed, blessed, but somewhat cheated. Where were you when you first heard Green Day or Marilyn Manson? I was sitting on the couch with my brother drinking a Pepsi watching MTV during one of the last few glorious summers of MTV brilliance when their programming started around 6 o'clock pm and everything before was music videos. Beavis and Butt-head did the same thing as my brother and I. Watching music videos by everyone from Primus to Soundgarden to Iron Maiden. The next generation of music geeks will have their own challenges to overcome. The death of the album will come to a great loss to music. But, the album really started becoming a concept around the time of "Dark Side of the Moon" and arguably earlier with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Before then, singles sold by the millions. One record, two songs. Side A. Side B. Did anyone ever suspect that the album would be a revolutionary advancement in the way pop music was released and listened to?

A lot of the songs on the list is by bands I've never heard of, but no the songs (at least the choruses) by heart. Like "My Boyfriend's Back." Everyone knows that song. It's fucking great. Do you know who sang it? It was...hang on...The Angels. What about "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells? Another great song. How many of the musicians of the '00s will remain anonymous, but their songs will live on in oldies internet radio history? Or at least make somebody's top 200 songs of the 2000s. What about the Macarena, or that song Mambo #5. I'm having trouble remembering who wrote those songs right now (well, Lou Vega sang Mambo #5) but what about in 40 years? How will Britney Spears be remembered 40 years after her last heart wrenching photo of her appears in some super market tabloid. How long until we stop caring? My parents have a lot of obscure albums by bands I've never heard of like Spooky Tooth. Were they like an Indie band back then? Had a couple of records and a handful of devoted fans then lost in rock obscurity only to be revisited every decade like a lost relative?

How can one keep track of all of these great albums, filed away in a certain cabinet of memory forgotten along with Algebra and the names of all the presidents. I'm 24 years old. I've been listening to pop/rock music for over a decade. I can't imagine life without the ipod. I can't imagine not having my lifetimes worth of music in my hand at any given time. If all the albums on my ipod were actual vinyl records, they could fill a house. Already, music has clogged, warped, reshaped and defined my mind. The way I think, the way I write, dream, act, learn, forget, love, hate and function as a person has all been molded by thousands and thousands of rock songs, listened to on repeat. The blips and beeps of The Field coerce my brain waves and help me concentrate on drifting off and letting my fingers do the thinking.

The definitive book on pop culture music geeks High Fidelity said it best. "Books, TV, music, these things matter." But when you become such a snob that you immediately judge a person by looking through their ipod and seeing that they don't have a single Radiohead song except Creep or Talk Show Host. Or you turn your nose up when they have one of your favorite bands on the artist list, only to discover that they only have the one single released on it. Or you scoff when you notice that they only have a few actual, full albums on their entire ipod. What are you to do? Keep it to yourself and hope that their virtue as a person will make up for their complete lack of musical taste? Assume that music is only to be enjoyed for this person when working out? Perhaps they only have a few songs on their ipod because they listen to vinyl at home, or have an extensive CD collection and a 200 disc changer. hmmm. Judging people based on their music is as old as grunge revisionists, but it's so hard not to do.

I guess what this rant is about is how music changes. I can drive through any American city and find at least one "Oldies" radio station and listen to the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Who, etc. Those songs and artists were huge in the 60's and everyone listened to them because it was the only medium for receiving new music. The record companies gave them to the one radio station in the area and they played it and people bought it and people have been listening to that music for 40 years. But what about the music I'm into? How will Bright Eyes ever be remembered the way Bob Dylan was when 90% of Americans have never heard one of his songs (except for all of those people who saw Knocked Up). Every time I look at the iTunes top 10 albums, I'm amazed at how few I've even heard of. Who the fuck is Shwayze anyway? Most of those albums that all of those iTunes users are listening to, I'll never hear. Has music finally reached the utopia of a truly democratic release?