Category: Life

Tiny Triumphs

Today I was hanging out on Heather’s porch in the lovely weather eating jambalaya, and later, Girl Scout cookies[1]. In a flash of inspiration (no doubt fueled by Dos Equis and PBR) I was compelled to attempt a minor feat: from where I was sitting, could I throw a cookie into the open driver’s side window of my car?

To give you some idea of just how tricky this particular proposition was, the distance was about 30 yards, and the depth between my location and the car window was about 10 feet. The window, about 2×3 feet.

I made it in 1 out of 5 attempts. I can only assume my success was attributable to my Zen-like state of indifference[2] and my incredible tossing skills. I’m not saying it’s like landing an F15 on an aircraft carrier, but on the list of Highly Unlikely Tasks its place is probably in the thousands or hundreds of thousands, somewhere between herding cats and starting a fire with a stick on the first try.

My other recent triumph is far less impressive[3]. Last Wednesday I was watching old Star Trek: the Next Generation episodes with not one but two attractive women on my couch. The ramifications of this event were, of course, impressive only to my 8th grade self. Nevertheless, Tara and Katherine are card-carrying Trek nerds, and we hope to get together again soon. Tara’s birthday was Saturday. She had a Star Trek party with uniforms. Wow.

1.) The shortbread ones. Trefoils. From the Latin trifolium, “three-leaved plant”, French trèfle, German Dreiblatt and Dreiblattbogen, indicating a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings. Like the biohazard insignia. Or the runes for Led Zeppelin’s rhythm section.

2.) I didn’t really care. I mainly wanted to throw cookies at my car. Because that’s what jambalaya and PBR do to you.

3.) I know. “How can that be!?” I hear you say.

Take My Job…Please

My job is an oasis. The primary impediment to me moving anywhere else has always been that I have a great job that I enjoy. More and more people have pointed out to me, though, that I should not let my job dictate the course of my life. There are any number of jobs I could potentially enjoy. So if y’all know anyone who can do good HTML with some CSS, and who is diplomatic enough to communicate with a wide variety of clients, let us know. Epoch Online is a small but thriving company, with a fantastic president and a laid-back atmosphere. Compared to a larger company, I’d say there’s less slacking off, but there’s also less pressure from above. Not to say that we don’t spend time goofing around, but the majority of our days consist of billable hours. Oh and we are a cubicle-free environment. It’s a great place to work.

Oklahoma City Resident Designated As “Da Man”

Be it known on this day, the 25th of August, 2007, that Heath Harrelson is Da Man. Not only has he masterminded my improved navigation bar (now on the right), he actually wrote the collapsible archive plugin at lower right. We’ve been using WordPress apparently longer than most people, and so our archives dating back to 2003 were getting absurdly lengthy. My repeated complaints spurred Heath’s innovation and now all our lives are improved as a result. It is for this reason that we must bestow the title of “Da Man” onto Heath Harrelson of Oklahoma City.

Radio Meditation and My Absorbent Mind

I’ve recently come to realize that my brain absorbs a great many things. This is distinct from learning things, or retaining facts. My brain takes on the characteristics of various sets of stimuli. I’ve always been a sympathetic person, taking on something of others’ experiences, putting myself in others’ shoes. Lately I’ve come to wonder if that tendency is related to my ability to mimic vocal accents after just a few minutes of exposure. Or the fact that, after reading an engaging book, I start to narrate my own thoughts and become obsessed with describing everything around me in the voice of the book’s narrator. This is why I have to limit my exposure to Hunter S. Thompson.

My absorbent mind also tries to comprehend everything when I travel. Traveling means all-new stimuli at all times, and the effect is alternately thrilling and anxiety-inducing. I can turn myself into a nervous wreck trying to comprehend the depth and breadth of New York City, for example. So many people, so many stories, so many understood details and assumptions to absorb.

I’ve been listening to NY news radio station 1010 WINS online in an effort to acclimate myself to the region. It’s particularly helpful and comforting to listen to because of my familiarity with news radio (I spent my first year in Little Rock working as call screener for Pat Lynch’s talk radio show on KARN), and the fact that WINS shares its primary voiceover talent, Jim Cutler, with Little Rock’s KARN (who’s also the voice of our local Fox TV affiliate). Even the AccuWeather meteorologists are occasionally people I’ve worked with at KARN[1]. So score one for the homogeneity of radio.

A pleasant characteristic of the WINS broadcast is its constant bed of fake teletype machines in the background. I like to lay down and listen to it meditatively; the unfamiliarity of another city’s news lulls me into a uniquely dream-like state. I’m taken back to listening to WINS last February at Arika’s place in Brooklyn. I feel vaguely refreshed when I’m done.

1.) Via ISDN line. Yes, America’s local radio weather people are all located at AccuWeather in Pennsylvania.

Fun with Photoshop

Here’s a technique that Sara and I played with on Sunday. It’s really easy to do. All you need is a tripod and Photoshop. Just keep a stationary background, take a few pictures with something different going on, and pull them all into Photoshop as layers. From, there, just erase from the top layers the things in the lower layers that you want to reveal. I’ve got some more ideas that we’ll try to delve into this week.



And here are two more ideas we shot at my house in the music room and the dining room.

Freelancing

Last week marked my debut as a freelance entertainment writer for Arkansas Times. I reviewed a show by the band Giant Bear from Memphis. The online version can be found here, although the author is attributed to “Staff.” I have two more pieces in this week’s issue: a review of the Guru’s Jazzmatazz show at RevRoom, and a CD review of Goon Squad’s debut disc.

Hooray me and my expanded career horizons right before departure. Still no firm ETA, but I’m hoping to land in NYC by October 1. Maybe in New York there’s a job for a swiss army knife writer/musician/internet nerd.

Vacation Recap

Sorry it’s taking me forever. When I got back from the trip I felt a bit woozy and slept most of the weekend. I did get some house cleaning done on Sunday, though.

A week ago Friday I jetted off to Chicago for an almost week long vacation. Pictures here. Upon reaching my hotel in the downtown area, I found myself in the middle of a square dance. Because my life is not ironic enough. I also saw a wild rabbit in the park.

The main reason for the trip was to catch up with my old friend Heather Cox, who I haven’t seen in about ten years. On Saturday we went to the Art Institute of Chicago and to a Cubs game. After 20 years of keeping up with the Cubs, this was my first game ever. It was as perfect a day as could be had.

Sunday we did some shopping around Wrigleyville, and Heather departed. I went on to attend the last few shows at the Pitchfork Music Festival. Another 20-year devotion was fulfilled when I got to see De La Soul. I spent the night with Nica and Trey and we stayed up watching a scary movie and then the streets below where the transvestite hookers and drug dealers hang out after midnight.

Monday I flew to San Diego to hang out with Meredith for a couple of days. We tooled around, saw some sights and did some shopping. Then we drove up to Los Angeles to catch Isaac Hayes at the Hollywood Bowl. Thanks to Chris‘s job as tour manager, we got to meet the man himself. He has really soft hands. That’s all I can say, really. If I weren’t such a blithering idiot, I could have also met Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MG’s and Eddie Floyd, but I was entirely certain that I would say something stupid. Nevertheless we were hanging with living legends after the show.

Then I hung out at LAX on Thursday, flew to Phoenix, ate some really good Chinese food, and flew back to Little Rock. Tired.

Words of Wisdom

Heath sent me this, and I think it articulates some things that might be helpful for others to read:

I thought I’d write to tell you that I’m glad[1] you’re moving to New York. I’ve thought for some time that you would come to regret it if you talked yourself out of moving. Measured against your obviously strong desire to go, the “practical” concerns you were allowing to keep you in Little Rock were paper tigers at best.

I was reluctant to state my position before you made up your mind[2]. I’m leery of giving advice unbidden, and I wouldn’t have desired to do so even if you’d asked me. The giving of advice is fraught with pitfalls, when you think about it. It seems to me that the only time we can take advice is when the decision isn’t self-interested, and then what does it matter? When decisions are ego-involved is when we need an outsider’s perspective, but it’s also the time when we’re least likely to view it with clear eyes. And so the asking of advice is reduced to fishing for encouragement, confirmation, or validation. You ignore advisers who dissent, or else you turn them into a “bad guy.” I mean, what’s the point?

Still, there’s one thing I would like to address, and that’s the question of what happens if things don’t work out in New York. I’ve had several conversations with you where you’ve expressed concern about failing; that is, you seem to think that if you move somewhere and it doesn’t work out, then you’ve failed somehow. I don’t really think this is true. I know that this is a fluffy position to take, but I think that you never really fail without thinking it so. Put differently, there’s no such thing as failure, though there is success. If you have a good time and learn some things, that’s success, no matter what others might think. If you have to move back to Little Rock (or just somewhere else; there’s no reason it has to be Little Rock), the only way that can be taken as slinking back in failure is if you act like you failed[3].

Then again, this last paragraph doesn’t really look like advice to me, which lets me off the hook, I guess.

The topic of a favorite rant (one I’m sure Mary Beth has grown very tired of) is the conservative assumption that change can only make things worse. “Sure, you’re not likely to lose by keeping things the same,” I argue, “but you’ll never *win* that way.” The fun thing about this rant is that fear of change is something I’m guilty of too, so I come off like a total hypocrite. So anyway, I’m happy[1] you’re making the leap.

Heath

1) This is a strange usage. I’m not really glad you’re moving per se; I’m vaguely intellectually satisfied. That’s not really the same as being glad. My feelings actually lie somewhere in between not caring at all and slightly annoyed that it will be inconvenient to visit you. But that’s language for you — when accuracy is needed, it inevitably lets you down.

2) I started thinking about writing you an encouraging email weeks ago. I was still gathering up the gumption to write it when I saw the blog entry announcing you had made up your mind.

3) Spiteful folks would say you were fooling yourself, but fuck ’em.