memphis slim

sentence of the day 6.26.09

"they were nice meaty ribs and their sauces were tasty, i dipped my finger in one and i was a fire breathing dragon"

overheard in the workplace

sentence of the day 6.24.09

"Is there pickle in my hair?"

mm to bp while consuming tofu bratwurst
at people's co-op street fair

moon, the

new looks at moon

sentence of the day 6.20.09

"An omelette can't eat an egg: that's cannabalism"

mm to bp, early am
regarding the day's breakfast
possibilities

inroads

this year has been one for the books already and it's only 1/2 way thru. since there is the risk of ruining/altering the good progress we've made by shining light on it ala heisenberg-uncertainty-principle, making it more defined thru explication, hard light not shadow, on the surface not under it - it's probably best to leave it alone and do some type of summation at the appropriate juncture, should that moment present itself. otherwise, let's just say that mm and i have collectively and individually made strides and leave it at that and that this year is one of those years and leave it at that. for now.

this wknd we returned to the beach house in arch cape (our 2nd visit in 3 mos). amazing wknd w/ amazing collection of friends and a baby and 2 dogs (1 ours). there were sunsets and and a bonfire and beach walks and and cheese and single-malt scotch and a vegan chocolate-peanut butter cake. hard to top.

Hud (1962)

as the wheel turns

yesterday was 37 yrs since i've been born. we slept in and upon rising mm gave me my gift: a crucifictorius t-shirt. a lovely gift to be sure.

we planned a quiet day. we planned to see two movies: hud (at laurelhurst), eldorado (at living room). 1st hud showing was at 1pm, eldorado at 220. since breakfast was to come first we aimed for hud at 1pm. the plan was eat at screen door and walk to hud afterward as the theater and restaurant are blocks away. we'd see eldorado at a later show, maybe in the evening.

en route we discuss the evening prior, the party in our old neighborhood, w/ people close to mm but new to me, the book created as a gift of the party's honoree, mm's contribution to book and the profound realization that seeing it laid out has just birthed for her. we are standing on the sidewalk now, 11:30 am or so, amid the teeming throng waiting to eat at screen door, drinking coffee, and we are discussing the week which has been transformational to say the absolute least. that's meant in creative ways to be sure but those are also symbolic of bigger shifts. we discuss the nature of plans and how each of our paths have diverted from original intent - sometimes wildly - but how we each feel a simultaneous but distinct nod of assent from outside ourselves. these words are crude tools and can't do the sensation justice and by now we've been waiting for 40 minutes to sit down and we're inside now checking the list to make certain we haven't been overlooked and we haven't but there's little to no chance of making hud at 1pm which was the whole point of picking this restaurant - proximity that is - and i feel that familiar burn coming up in my belly, the tiniest flicker of annoyance, manifesting in questions like what the hell's taking so long? but then it hits me that this very moment - us here waiting, perfect plans delayed and altered is the very embodiment of what we were discussing on the sidewalk.

over breakfast (well worth the wait) the notion of aging rises; we recall the luxury of drawing breath, the good fortune that has me above ground, the myriad repercussions and refracted light that shines through the prism of a brain tumor
[q: what was i doing 5 yrs ago today?
a: having dinner at the delta cafe w/ friends that i no longer speak to.
follow-up q: what are you going to do about it?
a: i don't know. i really don't know. maybe nothing.
follow-up q: why does this issue keep arising?
a: it hasn't stopped aching.]
we took our time thru breakfast and left around 120pm, an hour till eldorado. we headed downtown.

downtown now, the streets are thronged w/ gay pride parade celebrants.

killing time at powell's b/f the movie. mm buys 2 books, i buy a film comment.

we step next door to buy tickets for eldorado and are informed that the movie is in theater 6 which as it happens is against stark street, which as it happens is where a post-parade party is underway - heavy loud perpetual thumping bass - and that they were going to cancel the screening.

they ask us: do you want to take the risk?

we do.

the film is great - very much about being above ground, not in it - just like hud, which we see a few hours later. there is the occasional pound of a bassline through the wall which is another way of saying it is not an ideal situation, which is another way of saying it is not what we planned. but it is still soaring. it is still beautiful.

eldorado (2008)

L'Enfant (2005)

"goodbye wamu"

friday night mm was going to bike downtown and meet me after work so we could bike to see "goodbye solo" (me for the 2nd time). before, she had to race home and walk dog real quick. before that could happen she had to cash her paycheck at washington mutual (now Chase!) like she does twice a month. well, since she did that last, wamu in oregon has now completely become chase, ie not just signage, ie some sort of hellish fusion of their asset fiscal bowel pipeline to the oregon-viaduct (or whatever), meaning now completely officially chase. well, mm and i used to live in los angeles, in fact that's where we opened our wamu accts. but calif has not unified their fiscal-bowel yet, that's to come later. point being, and yes, i'm oversimplifying: there is no longer wamu in oregon only chase and since our acct originated in CA and in CA there is wamu, chase will not honor us as customers. This, despite the fact our debit card and checks now say "Chase Customer" on them. Livid, and fretting about the domino chain of checks about to bounce - b/c they would not cash check, there would be a 5 business day hold on it - and the corresponding overage fees, mm raced to BofA where the check came from and since our mortgage is w/ them they were happy to give her the cash. She raced into car, back to wamu (now Chase!) and handed them cash and they would not accept it.

Let me add a space for graphic affect and then say it again:

They would not take her cash. 1100$ in her hand. What they would offer to do was to take the $, write a check from Chase to WAMU and overnight it (at our expense) to LA and hope that the LA WAMU branch was able to get it in time and post it.

We didn't make the movie.

Instead, Saturday evening we rode bikes downtown and realized the starlight parade was happening. By the time we exited movie it was in full swing. I'm not really one for parades (unless they're honoring me mm might say) but it was kind of cool in a portland way. we hopped on bikes and went to dots.

sentence of the day 6.1.09

"I can't hear you through the cupcake"

mm to bp, my mouth stuffed w/ confection