the year of the dog...and other random stuff...

today is the chinese new year...this year is the year of the dog...now go have some dim sum...

but is it a podcast...

"When I have nothing to say

My lips are sealed..."

that's from one of my favorite talking heads songs...it's a piece of wisdom that has served me well...so...the whole podcast thing has very limited appeal to me...besides...i simply prefer the printed medium...but this isn't really print...is it...

[end digression]

i dicked around on my computer and one of the end results is...a silly little beat loop...and i am sharing it with you...play it...use it...have fun with it...all i ask is you tell people who, and where, it came from...

what i've learned from the police...pt 3...

of course, not every cop is satan with a badge...that would be like saying every black man is a criminal...and that's just lazy thinking...since it never occured to me to do something like this...and i have spent most of my life arguing with...and provoking...cops...i never expected to actually meet a decent human being in law enforcement uniform until one dark night in the middle of the new mexico desert...

a friend from college and iwere going to tucson...to watch the rockies in spring training...this was 93, maybe, 94...they were still a novelty...and not a complete joke...yet...denver to tucson is a 12 hr trip...but it can be done in under 10...if you know which way to go...and have the right car...we were traveling in his stealth...strike one...and we were on route 10...strike two...i finished my four hour shift from the colorado border through albuquerque and las cruces...he took over in deming...sometime past midnight, i fell asleep...

i woke up to what sounded like broken glass in a blender...the car was coasting on the shoulder of the road...and it was pitch black...the engine wouldnt turn over...we popped the hood...as if we knew what we were looking at...both of were too broke to own cell phones...they were huge expensive bricks back then...anyway...we were stuck...no idea how far ahead to civilization...too far past the last known outppost...and it was cold...getting colderr...our choices...wait till dawn...or walk...but which way...

then...lights in the rearview...rolling red and blue...fuck...window down...license and registration...what are you boys doin out here...we tell our tale...he calls for a tow truck...an hour later and five miles to lordsburg new mexico...we were checked into a fleabag with no idea what was wrong...or how soon the car would be fixed...

the next morning the mechanic tells us the timing belt has busted...and he has neither the part or the experience to replace it in less than three days...three days in lordsburg...a widespot on the highway...a truckstop, a hardees, and a handful of motels...goodbye spring training...hello hell...

then the trooper shows up...in a pick up truck and civilian clothes...following up...and by the way...he can give us a ride the rest of the way to tucson...all 150 miles...we had to figure out how and when to pick up the car, but we took his offer...of course...and we were in tucson before dinner...

now maybe things would've been different if i had been alone...or if one of us hadn't been a deceptivly innocent looking irish boy...i don't know...but...outside of his uniform...the trooper helped me see the person behind the badge...a decent guy...someone id have a beer with...someone not caught up in the ego trip of carrying a gun...someone who didn't automatically treat me like a suspect...someone who caused me to think about rethink my assumption...that all cops are assholes...

now i give every cop an opportunity...to prove me wrong...

old business...new business...

i wrote this thing years ago...the original idea was to make a graphic novel out of it...but i have less than zero talent at illustration...so I looked for someone who had some...fast forward 10 years...and enter...joshua mays...the first artist/illustrator who had the skills...and sensibilities...and patience...to collaborate with me and translate my words into pictures...i think he did a damn good job...

problem is...he's left town and i haven't been able to contact him....now...im ready to tell the rest of this story...if he was interested i would be happy to work with him again...if he happens to stumble across it...this should be considered an invitation...

barring that...if you want to do illustrations for the next chapter...shoot me a note...tell me about your work...tell me about you...

btw...it would help if you actually read the entire first chapter...

also...amid all this ruckus for the broncos...don't sleep on the nuggets...they put a whuppin the jazz on friday (update: and they just beat the champion spurs, in san antonio)...and took over first place...it would be a crime if melo didn't get player of the month...

is it wrong to have nostalgia for...secondhand smoke...

i didn't realize how long it had been since ive been in a bar...until i went to one last night...the noise, the music, the people...i won't say i miss it...i'll just say that there will always be a place in my life for it...

in other news...

it's become clear that it's long past time to update my link trough...so...please...check out some of the new ones...and be patient while I remove the clutter...

speaking of links...this is what my blog aspires to be...someday...when i have time/talent/inclination...

on a completely unrelated note...im convinced that the number of people in the western world that have been in porn now officially outnumbers the people in the western world who have not...raise your hand if you have not...see...

after months of dilly dallying...

finally a new post on burnsizzlebleed...

a few things you might want to know about my wife...

she loves to shake her groove thang...she is another example of the fact that all the hardest working people ive ever known are women...her favorite t-shirt reads...you say tomato, I say fuck you...she enjoys acts of verbal transgression...example...she'll walk through the supermarket...using the word cracker in as many ways as she can...as loudly as she can...just to upset the norms...she beleives that everything is better, faster...she thinks this is the most wonderful thing on the internet...she loves...see food...she takes raw metal...and stones...and bends it...hammers it...forges it...into shapes that have beauty and meaning...if any of this is interesting to you, you'll enjoy her new blog...

btw...i've taken burnsizzlebleed down for a couple of days...housekeeping...

oh...and...local boys get props in this sunday's NYT...

you can believe i did not ask for it...

i am not a farmer...i don't even have a garden to tinker in...it's an understatement to say that i was surprised...when someone gave me a farmer's almanac for christmas...a pleasant one...luckily...i'm a fan of obscure facts...so...here are some not so random pieces of information from this year's farmer's almanac...

atlantic hurricanes have been recorded every month of the year except april...

meat tenderizer is an excellent remedy for insect bites...

this month's full moon on the 14th is the full wolf moon...

the 13th is an excellent day for baking...

and...

the 25th to the 31st are good days for castrating farm animals...?...

amelie...and what happens after the fall...

if you've seen it, you probably love it...if you don't love it...please...watch it again...if you don't love it after seeing it again...seek immediate resuscitation...for your cold, dead heart...

curled up on the couch with my wife last night...blissed out as the credits rolled...my thoughts drifted to what happens next for amelie and nino...

this is an important question for storytellers...what happens after finding love...we're happy to tell the boy meets girl...boy and girl fall in love story...but love...even toxic love...is a transformative thing...it changes things...it changes people...and not always for the better...

the stuff that happens afterwards...that's the good stuff...for example...

in the past week i've seen a handful of women weeping in public...when things happen in clusters like that...it's difficult to ignore...i guess it's heartbreak season...summer flings have fallen dead before they could blossom come springtime...

love, sex, greed, death...these subjects hold unending fascination for me...

Johnny Cash Loves You!

what I've learned from blogging so far...part 3...the difference between writing and blogging...

(warning...i'm about to shoot my mouth off...try not to take it personally...it's not about you...mostly, i'm just trying to justify myself...to myself...)

let's get this straight from the start...there are bloggers who can write...really well...damn well...and they're serious about their writing...

i just don't see a lot of writers taking blogging too seriously...

what's the difference...if you spend your days sifting internet wheat from chaff and then linking the good stuff...that's blogging...if you post pictures of your life...that's blogging...if you spend your days tracking...and commenting on socio/political events...that's blogging...if you're obsessed with hit counts...the future of advertising...the rankings of other bloggers...and what they're writing about...that's blogging...actually that's metablogging...

writers just seem to want to tell a story...maybe their own story...maybe something made up...maybe a little of both...maybe talk about writing...maybe promote their work...or the work of others...

none of these are small ambitions...so...why the distinction...who needs it...i guess i do....

in the tradition of this journal...there is no criticism without self critique...so, what am i...writer, or blogger...writers write...everyday...until recently i could boast that i did...but situations change...and the one i'm in will change again...and i will be writing everyday again...very soon...whenever i do sit down at this keyboard to write...i ask myself that same question everytime...what are you...most days...i can answer that question with no trace of self delusion...i am a writer...

on other days i look at myself and see...a writer who is distracted by blogging...make no mistake...posting everyday is not the same thing as...writing everyday...make no mistake...not everything written is worthy of the light of day...most of the time...the words need prodding and polishing...make no mistake...while there are bloggers who can write...being a blogger is not the same thing as being a writer...

which one are you...which one do you want to be...

Johnny Cash Loves You!