Archive for the 'ghosts' Category

LOSER

Published on February 25, 2011 in geeking out, ghosts and it is a mystery. 6 Comments

My review of Corey Mesler’s LISTEN: twenty-nine short conversations is out at American Book Review. There’s a snip at Project MUSE.

Yesterday I went to this dance/yoga/pilates fusion deal called PiYo. It was stupid. Imagine moving from plié squats to Warrior 3 with a Justin Bieber soundtrack. Between this and the quackery I’m enjoying three times a week on my spinal column, I’m living out on a limb. I think next I’m going to seek out some banh mi, which I’ve somehow managed to never have despite the fact that it looks incredible. It’s fun to be new at stuff.

I’m missing old friends today.

My girl Sarah is having a baby in California sometime in August and I feel this strong need to be there. It seems much more important than the garbage I’m rolling around in out here. I’ve never felt this way about a lady or a baby before. I’m sure I’d be underfoot. Sarah’s going to be such a good mom. They’re already printing out the certificates for mom-related awards.

I’ve got a small handful of lady friends who are going to be moms pretty soon. I guess it is that time in life. FOR ME TO FEEL WEIRD.

Austin to Victoria to Austin to New York

Published on October 24, 2010 in driving, ghosts and Sasha Fletcher. Closed

I packed two peanut butter sandwiches and drove to Victoria TX, a city full of gentlemen and ladies. It’s about a half hour from the ocean and you can smell it and feel it in the air, but people I mentioned that to says that’s something you get used to and then can’t feel anymore. I liked it there. We ate some good BBQ and I read for the Junior League and a retired physician told me a ghost story. I saw Carmen and Tom and their baby Finn, who is one of the more handsome baby boys in this world and shows three small teeth when he smiles.

Now I’m staying with friends Sasha and Skyler in NYC. Sasha cooked a hot dog in a pan for me and Skyler made us rice krispie treats with browned butter. Today I woke up on their couch thinking that the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway sounded like the ocean, a comparison I’m sure has already been made by a number of this city’s 8.3 million, likely has already been made this morning, in fact you could find everyone who said this morning that the BQE sounds like the ocean and serve them a continental deal with corn flakes and machine that dispenses two kinds of milk. It would be a good-sized group, I’m saying.

ITEM.

Published on July 1, 2010 in ghosts. 3 Comments

I’m going to New York next week to read with Shane Jones at Happy Ending on July 7. Tickets here.

Sometime last week, I took my spare AC adapter out of my laptop bag and found that it had been neatly wrapped and secured, something I never do. I have more of a “unplug and shove it into the bag while running out of the coffee shop like you just received communication that you are wanted by a black ops group” kind of style. But there it was, perfectly aligned right down to the Velcro strap, which I never realized had a purpose until I saw its purpose was to make it look like I can have nice things. I’ve come to the conclusion that someone has broken into my apartment and rearranged my spare laptop cable. (If “paranoia” is only #7 on “Reasons Why It’s No Fun to Date Amelia Gray,” just imagine the other six!)

Nature ITEM! Yesterday I saw a mom and dad cardinal feeding a baby cardinal on the tree branch outside my window and it was so beautiful that I got a little pissed off about it.

Then, I wrote 300 words about how great it is to be able to turn a doorknob.

Other Nature ITEM! There’s a squirrel pulling off tree branches outside my window and consolidating them closer to the trunk. Just learned a squirrel’s nest is called a drey.

going drey crazy

At first I had this idea that maybe I’d write a story about what the squirrel is really thinking, and then I realized I have already written that story. Now my cat is freaking out. This is the first time I have ever liveblogged an event and I’m glad it’s this one.

everyone in this picture thinks they're people

Here’s a post I found online about squirrels:

As everyone knows, squirrels love to frolick in trees and play and jump from tree to tree and limb to limb.I was out back the other day (as the squirrels love our backyard) and witnessed one that fell from a tree. Scared me….it fell (I would guess 15-20 feet) and landed on its back. I heard the thud. The squirrel got up immediately and took off, but I still can’t stop thinking about this poor little squirrel and if he was injured or not. It is still on my mind.

Does anyone know about squirrels falling from trees and how injured they can be. I have read that they show no pain, which worries me since the squirrel just took off :(.

Thank you….can’t seem to get it off my mind…….

I bet ghost cats like Vermin too

Published on March 14, 2010 in Behind The Blog, Cats, ghosts and weight. 1 Comment

Will you be in Denver on April 8th? You should come to this reading. Whether or not you come, you should see this excellent poster by Goodloe Byron:

click for large marge

Elisa Gabbert wrote about my last post in terms of online marketing, Web analytics, and using questions in search queries to generate leads. These are things I must think about when I’m doing my day job and it was cool to learn more about it. High fives, Gabbert.

On Thursday night I broke a deadlift record at the gym—a pitiful 115lbs, due to the fact that I hate deadlift plus the fact I am a whiny baby—and I am still paying for it in terms of overall soreness. Deadlifts get your back, arms, legs, stomach. It makes me want to float in the Gulf of Mexico for three days straight. Alas! It is Winter.

A strange thing just happened: First, the neighbor cat meowed at its door downstairs, which I heard clearly from the open window. Directly after, one of my cats attacked the closed door to my room. This gave the impression that a ghost cat had transmuted through my home and was simultaneously present. It’s hard to express how unsettling that was. It made my heart beat up in my inner ear. I’m giving up on reasonable thought for the night.

Thinking about William Steig

Published on October 22, 2009 in ghosts. 7 Comments

All this talk about Where the Wild Things Are has me thinking about William Steig. I’ve gotten into it about children’s books before (see my “Children’s Books That Will Drive Your Shit Insane” list here). We have the power to make mental connections as children that we lose as we grow up and get ourselves socialized, and the pandering milquetoast garbage that gets called children’s writing today is a shame.

Most of the good stuff happened in the Golden Age, when characters were removing their faces and speaking truths about God and getting killed by cobras etc, but there have been a few greats in the picture book world since. Sendak was one but I always really liked William Steig. He wrote Doctor De Soto:

Bonus, Rube Goldberg devices

Children love: blood, teeth, Rube Goldberg

Some plot:

The story is about Dr. De Soto, a mouse-dentist who lives in a world of animals who act as humans. He and his wife, who serves as his assistant, work together to treat patients with as little pain as possible. However, they refuse to treat any patient who likes to eat mice. One day, a fox with a toothache drops by and begs for treatment. Mrs. De Soto convinces her husband that he needs to help the fox to get rid of his pain, so Dr. De Soto reluctantly agrees. They give the fox some anesthetic and proceed to treat the bad tooth. However, while under the effects of the anesthetic, the fox unknowingly exclaims how he would love to eat the mice, but also expresses his guilt for attempting to do such a thing.

Complex characters, drugged confessions and high-level dental work, and that’s just the first ten pages. This was one of the shortest books to win a Newbury Honor. He also wrote The Amazing Bone:

this happens

This happens after a bone speaks languages

Also he created Shrek. He attended the Yale School of Fine Arts for five days before dropping out because he didn’t need it. His son became a jazz flutist. Margaret Mead was his sister-in-law from 1936 until 1949. He lived to be 95 years old.

The artist at work

That's all I have to say about William Steig

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