time is a luxury you can forget

he got back late. the lights were on. no one was home. several items on the floor were screaming at him though. there was a deafening ache in his head from too many distractions all day. order was impossible. sanity left me early in the day. prioritization wasn't really going to happen either. i thought about making copies for a few hours just to get away from my computer. nothing was solved, decided, or ruled out. i left a little after eight, knowing i'd be back tomorrow.

colored boxes

sometimes i feel iike i'm stuck in a movie. everyone shouting and staring at me. the floor seems to tremble under my hurried feet.i can't remember the last time i blinked when something hasn't changed drastically. streets crossed. buildings leveled. animals stuffed into cages and rushed away. now no one is left who believes me. the neighbors are closing in. each second my life collapses a little more. bright spots bloom before my eyes, blinking blindingly. all these medicines, always in little boxes.

signs of something

spoon concert today, which was perfect yet cause for reflection. without looking, i can't remember any 'best of the year so far' experiences. pretty sure there's been at least one.

i bought a used laptop recently, which has been a bit of a drain on my resources. not financially so much as temporally, or just mentally. there are at least three more issues i should address. so yes, i could have saved a lot of effort by spending more for something new. on the other hand, i need projects right now.

more than a day late

hmmm files:

voxtrot, somewhat reinvented and ramping up the hype once again.

build something

birdhouse
remote-control waffle iron
sawmill
bamboo hula hoop
plastic log cabin
graduate english department
flying flyswatter
cement lacrosse stick
sleeping bag recording studio
waterproof notepad

isn't it better to make something you can't explain than nothing at all?

yogurt cheddar potatoes

i made these up, so the recipe is sketchy at the moment

ingredients:
3 medium potatoes
8-12 oz sharp cheddar cheese
10 oz nonfat plain yogurt*
sea salt
black pepper
red pepper

directions:
preheat oven to 350**
cube the potatoes and boil them
whisk together cheese and yogurt

when the potatoes are ready, stick them in an (approx) 9"x12" pan
sprinkle with salt and black pepper***
cover evenly with yogurt-cheese mixture
sprinkle with black pepper and salt
add small amount of red pepper

bake 40 mins or until topping browns as desired

this is a slight twist on a very familiar dish, but the yogurt provides a surprisingly refreshing taste. the red pepper should be just enough to enhance the flavor subtly; it is not intended to provide noticeable heat.

notes:
*i'm guessing on the amount at this point, but you need enough to create a sauce once the cheese has been mixed in. it would be easy to add a lot more cheese than i did, but that would make this less healthy in comparison to more familiar cheese and potato recipes

**a higher temp might be more ideal; i used this b/c i was baking whole potatoes simultaneously and had read that 350 would work for that task

***i forgot to do this before adding the topping, but i think it's the right way to go. i was also liberal in adding additional pepper after baking.

now in rotation

music is tricky; it seems like the songs that are most promising initially can turn on you quickly. to be more accurate, the stuff that's catchy right off the bat grows tiring quickly. here are some of the albums that have crossed in and out of favor with me lately:

beirut - march of the zapotec/realpeople holland

so far, i love the way all the pieces are falling together as a beirut sound seems to endure through all the disparate styles. the vocals seem to tie it all together effortlessly

sin fang bous - clangour

don't have an opinion yet, but there seems to be some substance. sort of an architecture in helsinki feel, and i've never been particularly into them.

the postmarks - by the numbers

haven't heard the entire album, actually, but tracks 1-5 are great. 'you only live twice' is, naturally, a standout. the postmarks are a band i believe has more going for them than i personally can detect.

m. ward - post war

yes, he has a new album out; this is the previous one. despite a longtime feeling of respect for matt's stature as artist, i hadn't bothered to listen to his solo stuff until quite recently. i love that he doesn't just show off his guitar skills; the songwriting, vocals, and sonic textures make this a complete album rather than an instrumental showcase.

time of the signs

the mobile web doesn't really do april fool's day.

just an observation.

sorry

i've just gotten home and my entire room is full of discarded cheese wrappers. there are about three fist-sized holes in the back wall leading to the closet, which means the closet has to be full of plaster dust, which means i need to go to the dry cleaners. my neighbors left a message on my cell phone about some noise they heard earlier, but no one was home today.

adeppp.i3

i don't care about your

no

no

stop now


ablip

joerp

-please stop reading and go purchase some cheese

crunchkrunchchrunch cruchn

we have taken your cheese

sowh us the wsiss chese

all are awanting chees!

will nt

not standfro this

no cheese!

i like swiss cheese

let's be honest, how many foods are iconic in nature because they provide an easy way to:

-attack someone you're debating (your argument has more holes than swiss cheese)

-des.

sorry, the rest of this message was destroyed in a robot attack.

fighting

mayhem

bad dialogue

yukky!!!./1

a theme develops

cake is good. i also like ice cream.

we are watching

we are the evangelists, we are artists producers and performers.
we are watching you, and eating your cheese.
we are forming small groups to debate your excesses.
we are party to your losses.
we inhabit phone banks.
we stay late in order to read your mail.
we have not learned manners.
we have abandoned ordinary lives in order to pursue you.
our mouths are dry with the thirst for redemption.
all along, our leaders have followed our progress.
they are grooming us for future success.
we wish to prove worthy of their remaining confidences.
our hands are bloody with the wounds of eager servants.

a brighter day seems to us only another.
our steps cannot be measured for all their numbers.
the battles we survived tore no limbs from our bodies.
the tales we brought back taught no stranger our ways.

your toast published successfully

we become jealous of a breakfast food. 'sorry, the toast is not available this morning; it's on a book tour.'

find me a dessert or two

today is one of those days when i tried too hard to enjoy shopping. i had not been looking for clothes in some time, but i felt compelled to give it a whirl this afternoon. the good news is i had been at the library previously, where i found a joshua ferris short story featuring the characters from 'then we came to the end,' a fact that made me smile a little. since i have a half constructed rock band following me around in my head, it was nice to think of him working on these fictional chicagoans before they were ready to be dumped into a novel. i read a page and a half of another story of his that was wholly different in voice, and decided maybe you can't make a career out of writing that unique 'then we came to the end' style. is it too unique to work consistently? somehow it might be distracting, or suited only for certain passages. i'm curious to see if it comes out in the other story.

hold out your hand

i don't want to smile for the camera or listen to what you have to say. i'm turning my head slowly to stare out the window. the lawn looks different than last year; most of the dirt patches are gone, and the flowers by the door seem to have blown away in one of the rainstorms. you're still talking to me, which is difficult because i'm not here.

park, 2pm

i picked all the leaves off a tree today and crumbled them in my fingers. i took bits of leaves and threw them on the ground. i made sure no one was watching me and jumped on the piles of leaf bits. i removed my shoes and socks and scraped them against the sharp pavement. slowly lowering myself to the ground, i lay down on my stomach and stared into the mashed plant matter before me. my nose prickled with their broken scent. i gathered my strength and blew them, each tiny stack, with breaths that sang softly to the trees.

viva knoxville

i have made little progress on the song 'g was a serial killer' (thank you semi-conscious brain for that one), but that's ok, because i should have plenty of time to work on it in graduate school.

i may have a broken laptop, messy hair, and a phone that looks like it's been chewed on (it hasn't, at least not by me), but i was privileged recently to find my favorite soda beverage, which i have not seen in stores since college. yeah, that's right. unfortunately, my primary source of this carbonated bliss is one hundred ten miles from my apartment.

don't be ashamed

i wore a t-shirt with your face on it today.