I'll be on the water.

It's August now, and the summer has passed like a sunset; beautiful, savory and wholesome yet deceivingly ephemeral. Putting the dog down had me a little out of whack for a while, but eventually things normalized as they usually do.

Since my last update, I moved to a new apartment and received a job at Ritz Camera and Image in Burlington working in sales and in the lab. I am an all-around worker there. It's a good environment, and I'm hoping to keep the job through next summer and get transferred to another store in another state, and then take a train trip across the country to that destination and get a foothold there. I have to get better at saving my pennies, but once this school year starts, it will become manageable.

The thought of moving out to a random city and just getting started is very appealing to me, and has been creeping its way into my subconscious fairly consistently. I'm ready for a change of scenery, but I cannot forget what I have on my plate right now. My summer has been working, playing ultimate, working out, reading if I can, hitting the beach, and going out.

My time will be spent this fall taking 18 credits, playing with Chill, working at Ritz, and doing work-study, most likely with the Registrar's Office at UVM. We'll see how everything goes. I'm not terribly thrilled, but that's okay. It's senior year, and this is it, so I am going to make it work and have a good time doing it.

Alexandre Dumas

I started reading Catch-22 this summer, but I haven't finished it yet. Albeit hilarious, for some reason I haven't been able to devote myself to it. As an alternative, I recently bought the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas at the Borders going out of business sale, and thusly started reading it today on Church Street. Not far enough into it to have an opinion, but I've heard a lot of great things, so I'm  excited for it. And I would like to finish it before school starts. I haven't done nearly as much reading this summer as opposed to last, but it happens.

Anyhow, I should have some photos or a mix to place up here by September in an attempt to make this semi-not-boring. God willing I'll be able to update more often. Gotta get back into my photography, seeing as I work at a camera shop. But until then, ciao baby.

In and Out and Over

I’ve had Hot Water Music on my bookshelves for quite a few years. I decided that this would be the first book I would read over winter break, which is now currently dwindling quite quickly. Not only that, but it took me forever to read it between plans with people, going to Burlington, for New Years, and finally getting a chance to finish it in Maine (which maybe I’ll post photos from). Written by Charles Bukowski, one of my favorite writers, it is a series of short stories that all in all are pretty fucking bleak. Most of them are about various people who get drunk all the time, fuck women, go to the track, get drunk again, write, be assholes, and so on. Many are funny, gruelingly stark illustrations of lowlife has-beens. Not surprisingly, countless seem remind you of the man who wrote the book, maybe a little too much, but that’s what you get from Buk. Regardless, it is a fun read, albeit a little repetitive on occasion. One notable quote, which especially resonated with me, was from the story “In and Out and Over”:

“We drove north up Alvarado. Then to Glendale Boulevard. Everything was good. What I hated was that someday everything would dwindle to zero, the loves, the poems, the gladiolas. Finally we’d be stuffed with dirt like a cheap taco.”

It got me thinking about loneliness, and what we all really look for in our lives. A month or so ago I found a video featuring a poet named Tanya Davis entitled “How To Be Alone." The video had me thinking about being alone, as well as loneliness. Note, there is a monumental difference between the two, being that aloneness is a state of being, whereas loneliness is a state of mind. Loneliness is a one of a kind emptiness, where longing is overwhelming; it’s an insatiable restlessness for contact.

But being alone is something different, though. I often prefer being alone than with company. That isn’t to say that I don’t like to be around my friends, family, and strangers, or that I’m not social. On the contrary, I’m typically social but I am quite fond of my solitude. It allows me to catch my thoughts, think about what I have to get done, write in my moleskin to keep me on track, read, practice ukulele, listen to my favorite records, et cetera. It brings me back to equilibrium. Sometimes I just don't want to talk to people. I'm sure you can relate.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment or something!

And what if I asked to be changed into a frog? What then?

Last night I finished reading The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, written by Jean-Dominique Bauby. The book was originally published in French (unfortunately I'm restricted to German at the moment), and entitled Le Scaphandre et le Papillon. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the beautifully written story of journalist and editor of French Elle magazine (Bauby himself) who suffers a stroke that results in locked-in syndrome; a prisoner in his own body unable to communicate to anyone except through blinking. Bauby wrote the book with help of his aide Claude and the French alphabet in order of most frequently used letters, blinking when reaching the desired letter.

The language of the book is delicate, elegant, witty, charming and fastidious. Each page draws you in for another.

Read this book and you will not regret it. It's short (for those of you who don't like to read), and a very intriguing look into a man's life when he's lost most of it. In 2007 the book was adapted to the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly directed by Julian Schnabel. I originally downloaded the film first, but decided to read the book before watching it. It won awards at the Cannes, Golden Globes among others and was nominated for four Academy Awards, so I look forward to having a screening. Hope you get a chance to, as well.

A thought in the shape of a story.

Sometime last week I finally finished The Nimrod Flip Out by Etgar Keret. Keret also wrote The Girl on the Fridge, which was the book I had found in a puddle this past summer. After having absolutely falling in love with GotF, I had to get this from the UVM Library. I enjoyed it as a read, but I don’t feel as though it quite measured up to The Girl on the Fridge. Like GotF, it is a series of short stories that alone, seem a bit random, but together form a surprisingly cohesive book. Funny, quirky, sweet, absurd, erratic and bizarre are the words I would use to describe it. If any of these adjectives are appealing to you, I suggest you give a shot. Shouldn’t take you too long.

This is World War II and everyone here is thinking of you.

One Wednesday night two weeks ago the sunset was surreal. The whole sky was yellow and there was a rainbow in the eastern sky and it was sprinkling a bit. Surreal evening. Gianna and I decided to walk to the waterfront and watch the rest of the sunset. It was quite stunning. We stood around and watched for about 10 minutes or so and then decided to change vantage points. We walked towards the fountain by the waterfront and on the ground I happened to find a soaking wet book face bown on the ground. I was super excited, so I picked it up and gave it a stare down. It was called The Girl on the Fridge written by Etgar Keret, who is an Israeli author. After scanning the covers and reading the reviews, it sounded like a really weird book, but I was intrigued. I took it home excited. It's a book filled with 46 different short stories none more than 5 pages long. Some are funny, others are sad, some hit you right in the gut, while others are just stupid little stories that make you laugh out loud. Separately they may not add up to much, but together they make a great collection, which is strangely cohesive and makes you want to keep reading. When I got home, I read the first story in it, called Asthma Attack.

"When you have an asthma attack, you can't breathe. When you can't breathe, you can hardly talk. To make a sentence all you get is the air in your lungs. Which isn't much. Three to six words, if that. You learn the value of words. You rummage through the jumble in your head. Choose the crucial ones--those cost you too. Let healthy people toss out whatever comes to mind, the way you throw out the garbage. When an asthmatic says "I love you," and when an asthmatic says "I love you madly," there's a difference. The difference of a word. A word's a lot. It could be stop, or inhaler. It could even be ambulance."

After that I was sold. Ended up blowing through the book and loving it. I'm going to be looking into his other book The Nimrod Flipout, and I see it's at the UVM library, so I'll have to check it out.

The book I was reading prior to that one was the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser. Millhauser is actually a family friend, and I have been meaning to read that book for years, but I never got around to it until this summer.

I started it two Sundays ago and read a little bit of it, but once Monday came, that was a whole different story. I read on my way to work, on my lunch break, on the walk home and then for three hours on my porch and couch. I finished it in Bliss Park leaning up against a tree when I went home for my uncle’s funeral.

Whilst reading, I kept imaging nineteenth-century New York City, it's boom and it's splendor, the entrepreneurial spirit in the air, the old pushing out the new. Some scenes depicted in the book at points are so grandiose and flamboyant that you don’t know what could top such things, but he manages to do it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Martin Dressler and I need to delve into more Millhauser. I should shoot him an email.

What I’m reading next is The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I’ll update when I finish that.

Also, went to a show at Metronome last night. Maps & Atlases, Laura Stevenson & The Cans, and Cults played. Great show, even though Cults had a horrible sound check/set-up. I didn't bring my camera to the show, but I'm sure you guys can google like champs. If I put up another mix I'll throw them on there!

God I hope I'm keeping this blog interesting enough.

What's coming is a million new reasons to go ahead.

At work today I finished Chuck Palahniuk's Stranger Than Fiction. Pretty good time, considering I work full-time and keep busy a lot. In all it was a fast read particularly because it was just a series of articles and essays he had written between novels, none more than 30 pages long, so you had variety and you could bang 'em out really quickly and enjoyably. It was separated into three sections, People Together, Portraits, and Personal. I definitely think that the personal section of essays were the most interesting, funny, and pleasurable to read. It's also the shortest section, but the stories were quality.

I had actually read the short story Almost California for my Written Expressions class my first year at UVM. I think that may have been the reason why I bought the book in the first place. For being a required course, I used to be a Computer Science Information Systems major, I really enjoyed it. It was basic, we read essays, then wrote our own self-reflection pieces. I liked it because it was an English course anyways. I'm not longer CSIS. I've secretly been a humanities guy anyways. Went from that to Philosophy with a minor in Pure Mathematics and Sociology to a Sociology major with a minor in German. I wrote one of my favourite essays in that course, too. It was about faith, my introduction to it, and fall from it. I've been thinking about going back to it, editing it, and expanding it, since there were originally constraints on it. I think it'd be fun to get back into that.

But I digress. I believe I'll read Catch 22 next. That or The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Tough decisions to make here. I'm writing this whilst at work, so once I'm home I'll make the executive decision. The latter is an investment, the former I had read a VERY long time ago for school, but I didn't get much out of itat the time. Perhaps a rehash is needed. It's also my friend Matt's favourite book. Harumph. At the SAME time, I should read Millhauser. I'm way overdue for that. And also The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I got that as a gift, so I should get to that, too. God. This is tough. Deep breath. Pace. I'll figure out out one way or another.

Wednesday evening around here it rained. It rained hard, too. I was invited to go see Inception at the Roxy with some friends for 6:30. I opened my front door and saw the rain go from moderate to downpour. There was no way I could pass that up. I sent two text messages to my friend about 1 minute apart:

"Hey so like, it's pouring right now."
Followed by:
"I REALLY WANT TO RUN IN THIS SORRY MAYBE I'LL SEE YOU LATER ON!"

So I ended up running. It was so refreshing, totally worth it. I may have missed a great movie, but hell, it's not everyday you get to run in a complete downpour.

That evening to celebrate I went to City Market and bought 15 jalapenos and some other materials and made jalapeno poppers from scratch. There came out SO well. Rants and raves all over the place. Here's the recipe. Pictures for you!

15 of these bad boys halved and seeded

Stuff 'em, bread 'em, bake 'em

Holy final product.

Tonight I may go to a show at the Monkey House in Winooski, maybe get together with some friends, enjoy the start of the weekend. Who knows? The weekend is life's variable these days. 'Til whenever. Cheers.

Emigrate or degenerate!

Ever since we got our cable and internet installed, the internet was always on the fritz. Originally the internet didn't work for either myself or my roommate Gianna, and while the installation guy was there, I ended up fixing it myself for my computer.

(In our living room watching him trying and failing at setting up my internet)

Me: "Here, lemme take a whack at it."

Comcast Goon: "Go ahead, I think it's your settings."

Me: "Probably." (Insert network fiddling and setup)

(I received a message that said something along the lines of: Your internet isn't working, contact your Internet service provider. THANKS.)

Me: "Um...Well, I guess that's you, wouldn't you say?"

He ended up not being able to fix it, and I did it myself. He was unable to do anything for my roommate's computer. After a while it stopped working on mine, as well, so we were getting billed for a service we weren't receiving. My roommate called a bunch of times, getting people to come and attempt to troubleshoot, not being able to get it working, talking on the phone, not being able to get it. In the end, we decided that, hell, we don't really need television or internet. It's the summer, we both work, we're both active, we can live without it. So we called Comcast and told them that we refuse to pay the bill and working with them was the biggest hassle. They removed our bill and came on Friday to uninstall everything. That means we got a free month of TV! World Cup and NBA Finals is all we really wanted to watch anyways. That also means I have much less time to dick around on tv and the internet and more time to focus on reading and playing my ukulele!

And how's that going? Well, I finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick this past Friday afternoon following work. I must say I liked it a lot. In the beginning it started out fairly slow, but as soon as it picked up I'm couldn't put it down. I found it quite the suitable follow-up to the Pale Blue Dot. The story takes place in the year 2021, where humans have colonized Mars and a few other worlds after World War Terminus has rendered the Earth uninhabitable to most, and humanoid androids are produced for use on Mars as slaves of sorts. But some androids, looking to escape psychological isolation and said slavery, band together and manage to escape to Earth, where it's forbidden for them to settle. Bounty hunters then hunt down the androids; the trouble though is determining whether or not the person you're speaking with is an android or not. The book delves into this process, and takes you through the confusion, moral quandaries, reexamination of life's necessities, and wacky commotion involved in "retiring" androids. Great book, totally worth a read, especially if you're just looking something quick, and stimulating. For being a book I picked up for $5 at the used bookstore Gabriel Books in Northampton, MA, I'd say completely worth it.

Now, last night I started reading Chuck Palahniuk's Stranger Than Fiction, which is a collection of essays that he had published in various magazines inbetween writing his various novels. I ended up getting about 60 pages into it; I couldn't really put it down. It's a nice little collection, much of it funny, quaint observations, vivid imagery. Very Palahniuk (go figure). Some read like articles with interviews, others are short stories. In the introduction, he describes his cycle of writing essays/stories and novels:

"And so it goes. Alone. Together. Alone. Together. Chances are, if you're reading this, you know this cycle. Reading a book is not a group activity. Not like going to a movie or a concert. This is the lonely end of the spectrum. Every story in this book is about people being with other people. Me being with people. Or people being together."

He later describes this cycle as "Fact. Fiction. Fact. Fiction." I dig that! The fact that they're true makes them that much more enjoyable to me. Sometimes it's just STRANGER THAN FICTION.

...Sorry...Once I get around to finishing it I'll let you know what I think.

Other than books, my friend Marissa from home visited me this past weekend. We had a great time! Good food at my favorite Thai restaurant, Pacific Rim, and on Sunday evening at Sweetwaters. Also went to the Ben & Jerry's factory, since well, my friend loves ice cream, and hell, why not?

On top of that, on Saturday evening I ended up inventing a drinking game with my friends Matt and Taylor. It's called Boundaries. It's a mix between Beirut, civil war, and foursquare, and can be played with 2-4 people. The game came about whilst we were waiting to go out drinking around my kitchen table. We didn't want to play any card games, or any more Beirut, so I suggested we make a game. We threw some cups with water on the table, dividing it into halves/thirds/fourths. Then in each zone, you have three cups (one in front, two in back); this is your base. Ping-pong balls are obligatory. Only one is necessary, though. A ro-sham determines the starting person. One must bounce the ping-pong ball within their boundary (hence the name), and into an opponent's cup. It can be any of the opponents. If you get it in their cup, they drink, you get the cup, and get to add it to your base, they must be touching, but can be anywhere, as long as it's within your boundaries. Once you make the cup you also get the ball back and get to shoot again. If you miss the cup, the person whom you attacked gets the ball as long as it's on the table in their boundary. Once it goes off the table it's a free for all, anyone can get the ball. If you hit the boundary, you lose your turn. This is known as Jake's Rule. If you don’t hit anything on the table on the attack, you drink. If you sink it in your own cup, drink a lot, you're an idiot. Once you're out, you're out. After an hour, if the game is still going on, every cup sunk equals two cups. Any debates on calls goes to Congress, being the players themselves. A simple vote solves all issues. Any ties goes to ro-sham. Last man standing wins.

I’m getting back to this book though. Had to stop mid-essay beforehand, and that just won’t stand.

That's here, that's home, that's us.

So I've been in Burlington for a month now. I've put off writing this because I wanted to finish my book before I ended up saying anything here. Burlington is absolutely great. I'm having a really nice time here, and the acclimation wasn't hard at all. Neighbors are good, friends are plentiful, weather is on and off. Our house is pretty nice considering the street we're on, and we've definitely turned it into a home. I can send a link to pictures in a later post.

Before I moved up here, I had said that I was working for a few weeks at UVM. Turns out that they really liked the quality of my work and decided to hire me full time for the summer! Needless to say I was stoked for that. I was in the midst of job searching and it wasn't looking too hot, so that really gave me a boost, not only financially, but emotionally. It definitely set the positive pace for the summer. Unfortunately I didn't receive a work-study from financial aid for the fall so I'll have to get a job downtown. Not the worst thing, just a minor setback.

Summer league is going great, we're 2-0 at the moment, and I've been playing some of the best ultimate of my life. There's also pickup in Burlington that is every Sunday and Thursday (they also have it on random other days, too). I haven't really gone to Double Dragon/Chuck Wagon, though. I've been pretty busy and there's been a minor lack in motivation in that department. It's okay, though, I have been plenty active, what with working full-time, other ultimate, the World Cup, et cetera. Know what I mean?

Speaking of World Cup, let's go Deutschland! I've been rooting for them since the beginning, so you can count on me to be rooting for them, screaming in German, and just screaming in general. They're a powerhouse this year, but they've got a tough game on Saturday against Argentina. Fingers are crossed.

OH! About two weeks ago I was sitting at the Fletcher Free Library before we got internet at our house (still really doesn't work), and I was just browsing the internet and I was thinking about how my brother had his ukulele at home while he was still there. I would play around with that thing, but I was limited, because I play lefty, and his was stringed righty, as most are. So I was sitting there, looking up ukulele's on amazon, whom was having a sale. And then I decided right then and there "I want one now." So I pulled the trigger, and got it in the mail 4 days later, and I haven't really stopped playing. I'm getting decent too, so soon you'll see me recording tunes...right. Well if I can learn to sing and play, maybe. Otherwise, I need some vocalists!

Getting back to my book though, I just finished Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan this evening. It was such a spectacular book and I loved every second of reading it. It may have taken me forever to get around to finishing, but it was truly inspiring.

If you have never heard of Carl Sagan or the book before, I really recommend it. It combines science, history and philosophy in eloquent language, and at times humorous prose. A fine example of a man with passion for his field. If this doesn't move you at least a little bit, then I'm sorry: You Are Here. Text can be found here.

I think my next book will be Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. It should go fairly quick. It'll add to the science type reads I've been doing. I get to read a fair bit at work, because I mostly work at a front desk and it's summer, so not many people come over. Though they like to keep me busy.

The fourth of July is this weekend, and I think a bunch of Frisbee folk are having a potluck sort of thing on the 3rd. Food, beer, and then we'll go to the fireworks in the evening. Tres excited.

Speaking of exciting things, my older brother Jake, whom helped me move into my apartment, recently joined the Peace Corps. and 2 days after he helped me move in, he went to Washington, DC for a week and then promptly was shipped off to Lome, Togo. He's having a good time so far, which is good. He better, he'll be there for 27 months! You can follow him at his blog From 'Toga to Togo.

In any event, now that I'm in Burlington, and I've actually finished a book so as not to be embarrassed or anything. That being said, I'll post more often, talk about my ventures, and all those great things!

Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze.

Well...

I figured at some point I would attempt a blog again. That moment is here. I'm not quite sure what format I'll do for this, but I think it should be fun. Or interesting? I want it to be interesting, at least. I guess we'll see!

So it's spring break, and I have been relaxing. I started reading Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins today whilst waiting for my tires to get changed. I'm only about a quarter-way in, but I love it so far. I should finish it tomorrow.

Also, my birthday is on Friday. I'm not really planning on doing much. I think my family is throwing a tiny party for me. Anyways, the other day I was talking with my mother about getting a typewriter, as I've been looking to purchase one for about a year. So I drove to Good Will, found one within 5 minutes, tested it out with one of the women that worked there, noted it was functional and bought it (only $15). When I got back to the house there was a typewriter case on the floor in the kitchen. Turns out it belonged to my mother, and she's giving it to me. So now I have two used typewriters. I just need to buy some new ink ribbons.

This summer I plan on three things happening.

1. Living in Burlington

2. Working in Burlington

3. Producing a zine using said typewriters.

I'm hoping at least for the first two to come to fruition. Oh, and I want to work on my stenciling too. In the meantime, it's time to get back to this book. Tschüss!