4*18*07

hot water, wool, velcro, visual evidence of breathing in my white exhale.
cap under my helmet, mb-3, asphalt to start.

out loud proclamation from the morning commute: "If I could have my ass re-covered with Brooks leather, I'd do it."
not me, brother. I do prefer to sit on it during the dry days, though.
make my escape via dirt, blackberry thorns, tall, wet, grass. surfing banked corners, animal footprints, log ride.

coffee, blueberry pancakes, dark eyeliner, blonde hair, dark tips, tattoo peaking out over the hem of the front of her jeans. see you tommorrow, scott? yes, you will.

kids wanting to talk about guns, shooting, text messages found online. occupy the minds with the arc welder and steel lugs. teach one the radial lacing of his new track wheel. kept the kids on the path one more day.

I have never seen a generation go from smiling to angry as quickly as this group. they have grown up so quickly. hypodeveloped into young adults in such a short time. is the internet a gift, or is it a curse?

sound of cleats clipping in, the buzz of a king's angry bees, big cheese grips, eagles hunting by the river, geese on the bike path, children on a swingset, doggy pit stop stations, kitty in my window. smile.

raceface

so it goes...

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before... He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way." --Kurt Vonnegut from Cat's Cradle

Always loved that quote. Read lots of Vonnegut when I was young. Most of it I did not "hear". When I was finding myself on the beaches of Hawaii and living and working in the Immortal Class, I read him again. His complete works at that time, all on paperback over a 7 month period purchased a used book store for 50 cents a copy. I still have them. I read him again. I gave his words as gifts for birthdays and christmas. A large part of his works reside in the Crowsylvanian National Library. He was a writer who left an impression. Whether you liked his work or not, you certainly remembered his work.

So, My last year of college around mid term, I was trying to decide whether I wanted to stretch unemployment out another year or go ahead and graduate. I found out from a smaht chick that they were bringing in "some writer" to be the commencement speaker. "Really, who?" I don't know. He wrote some book about a slaughterhouse that everyone made a huge fuss over.

Holy Shit!

I have never been more focused on school than I was that last semester. I did not want to chance getting some ex-nfl football player, political leader, ex president or forgotten tv personality by putting off graduation another year. I was careful not to build it up too much. Situations of extreme anticipation, kinda like that first fuck, have a way of letting you down. I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say. Turns out, the night before graduation, he just happens to come into the restaurant where I tended bar at, sat down, lit a cigarette and ordered a white wine. Nobody recognized him that I could tell. He watched the Red Sox-Reds game on espn and ranted a bit about inter league play. (It was the first year of it) and kept checking out the ass of Cheryl, the lady sharing the bar with me. I asked him if he wanted to switch over to her as his bar tender, and with a twinkle in his eye, he told me that he would rather if I took less patrons so he could watch her move around in front of him alot more. Let out a great laugh, drank two more drinks and left me two twenty dollar bills on a 16 dollar tab.

The next day, the speech was scripted and kinda dull. But I realized that his gift to me was in what i read, and in the motivation his pending presence provided me in diving headlong into graduation and unemployment.

so it goes...

Kurt Vonnegut
1922-2007
RIP

Hammer

It was great to see that Josh went yardman in his first start of the year for his first official major league hit. He finished 1 for 3 with walks a homer and 2 runs batted in. I quit watching the bigs a few years ago, but when an old friend goes through what he has put himself through and been able to get his act back together...well, its hard not too root for him. It just shows that anyone can change.

funkeh

Man. Had to get a jedi master of drains out here with the quickness. Woke up quick, rinsed my french press out in the sink. put the kettle on. walked into the bathroom to do numero uno when I smelt rot. looked in the shower and the contents of the kitchen sink were sitting in the bottom of the shower. threw up a little in my mouf while tagging the inside of the porcelain with the waste byproduct of last nights stout. what to do. Hit the drain with draino max first. nothing. off to lowes for the industrial product. that did nothing except eat the finish off my drain cover. nice. Cussed a bit. ran a bath in the separate bathtub to clean the mind and the body. Coffee, (finally, at noon) from the aforementioned press. now we can think. Yellow pages. Drainmaster Myron and his blue tooth earpiece. Pipe snake through the roof. all 65 feet of it. done. 10 minutes of hot water rinsing and we are back in business and draining clean.

I guess as long as my nugget is going to have this longer hair. I should probably get a hair trap to keep me from having to spend another 70 bucks on this again.

did i mention the smell? funkeh.

Morning Yearning

a finger's touch upon my lips
it's a morning yearning
pull the curtains shut, try to keep it dark
but the sun is burning

the world awakens on the run
and will soon be earning
with hopes of better days to come
it's a morning yearning

another day, another chance to get it right
must i still be learning
baby crying kept us up all night
with her morning yearning

like a summer rose, i'm a victim of the fall
but am soon returning
your love's the warmest place the sun ever shines
my morning yearning

Words of Ben Harper

reunion

Ran into the Cannon for the first time in 7 years.

Him: Yo

Me: Hey, bro.

Him: been runnin?

Me: yep

Him: you trainin?

Me: yep

Him: what you got coming up?

Me: (blank stare)

Him: well....good seein ya.

Me: yep

Too many things to even get into with this. I thought with all the time spent, seeing that dude again would of gone a different path. shows the depth of the water under the bridge. i ain't mad anymore, bro. i wish i could of gotten a do over this morning. I guess "where to start" was not what i was prepared for. fuck it. life is too short to lose friends over stupid shit. i would be a hypocrite to hold a grudge with the actions of my past.

donkey

easy now

From the dark hollows we rise...