Tuesday, February 28, 2006
It Works!
I wouldn't have believed it myself, but I've just successfully relieved gas-related stomach pain by rotating myself like a rottisserie chicken! That's right, for those of you out there who are subject to the occasional, uncomfortable gas-related stomach cramp, I've got the cure for you. Simply rotate from your back to your right side to your stomach to your left side repeatedly, allowing for a few minutes between each position, and you will find the cramps dispersing, relaxing, vaporizing before you know it. The reason this works is because gas bubbles get caught in our intestines, which are a series of back-and-forth bends and turns, and rotating allows for the bubbles to travel more quickly through this windy passage. And after travelling through this windy passage, you'll find yourself feeling relieved and releasing windy messages from both your ports.
Cheers!
Doctor John
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Cheers!
Doctor John
Friday, February 17, 2006
February
These are moments rare, though increasingly frequent. I've had some wine, hanging out with friends, or find myself in a large lecture class, hundreds of smithies captivated by the same pedagogue, hundreds more mere months away from graduation, escaping the bubble. Anyway, these rare moments (and I should be writing my english essay) catch me, surprise me, and they are this: that we are all connected, so fragile the boundaries that separate us, enclose us. How easy, how effortless to reach out my hand and find a common thread, the same pains and joys. What is it that holds us apart? That causes us to avert our eyes on subway platforms, street corners, groccery stores......what are we afraid of? I remember last year in London (having never regularly taken public transit before) challenging myself to making eye contact with people on the tube, in the stations--and holding their gaze. Forcing some sort of connection, affirmation of awareness, presence. It was hard. Rarely successful. So many hangups to get in the way: what if you're a serial killer? what if you smile? what if you ignore me? what if you approach me? what if I don't have the time? what if we feel some unexpected connection, and simply walk away? How can we feel so distinct, so disparate? There is nothing physical, nothing tangible holding us back from that single, simple point of contact.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Callouses
My hands are hurting today. They have grown soft from a year of not plumbing. The abrasive cloth used to clean copper water supplies, the brick and mortar I wiped away with my hand, and the hot soldered pipe I grabbed through the thin barrier of a rag have combined forces to leave my fingertips sore, crying underneath each fingernail, to raise infant blisters on my palm and to stain, crack and dry out my skin.
Today my hands will hurt more as I return to the labor. Tomorrow they will hurt less. Once upon a time they were immune to this pain. They had acclimated to the environment, calling brick, mortar, solder, heat, aridity into their very organ, unifying with these elements to form a symbiotic relationship. Yet only a year has passed and that hardened skin is already gone, a bonnet lost to the gusty rain of time passed.
It is like this with everything we do in life. At first we are vulnerable, soft, wounded. With exposure we become strong, hard and invulnerable. However, never so calloused that time cannot shed away our armor and reveal pink tissue again. With love, with art, with spirituality...we acquire molds that we wear around. In time the mold erodes and we emerge naked, ready to hurt and learn again.
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Today my hands will hurt more as I return to the labor. Tomorrow they will hurt less. Once upon a time they were immune to this pain. They had acclimated to the environment, calling brick, mortar, solder, heat, aridity into their very organ, unifying with these elements to form a symbiotic relationship. Yet only a year has passed and that hardened skin is already gone, a bonnet lost to the gusty rain of time passed.
It is like this with everything we do in life. At first we are vulnerable, soft, wounded. With exposure we become strong, hard and invulnerable. However, never so calloused that time cannot shed away our armor and reveal pink tissue again. With love, with art, with spirituality...we acquire molds that we wear around. In time the mold erodes and we emerge naked, ready to hurt and learn again.
Hi-Tech Johnny
Well, this is my first post on my new laptop...first computer I've owned in 11 years! First-off, I'd like to thank all the people, without whom I wouldn't have graduated college or written on this site previously, who let me sit at their machines all those years. Jesse, Steve/Margaret Woodford, Heather Lovrich (who lent me her laptop for a year and had it returned missing keys due to a run-in with my cat's claws!), Syd Glasser, Jackie and Fred, Drew-Dog Whittet, Kate/Beth, Brooklyn Public Library, Northvale Public Library, Tappan Public Library, the SUNY Binghamton computer center, Sigrun Taliaferro...thanks for everything, it meant so much, but I'm glad to say that my butt will never have to sit in your desk chairs anymore!!!
All I've had time for so far is downloads and more downloads but I am looking forward to buying a digital camera (soon as I get paid for this washer/dryer installation) and to one day maybe building a website so I can join my friends Fred and Syd in high-tech self-promotion. It's amazing what a powerful tool this thing is for education, entertainment and communication. I hope everybody out there reading this on their own computer takes a moment to be grateful for this tool. There are many many peeps out there for whom this reality is an unaffordable dream. We are lucky.
Peace, Y'all!
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All I've had time for so far is downloads and more downloads but I am looking forward to buying a digital camera (soon as I get paid for this washer/dryer installation) and to one day maybe building a website so I can join my friends Fred and Syd in high-tech self-promotion. It's amazing what a powerful tool this thing is for education, entertainment and communication. I hope everybody out there reading this on their own computer takes a moment to be grateful for this tool. There are many many peeps out there for whom this reality is an unaffordable dream. We are lucky.
Peace, Y'all!
Monday, February 13, 2006
Thanks for the Party
Thanks to all you who contributed to the awesome night we had Friday with all the singing and dancing. Would not have been the party is was without any of you. Lauren, it was great having you around with your crew and having you on stage singing. (Why didn't Brian ever get up there?)
Cait, thank your girls again for making the trip down and having so much fun with all of us. They definitely rocked the house all night.
Not sure when the next party will be, or what the theme will be, but we'll make sure that everyone is invited again. And we'll try to time the beer brewing process to perfection so that there'll be another, different brew for the next one.
Peace y'all!
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Cait, thank your girls again for making the trip down and having so much fun with all of us. They definitely rocked the house all night.
Not sure when the next party will be, or what the theme will be, but we'll make sure that everyone is invited again. And we'll try to time the beer brewing process to perfection so that there'll be another, different brew for the next one.
Peace y'all!
Friday, February 10, 2006
Snacks and stuff
We've got a decent amount of food for substance: Pasta salad, potato salad (which needs to be put together, John - we've not enough mayo), meat and cheese platters. But we've no light stuff for snacks and starters - anyone interested in helping out with chips and dip and salsa and the like?
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Thursday, February 09, 2006
Party Time!!!
We've got a party going on tomorrow baby! Bring your friends, your energy, and your singing voices, cause once you enter the Parkside Ct. Lounge, you are required to get up on stage and serenade the company.
Anytime after 7pm will do, but the party will really get going around 9ish. I'm looking forward to seeing you all there and expect a full Jesse breakfast Saturday morning (probably closer to noonish).
Love y'all!
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Anytime after 7pm will do, but the party will really get going around 9ish. I'm looking forward to seeing you all there and expect a full Jesse breakfast Saturday morning (probably closer to noonish).
Love y'all!
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Bonnaroo June 16-18
Radiohead will be the headliner at this awesome looking festival. I've never been to it before, but I've heard they're amazing. Lauren, have you been to one before?
I've never seen Radiohead, but Johnny, I'd assume the show'd kick serious ass.
Beck, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Souline, Mike Doughty, Blues Traveler, Gomez, Nickel Creek, Martin Medeski and Wood, moe., Elvis Costello, Rusted Root, Ben Folds and something like 70 other bands are playing. That's serious music going on.
The tickets begin selling this coming Saturday, Feb 11, for $169.60 and there'll be other charges too, bringing each ticket up close to 190. And there's the other costs of driving down there, bringing food, packing and buying additional gear. So for each person, the costs would go even higher. But, this sounds like a kick-ass weekend, starting Friday and running through Sunday night.
Going along with the spirit I've been feeling of celebration, I'm absolutely in with anyone else around here who's interested. We're young, healthy, and in the prime of life. Let's do this.
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I've never seen Radiohead, but Johnny, I'd assume the show'd kick serious ass.
Beck, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Souline, Mike Doughty, Blues Traveler, Gomez, Nickel Creek, Martin Medeski and Wood, moe., Elvis Costello, Rusted Root, Ben Folds and something like 70 other bands are playing. That's serious music going on.
The tickets begin selling this coming Saturday, Feb 11, for $169.60 and there'll be other charges too, bringing each ticket up close to 190. And there's the other costs of driving down there, bringing food, packing and buying additional gear. So for each person, the costs would go even higher. But, this sounds like a kick-ass weekend, starting Friday and running through Sunday night.
Going along with the spirit I've been feeling of celebration, I'm absolutely in with anyone else around here who's interested. We're young, healthy, and in the prime of life. Let's do this.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Black history
I'm teaching about the kids about the underground railroad right, being black history month. But since they have absolutely no sense of time, I've dedicated a bulletin board in the back of the room to a timeline starting around 1850, the first entry on it being the underground railroad. My thinking has been to go in depth with a few aspects of blacks in American history, specifically music and the civil rights movement, but there's been so much more. any suggestions?
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Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Home Brewery
Last night John and I finished off our first batch of home brewed beer! About 50 bottles will be ready for the party next week, assuming the yeast was well enough to consume the priming sugar at bottling time. A creamy scotch ale, an amber color, and a rich aroma...cannot wait to taste it...
