Mead Releases New Grad-School-Ruled Notebook

Naked Man Goes on Rampage

Best story, ever.

The South Hill Monkey Strikes Again

The South Hill monkey strikes again, this time caught on video

To quote Aaliyah...

Age ain't nothin' but a number....
Is this true?
When I had that surgery in my teens, the doctor must have dropped in an instrument made of a special magnet metal that attracts me to oldies....
Honest - Is this a problem?
Not only oldies - but oldies, divorcees, with issuees
And I'm not talking René....
I left that country, crossed an equator, and happened to come across the same man!
This one is slightly crazier though: insomniac, narcoleptic, depressed, psychiatrist seeing, pill taker
But I feel strangely attracted to him!
What is this? Out of all of the good looking young Brasileiros - why him?
He is sweet - and I love how he looks at me -
He is not what most people might call good looking - but I love his style
He wears tighter fitting pants that exentuate (sp?) his skinny legs like a 1960s British rocker while worn low enough so his 38 year old belly can sit on top.
His name is Sandro and I like him.
He told me he likes my nose...I have a nose like a princess and pretty white hands
A big reason I like him is because his face tells such a story.
He has lived quite a life, and had especially bad luck.
Did you see Sweeney Todd?? The one with Johnny Depp?
Well, I feel similar feelings for Sandro that I did for him, the barber...
Like an extreme sadness - so extreme that it is oddly pleasurable??
Like Fado music (Portuguese blues?) Take a listen to that - maybe you will understand
There is something so great about being so sad....(I'm NOT Emo!)
Not great necessarily, but greatly human, and greatly dramatic!
Extreme sadness, extreme emotion of any sort is the spur to so many amazing creations.
I feel my most powerful when I am in an extremely emotional state - does everybody?
He is divorced, has a daughter, his sister died in his arms last year, and his girlfriend left him
Talk about downhill...
When he told me he suffered from insomnia, I thought, finally! Somebody I can connect with!
Anyways - he makes me really look at life - really think about it
He has worked a lot, traveled a lot, lived a lot - A good friend to have
I ate dinner with him last night at an old patriarch and his wife's home.
Afterwards we walked around, drank water, and talked.
Tomorrow we are going to see <>>
The movie that won Oscar
I am excited
Anybody seen it?
Anything I should close my eyes at??

Wild Monkey Bites Three on the South Hill

Okay...Okay...Okay...I've been extremely pleased my graduate writing program; EWU is great, the professors are great, and the students have been great......

But Spokane...? After almost six months of living here, I just wasn't convinced. I mean, as all of you obviously know Ruth and I have two kids and we can appreciate the slow life I mean we're Mormon for Pete's sake but life on the South Hill?...Come on...I still can't find a decent slice of pizza.

And then something magical happened: Apparently the South Hill is home to wild monkeys that bite people. Now I couldn't be prouder to claim Spokane as my home; home of the wild monkeys. Read for yourself:

Wild Monkey Bites Three

i'll see your flock of seagulls and raise you a ny attitude shot

at times she hams and at others her eyes bark like an ins/censed cab driver *(&(*@!@!) that #$@(*&! out of the #(*)&$()@ way! the harlem paparazzi have slowed down.

Sunday Afternoon

We spent the afternoon playing the guitar (Pete) and learning to play a three chord song on the guitar (Carrie). Since we miss having Christina in our home on Sunday afternoons we resorted to bribing Joey with dinner in order to get some extra family love. He ended up cancelling (I guess he likes his girlfriend a little more than us) so we invited our neighbors over instead. We'll feast on homemade pizza, garlic twists, and salad. In the meantime, feast on Pete's model shot.

Serge's Dogs

I'm going to try to turn my hotdog eating experience here into a poem to make it blog-worthy. I don't have much time though, so please don't judge me, eventhough you all probably will anyways.

Serge's Dogs

I say, "tudo"
He goes:

Fresh hot
big bun
out of the metal steam box
open
prime sides with
spatuala of mayonnaise
both sides-
sprinkle on
tiny cabbage snow
sticks to sides
quick mustard squeeze
open new door
hot sausages wrestling
in juices
of tomato and onion
two dogs chosen
stuffed intertwining
into big bun, now full
spoon on
onions and tomatoes
from dogs
So full this bun!!
Spoon on
peas (savory can kind)
corn
tota florea
bun almost at
180 degree angle
Shoestring fried potato sticks
Fasten in all -
Spatula mayonnaise
like mortar in mosaic
quick squeeze cetchup
quick squeeze mustard
Throw on
huge pile, thick blanket
of mini angel wings
fresh white
curdy
cheeze
Keeps it all together
Made in 30 seconds
Costs 3 reais
Gone in 3 minutes
Refresh with coca
Wash hands
Wash face
Equally stained
white
with mayonnaise
Rub greasy belly

--Christina

I had more before - but better short like this -

Brotherly love

However brief they were, I just had a very enjoyable pair of hours spent catching up with my brother. Though we live only blocks away, we have been reduced to only hours of shared time a week. It is a sign among many of misplaced priorities.

But that's not the point of this entry, which can be phrased as a question? Is there a term for friendship between siblings and if so, what is it?

I'll see your baby horsey ride, and raise you a Flock of Seagulls bedhead.

Some weather

it's snowing in NYC!!!!! and I'm going to walk in it~~~16 blocks. don't forget your coat, ma?

http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/10027?from=36hr_topnav_undeclared

Samaritan Heart (in progress)

Church cancelled b/c of weather. 2 degrees with 30 mph wind. Looking for ways to keep the Sabbath (comments welcome, encouraged):

Samaritan Heart (see Luke 10:25-37)

Beside the road
Lying,
Bruised,
Beaten,
Bleeding,
Left for Dead,
A traveler
Helpless,
Delirious,
With visions of loved ones,
Out of reach,
Unaware,
Life, death, and everything between.
Unhelped by a priest,
Unhelped by a Levite,
Then,
Unexpectedly,
Unsought--
How many times
Before this calamity
Would the victim have avoided him?--
But now,
An arm reaches out
And under
To raise up.
Oil to cleanse
Wine to revive.
A stranger,
Familiar enough to be despised,
Yet a neighbor.
"Which now of these three was a neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?"
"He that showed mercy on him," replied the lawyer,
No longer testing
But in his heart tried
And convicted.
"Go, and do thou likewise."

Is this what this is about?

I think I believe this:

In a sense, the internet is the most public place in the world, because anyone can access it, and if they know they are looking for you, they can find you. That said, people publish things on it it all the time--private things--that they may or may not say directly to their intimates.

Part of this is because the written word is more controlled, less gestural. It is no surprise to me that folks who don't say much but have rich internal discourses would, for example, keep diaries. Or at the very least take a particular pleasure in reading. But that said, it wouldn't explain why someone would want to publish their diary on the internet. Yet people do precisely that.

The answer, or at least what I believe is in "large part" the answer, is that when you express something to no one in particular, it feels like expressing something to no one at all. Hence, publishing something on the internet is like writing in a journal, in the sense that it is not directly intended for any audience in particular.

So that's the internet.

But what happens when you know everyone on the blog? Does the family blog harness the quasi-anonymity of the internet? Does it branch off in an entirely different direction?

the busy am of sljs

isn't life unfair?

so my days are choppy.

carved into 2 hour bits.

the amount of time my daughter's able to stay awake without getting cranky.

and then she sleeps.

and i try to do something for me.

but it always ends up being surf the web or clean something. never do the pilates on the dvd that will make your core-trunk stronger.

we were visited by a physical therapist this week and the files of paper on her body got fatter.

she had diarrhea after eating tofu this week and the garbage cans filled with her diapers got fuller.

she had diarrhea this week and the laundry baskets filled with my jeans that were inadvertently crapped on through a seemingly absorbent pamper got taller.

i didn't want to go to bed before midnight until thursday and my eyes got droopier.

and so my wits end got closer.

and my patience grew thinner.

but i started doing skype b/c xina warrior princessed me into it and buying a camera and i am excited for what my future of free video calling will hold.

i feel like i am a bladerunner.

mom?

rudy?

pp?

xo

l

At The Movies

New Topic - Film unfair?

I see film and netflix as a little unfair for those who don't get to do a lot of either - at least for the next year. I say hodge podge poutpourri OR food OR anything that is a little more universal - you know??

Fotos coming soon....

Can I do video too? How? I was thinking Youtube - is blog better?

Also - is this writing too informal? Is a blog supposed to be more polished than this email style??

Bedtime

It's time for bed,

son.

But I wanna stay up  

watch TV

drink Sprite

and eat candy.

Me

too,

son.

someone's gotta roll the ball

we need a topic for this blog other than whatever, i think, so people will check in and add shtuff. i'm thinking it should be film oriented, perhaps? since it's what we all do best.

if that is the topic, i'll start with a favorable review for my new favorite show "The Wire" I'm working through seasons 2 and 4 simultaneously. 2 comes through netflix and 4 is on sunday or monday nights on HbO.

http://www.hbo.com/thewire/

i'll post more on it later, but only if this is the topic of choice. other ideas?

lizzz

Into the Great, Wide Family Blogosphere

With family members scattering--the nations/johnson diaspora is only one of many--and emails increasing, with headers filled with multiple family addressees, it seemed like a good idea to see if there might be some use for a family blog. Any takers? "Been there, done that, came back to group emails?" Whatever your thoughts, please share. You can even post them, if you prefer.

Frankly, I'm greedy, greedy for more stories and pictures about the people I care most about. (I get plenty from others.) In the wisdom of TV commercials: "Life comes at you fast." Whenever I get around to talking on the phone with you, I'm wondering how your lives have changed so much since the last time we talked. (Of course, this isn't your mother's problem, who is regularly in contact with you by phone.) The blog is no replacement for the phone conversation. But it will help me be better briefed for those conversations.

This mode of sharing strikes me as having possibilities, of the multi-generic and multi-media sort. Stories, short stories, short short stories, product endorsements, satire, novellas, as well as pics and video. Only limit is your imagination, and a soupçon of propriety.

Well, think about it. Or don't think, and just submit something. Or think AND submit. No points taken off for spelling, punctuation, or grammar.

xo,

d