I'm thankful

-AB had her baby a week ago and everyone is healthy, despite the fact that the new child is a month early. I am really excited to meet her. Who would have thought that the girl I walked around Healdsburg with while eating Cow Tales and Pop Rocks daring each other to talk to boys would be a mother less than a decade later?

-I got to see Dave, who I've missed very much. He's an amazing cook and we ate tons of grilled vegetables and pineapple and salad with lemon vinaigrette while exchanging music trivia (did you know this was originally a Specials song? [Oops. It's actually Toots and the Maytals] Did YOU know that this samples a Clash song in the intro? ...et al.). I'm hoping my move next door to BART will facilitate many more masturbatory musical trivia conversations.

-I attended a barbecue that mostly consisted of people I had never met and I didn't feel nervous at all, even though I showed up alone and only knew two people. I had a good time and people laughed at my jokes at least twice. Maybe I'll be able to defeat social anxiety after all?

-I learned how to play Backgammon today, and also learned that Israelis take their Backgammon very seriously.

Thrift store day

I hate to be terribly materialistic after what I wrote last night, but I just purchased a pair of new Citizens of Humanity jeans for $8.80 at Salvation Army. Sucka! They retail for about $190.

A really nice Mexican lady turned me into her personal fashion consultant while I was at The Thrift Center (stop #2 on the thrift store tour), apparently she liked what I was wearing and kept asking me to pick out blouses for her. I wish I had understood what she was saying more, looks like it's time to study Spanish via telenovelas.

I wish for more sleep and less reflection

http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/

It's almost as if Phillip Toledano tore out the heart of any of us that's had a relative with dementia. I can't get through it without losing my shit, in fact the furthest I've come without breaking down is #18 -- "I want to think seriously about what I can accomplish with what's left of my life."

I remember so well the first time my grandmother turned to me and said "Where's B.?" and I knew she wasn't referring to my father. How does one answer that? Honestly, Half-honestly, humorously? "I miss him," she replied after I simply told her he was gone. "I hope I'll see him soon."

Months later I remember braiding her hair, which had grown out longer than I'd ever seen it and was as soft as a baby's. It was the only way I knew how to show her I loved her -- at least that she'd have evidence of after I'd left the room. I hoped she'd know that she was cared for, that she wasn't alone in the nightmare of the unraveling of her very brilliant mind. I remember putting her to bed and turning the light out, standing over her with my family in the dark. I felt I'd never see her again (I wouldn't) and I started to cry. In a stroke of brilliance she opened her eyes and said "What are y'all standing around for?" in her perfect, proper Southern accent.

When I need a push in the right direction I'll replay that in my head... What are you standing around for? Do something. Do it now. What are you going to accomplish with what's left of your life?

New hobby

I am extremely excited for the possibility of a new way to beat others in thumb wrestling.

http://www.monochrom.at/daumen/index-eng.htm

Mean Drivers

When I am overcome with emotion I write missed connections on Craigslist. This is the one I wrote today:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/mis/767564669.html

Strangely enough this is not the first time this has happened to me, and I think if it happens again I just... may... crack.

Parkour?

If I ever become an established Parkour instructor, my class will be titled "Parkour: The Course."

I'd really like to know if this is funny/punny just to ME though. This also made a lot more sense in my head when I mistakenly thought the sport (is it a sport?) was called "parfour." Ah well.

RIP Helms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igvJ1Mew6Go

Sadly, Bill Hicks' predictions have yet to come to fruition.

The reference to Barbara Bush's labia is too much to handle. Far, far too much.

Despondence?

Today I drove by a flattened pigeon in the middle of the road with one wing flapping up and down in the wind, like it was waving goodbye. Someone should film it American Beauty-style. Not me though, that would be too pretentious.

In other news, I had 3 red vines and a glass of Chardonnay for dinner. I continue to love adulthood.

You can have this heart to break.

I currently consider Billy Joel to be the most depressed musician on the planet. "And So it Goes" is killing me but is likely the best attitude to have about relationships.

"So I would choose to be with you
That's if the choice were mine to make
But you can make decisions too
And you can have this heart to break"