I had a moment on Sunday that was both empowering and deflating
When I was on the BART train and got up to look at the map to figure out my stop
And I didn't really think I needed to hold on to any seat handles or the poles
To brace myself I just spread my feet and in a very minimal way surfed the floor
And I didn't worry at all because I've done it before and there was no one else standing Or for that matter sitting
Near enough for me to crash into and as I did this
I thought of the girl I had just seen who tried to do the same thing and was pushed Gently back into her seat by her mother which is what my parents did to me
When I was a kid
"Because you might fall!"
And I saw another kid standing up but jerking around a little
While holding tight onto his father's shoulder and I thought of how that kid
Might try to stand alone and be told "Don't, you might fall."
And he might say
"Fuck you dad, look at that guy there!"
And his dad might look over and say,
"Good job using your swears, junior."
I thought of how, okay, maybe I won't ever run a school district
Or write a best selling novel
Or see a clear and measurable change for the better in the world
As a direct result of my actions
But I can be someone who lives a contained life
And stands up on his own on the BART train for anybody to see
And in that moment that felt like a very great deal to be satisfied with.
1. Norfolk, VA
2. Richmond, VA
3. Charlotte, North Carolina
4. Long Island, NY
5. New York City, New York
6. Carlisle, Pennsylvania
7. Chesapeake-Virginia Beach, Virginia
8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9. Manhattan, New York
10. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
I have been to most of the places it says I should live, and didn't want to live there.
Someone has asked me to tell them what cool things they can do on a week or so long trip to New Orleans (their first)... Please post below with what you think are the things they should explore while they are down there this summer (August).
They want to explore the gamut of stuff, from touristy to gritty to underground, so really anything would be helpul... Go!
(Feel free to link to previous posts on this topic)
4 cups of frozen fruit (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries or peaches)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla
dash of cayenne
1 cinnamon stick
Mix all ingredients in a large pot and bring just to a boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes.
Serve warm or cold over pancakes, French toast, or ice cream. It's also quite yummy mixed into plain yogurt.
I got Killoggs as an early birthday present, apparently.
Anyway, hi. Some of you know me - most of you, I suspect, don't. I hope to add a little more than clutter to your viewing day.
I'm not sure what else to say. I like to build/make things and I read too much and I hate my job. I play the piano. I had a second interview for a job that is not quite so painful tomorrow. I'm in nursing school. Tomorrow I turn 26.
Yes. Yes there is. Perhaps I should speak to Ben about this. He works upstairs from me in the Production Department of the fabulous Washington City Paper. So does Brad. (I don't go up there a whole lot these days, though. It's not so much that second-floor types don't mix with third-floor types as it is that I discovered we have a bathroom on the second floor. So there's really not any reason to go upstairs anymore.) Shauna works here, too--in the Listings Department. She is my boss, and I am looking at her right now. Hello, Shauna!
My name is Matthew. A few of you I know, most of you I do not know. Here are some fun facts about me:
-I live (with Erica) at the majestic Crab's Claw in Mt. Pleasant. I am the brooding/grumpy guy. Perhaps you have been to a party at my home?
-I am in a band (with Sean McGuinness) called Like Language. I am the bass player/singer. He is on tour with his other band, Navies, and now I am lonely.
-I was the poor sucka who got mugged in broad daylight on Mt. Pleasant Street by a vicious gang of teenagers just over a year ago. Fun times.
-As previously mentioned, I work at the Washington City Paper. I do all the Clubs/Concerts listings (as well as some other stuff). I also do a lot of freelancing for the paper--mainly in the City Lights and Film Reviews sections. I like where I work and the people I work with.
-I also work at Video Americain in Adams Morgan. Rent movies from me and get the Killoggs Discount.
-I have a mustache, which I only grew to scare my girlfriend with--but she didn't really care. Just recently, someone told me that it made me look like Brian Fanatana from Anchorman, and now I don't want to shave it off.
That is enough for now, I think. It is nice to be here. Hello, everyone.
whatever you guys.
MAYBE I like you in real life, but on here I view your pitiful little question mark heads with contempt and prejudice, and I highly encourage you to stink up the internet elsewhere.
Your kind is not wanted here.
As if the last batch of Johnny-come-latelies didn't diminish the median Killoggean quality standard enough, here you guys come with your bright-eyed and bushy tailed little high hopes of more time well spent on the internet.
You'd better lock your doors at night. You'd better watch your back. I've got my henchmen scouting each and every one of you out, with a crowbar in hand, ready to disable your typing fingers for life.
Enter if you dare.
Remember back in HS one of those unrealistic pointers on how to get into the school of your dreams ran something like this: "Move to Alaska, schools take lots of people from Alaska in an effort to promote diversity."
Here's a new twist on it, for the artistically inclined among us. If you want NEA funding, move back to the shithole some of us call home, not a single dollar of NEA funding is going to Louisiana this year for the same reason that all those billions of student aid dollars Matthew Lesko goes on about languish bored and unused - no one applied.
Yes, yes, I understand that, post-pissChrist, NEA grants mostly alight with nonoffensive, Shakespeare and Opera smegma-snorklers.
But, you wouldn't believe how anxious it makes the agency's bean counters when their organization is caught between simultaneous and contradictory public characterizations of profligate subversiveness and regional stinginess.
They want to fund artists in Louisiana.
But, nobody asks.
That's my public service to Louisiana for the rest of the year. Tonight is Of Montreal et alia cetera ibidem.
so i gots this gross hereditary isue with my eyes, see? my corneas just TEAR right open (pause for group cringing) if my eyes get at all dry, like if i'm outside all day and it's windy, or if i smoke things all weekend and don't use my ointment and eye cup. (i'm an a-cup with an eye cup! haw! hey, peaches! write me a song!) or if they just decide to for no reason.
this happened to me last monday morning. today i can finally see. the past week was spent in a dark room in agony listening to every available dvd season of the simpsons and having long, bizarre percocet dreams and going to the doctor at 8 a.m. every day to have my eye snipped at with teeny scissors that i could see IN my eye. what a fucked vacation. wahhh. wah.
but this weekend i am splitting town for nyc and slint and the no fun fest. i've only ever been to new york once. somebody please to recommend vintage places? i know beacon's closet. i just can't bear to spend 3 days in rockit scientist watching matt decide between radio india or goatsnake rarities or some such obtuseness. again.
I'M GONNA SEE SLIPKNOT ON WEDNESDAY (with good friends Woody and Sean muthafuckkkin' Pumphrey)!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh Joey (the drummer)... my eyes will be on you the entire time, smoochiekins.
Also, I've been REAL stoked- I'm steadily getting the word out about my recording studio (aimed at younger rawkin' musicians), recording three projects at the moment, working on my house, etc... My boss is even helping me with a little bonus every month just for wanting to start my own business. I'm dead tired at the end of the day, but I'm stoked as all get out.
