Thursday, April 28, 2005

Drummer Hoff


Drummer Hoff
Originally uploaded by OrdinaryLifeMan.

There is a book. Read this book ordinary people. Drummer Hoff is a grand book. It says much with its blowing up and its careful phrasing. It is a book to teach with. It is a book to share. Go here, and buy it.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

People have babies everyday. Why not today!?

I took a hospital blanket, and I wrapped her tightly in it.
She looked like a tiny sausage with round saucer eyes.
She looked like a burrito, am I hungry like she is, I'm certain.
I look at her and my eyes devour every last detail.
Tiny eyelashes on unblinking watery eyes.
Softest nose of anything that has ever smelled.
Heart. my heart melted. I knew right then.
I would do anything for my little girl.
I held her tighter. In her hospital blanket..

Gus


Gus
Originally uploaded by OrdinaryLifeMan.

I gush for gus.

baby

So there were many babies born today. Here's one.

He's gus, the big footed one. Cute as they come, when they come like he did.

I shed some tears thinking about the little one. I even cried some thinking about my own wee one.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Napoleon D

After the local nightly news, I was too amped to sleep. I'd already painted two bathrooms after dinner. We had bbq chicken. I got up and turned off the tube and put in a dvd. I watched Napoleon Dynamite. I had a good time. I was entertained. I could see all my friends laughing at crucial parts in the movie. It was a little freaky, since I was the only one there in the room. I went to bed and mentally compared the movie, at length, to Harold & Maud. Go figure!

Monday, April 11, 2005

Blue Bike


Blue Bike
Originally uploaded by Monster..

Shiney. Not so new, but blue!

embracer toilet


embracer toilet
Originally uploaded by OrdinaryLifeMan.

Tidy. White. Ordinary. I like it. I could be off white actually.

Stupendous

There was a fair bit of stupendous exertion committed this weekend - more attention to 2x4s and the like than to getting outside, however. I hope to rectify that in the coming days.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

dam age

ain't no ordinary damage ma'am
result of pure neg-li-gance

crazy drivin' what's I suspect
a dot here a dot there - connect

yellow line violation for sure
blame it all on Thurston Moore.

Chan

Do you have a bike?

Yeah. It's Maroon and it was my grandmother's first bike. When I was on my way to Portland, I lived there for a few months back in March a year ago. She couldn't ride it, so three months after she got it she gave it to me.

And now you live in New York, the capitol of bike theft.

Oh yeah. Twice my bike has been stolen. Both times it sucked. But I'm not going to let that happen to this bike.

Do people say, "Hello Cat Power" to you?

People sometimes call me Cat. Warren from the Dirty Three calls me Ms. Powers.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Mille G


Art Stump
Originally uploaded by OrdinaryLifeMan.

Sometimes ordinary people like myself have to pay respect to those extraordinary people who we come across. I'd like to today pay respect to Art Stump. The man who drilled bike parts, made everything light, and could possibly have been the most remarkable guy in bike world. His bike, shown here, belongs in a museum. I'm not sure where he is or what happened to his bike since this photo was taken (off the web somewhere, sometime). My loss. Your gain.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Bursey, ordinary man

Network Director Found Guilty
Brett Bursey was convicted Jan. 6 in federal court of refusing to leave a restricted area and go to a free speech zone. Bursey, who faced 6 months in prison and a $5000 fine, was fined $500. "We are appealing," Bursey said, "because this establishes the bad legal precident that the Secret Service has no limits on the size of restricted zones they establish around the president." The restricted zone when Bursey was arrested was over 70 acres and stretched for a mile.

Lewis Pitts, Bursey's lead attorney said, "we are dismayed that the judiciary failed in its role of keeping the executive branch of our government operating within constitutional boundaries. We we made the case that Mr. Bursey was not arrested because he was a threat to the president's physical security, but because the White House has a policy of keeping protesters out of sight at Mr. Bush's appearances. I'm sure we would have won if we had a jury."

"We believe that it is important that we appeal, because the ever increasing size of the sanitized areas around the president make a mockery of the first amendment," Bursey said.

Daze during Days

these days I've spent some time on intraspection. I've turned the french fry warmer light inwards and examined all there is inside. Not much. Heart. Lungs. Kidneys. (Keep workin' babies!) Little more than sacks of meat, vitals, vittles for fish and dogs. Maybe cats. My cat would probably not eat me and my internals, but there are probably some out there who would. Bad kitties.

these days i've spent those hours, contemplating job, resources, wealth, value, and goals. I realize I have no goals to guide me. Ordinarily, this would be a shock. Years ago, when in school, I had a goal. Graduate. When that time came, I moved on to another type of school. Once I got to graduate school, I got the feeling I should probably try some other goals. I tried. Failed. Very ordinary story so far, I'm sure.

hence these days spent on intraspection. is that even the right word? goodness knows I could look it up. there is only one high quality free dictionary on the web, BTW. Find those guys, those Noah Webster descendants. I was always a bad speller, just good enough, but never perfect. Very ordinary speller. Maybe not too bad. Maybe just not confident. I never paid too much attention to the words I spelled right, and too little to all the words I'll never know how to spell. Hence the online dictionary trend.

so the intraspection. What did I learn. No goals to speak of, except: make money, love thy offspring, and don't forget to scoop. These are the things, sadly, that form and frame my life. Make money. So sad. Never gonna make enough. What is enough? More than I'm making now, I guess. The scoop is for my loved one, a tight scooping regime is required for her sanity...surprisingly not for my own. I do that for her, and insist I do it for myself. I guess in a way I do it for us. When I forget, I haven't done it for anybody. If you understand that, you understand me. Nobody does, so don't feel bad. I won't hold it against you, eventhough others do. ...no, I'm just kidding. Nobody holds it against you. Except a few folks here and there. Don't fret.

The offspring is the center - the be all of my soul. The frisky cat toy to my feline mind. The nip that tips and makes us giddy. The characteristic air of freshness that invigorates and enboldens us to do more, with less, and accomplish every curiosity as if it were an easy to climb tree. Up we go, seldom falling, always hanging on to the limbs with smiles on our faces, feet and arms dangling. Like monkeys. Ah. To go to the zoo and watch those guys just hanging around. They're crazy - why wouldn't they be without newspapers or tv or the radio...although they might here the radio somewhere...that probably keeps some of them sane some of the time. They're crazy, but they seem to have fun. I doubt they're depressed all year or even for months on end.

I've only been depressed for a week now, maybe just a few days. It's getting better, I can see I'll get out of the funk. Spring is here. We can all go for a ride.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Failure, oh so ordinary!

There are many failures that go unacknowledged. Failures in relationships ("he/she was always on my back" "he never picked up" "she never stopped complaining") often get blamed on the other person. Self blame is a terrible thing in this modern age. Humility is gone. The swaggering braggert is king or president, and the USA, despite oh, so many failures, is in charge? It's ordinary.

Failure on purpose is another story. The ability to knowingly derail the myth of success is a tough one.

"If the art of the failure on purpose could be taken for what it is... then maybe you'll be alright. Sort of enjoying the success of not succeeding on purpose?" - Jack White

Meg and Jack have a new album coming out in June. Here's a snippet:

White Stripes Set June 14 Release Date For New CD

03/29/2005 2:00 PM, LAUNCH
LAUNCH Radio Networks


The White Stripes have set June 14 as the release date for their fifth full-length album, which the duo recently finished recording at singer/guitarist Jack White's home studio in Detroit, Michigan. The disc's title has not been announced yet. The record follows up 2002's Elephant, which has sold 1.7 million copies since its release, according to Billboard.com.

The White Stripes will return to live performing in May and June, playing a handful of shows in Mexico during May and appearing at Atlanta's Midtown Music Festival on June 10. The pair will also perform at England's prestigious Glastonbury Festival on June 24.

For kind souls who don't know much about the WS other than what they hear on the radio, I think it best to forget what you heard on the radio, then take your pizza money and go buy De Stijl, the stripes' second album. Buy the vinyl if you can. Buy an old used turntable. Be less than ordinary about it, okay? They're not an ordinary band. When you've heard them play you should also buy their first album and their fourth album, and then all the rare stuff you can find. But more than anything, you should go see them perform. They are performers. Entertainers. It's just wholesome entertainment. And don't forget your earplugs.