Lone Star raised, New York based designer & perpetual grumbler.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
can you? by the way, have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?
also, jolene and i might start a 'zine. a rudeboy/girl zine. with lots of ska and punk and anarchy. sike. remember johnny used to call "zeens" "ziines"?
last night, after a long day of hilarious duties at work, i met up with two friends from highschool: ms. blair townsend and mr. matt klausmeier. it's been a while since i've been around people that knew me prior to three years ago (with a few exceptions). and it all felt so good. somehow (well i probably know how), i lost all those people in my life due to a number of circumstances. the familiarity and ease of coming back into character or the ability to speak out without fear of retribution fall into place gracefully and unnoticed. the conspiring, the secrets, the stories. i can't quite place my finger on it, but there is a comfort level there that has been missing. i suppose it lays in the idea that no matter where i go and how long it's been, i still have the kids in a cross-country crew who make up the lovers and fighters i have to be around. haha. there are moments when it grows so transparent that i am basically starting all over again. and like the exposure that comes with such moments, it is all very raw.
my god, j. timberlake. could love/stoned be any more of an amazing song?
this morning, as opposed to yesterday, i desired a little pop in my step/sit. headphones in, i sat listening to mr. timberlake and ms. minogue and smiling gleefully on my commute wishing i could break out the moves. of course, i resisted b/c being on a train for thirty minute with roughly the same people is not the most superb of places to do so. my eyes misted a bit (in the figurative sense) when discovering there would be no mike ruiz, no ladies, no dance parties in my near future.
in other news, i redesigned two subscription cards for the magazine and have been enjoying the illustrious tunes of beirut, the willowz and james figurine. the air is starting to grow cooler. dresses with gold paillettes and intricately sculpted lines pass by on a rack as i stare out beyond the leather boots and pretty patterns. the window resides behind shades to my left and too many feet away from my face.
in the midst of the darkness that is creating a website and losing money daily, i bought the book with the dumbest title i own to date. b/c of this i am going to force it to change my life.
aubrey officially became li'l chef (to compliment nick's li'l landlord) last night with her delicious thank you dinner:
edamame, watercress, garlic and ginger fest pan-fried sweet potatoes and tofu with dill and black pepper brown rice and an herb salad
so yummy, but then i think she ate the leftovers in the middle of the night after coming home from a rumored pizza pot party, leaving us with none to drool over today.
now that that is all taken care of we must discuss the brilliance of the art parade! this afternoon, lil man and i took the m down to canal to attend the events. walmart lovers and zombies united with fat-bottomed girls and odd creatures to march up and down west broadway. marshmallow heads, unicorns and carmen mirandas paraded with naughty cops (complete with sparkly nipples!) and little aliens. and to top it all off, motherfucking fischerspooner played in a magical silver float crusing down the street!!! casey spooner wore a bright red tinsel gorilla coat singing as writhing bodies in silver contorted and spun. they finished up with "just let go" and made room for a brilliant b-girl battle, the greatest single hip-hop booty dancing girl i have ever seen (she could do the splits and pop at the same time!), twelve (or so) saggy-assed dazzle dancers who got naked before too long...
we continued the evening walking through the lower east side past former tenements and signs written only in chinese.
the only times i've left the cave in the past week seems to be for extended periods of quiet and pseudo-contemplative walks. it rained on tuesday as i walked covered only by a hood down essex and avenue a, dipping into small boutiques and a record store remniscent of thirty three degrees and an overly priced home store, on my errand to get a library card at a manhattan library. they really do have almost anything. before this stop though, i also got a brooklyn library card in the williamsburgh branch. i read through the latest new york magazine (quickly becoming my favorite source for the nyc) and was eyed by hasidic jews and kids fresh from the first day of school.
the new nyu crowd was in abundance at union square, some with that freshly applied freedom look sparkling out from their darting eyes as other took a more subtle approach. i debated salad dressings and picked up chai soy milk at whole foods and made the long, crowded trip home. at least we're far enough away that seats pop up over time. the subway is a very internal place to be, both literally and figuratively. even when i'm riding with someone, conversation doesn't always happen which allows my head to wander into a trance. which of course is plagued by the woes of the jobless.
earlier this week, wednesday i think, aubrey and i attempted to get into the michel gondry exhibit, but were quickly denied after glancing at a long line. she complained about how this was to be a congregation spot for us to meet with her friends and how we weren't even able to attend the event we were congregating for. in order to alleviate the situation, i met about six girls at once and we all dashed off to find something to do. which of course, as understood by the austin ladies as well, drinks and snacks. i met the most radical girl ever. and this has nothing to do with girl crushes. basically, she was so awesome it made me depressed b/c i have been feeling less than awesome as of late. like i described to nick later that evening, over the summer i've met a couple people that really remind me of myself circa a year (plus?) ago before all of the assorted things that now bog me down piled up into such a situation. is it fair for me to be whining about being more like i used to be than who i am now? b/c frankly, i think i'm being way too much of a middle-aged baby.
i just started watching the pbs documentary epic new york (fourteen hours!) and decided i loved alexander hamilton. hamilton, a "bastard from the west indies", immigrated to new york before the revolution and basically over the spanse of his political career shaped new york into what it is today with his outlook on meritocracy. pure brilliance. anyway, this documentary is a full on love affair with this city and i'm fine with it b/c i've learned many interesting historical facts and names in the process. facts include the following: one) manhattan was named after the indian word manahatta which was believed to mean either "island with many hills" or "place for the perpetually inebriated". two) at one point under dutch rule (before the hard-assed, wooden-legged peter stuyvesant took over as governor), there was roughly one bar for every twenty men. three) it was under the ten-termed governor dewitt clinton, that the grid system of new york was created (this whole concept has to be explained to be even more fully appreciated and it should be known that this plan razed all hills, valleys and forests in manhattan). dewitt also spawned the idea, garnered support and raised the funding for the erie canal. which, if you didn't know, was the final piece in connecting new york to every part of the world. four) thomas jefferson, hilariously deluded. as claimed by one historian, he envisioned america's future as a utopian world of yeoman farmers and was disgusted by cities.
anyway, this long winded account of my lessons about new york had a point of sorts. hamilton loved new york and cities in general b/c they allowed people to be free and for anyone to raise themselves up in the world with their own abilities. i'm currently attempting to take this to heart as my budget dwindles and my frustrations with css grow. someday, you will be mine. (imagine a david sedaris voice...)
