astronaut wisdom

"We learned a lot about the Moon, but what we really learned was about the Earth. The fact that just from the distance of the Moon, you can put your thumb up, and you can hide the Earth behind your thumb. Everything that you have ever known, your loved ones, your business, the problems of the Earth itself, all behind your thumb. And how insignificant we really all are. But then how fortunate we are to have this body, and to be able to enjoy living here amongst the beauty of the Earth itself."

~Jim Lovell, Apollo 13

if you like beautiful 60's footage of space travel and astronaut wisdom, I suggest you get your eyes on In the Shadow of the Moon, an amazing documentary by David Sington where science is stranger than fiction. I was like a bright-eyed child amazed by what a miracle this experience we call life on earth really is. we forget easily, but watching this film is a nice reminder. look at life through the shiny eyes of those who have seen it from the moon and lived to talk about it. significantly more than 2 thumbs up.

spoon at the bowl

6 friends (jessica, jamie, keirin, jeremy, jg, and b)
3 bands (beck, spoon, and mgmt)
lots of food (cheese, salami, bread, hummus, carrots, beets, pickles, and more)
and some kitchen sink drinks (gin, club soda, lime, basil, cucumbers, and granny smith apples - yummers)
all in all, the hollywood bowl was nice and the bands were good, but the friends, food and cocktails won out.

missing michael

I miss michael phelps. that man was a big part of my evenings for a few magical days and I want those days back. watching someone who worked so hard and believed so much. someone who ate 12,000 calories a day and still had a six hundred pack. he was my modern day hero. I mean, the dude does wear tights. michael made me ask myself what 8 gold medals I would like to win? he reminded me that maybe I'm not supposed to eat a pound of pasta for lunch and be the fastest swimmer in the world, but I am supposed to put everything I've got into becoming the holder of the most gold medals in the history of me. into the pool of potential I must dive and butterfly myself to the other side. now if you'll excuse me, I better shave my legs.

be all that you can be in the LACC

who knew the treasures waiting for my shovel. in the mail a promise - "make new friends" the cover reads. in my hands the key to my unlocked potential - the los angeles city college fall catalog.

let the friend making begin.

but how does one choose which friends they would like to meet? what types take "BE YOUR OWN PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR" or "QUICK AND DIRTY SELF DEFENSE"? is a "BALLOON WORKSHOP" just full of class clowns? and should I be nervous in a classroom full of people studying "HOW TO GET A U.S. POST OFFICE JOB"? would I connect with the folks in the course that teaches you to "READ ALL DAY & GET PAID FOR IT!"? or would "SCREENWRITING WARRIORS" or "FRUIT & VEGETABLE CARVING" offer a more promising group of pupils?

as I read I realize that with a few hours time and hundred bucks or less, I could become anyone or do anything. "YOU'VE WRITTEN A SONG, NOW WHAT?" you mean for $30 you can tell me in one Saturday what I've been trying to figure out for over a decade? and after all the stuggle, in six days I can finally have "GUITAR MADE EASY" for only 70 bucks? and after all these years spent throwing money away on cramped city apartments, it only takes three simple thursdays and $95 to finally "LIVE - RENT FREE!!!"

the options, my friends, are limitless. who do you want to meet? who do you want to become? I suggest you grab your community college catalog and start registering for the future!

and then

and then for three long days we woke in the dark and spread out the substance of my family's discarded past and we sold it to our neighbors. good friends came over and helped and we rewarded them with donuts and mimosas. we drank, a lot, and we talked with strangers holding things we had once wanted. buying clothes we had once worn. skimming through books we had once read. we sold everything for pennies. thousands and thousands of pennies.

a 22 foot truck full of stuff

and after all the stuff was collected, we loaded it into a big yellow truck and we drove 1383 miles back to LA. 'cause we're crazy like that.

mining for memories

these are the times that make me wish I were a better writer, or at least a mad scientist who could make a time machine and transport myself into the future where I finally am. I want to express the whirlwind and the heat and the exhaustion caused by frustration and the frustration caused by exhaustion. I am still tired. days later. I am still trying to return from the deep.

it is times like these that no one, except for the monkey on your back, can attest to the craziness and the epic quality of such feats. in written form it all seems simple, and I sound guilty of over-dramatizing something rather mundane. but this, my fair reader, is where you must trust me. this shit was karazy.

it all seemed easy enough as we talked about it over lunch. jG and I would fly to Idaho to help my parents get rid of all the junk filling up my childhood home. a beautiful home built to house my two parents and their 4 children. enough toilets for each behind. enough square footage for a circus. but the clock ticked and eventually the rooms vacated. until this september when all that was left in the big space were my parents and a mountain of unclaimed stuff. enter in the super heroes wearing sweat pants and unwashed faces. for five uninterrupted days, we sifted - mining the memories from the mountains of excess. so much stuff.

what do you get when you have money to spend and space to fill? - shit to get rid of.

so that is what we did, for five full days of early mornings and late nights. we got rid of a lot of stuff. so much stuff. the house grew bigger and my parents grew taller. and it felt good. getting rid of things that were no more and tastes that had changed and opinions that had matured. cleansing the house of who they had been, who we had been, and leaving open cupboards to be filled with new ideas. we are not supposed to stay the same, why would we keep all the same stuff? why would we spend our days tripping over all the old junk that's filling up our lives when we could make room for the new? yes, it is nothing short of epic to let go and move on, but that old t-shirt you swear you can't live without will prove you wrong. it will go and you will stay and you will be okay. and you will find a new and better t-shirt, one that you will eventually, hopefully let go of. your grandmother's dishes don't love you back. the children's books you used to read to your now grown children are dusty and there are children being born that need them more than your shelves. let go. give it all away and watch what you get in return.