I can still remember my first Halloween costume. I wanted to be a dogwood tree. I wore a brown shirt and my mother affixed sticks and fake blossoms. This is a good indicator of how isolated my childhood was. My kindergarten class was filled with Evel Knievels and Wonder Womans. I was a fucking dogwood tree.

have a very scary halloween

how to write a short story

John reports that the hideous old cover of How to Write a Short Story

has been replaced with the actually kind of cool looking:



I think the kids will really connect with the idea of writing on a typewriter.

back from the wfmu record fair

Vinyl gorging to commence now. Here's a fave from last year....

mog.com

More about this song

Share

As great as the internet is for keeping up with people from the past, it's brutal for googling random names from elementary school and finding out they've died tragic deaths.

Maybe some things are better left unknown.

observations from a reunion

There is someone on the planet who can describe in detail my preferred nap position when I was three years old.

People who were boring and annoying twenty years ago are still boring and annoying.

People I used to feel really comfortable with I still feel really comfortable with.

A few people are taller than I remembered. Most are shorter.

After twenty years, age and disappointment have begun to distort faces. Hair loss makes men harder to recognize than women. A few people look scarily middle-aged.

Generally the people who come to reunions are in top shape, or have recently gotten into top shape.

There was a toast to classmates who died before graduation. Seven names were read. I recognized three of them.

Candace thanked me for turning her on to Led Zeppelin. This is my preferred legacy from high school. Not throwing the Slurpee on Jag’s car.

scotts run nature preserve

the road, misc.

high school reunion weekend

See you again in twenty years, Virginia.

leverett, mass

could our culture be slightly more instantaneous?

america runs on dunkin

Those who enjoy the sound of my voice even fractionally as much as I do should tune their radios to 90.7FM WFUV this Saturday morning at 7:30am, when I will be discussing cheap New York with George Bodarky.

two graphics for my brother-in-law in response to his statement "George W. Bush spends like a Democrat"

beautiful, beautiful new jersey

A local news station called last night, they wanted to do a segment on cheap New York. I had half an hour to shower and put together a pitch and meet the news van out on the corner. We went around the neighborhood. Under the camera's gaze, I felt as articulate as Sarah Palin with Katie Couric. I took them to the bar with the cheap happy hour. The correspondent drank a martini and Jimmy the cameraman lit her up with his night light. Even though I was the nominal subject of the segment, I had to fight the urge to walk through the background of the shot and "be on TV."

Eater.com contest

Is it iced coffee weather?

Fresno!