Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Perpetual Surprises

Monday, October 12th, 2009

I have striven as a parent to teach my child to be considerate of others. It’s something I personally find very important, something I think the world sadly lacks.

But now that my son has become the thoughtful little boy that he is, I recently developed a new worry. What if he becomes the one that gets picked on. He loves other kids but tends to be shy around them. Strangely, he is never shy around adults and loves conversing with us like we’re all his best friends (he’ll even shout “Hello there!” across a parking lot to strangers he sees loading their groceries into the trunk of their car. But with children? He never seems to know what to say. And so I became worried that “the mean ones” might single him out as weak; a target to throw their abuse at.

Yesterday we took Miles to the park, and I was pleasantly surprised by something.

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Devilish Brute Elf

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

When I went to bed I think the house was in pretty good order. Wasn’t it? Shoes in the closet and wrappers in the trash. Only fresh food in the fridge.

And now. Upon waking, it seems as if some devilish brute elf was at work in the dark. You Must be kidding! Isn’t this just a bad dream? Oh, PUH-LEEESE! Somebody pinch me!

Dirty dishes overflow the sink, trying to escape the eventual drowning in hot soapy water. Fuzzy stuff and bits of leaf on the carpet. Ring around the tub along with dried toothpaste in the sink. Didn’t I JUST mop the kitchen floor? When did we put the jar of spaghetti sauce in the refrigerator? Surely not long ago enough to breed what is also in the jar. ENOUGH!

It is a scientifically proven fact that mess multiplies in the dark. In some cases, however, it happens so completely and so quickly that it can only be ascribed to the work of the DEVILISH BRUTE ELF.

Tonight I am setting out the motion activated cameras to try to catch this creature in the act. But first, where are the rubber gloves and disinfectant?!

Forgive me father, for I have slid.

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

It has been fifteen months since my last concussion

Beach Shaman

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

This poem is inspired by a man who lived near us on Sauvie Island, and who walked the beach every day with his Dog, Little Bear.

William walks the beach to look for feathers.
He holds each one against the sky, then runs
its vanes between pinched fingers
before he puts it in his pouch. Most
are from gulls, but sometimes wind
sends eagle feathers down to the sand.

Shells rattle in his pouch as well,
with clicking bits of bone and twisted
sticks of driftwood, river-washed and weirdly shaped.
William glues these things together, lashes them
with strips of leather. “Fetishes,” he says.
“I sell them on the Internet.”

Blond hair has gone to gray on sunburned skin.
“Sometimes you have to quit your job
to give your spirit room to move and tell you
God is everywhere.” He rents a tumbled trailer
down the beach, pays with prophecy
and his disability check. “It’s all in letting go
of Earth and all this shit.”

He slips a hand inside the pouch,
pulls a sandy feather out,
holds it to his ear and nods.

Pendergast To The Rescue!

Monday, July 27th, 2009

My latest drawing is a scene snipped from the book, “Still Life With Crows” by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.  I’m a fan of the series, and this book in particular is one of my favorites.

The picture contains book spoilers so I’ll post the snipped, unspoilered version here, and then link to the full sized image for those who don’t care about spoilers.

Pendergast and “Still Life With Crows” are both copyright by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.  Their website is prestonchild.com.

The snipped pic:


SPOILERS!

Pretty girl with flower…

Monday, July 20th, 2009

I need to come up with slightly more clever titles.

This is just something that started as a gesture study, but I sorta liked it, so I drew some clothes on her and here she is!

Today I went to the bathroom and thought about you

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

I am a topical genius.

I am a word wizard.

I mount the stump of justice and spew forth mighty isms that profound the weak and uninitiated.

Come gasp at my sayings.

Become dumbfounded by my utterances.

You mule.

You lowbrow.

Do you not see the might of my brain pulsing behind my temples?

Only importance is drafted on my pages.

And if you do not find it thus, you are a simpleton.

I am the Prince of Phrases!

Read on in amazement and shudder in the cloud of my contempt.

For I am a topical genius.

none

Friday, May 29th, 2009

I saw him.  I couldn’t breathe. I saw him walk away. I tried to breathe. Everything in between was one breath.

Charlie and the Visual Entertainment Curse of Hilarity!

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Reese and I didn’t have a TV for years–like the first five years we were married we were totally TV free! We both had come out of heavily TVed homes and were just sick of TV, so we didn’t want one. Well five years later we decided it would be cool for playing movies on, which we did still like, and we thought maybe if we owned a TV we didn’t have to see everything in the theater or at someone else’s house. Went out and bought a tube TV, a brand we thought was reliable.  It was a $300 TV, which at the time bought a modestly decent TV–nothing too fancy, but reliable and functional.

The plot thickens!

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When Electrons Overachieve

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

An extraordinary thing happened to me twelve years ago, and it changed my life. I don’t mean this in any sort of fundamental way. My path took no particular twist to the left that would have otherwise been to the right if the event had not occurred, and I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything in particular. But my life did change that day. By “changed” I think I mean that it became more complicated.

At the time, I was working a new job at a restaurant. I didn’t particularly like this job, for a few reasons. The main reason was the fact that I was not the only “Pondificator” there. It wasn’t that I disliked working with my relatives. It had more to do with the fact that I was constantly being compared and contrasted with said relatives. And since I was the new kid (being a youngest and all), and had never done restaurant work before, I felt deeply criticized and looked down upon by the person in charge (who, thankfully, was no relation of mine—in fact, I’m convinced she was from Omicron Persei 8, and was married to a certain ruler there named Lur…). There were some other events that transpired to make said person dislike me to an even greater degree, but those events were neither life changing, nor pertinent to this story, so I will leave them out.

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