Call Me Maybe

The achievement of Carlie Rae Jepsen in this song is to have made something fun and catchy that does not lack a soul and identity of its own. I hear so much music now that is all catchy with no soul. Call Me Maybe has something to it. Maybe it's the string section, maybe it's the meeting-a-romantic-interest jitters inscribed in the lyrics, but it has something different. This is in opposition to the two-line EDM/faux dubstep tracks that litter the radio waves. These all seem to be manufactured with the same set of machine tools in a music factor somewhere in Denmark. They do not move me. Good job, Carlie Rae Jepsen, good job. Yes, I know the song came out two years ago and I'm unfashionably late to the party, but good job.

The smell of New Jersey

Listening to New Jersey bands as the bus transits New Jersey:

Bands/artists (and their most NJ-emblematic song)

-Saves the Day (Always Ten Feet Tall or Shoulder to the Wheel)
-Titus Andronicus (Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ or My Time Outside The Womb)
-Bruce Springsteen (Open All Night)

What is it with New Jersey and producing great music? These are three artists whose music I haven't gotten over. They all have reams of really good songs across multiple albums. New Jersey is an idea to me, raw and unfiltered, symbolizing everything good and bad about America. The music reflects that.

Fog Dream # 1

Imagine running up Labor in Vain Road, and encountering R——. The road is foggy; it's hard to make out who you're talking to. Lights wink in and out at us through the murk. R—— is trudging in the other direction. She is smiling, but in a pained way and too broadly. She betrays how false the expression is. Her voice is hollow as she tries to be cheery.

"Where ya headed?"

I have slowed to a trot, but I can't stop running, in that I am not allowed to by controlling physical realities in this state.

"I'm getting somewhere, I promise. I'll shoot you an email when I'm done. What are you working on, R——?"

The shrug, the well-remembered half-hearted joke.

"I don't know."

She maintains the image we have of her, even if there are cracks showing, doors left closed for long periods.

Sometimes I try to understand everything at once

Sometimes I try to understand everything at once:

Everyone else, to a man, was saying Good Luck, but I preferred to tell her Congratulations to be leaving that harried, always rushing place that took up so much of her life. Good Luck? An insult almost to her. I expect that she'll do good things; luck shouldn't have too much to do with her trajectory after she's gone from here.

* * * * *

My father became obsessed temporarily by the prospect of capturing the twin rocks as we saw them. It strikes me that they may have held a certain mystical taste of the past, to him.

* * * * *

Bad news for you: I got a twitter account. If I started saying the word 'tweet', though, it would feel like giving in. Twitter is entertaining. It gives me little doses of people whom I think are funny. Is this so frightening?

* * * * *

A full life, that's nice. If I come off disjointed, it might be on purpose, have you considered that? Do you answer these questions? I try not to bother, but I care just a little too much, you can tell.

* * * * *

Short on time, long on options. Shortfalls I fear are the ones that cut between you and I, but at least now it doesn't seem like there are many of those. Look at your picture and be happy, not regretting anything that has happened in the long stretch of time behind. Happiness doesn't come without peril, but I pray this is right, and I think it is.

Whoop, Jug! I love thee

These thoughts gave me comfort just now:

-There'll always be more plantains to cook.

-You can always just go for a run.

-Life will always go on.

-I won't be 48 for another 24 years.

little game that I made up

Little joke I thought of recently:

Q: What do you call it when two organic elements go out for a drink?

A: Carbon Dating! (Insert Catch Phrase)