I drove past a Jeep with a surfboard strapped to the roof. The vehicle was covered in bumper stickers. One of them read "Fuck Cancer" and the "u" was a breast cancer ribbon. Another one read "Buck Ofama".

---

Apparently Americans were highly influential in passing horrendously punitive anti-gay legislation in Uganda, a place where, previously, homosexuality was accepted. Gay rights activist Pepe Julian Onziema said, "Homophobia is the thing that came from outside of Africa. The bible came, and different things happened. Whatever kept us together, something had to be used to divide us... so that submission is enforced on people."

Classic divide and conquer.

What a world.

I saw a woman today that reminded me of her. She had a similar curve in her jawbone, a similar portrait of lengthy, full, lovely lips. Among other similarities. I couldn't help but stare for isolated quiet minutes at her, while she waited for her man to return to her. When she spoke I sensed the slightest hint of a similar voice. It shook my spine. I just looked at her like I was staring at a film, as though I were a nonexistent person being shown a film about real life. I wasn't leering, I don't want to give the wrong impression. I was looking at her reminiscing about the sensation of witnessing otherworldly beauty, of having it in my lap. The warm sun, the palm trees, the cool breeze, it all faded away in the shadow of what having her in my lap on a cloudy day by an ugly river meant. Most of my life has been lived in hints, but for a short time the hints revealed the truth. I saw it, kissed it and so many things I didn't get to do with it.

I don't handle love well anymore.

Great Moments In 21st Century Television

I was just watching an episode of Jeopardy!. The category was "Literary Gems", and the clue was "Steinbeck: The ___".

Now, the category title already indicates the correct response will include the name of some type of precious or semiprecious stone, and this was already several questions into the category where the premise had been well established. One of Steinbeck's most famous short works is entitled The Pearl.

The contestant buzzed in and said, "What is The Red Pony?"

Great Moments In 20th Century Music

I was listening to this song while riding my bicycle through my neighborhood during sunset. The air was like spring. I felt like the hopeless romantic loser in a Woody Allen film. Close your eyes while you listen and try not to feel like that:

"Don't Get Around Much Anymore" - Ink Spots

Dave Zollo

My dear friend Dave has a Kickstarter campaign going to raise money for the release of his latest album. If you're a fan of music, or Iowa, or awesome people in general, then please check out the site and consider making a purchase. These are pledged purchases, not donations, and no one will be charged unless he reaches his goal and the product is produced. If not for me or for Dave, then do it for the children!

That is Dave's son, several years ago, trying to balance a flyswatter on his finger.

So pledge now! Here's the link: Dave Zollo - For Hire

Great Moments In 20th Century Literature

As I was brushing my teeth I looked in the mirror and I realized that I am a man without commitments. I thought about how many men dream of being commitment-free, and I felt pity for them.

A commitment is a reason to live, a beautiful period placed at the end of a life sentence.

I wish I had one of them.

---

"What does it matter to me to know, in sun or rain, body or soul, that I too shall pass? Not a thing, except the hope that everything is nothing, and therefore nothing is everything." - Fernando Pessoa

Great Moments In 20th Century Television

I was sitting in a bar watching a World Cup match, overhearing California college boys analyze the sport. It reminded me of an episode of Friends, a show I haven't watched in ages and one that I now avoid for certain reasons. There was an episode where Phoebe was taking a literature class, and Rachel joined her. When Rachel read Vogue magazine instead of Jane Eyre she asked Phoebe for a synopsis. Phoebe fed her false information then baited the teacher into asking Rachel's opinion.

Rachel: "Well what struck me most about Jane Eyre was uh, how the book was so ahead of its time."

Teacher: "If you're talking about feminism, I think you're right."

Rachel: "Yeah well, feminism yes. But also the robots."

---

That was one of their best episodes, that one.

Ross has a breakdown over someone taking his sandwich, a leftover turkey sandwich that he says was the only good thing going for him. Reminds me of myself and the chicken salad. Funny how those distant thoughts came crashing into my brain like meteorites.

life: a formalady

That's a top-notch pun.

I've been meandering today, driving foreign roads. Depressed. A night of no sleep save for intermittent naps plagued by anxious dreams. I've ended up in a library. Only just now realized that it's Bloomsday. I should buy a bottle of Jameson but it's not worth it. I'll page absentmindedly through my favorite book when I get back to my room, and daydream that I'm not who I am.

"Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned." - James Joyce

ph

My first niece is one of my favorite people on the planet. When I was in high school I used to post things about her in my "livejournal", and once I even made a short movie of me and her set to the song "Memo To My Son" by Randy Newman. The anecdotes are endless. She's got beauty and brains. Reminds me of my other favorites.

My sister sent me a text today. I guess it's a picture of my niece's "facebook status" or something... 

Never mind that my name is misspelled.

Kind of bummed at the affirmation that I'll never get to touch...

Fuck it. I'm a grown man, grasping at straws.

John Oliver is using his new show on HBO to tackle broader news issues than are traditionally covered at "The Daily Show". He did a comprehensive piece on FIFA corruption. The religious metaphor is spot on. It reminded me of the good old days, when journalists were actually informative.

Click here to watch the piece.

On top of that, he even threw in a Kubrick reference.

I made a new acquaintance while practicing in the park on Friday. His name is Afrim, he is from Kosovo. He joined in kicking the soccer ball around with me for a while, then I gave him a ride back to his hostel as he was missing change for the bus. He's visiting the U.S. for a few months on a work exchange program while he's studying for his Master's degree in Law back in Kosovo. I took him to Coronado beach today. It was his first time in the ocean. At some point I was asking about his family and I asked if he and his family are Muslim. He said, "Yes. I am Muslim. This is not problem for you is it?" I laughed and said of course not. He has four sisters and I asked a few questions about what life is like in Kosovo for women.

Yesterday I went on a bike ride and listened to Adele's first album 19. It came out in 2008 but that's me, I'm usually several years behind. I figured I would give it a listen since she's well-respected and because she does a nice cover of Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love". It's a beautiful song, and one of the few Dylan songs that I think his version of is weak. Anyway, not a bad album. My favorite track is "Best For Last" I think. As I rode my bicycle and listened I saw a little girl in a purple dress digging into her lawn. Made me sad/nostalgic. I saw a woman walking up her driveway from the mailbox and had a Proustian recollection of riding bikes with Georgia, a most glorious little child with a heart and brain of gold. We used to ride our bikes up and down a hill in front of her house repeatedly, through sparse cotton floating from the trees. I took Georgia to a park once to play with a friend, another little girl that I've only dreamed of riding bikes with. The xylophone on Adele's song "First Love" was clanging in my ears.

"The storms are raging on the rolling sea,
and on the highway of regret.
The winds of change are blowing wild and free,
you ain't seen nothing like me yet.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.
No there's nothing that I wouldn't do.
Go to the ends of the earth for you,
to make you feel my love."

I was reading an article on NPR's website about the short works of the recently deceased, Nobel Prize-winning Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. When I read the comments on the article I found this:

It made me laugh.

Going to bed lonely... I should be used to it by now, but it's one of the emptiest feelings in the world.

It's a rare opportunity to see Jeff Mangum/Neutral Milk Hotel in concert. But it's at the Hollywood Bowl.

I can't help but think that my insides would feel cut up into pieces as I approached that beautiful stadium by myself.