February 20, 2015

yes, i know how loveless life can be

"Happy birthday" is a ridiculous phrase.

You should give people condolences on their birthday.

---

I see Love as a distant shore
and I an adrift castaway
see less and less, evermore

---

One of my favorite love songs: "And I Love You So" – Don McLean

February 14, 2015

February 13, 2015

This world is the worst world that ever whirled.

I wish I could never speak to anyone ever again.

February 10, 2015

A shitty, shitty day.

And no S to talk to... doesn't get any worse than this.

February 6, 2015

When I'm dying (and while I'm alive), and the book of my regrets is being frantically written in my head, I'm sure my biggest regrets will be no more complicated than these:

I never got to kick a soccer ball around with R. The two of us playfully kicking a ball over crackling autumn leaves in a park would be magic.

I never got to take heR on a bike ride. I never got to see her grow. I never got to sing with heR in the car or the living room or be silly goofy dancing with heR giving her mother all kinds of smiles.

I never got to be there for S. I never got to share her life with her. I never got to be the man whose arms she crawled into at the end of a long day. I didn't get to be her home.

I never get to feel her hands through my hair again as she talks to me. Her brain and her voice used to make me feel warm and sweet, like a perfect lovely summer afternoon complemented by a cool breeze... like placing your feet (ugh, don't get me started on her gorgeous feet) in a flowing fresh river on a hot day.

I never get to feel her lips upon my wrist. She used to kiss my heartbeat and it made me feel like a melted clock in a DalĂ­ painting. I never got the chance to make S happy. I never got the chance to be her man. Never got the chance to prove that I would never do her wrong.

Basically, I regret (and will forever regret) every moment since they have diSappeaRed from my life, because every moment since has been utterly useless to me.

---

Bill Withers is the man.

He's best known for composing the classic songs "Ain't No Sunshine", "Just The Two Of Us" and "Lean On Me", but he has an extensive and beautiful catalogue that is too often ignored. I remember the first time I saw Amos Lee in concert. It was at The Mill in Iowa City, and pre-show he was playing Bill's Live At Carnegie Hall album over the sound system. After the show, when I met Amos, I asked him about his musical influences in general and then about Bill in particular, because you never know if the sound system music is the performing artist's choice or just the sound guy's. In that case, it was Amos's.

Anyway. This song, from Bill's last album circa 1985, has been my absolute jam today, accompanying my regretful dreams:

"Something That Turns You On" – Bill Withers

February 2, 2015

The Salk Institute is a medical research facility that was designed by architect Louis Kahn and named after Jonas Salk, the doctor who discovered the vaccine for polio in 1957. It is built overlooking the ocean. After my interview today, I walked along the sidewalk to the cliffs that hang over the sea and I stared out at the water for a while.

When I went back to my car I turned my ipod on shuffle. Out of the 12,726 songs currently on my ipod, "That's Entrainment" by Van Morrison came on.

---

I wish she'd talk to me.

A job at the Salk Institute would be pretty amazing. And even more amazing would be seeing her smile again.

Followers