2010/1/14 excerpt
This is a short story by Wells Tower about bloodthirsty vikings and, strangely, the cost of love. Below is a colorful excerpt, or, if you found the title as interesting as I did, you can skip straight to reading here at Macmillan.
The clouds were spilling out low across the sky when we shoved off. Thirty of us on board, Gnut rowing with me at the bow and behind us a lot of other men I’d been in some shit with before. Some of their families came down to watch us go. ØrlStender fucked up the cadence waving to his son, who stood on the beach waving back. He was a tiny one, not four or five, standing there with no pants on, holding a baby pig on a hide leash. Some of the others on board weren’t a whole lot older, rash and violent children, so innocent about the world they would just as soon stick a knife in you as shake your hand.
2010/1/10 article
My neighbor has a three-year-old son named Leon. He was playing with a train set while all the stuffy grown-ups talked and drank coffee the other night. I can’t speak much German, so I watched Leon build his train track instead.
He started with the three-way split piece in the middle of the kitchen floor. Then he added one piece to the left, and another to the right, jumping between the parts so that the track grew organically. If he ran into a wall, or things didn’t connect like he wanted them to, he would adjust the pieces or move the track so that it fit better.
I was surprised because he didn’t start at the beginning, as I would have. He left his options open. If he ran into trouble, he adjusted the track to fit to his idea, instead of adjusting his idea to fit to the track. His only limit, then, was the extent of his own imagination.
Just watching him build his track (I was certain not to interfere with the little genius) taught me that things don’t have to be perfect, or proper, or even done in the right order. There are a million different ways to build something, and you are better off following your gut than anyone else’s instructions.
As a person with a strong affinity to order, I’m certain that learning to apply some of Leon’s liberal building habits to my writing would help me to improve.
Of course, things rarely turn out right on the first try. When Leon decided he didn’t like what he had built, he broke it back to pieces. No remorse or frustration, just kaput! and he started over. And he seemed to enjoy breaking the train track to pieces as much as he liked building it again.
2010/1/1 article
The first day of the New Year never feels any different to me than the day after yesterday usually does, except that it comes with a vicious hangover. Sometimes I think we drink on New Year’s Eve so that the next day’s pounding headache will guilt us into keeping the resolutions we drunkenly pronounced at the party the night before.
I’m not being cynical, just realistic. How many promises to yourself have you broken in the past year? I don’t need science or statistics to support this conclusion; I know from experience what it means to break a promise to myself. What makes you think your New Year’s resolution will turn out any different than the promises you failed to keep before?
As far as New Year’s resolutions go, it’s impressive if you make it through the first two weeks. If you’re a gym rat, you know exactly what I mean.
As for me? I don’t make any resolutions. I can’t break a promise I never made to begin with, so I’m in familiar territory. There’s no reason to start the year with a disappointment.
Not that resolutions don’t work, or that no one can affect a change in their life by sheer power of will (possible, but unlikely). I’m simply pointing out that just because it’s the start of a new decade doesn’t mean you’ve got more gumption than you had yesterday, or two weeks ago. Today is still the day after yesterday no matter how proudly you turned the page on your calendar this morning, while holding an icepack to your throbbing head.
If you’re going to make a resolution, don’t do it out of hangover-induced guilt, or because all the cool kids are doing it. I’m all for bettering yourself, but change doesn’t work unless you believe in it too.
2009/12/28 article
Christmas was a whirlwind. In typical fashion, I abandoned all semblance of routine during the holidays and focused on enjoying my vacation. Between moving to Germany, spending time with family, holiday shopping, reading good books, meeting new people, and lapsing nightly into a full on home-cooked food coma, I had plenty to keep me occupied.
The photo above is a dazzling view of the village and rolling German hills where I now live. It will make a fantastic base from which to start (and recuperate from) as many trips as I can afford/manage in the next year or more. I spent some time hiking around the hills with my dogs taking photos, but this view is by far my favorite, because I don’t even have to put on shoes to enjoy it.
Enjoyment can only last for so long before it deteriorates into excess, however, so us little elves went to work on the site behind the scenes. You’ve probably noticed the beautiful new design. It’s better organized and all the words have plenty of room to breathe. We even have a little logo up top now.
I’d like to thank James for all his hard work and generosity. The new design is the best Christmas present I’ve ever been lucky enough to receive. Visit James at The Phuse and commission him for some work if you need a snazzy new design for your own site.
As I work on new content, is there anything you’d like to see me write about this year? Leave a comment and let me know! Your input is priceless.
