Die Krieg Ist Abgeschlossen

It was World War II and my father, a couple of others and I were in Normandy. We found a hole in the ground that led down into a unfinished, suburban American-style basement. We went down into the whole and I kept throwing grenades through the studs and blowing up Germans. My father said not to do that as we needed to find information. Then Germans behind the counter in the unfinished basement threw red bottles of ketchup (the old, restaurant type that showed no brand) over at us in means of surrender. One crazy lo0king German walked out with a rather large rifle. I walked over. I can't remember if he shot at me, but I don't think so.

Then the dream rebooted. I told everyone to let me go down by myself. I told them that if I wasn't back in ten minutes to blow the hole. I went down there and shot a couple of them. Another came out and shot me in the back, but I was invincible. I told him that it is rare, but that I'll give him a second chance. Then I yelled that the war is over (in German) and that they should stop. I heard one say something, then another and the other shot the first one. I went over and killed the one who shot the other. The first one was shot in the abdomen.

I walked up the stairs/ladder with the two of them, the shot one over my shoulder. They started telling my group that I speak German and can't die. I told my group that I didn't know what they were saying. They left and I guarded the Germans. I took a piece of wire, wrapped a hook in it, and took the bullet out in the injured German. My perspective in the dream turned to the wire going into his body and pulling out the bullet. The other German was freaking a little and I told him, in German, that the war was over for him and that I was 10,000 years old. I also told him that I was born American, but ended up back 10,000 years ago and killed more people than were in the war. I said I was tired of the death.

Kind of How I Feel

These songs reflect what the last few days have been like. Ugh....

Optimistic - Radiohead

Not Going Anywhere - Keren Ann

Eon - Supergrass

Valediction - Richmond Fontaine

Y Teimlad - Super Furry Animals

We're Just Friends - Wilco

Isolation - Mercury Rev

Solace for Pain - The Gentle Waves

Bar Italia - Pulp

Ocean - The Velvet Underground

Renew & Restore - The Gentle Waves

Not Going Anywhere - Keren Ann

I Cried Like a Silly Boy - DeVotchKa

Why? - Slumber Party

I'm On Fire - Bruce Springsteen

Heaven - Talking Heads

Undone - Imperial Teen

You're The Storm - The Cardigans

No Lonesome Tune - Townes Van Zandt

Hidden Song - Cyann & Ben

Ghosts of Things to Come - Clint Mansell

High, Low and In Between - Townes Van Zandt

Don't Follow - Alice In Chains

Ripple - Grateful Dead

Long Way - Queen

Crown of Love - Arcade Fire

All Alone - Mad Season

Return to Oz - Scissor Sisters

I'm Set Free (Closet Mix) - The Velvet Underground

Lua - Bright Eyes

My Head Falls Softly - Kitty Craft

Behind Her Smiling Eyes - Cyann & Ben

Hell Is Chrome - Wilco

I'm Going Slightly Mad - Queen

Plastic Jesus - The Flaming Lips

Harvest Breed - Nick Drake

Pretty Things - The Gentle Waves

Wise Observations

I found this here:

A Boy in a Barbershop

I took my youngest sons to the barbershop Sunday afternoon and, as usual, my 6-year-old brought a book. While the 4-year-old was getting his hair cut, Michael knelt on the footrest of an empty barber’s chair. He propped the book on the seat and, with perfect obliviousness, rotated the chair by pushing against the floor with one foot. In that unlikely posture, he read Strange Museum for the 10 minutes it took the barber to cut his brother’s hair.

I would have been crippled had I done what Michael could do without thinking. His body and mind are elastic. Story enters his consciousness and fills it to the exclusion of sore joints and a too-loud radio. He is open to words and narrative in ways I can no longer imagine. Story displaces cares and conventions – a gift of which he is unaware, that he will some day lose. Remember the wistful opening lines of Randall Jarrell’s “A Girl in a Library”:

“An object among dreams, you sit here with your shoes off
And curl your legs up under you; your eyes
Close for a moment, your face moves toward sleep . . .
You are very human.
But my mind, gone out in tenderness,
Shrinks from its object with a thoughtful sigh.”

Perfect Use

If you bike in Madison and head east on the Capitol Bike Path, you've past the old Garver Mill plant. I find the urban splunking movement interesting and love looking at the pictures of the old, crumbling buildings. Madison just doesn't have many. The Garver site is the exception. There has been talk for years on what to do with it and a new proposal looks perfect. It's adjacent to Olbrich Gardens and near the Williamson neighborhood, which already has artistic bent. The picture in the article just doesn't do it justice. It's a pretty cool building, to say the least.

In other news, I got an African Fat-Tailed gecko for Christmas. She's quite beautiful and named Leopold. I already had the name picked out and she *may* be male, but odds are she's a she. She looks like this:



She really doesn't like to be held, so I leave her alone to veg out. Funny thing is, last Friday I was out for Nathan Moore's (WORT News Director) good-bye part and was talking to his wife. She said she had a bearded dragon she was giving up to a good home and hadn't yet found one. Well, now I have a bearded dragon named Louie. He's very, very mellow and very social. I watch shows with him sleeping on my chest. Here's what he looks like:



So I must say I'm quite happy with the additions.

Jon Stewart Speaks the Truth

I just renewed my iTunes multi-pass today. From this article:

Stewart routinely challenges his interviewees. When Anderson Cooper told him CNN has a "sense of mission," Stewart asked, "When's it gonna show on air?" His tenacity in holding on to the truth as his interviewees try to spin it showed clearly when he debated marriage with Bill Bennett:

JS: Why not encourage gay people to join in that family arrangement if that is what provides stability to a society?

BB: Well, I think...gay people are already members of families. They're sons and they're daughters.

JS: So that's where the buck stops? That's the gay ceiling.

BB: Look, it's a debate about whether you think marriage is between a man and a woman.

JS: I disagree. I think it's a debate about whether you think gay people are part of the human condition or just a random fetish.

What Am I Running From

So last night I had a dream that I was married (to a dream wife, no one real) and was running from her along with my friends and family. I pretended to be fast asleep, ran through a big building, out into the street, and found my car. Before getting into it, my dream shifted. I did try calling Steve to see if I could crash at his place, but he was in some place that he normally wouldn't go. I can't remember where.

What's up with this dream?

Failed, Again

Since I was turning and tossing (not tossing) all last night, things are a little fuzzy, but here it is.

One part was being in some event that must have been influenced by Lebowski fest, I was talking to a couple guys who said the who thing was boring. I said to wait for the big battle where thousands of people hack each other apart. When that started, I was running around in a field, but a field with clothes racks, toy shelves, sofas, etc. My eight grade algebra teacher called on me to be a wolf or something and I didn't like it.

Then I was in a forest up north and I fucked up and cut down a hundred year old tree. I thought it must have been a sappling when my grandfather was born.

The next part was a test flight of a new passenger plane. It looked like the stealth bomber, but the good part was that it had an open area instead of seat rows. You could lay down, sit at a table, eat food, and more. I guess I took someone's seat because after the flight was over, a couple people bitched at me.

Next I was in the old, blue-tiled East Towne Mall. The center didn't have a fountain, but did have a bunch of clothes stores. A girl that I liked was there and I was trying to walk up to her. Eventually I was passing her and a friend when the friend stopped me and asked me why I took the seat on the plane from someone else. The girl that I liked just looked away.

This always happens in my dreams. Crap.