i am

i am reading :: quite a bit.

I don't know anyone else besides my father who buys books on vacation like I do.  Of course, I generally go on vacation to visit my father and together we have to patronize all the local bookstores on Whidbey Island and beyond.  Yes, HAVE to.  It's only ethical.

About Mt. Rainier, John Muir is quoted as saying, "Did not mean to climb it, but got excited and soon was on top."  It's like that.  I did not mean to buy 10 books on vacation...though I did pack an empty backpack in my suitcase, just in case.

Here's what I got:

My father once read aloud the first chapter of Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler to me.  We laughed through the whole thing....

In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven't Read, which are frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you...And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out in Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too. 

I am

reading ::  Farenheit 451

grieving ::  the sea and its inhabitants and the state of humanity that made this possible

loving :: the return of the sweetgum leaves

thinking :: somehow, in the midst of all my ongoing hand-wringing uncertainty about what I ought to be doing with my life, how I ought to be spending my precious time and energy, what would be fulfilling to me, how much I am toiling over things that are not -- somehow, I have managed to help create music that I believe in.  something beautiful.  if I died today, there would be much to regret.  Love damaged and lost.  time squandered.  dreams sabotaged.  I don't forget that.  ever.  yes, I have spent hours on FarmVille instead of putting my hands in the dirt.  yes, I work at a job that is about as nourishing (and challenging) as a pretzel.  yes, I read art and writing blogs instead of making art and writing stories.  but.  I co-wrote Slow Dance Slow.  and I perform and have now recorded it with honesty and with heart.  and soon it will be out in the world in a bigger way.  so I won't die with ALL my music still in me.  so... so there?