Chained to the Chair

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE WRITER’S BLOCK?

You sit, and sit and sit and sit. You sit until you can crank out anything, if only a sentence, a paragraph — you sit until you wring those words from your brain. You’ve got to.
It doesn’t have to be anything significant. Heck, I don’t think I’ve ever written anything significant. It can be silly, such as “I love my ears,” “I hate pickles,” or “Let’s go throw tomatoes at the smokers on the corner.” It can be serious, like “I am being serious.” It can be romantic, maybe “You are the one that I love.” It can be poetic, “Where are thou / Thou art here / Sitting in this chair / Woe is me.” Or it can be random, perhaps “Let’s go for a ride in my spacecraft,” “I feel like breakdancing,” “Aurora Borealis is so fricking beautiful,” or “I may or may not have just wet myself.” 
There are moments during the day that I run across things that strike me as worthy of writing about, however I generally dismiss them. To me, writing just a paragraph, or a sentence about these observances is an insult to their existence. I am going to have a change of heart tonight and pay tribute to them:
TO THE TREE I REST MY BIKE AGAINST:
Thanks for letting me lean Ed on you each night, but more importantly for keeping him safe, cool, and dry. My heart sank tonight when we returned from our stroll to find different bikes chained to your trunk. No worries — Ed and I will be back tomorrow, and we know you’ll be waiting, faithful friend.
TO MY EARS:
For being the best listeners I know, you two are extremely underrated. Thanks so much for putting up with my 10 pound earrings, and sorry you are always suffocated by my hair. My apologies that you evolved from my dad’s side of the family (which would explain why you are oft times covered.)
TO REDUCED FAT ICE CREAM:
Who do you think you are? A delectable, delightful, tantalizing treat? A dessert worthy of a Friday evening? A dish of succulence bound for my hips? A chocolate-coated, caramel covered mound of sweet and sinful?
Nay. You are a cheapskate, an immense disgrace to those frozen creams before you. You are a phony, a bowl of contempt! You could be the New York, the French, the BASKIN ROBBINS HAAGEN DAZS MOTHER OF BEN & JERRY! You could be — but your three grams of fat think otherwise.
Back to the freezer with you, you…poser.
TO A PROFESSOR’S MAINE ACCENT:
I love how you say “cell phone.” (Cell phewn.)
TO THE TARGET DOLLAR AISLE:
You get more terrible every week. I can’t afford you anymore.
TO THE SMOKERS ON THE CORNER:
So you can’t promenade through campus anymore. You’ve succumbed to the street corner, a sight for sore eyes. Your ashtrays have been disconnected, your privileges adjourned, your pride all but bruised. What does being a smoker entail? Standing on the corner. How does this make you feel?
I’ll tell you how you make me feel. You make me feel awkward. You make me want to peel the butt from your fingers and crush the ever-loving tobacco out of it. You make me want to walk faster. You make me want to take the long way. You make me wish you were instead randomly dispersed throughout campus once again, so I wouldn’t have to look at you, an unsightly congregation of hooligans, respectfully.  
You make me angry. Good work.
TO MY BED:
You are looking awfully beautiful right now. I think I might join you.
TO ALL:
Sit, and sit and sit and sit. Sit until you can crank out anything, if only a sentence, a paragraph — sit until you wring those words from your brain. Goodnight, friends.

Top of tha’ Afternoon to Ya’!

I DON’T KNOW WHEN IT OCCURRED TO ME, BUT IT DID.

Well, for starters, there’s a lot of things I’m uncertain about. In the last two posts alone, I stated that I wasn’t certain where my avid hatred for seafood stemmed from (my brother, likely) or what animal I’d be, granted I reincarnated as one (thoughts pending). 
New thoughts have been brought on today, arising from lack of sleep. Once tiredness gives way I like to absorb myself in completely hare-brained, not to mention irrelevant questions.
• What constitutes an occasion mandatory of shaving one’s legs? Does there have to be a certain quota of males present? Between the months of April and October? Will anyone be touching them, and is there a possibility they won’t mind that I skipped my knees?
• What are acceptable objects and/or vocabulary to direct at a snoring roommate? Pillows? Darts? “I’m going to eat you?” Bowling balls? I am running out of things in my bed.
• What’s a good amount of time to take a shower for? Sixty minutes? An hour? Two hours?
• Is there such a thing as a justifiable “Tramp Stamp”?
and finally, the motherload of today’s occurring thoughts:
• Do my future children and grandchildren really expect me to impart wisdom upon them, and if so, what? “Stay in school?” “The bigger your hair, the closer to God?” or  “Always wear your spacebelt?” Is being a kid an option?
I just don’t know how they’ll take me seriously.

Tater Tots

In a box under my bed, 

diary, like a mouse
Memories of my sister in the city
New York, New York
Postcards sent from Times Square
Bubblegum I’ll never chew
and the file I’ve never ran
across my jagged nails.
Birthday cake, cheesecake,
Walls smothered, covered,
consumed by Hanson posters
Report cards dressed to the nines
and scenes from Willy Wonka, Alice in Wonderland
Nightmares, worthwhile scares
chainsaws and atomic bombs
Running away in my tennis shoes,
track spikes, chased by alligators
Little boys in rubber masks
Photographs and the comb I’ve seldom used.
Mother’s in the kitchen with the cheese grate,
Father’s mowing the lawn, pulling out his wallet
Brother’s feeding his turtle, 
Sister’s running with scissors
In a little house, on a quiet loop
and I’m having tater tots for dinner.

For the Night Owls in the Room…

HI.

Being that it’s nearly 4 a.m. and I am still awake (this time, against my will), I thought I’d take this opportunity to let the people of the blog (that’s you, trusty reader — if, in fact, you are not a myth!) in on several things about myself that are crucial to my understanding:
A. I hate bananas. I will not touch one, eat one, smell, mash, or even look at one. (All of these rules are waived for banana bread and cake, which I wholeheartedly enjoy. I don’t get it, either.) 
2. I cannot stand listening to the sounds made by others during the consumption of a bowl of cereal.
III. I am borderline OCD, if not mildly OCD, if not actually OCD. It’s not diagnosed, however, I’m fairly certain that putting the dishes away 12 times a day, turning lights on, and off, and on, arranging the couch pillows just so to my satisfaction, cleaning my room before I go to sleep (if I sleep), getting an unnatural high off of seeing things in neat rows, columns, etc., and organizing everything I can get my hands on is pretty good indication. I like neat, and neat likes to drive me crazy.
4) Going back to what I said about bananas. If there is something that I dislike more than bananas, it’s seafood. WHAT THE HECK! Who on earth got the bright idea to eat a fish one day, or a crustacean of any kind for that matter?! Were they really that bored and/or hungry?! I’ve had this argument numerous times, and I stand firm on my reasoning. What comes from the water should stay in the water, period. I’m not certain where this logic emerged from, but I’m fairly certain it was from watching my brother chop fish heads off at a young age. Sea creatures look so much better swimming than on a plate, or in a casserole, or a sandwich at McDonald’s. (Wait, that’s not fish! Fish don’t have sandwiches!) Not to mention they’re scaly and slimy and smelly…three things I do NOT look for in my food. Exclamation point. Period. 


f. When I was much younger, I liked to ride my bike down the street behind our house. One day I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and ran square into a parked car, HARD mind you. As I picked myself up from the ground, I noticed that the owner was standing outside watering his lawn. I said ‘sorry’ and sped away. The best part of the story (as if me falling off my bike isn’t great enough) comes a couple of years down the road when the same man was a sub for my P.E. class. Please enjoy a laugh at my expense, and understand that running into things is a part of life, parked cars are easily overlooked, and if this happens to you, you’re better off changing your gender and moving to Djibouti.

7. I am not going to remember any of this in the morning.

h) When I was growing up, my dad used to call me Cruella de Ville. Not because I was evil, but because I actually looked like her. I can confirm this.

IX. There is an extensive list of things I would rather slam my hand in a car door than endure, including (but not limited to):

     1. Watch football.
     2. Sleep in the same room as a snorer (or ATTEMPT to sleep). Say your prayers, I will make your life unbearable in the morning.
     3. Witness people lick food off their fingers. CRINGE. If I could only show you the microorganisms under your nails that are cringing, too…
     4. Eat seafood or bananas (refer to A and 4).
     5. Attend any sort of gathering involving country music, drunken stupor, masses of people, or all of the above (my personal fav). Even better if it’s hot and people are sticking to me.
     6. Being referred to as a “little girl,” or “cutie” by drunk, old men in the WalMart express checkout lane (don’t ask).
     7. The wrath of my parents after telling them I’m dropping out of school to pursue such careers as “Sandwich Artist,” “Freeloader,” “Carnival Specialist,” or “Baby Maker.”

10. There are just two things that I want to do during my lifetime: Cruise in a submarine, and ride in a sidecar. I recently decided that since I am borderline, if not mildly, if not actually claustrophobic (my immunity built up from days of being squeezed into high school lockers is in remission) the submarine dream can be permanently postponed. The sidecar, on the other hand — that I am completely serious about. If you know an Uncle Buck or great second Cousin Sue that has one, let. Me. Know.

k) For my 10th birthday party, I had a photograph of the Hanson brothers printed onto my cake. I also wore my Hanson Middle of Nowhere t-shirt, and cried when it was not I, THE BIRTHDAY GIRL, who got to consume the piece of cake containing the imagery of Zac Hanson’s head. I was pretty hardcore.

It’s five o’clock and I have sufficiently annihilated an hour with my nonsensical brouhaha. No worries, there’s plenty more where this came from. To bed once more, this time to prevail!

muchlove,

jc

PS. I really won’t remember this in the morning. Forgive me.

Wide Awake

I LIE DOWN, once, twice

Roll over, three, four 
Five times, six
Close the window, 
Examine my conscience,
Blanket on, blanket off
Stomach, back, side
Eyes closed, open
Closed again, open
Clock-watching, sit
Wait, up, back down
Shiver, sweat, shiver, sweat
Chronic, minutes, passing
Slow-moving, never-ending
Ill-fated insomniac.
“The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness. Just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the visual disease is what we have around, and what we try to do is cure it somehow with design.”
 
[Massimo Vignelli in Helvetica]

Where I’m Bound (I Can’t Tell)

MY BEST FRIEND AND I were sitting at Starbucks today, devouring a moist slice of lemon loaf and indulging in warm drinks in light of fall before she headed home for the evening.

There wasn’t much conversation, mostly just small banter of what we’d like to do with our lives, how we’d envisioned ourselves using our degrees and so forth. There is this longstanding illusion that when I am out in the “real world” searching for a career, I will violently shake my diploma overhead, screaming something to the extent of, “Check THIS out (bitches, fools, etc)!” and future employers will come flocking to me. Apparently this is not so (I’ve been told.)
It was one of those conversations that made me realize how much I am living in the now, and not in the “then”, or the “will be”. This is merely the epoch during which I drink coffee, scout boys, dress goofy, and learn to properly do such things as wash my clothes, clean my bathroom, and cook Lean Cuisines.
One thing my friend (let’s call her Holly for the sake of friends having names) said really stood out in my mind. Out of the blue came a thought:
“I can’t wait to have someone to make breakfast with, to do crossword puzzles with on Saturday mornings.”
It’s so cheesy, yet so perfect. We’re hopeless romantics, really, except I will say her efforts earn more merit than mine. We dream of spending the rest of our lives with perfect strangers, of colors that we’ll paint our living rooms and cars that we’ll drive. Of names that we’ll bestow upon our future children, of spending money without rue, of road trips we’ll take and days we’ll meet again. Life is too short not to be a wishful thinker.
You know, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me.