“My barn, having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon” – Chinese proverb.

Viewed Gangs of New York once again this weekend, also worked in the basement putting a concrete slab down for the new stove. It’s an old house, stone foundation, hard-packed dirt floor in the basement. Spending time down there is like time traveling. I’m no Priest Vallon, the only advice I have for you is to remember to cover your beer before opening a new bag of quikrete.

“Listen to me, he said, when your dreams are of some world that never was or some world that never will be, and you’re happy again, then you’ll have given up. Do you understand? And you can’t give up, I won’t let you.” — Cormac McCarthy (The Road)

A very good book. I don’t remember who recommended it to me first, but I’m glad I took their advice.

Self Portrait – Summer, 2009

I went to the hills because I had no choice but to live fortuitously, to usurp the essential facts of life, and see if I could not unlearn all that I had been taught, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living that way can become ostentatious; nor did I wish to practice sentimentality, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live in the moment and unpack all the baggage of life, to live so unaware and workmen-like as to put to rout all that was Spectacle, to cut a narrow path and hew close, to drive self consciousness into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.

Third in a series. The most unremarkable from a certian stand point… yet the picture with the most in the way of a back story. The barn still stood when I was a child. It was well over 100 years old at the time, but was brought down around 80′ or 81.

Short story is that during the construction of this silo back in ’38 a worker fell off. He was brought to the house where he died shortly after. The silo still stands, even after many attempts to bring it down. As it is now half the base has been missing for years and no one wants to get near it.

I hope to hear it fall in the night. I want to come out in the morning and have to do a double take because something is missing and I can’t quite put my finger on it, and then think to myself, “oh, that’s what that thump was.” Whenever it goes… I look forward to the next spring when I can grade the old barn site and see nothing but lawn there for the rest of my days.

Things are likely to be slow here for a while. Not only am I writing for the school newspaper, but I’m involved with redesigning the paper’s website. I’ll keep you updated, meanwhile, you may want to add my feed to your RSS reader if you haven’t already.

Wow. The Culture Ghost (who has been up to some interesting things himself) shared this with the gang in Google Reader; the above video via Mud and Cowbells. It is just plain jaw dropping.

Happy New Year everyone!

Kashmir feat David Bowie – The Cynic

Finally my local College Radio station updated their website so as to be half readable…and it now has a play list. Thanks 92WICB!