Category Archive

and in seconds, life and everyone in it, can get crazy.

in no specific order:

1. blog. swim. practice t’ai chi. stop looking at computer screens.
2. expand garden. grow food.
3. research whether it’s economically sound to buy a hybrid car at this juncture.
4. finish Ishmael. buy more books.
5. find, meet,propose, and marry norah jones. change name to Mr. Jones and holla at the counting crows guy, see if he wants to go get a drink in 1997.

See now, things have a way of working themselves out, if you just let them. My brain is fried full of ajax, API, php, perl and rubies on rails (thanks bluewaters) and has Rolodexed every social networking, web 2.0, video sharing site. Ha Rolodex. Remember those old Casio watches that had calculators on them? I saw this 17 year old kid wearing one and gave high fives, with both hands. Way to show your roots. Being a nerd is something to aspire to. You never know who you’re gonna learn from.

Speaking of 2.0 - Some cool links from my research dayz you may or may not want to check out. Of course, I really don’t give a shit either way, I’m just promoting them because they’re either funny, weird, or have hot chicks on the homepage.

http://funnyordie.com/videos/74

http://vimeo.com/

threadless.com

craftster.org

More random stuff? Bonnaroo rocked. Lesley feist kicked ass. Here’s a vid from the show I was at.

More randomness soon. Enjoy the poem.song below. I really, really don’t understand that whole opposite sex thing. Celibacy. Seriously. the only way. Someone put that on a t-shirt.

i have a deep, somewhat fading obsession with world war 2. technology, warfare, movement, empires, philosophies, catastrophes, the movies, flappers, zoot suits, computer games, big band music…it’s almost pathetic.  almost.

sometimes i connect better with my grandparents and even great grandparents more than the ones who were actually involved in my seeding. yes, mom and dad are so real, so tangible, that my own dementia brings upon daydreams of baghdad, iraq, uzghorod, the czech republic, hungary. when i lived in italy i was prone to scramble and hunt for nazis among the alleyways of antiquity, peering from the tops of cobblestone arches making sure that those deadly kraut mg42s that killed broxman the week before was nowehere in sight, the coast clear for me to jump across and continue to my objective. or i’m playing the tarbouka with my grandfather ezra on a patio in the jewish quarter of baghdad, circa 1936, the sun elongating silhouettes across the cityscape, domes and mud buildings ignited with gold.  there’s food cooking, there’s always food cooking in this arabic house, and i get a nod from my grandfather. he smiles at me, blows out smoke and shisha, because life is good.

my grandparents fled iraq in 1952 after al-Huseini went the way of hitler. i think he was beat up, his wife also arrested for zionist activities. put in jail for 2 weeks for believing in a state for jewish people.  in the european theatre, matters were much worse, my grandparent’s families simply - what’s the word - destroyed. people, fathers, mothers, children, were put to death because of faith, a farce, a deranged criminal in a deranged time.  

my inquiry? my holocaust? i remember. i’m16. my gravitation towards all things nostalgic draws me towards our bar, where my family keeps the pricey alcohol it never drinks, an pictures pictures pictures, weding photos, trips to hawaii, bar mitzvah shots, my dad’s bar mitzvah invitation, report cards from when i was 7.

and i see this list. it’s my father’s family tree, compiled in 1987.  and it starts way way back, to the late 1700s, retelling the story of the neuman family, where they came from, names i can’t prounce. and some names are roots of families, branches of children extending, location and professions of distant relatives whose names I’ve once heard. but then are the gaps. names that dead end, a premature death, their existence and their being shattered early, histories and lives collapsing into a dark place of nothingness. 

erased.  

people were erased.  68 out of 72 people in my grandmother’s family were erased. 

today on yom hashoah, holocaust rememberance day, i try and remember those 68.

“and when ya can’t find an opiate, ya use an analgesic!” so the saying goes around here.

but seriously. my neck is starting to feel better. and the diahrea has subsided to untraceable levels. and that, my friends, has made my hosts feel better.

about the laptop, i didn’t even have enough time to get to know the thing. we only went for a few months, hooked up a few times, i always ended up paying, and she never said thank you. then she runs off with another guy, like the whore that everyone looks for when the club closes with that not-so-discreet eye. come on. you know what im talking about. you’re single, dry for three weeks…even the russian bouncer starts to look attractive.

this state of semi paralysis has led me to a number of things though, that I’ll share:

-practicing brazilian jujistu holds on my 14 year old cousin

-looking for environmental design and sales jobs in someplace outside of Los Angeles

-couting the number of buttons on the keyboard (58 on this one)

-playing company on heroes on my cousins computer (amazing wwII strategy game), getting in touch with my inner [and outer] nerd.

-praying

-sailing

-creating sarcastic, often counterfeit ‘things i’ve been up to lately’ lists and posting them on the internet

-drafting business plans, reading rich dad poor dad, not responding to emails, planning for world apocalpse. pretty usual stuff. and making amazing bagel sandwiches. nobody fucks with my bagels.  not even mister diahrea!

i’m not into conspiracy theories (well…actually..the smalls have been known to believe in aliens) but here’s the text of a new bill passed by NY-D charles rangle…

110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 393

To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the favorable treatment afforded combat pay under the earned income tax credit, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - January 10, 2007

Read the summary. It lists exemptions. If you’re in the 11th grade, you won’t need to wear a uniform. Rad! Tell me…Why oh why is this topic of reinstatement getting tossed around both floors lately? Is it coincidence or is there a genuine political push for more US soldiers? You can say “Bullshit! The eskimo is paranoid!” But I’ll bet you don’t even remember turning 42. Do ya?

And check out the date. The piece of legislation was introduced the same day Bush requested another 21000 troops. We’ll need more than that if he plans to invade Iran. He’s got 2 years to do it!

Far right Evangelical Christian Godspeed!

i was hanging out with my friend, the extraordinary eli winkelwoman and her sister, trying to come up with cliched titles for my journal. (where i keep the realy private stuff, and notes so i dont forget anything) and after much ado, and a ferry ride to new jersey, came up with “life in samsonites,” for 2 reasons: 1, it reminds me of the counting crows album, ‘recovering the satellites’ and 2, because of swan, swanson, samsonite! 3, if you didnt grasp that reference, then maybe this blog isnt for you, and 4, b/c its reflective of what im packing. there.

i leave for the israel in 10 hours. i could never manage to nail that whole ’sleep at _ o’ clock to avoid the jet lag’ theory. its pretty stupid if you think about. im basically fucked either way, sleep or no sleep. planes suck. long plane rides suck even more. i do yoga before i get on nowadays to stay limber, and eat bananas because i heard (this is unconfirmed) that the potassium helps muscles loosen up and not cramp. whatever. i like bananas so its a win-win situation.

stay shiny. stay up. stay open minded.

and godspeed.

A news update on popurls, (a comprehensive article/video/news feeder site that really kicks ass at its job), caught my eye on Tuesday. So Iran holds a Holocaust revisionist conference, so what? Should anyone really be afraid of a bunch of Nazi sympathizers and psychotic leaders smoking hookah in a big anti-Semitic circle jerk in Tehran? I heard Benyamin Netanyahu preach at the GA last month, dishing the hypnotic mantra, “It’s 1938. Iran is the new Germany.” Repeat. Wait for applause from 65 year old Jewish community leaders. Repeat 2x.

What keeps my dreams ‘Iranian Nuclear Threat Free’ are the two armies who have a vested interest in staying alive. The US Marines has at its disposal about 180,000 troops; the Navy has between 8-11 aircraft carriers floating around the world at all times. Even taking the conflict in Iraq into account, that’s still a helluva lot of soldiers and military power the US keeps at bay. Israel has preemptively struck a nuclear reactor before, and it’d literally be suicide to subordinate national security save political face. (As if Israel had any political face to begin with)

But perhaps it is time. I won’t believe IT IS, because that’s been said before and led to some troubling results. Numberswise, Iran is on its way to rearmament, with roughly 665,000 conscripted soldiers. Anyone watching the news in the past 4 years would also agree that “strategic” carpet bombing doesn’t work. It would take lots of force, or just one big bomb. So why not go in? Maybe we’re waiting in Baghdad and Basra, trying to act as a deterrent. But things get more complicated when the ruling dictator who’s sitting on a potential hill of atomic bombs, able to hold anti-Jewish conferences, is waiting for impending destruction and calamity.
Muhammad al-Mahdi, better known in the Koran as the 12th Imam, is allegedly supposed to reappear when it gets really bad and bring salvation to the world. And by salvation I mean Islam everywhere. Cool. How is all this connected? Before you say conspiracy theory, look up al-Sadr, leader of the Iraq ‘revolt.’ He fights for the Madhi Army team!!!

It’s like the Islamic Armageddon, only the bad guys might have nuclear bombs instead of Nerf guns. And what’s better? The first article I linked to mentions Saudi Arabia, who according to Nawaf Obaid, a national security adviser to the Saudi embassy, said that the Kingdom of Arabia would support the Iraqi Sunnis (the Iranians are Shi’a) once the US pulls out.

He apparently was fired a week later, and Saud has rescinded his remarks.

Just like Patrick Swayze, as Dalton the bouncer, says in Road House: It’ll get worse before it gets better.

Anothe reason to move to the desert!