Yurtin’, Murtin’ Furtin’

A couple weeks back my friends and I rented a yurt on the coast of Oregon. I’d never heard of one and thought my friend was messing with me when she told me they’re a cross between a teepee, a shack and a tent. Apparently their architectural design is Mongolian. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of my yurt. Would there be huge cobwebs? Would it smell like dog urine? I’m willing to try anything once (except maybe lamb brains) so I agreed to go in on it. I even decided to cut loose and not bring any Lysol or other anti-bacterial spray. (okay, I’m kidding)

Obviously, from the picture above, we bonded with our A24 yurt in Beverly Beach, OR. It’s like sleeping in a giant home-made fort. I highly recommend it.

Music: The Ultimate Cure for Writer’s Block

When I get stuck in my writing there are three things I do: Go running and listen to music, go driving and listen to music, sit still and listen to music. In other words, music is where I find my inspiration and muse. It stirs thoughts in my head that become stagnant and makes images pop up behind my eyes as if a movie is playing in my head. As I’ve dedicated much of my time lately to writing, here are some tunes that repeat on my playlist:

Close to Me—The Cure
Cupid—Amy Whinehouse
The Zephyr Song—Red Hot Chili Peppers
Get Buck in Here—Ludacris, P. Diddy
Homecoming—Kanye West
Beloved—Minnie Driver
I Feel it All—Feist
How to Save a Life—The Fray
New Soul—Yael Naim
Unsingable Name—Mike Doughty
White Lexus—Mike Doughty
Time is Running Out—Muse

Monday Quote:

“The world is not respectable. It is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms...”
-George Santayana

Jealousy—it Happens

Jealousy’s a waste of time. The ironic thing is while you’re jealous of someone, someone else is jealous of you, so why not cancel each other out and just be happy with what you have and be happy for others? Not so simple, I know.

I find myself jealous of the most random things in life. Most people are jealous of money or status or jobs or looks.

I get extremely jealous of people that have clean cars. Don’t you use them? Don’t you throw your crap in the backseat after work and watch the crap pile up until you’re forced to give someone a ride home and they call you out on what a slob you are? Don’t you drink coffee on the way to work while you drive and spill it all over the stick shift and dash board? Don’t you stop at the gas station and get a bag of Doritos and as you eat them the crumbs fall between the cracks of your console and your greasy fingers leave orange-speckled spots on your steering wheel? Don’t you throw your c.d.’s on the floor that constantly get scratched and skip and you kick yourself every time but you never learn from it? Don’t you leave a Diet Pepsi from Taco Bell in the beverage holder and it slowly leaks through the cardboard cup, which you forget about, and it leaves a gooey residue all over the plastic holder that you can’t really clean out because it’s molded to your car? Don’t you leave half of a Kit Kat bar in its wrapper and it melts one summer day and eternally lodges itself into your seat upholstery? Don’t you people live?

The State of the Environment:

Here are some powerful words spoken by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address on Monday night. Reflecting on his seven year term, here is what he has to say about the state of our environment. His thoughts are in italics, my responses, slightly cynical, are in parenthesis:

Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions. (What? Put money into the environment? What a crazy idea!)

Let us increase the use of renewable power and emissions-free nuclear power. (Okay, how exactly?)

Let us continue investing in advanced battery technology and renewable fuels to power the cars and trucks of the future. (That’s right, because you’re totally against investing in oil companies.)

Let us create a new international clean technology fund, which will help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources. (That sounds super, when do you plan to actually do this?)

And let us complete an international agreement that has the potential to slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases. (It’s called the Kyoto Protocol and you neglected to sign it, naughty, naughty, Bush.).

Yes, let us do all of those things Bush. That sounds super. Now put your happy thoughts into action. That would be super too.

Coffee Shop Scrutiny

I was in a coffee shop yesterday and these women kept laughing and it was really irritating. Every time they all cackled, I looked over and glared at them. Then I contemplated how pathetic it is to be annoyed with laughter. I must have a problem. Maybe I just wished at that moment I was sitting with a group of close friends and sharing a secret laugh.

Then I noticed this young couple sitting at a table kiddy-corner to me. The blond girl wore a pink shirt, held a pink phone, drank out of a pink water bottle and I’m willing to bet was wearing pink cotton brief underpants. She also had on little pink rime stone earrings. I don’t know why, but this also irritated me. She kept petting her boyfriend. Not patting, or poking—petting him like he was a velour blanket or a puffy stuffed animal. That really annoyed me. Then I thought, am I getting annoyed by the sight of love? How cruel is that? I must have a problem. Maybe I wished I was sitting with a boy so I could pet him and wear girly colors and feel cute. No, I think I was just craving solitude.

I turned up my music louder to drown out the distractions. Rise, by Eddie Vetter filled my ears and I wanted to paint the lyrics on the walls because they make sense to me.

Then, a girl sitting at a table across from me, reading a book, a half empty plate of pasta in front of her, met my eye. Her dark eyes were warm and friendly. She seemed to give me a look of understanding, like, “Yeah, people are annoying; first you love them, then you hate them, and then you love them again.” I agreed with her eyes.

I looked around the coffee shop walls and noticed some incredible paintings, bright and colorful, that contrasted the drab sky, the gray and wooly clothing people wear in this town. I noticed how refreshing that burst of color is. And those are the things I should really focus on, right? The bright colors, the kind eyes I meet on occasion.

Finally, I noticed this squirrelly woman get up and move three times. Three!! She had this great seat by the window, her own observation deck. And she moved nearer to the barista station, which is loud and distracting. So then she moved again to the very center of the room. I thought, hey, at least I’m not the only one in the room who’s rarely satisfied.

MONDAY QUOTE

"What is simple in the moonlight, by the morning never is."
~taken from the song Lua by Bright Eyes.