weapons of massdistraction

Here we are again. Twenty four years ago today my brother Tom lost his battle with leukemia. Recently someone made a video using an abridged version of David Foster Wallace’s memorable “This is Water” speech, which is a little odd, but watching it this morning hit me particularly hard. I can’t help but think of how much life I’ve experienced since Tom died and wonder what his life would have been like had he lived. As usual I’ve tried to honor his memory this week by doing things I know he would have enjoyed. Like Friday night, when we went to Wits. My brother would have loved Patton Oswalt (one of us) and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and he probably had a crush on Ione Skye. Who didn’t in the 80s? Saturday afternoon we swung by Free Comic Book Day at The Source and I remembered all of our trips to Shinders as kids. And Saturday night, we participated in Cinco de Mayhem at CO Exhibitions. I really should have had my Dad make a pinata along with the other local artists.

Sunday was a bit off. In the morning I woke from a bad dream collage: I lost my job. A friend was diagnosed with some awful blood disease. There was a kitchen fire. I got mugged in a parking ramp. Unsurprisingly I got out of bed feeling not at all rested. And proceeded to cook up a storm (without any accompanying fires) before heading to the May Day Parade. We mostly had a good time but the boy and I just experienced synchronized seasonal allergy explosions so we were both a bit punchy and prone to crabbiness/crappiness.

In other news, Saturday is the boyfriend’s birthday. We’re heading down to Chicago to see Boris at Lincoln Hall. Despite being a mother I was oblivious to the impending Mother’s Day when I booked this trip out of town. Without my son. Oops.

Speaking of moms and more:

• The Matrix, retold by mom. Weird bonus: “The Walking (And Talking) Dead” — A Bad Lip Reading of The Walking Dead
• Matt Groening’s mom passed away recently. Read through her obituary and you will a) see what a wonderful smile she had and b) see how much of Groening’s real life inspired/informed The Simpsons.
• What an amazing person. I wish I had that sort of focus. Ray Harryhausen, Master Of Stop-Motion Animation, Dies. My friend Emily rounds up some of his best works.
• 22 cleverly defaced textbooks and exam papers and also science!
• I have long been amused by musicians who achieve a certain level of success and use it to come up with ridiculous riders when touring and whatnot. One photographer decided to document such things. Wonderful.

It was a long hard winter. Now that things are finally warming up (I’ve worn sandals! At least twice!) it’s particularly hard to focus on staying in one place in the here and now. Mentally or physically. The other night the boyfriend and I fully booked our Canadian trip for August. I even did a happy dance. Neither of us have used airbnb before but I feel like we did our homework and made some good choices for our Toronto and Montreal stays. We’ve also got this trip to Chicago, at least one to Pizza Farm, and another to Cheyenne for a friend’s wedding. And my son has some wacky adventures roaming the countryside with his grandparents and their dogs in an RV. But we need to remember to be present in the days that we are here, in our every day lives, and try not to daydream too much about what lays ahead.

Suddenly summer BAM! Just like that. Last week it was snowing. The last couple of days I’ve experienced non-workout related underboob sweat, for the first time this year. We nearly hit 80 degrees. And BAM again! It’s dropping forty degrees overnight and probably snowing tomorrow. Oh hooray Minnesota. At least my illness is abating. But I’m weak. I finally returned to kickboxing on Saturday. And…barfed halfway through class. Guess I need to build back up to it.

How about five good things?

• Nice to see this piece about Sarah Allen: Blazing the trail for female programmers (though it fails the Finkbeiner test in nearly every possible way).
• Here at Clockwork we’re thinking about the next generation of programmers. To that end we’ve begun hosting the brand new Twin Cities branch of Coder Dojo. Recently mentioned in this piece: “Computer-coding classes teach students skills they’re not getting in school“
• My old pal Michelle is a Mongol now. So happy for her and I love living vicariously through her adventures.
• Yesterday NBA player James Collins came out, which was super cool. First major sports player to do so. And there was a lot of positive reaction to his announcement, which was good to see. In related news, a friend made a spot-on observation about Chris Kluwe: “while he’s not saying anything new, he is saying it in an interesting and sometimes humorous way that’s just intelligent enough to get the A-OK from the cognoscenti, and just middle-of-the-road enough for the average person to not be turned off.” This time we were talking about this: “When They Come For You“
• I was blown away by this powerful photo essay: Photos of Children From Around the World With Their Most Prized Possessions. Wow.

Distractions abound on the internet, as ever. Yesterday I learned Neil Degrasse Tyson had the esteemed Alan Rickman on his Star Talk show. Bookmarked that to listen to later while I got sucked into a new BBC mini-series by Jane Campion. I binged on too many episodes of Top of the Lake last night but I haven’t made it to the end yet. Biting my nails to find out how it all shakes out. But there is so much going on in real life. Paperwork to contend with for the kid’s summer camp. Music and art happenings. Hanging out with friends. A whirlwind weekend of Free Comic Book Day and the May Day Parade and related house parties, potlucks and shows. I’m happy to end my winter of hermitude.

I cry uncle. Or, as my son’s Dad would have us say, I yield to the merciless aggressor. Everything is horrible. The news has been overwhelming this week. The U.S. House of Representatives shamefully passed CISPA. Our local weather can be categorized as soul-crushing. My illness persists. I need to be transported. Mentally at least, if not physically.

Five things to divert my attention:

• “In Sri Lanka, the coconut is, in a sense, a source of life. Not only it is the main ingredient in most Sri Lankan dishes, but the entire coconut tree — From the roots to the coconut itself to the tips of the leaves — plays a major role in the non-culinary ways of life. Without the coconut, things in Sri Lanka would be very different. We spent the day with a family of 8 on their coconut plantation outside of Negombo, where they showed us all this fruit (nut?) has to offer.” Wonderful video.
• Speaking of coconut….local ice cream makers FrozBoz have crafted a vegan-friendly coconut hibiscus and lime flavor. I would love to try it.
• Most of the news stateside has been crap, but the other day lawmakers in New Zealand approved a marriage equality bill. Go Kiwis! And in it’s-about-damned-time-news, Activists cheer as Montana formally decriminalizes gay sex
• This hyper polyglot teenager taught himself to speak 23 languages. Neat.
• Science is awesome. What Happens When You Wring Out a Washcloth in Space

With yet more snow blanketing our region it seems like Spring will never come. We’ll just skip ahead, eventually, into summer. And summer of dresses. To that end I’ve been pinteresting dresses I would like to wear. Some day, when the weather cooperates. But that only induces more guilt about being brainwashed by our consumerist culture. I can’t win. And now more than ever I want off this rock. But all I’ve got is escapism. Elysium or Oblivion? Speaking of off of this rock and escapism…I also have access to watch the Lil Bub documentary in its entirety (the trailer posits that she is really an alien). I plan to tune out the rest of the world today and daydream about warmer and happier times.

Mother Nature fights dirty. I was already feeling down about this endless winter but then I got kicked in the kidneys, so to speak. Been out of commission with a migraine that morphed into a nasty sinus infection. Still, I find this to be fairly helpful advice:

21 Tips to Keep Your Shit Together When You’re Depressed

Tangentially related…another really good read. How not to say the wrong thing - “It works in all kinds of crises – medical, legal, even existential. It’s the ‘Ring Theory’ of kvetching. The first rule is comfort in, dump out.”

Five good things for this gloomy Monday:

• I recently learned about Lyft, “your friend with a car” in Los Angeles. A most excellent idea.
• 40 Hilariously Mean Roger Ebert Reviews
• Leaning in? Don’t fall over. When I was college-age my parents earned enough income that I didn’t qualify for much in the way of financial aid. But they were divorced - and not amicably - and neither would agree to help me in any way. I was on my own the day I turned 18. I attempted to go to school part-time and work full-time. Working won. Now I’ve been in my IT career for 21 years and a single parent for 13+ years of it. I’ve never had the luxury of choice.
• Gorgeous photo series, The Masks We Wear and incredibly well done Comic Book Illustrations Into the Real World
• The 2013 Minneapolis International Film Fest has begun!

At work right now but heading to the doc later this morning. Hoping to get a Z-Pak to knock out this nasty business and return to my regularly scheduled programming.

Awful things happen all the time everywhere (like hey, another Exxon pipeline spill). But lately they have been happening adjacent to me. A good friend’s mother passed away. A good friend of some of my close friends, Elyse Stern, was struck and killed by a drunk driver who sped away and left her to die. Another bicyclist friend of friends survived a freaking Molotov cocktail attack on Minneapolis’ Midtown Greenway, in broad daylight. And Roger Ebert died.

I’ve been feeling pretty down this week so it is harder to come up with my usual five good things. But I’m going to do it anyway. Because it will make me feel better.

Five good things for this Friday:

• Edison High innovator engages kids, reaches finals in Teach-Off. What a wonderful teacher! Watch the videos and vote here for Christopher Leonard Pennington.
• So much new music to enjoy right now. I love the new Low. And the new Kurt Vile. And the new Marnie Stern. And the new Julianna Barwick single. Been listening to the Knife’s New album Shaking the Habitual, streaming via Pitchfork. Live music-wise we saw Low at The Fitzgerald last month and Sigur Ros Wednesday night. This weekend we’re going to see Iceage and next week Julia Holter will be at The Walker.
• This is an incredible project. “Beijing Silvermine is a unique photographic portrait of the capital and the life of its inhabitants following the Cultural Revolution. It covers a period of 20 years, from 1985, namely when silver film started being used massively in China, to 2005, when digital photography started taking over. These 20 years are those of China’s economic opening, when people started prospering, travelling, consuming, having fun.”
• Your Morning Cry: Volunteer Pilots Fly Rescue Puppies to New Forever Homes
• Lastly, fantastic scotch tape portraits. I need to set aside some time to do this with the guys at home. For sure.

Speaking of the guys at home…the boyfriend is all moved out of his old apartment, as of Monday morning. But definitely not all settled into mine (now ours). This is the first time I’ve attempted cohabitation since 2006. So far so good but we have a lot of work to do to de-clutter and get everything situated. I’m de-cluttering in other areas of my life too. Even just unsubscribing from the countless email lists I was receiving and trying to reduce other distractions as well. Going away up North to the solar barn home in Biwabik was the best thing ever. I kinda wish we were still there, where life is simpler.