skrapnel

Via: Face Hunter.

Was looking up pictures of Jasmine flowers on Google and found this poem.

Do Not Give Up!

Do not give up!

He who gives up

Never reaches the Satisfaction-Shore.

Who knows?

Each attempt of yours may bring you

Many exceptionally heart-enlightening

Heaven-prosperities.

– Sri Chinmoy.

via Helpful Meditation Links — Sri Chinmoy Centre.

The current novel is really dark.  At first I was intimidated by what people would think about me.  I didn’t want to be judged, but at the same time, I needed to explore that side of myself.  As with all of my art, I felt like I had to get it out.

Dreamers, artists, innovators often need to be reminded that we should never give up on our dreams.  We should never be intimidated by our struggles or what others might say or think.  By being true to our vision, we are finding ourselves and our souls.

Every story and experience adds another dab of paint to the human picture.

This winter I’ve really been into brightly colored, kinda trippy produce.  Had my mom brought these out when I was little, I probably would have loved eatin veggies.  Not only are they exciting and tasty, but they will definitely liven up any plate.

Check out some of the pics I took:

Colorful Beets

Romanesco Broccoli and Purple Cauliflower

Rainbow Chard

Have you ever seen such sexy veggies before?

I had these with dinner tonight.  Amazing!  Recipe and Photo from 101 Cookbooks

Baked Carrot Oven Fries

a big bunch of farmers’ market carrots, washed, trimmed

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

Heat oven to 375.

Cut each carrot in half. Toss the entire bunch in a bowl with a couple glugs of olive oil. Arrange cut side down in a single layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle generously with salt. Bake for 30 minutes or until carrots are golden brown where they touch the pan.

via Baked Carrot Oven Fries Recipe – 101 Cookbooks.

The Washington Post had a great article discussing Michelle Obama’s reluctant ascent to fashion icon status.  A good discussion of celebrity and public canonization, it talks about her ardent defenders and how they actually stifle any discussion of reality.

To me, public perception creates a new identity in addition to that which actually exists–the identity of the “celebrity” vs the person herself.  But how does the celebrity mitigate these differences with the doting public?  Does she play up their image, or realizing she can’t be what they want, does she shut herself off?

In her closing paragraph, the author of the piece, Robin Givhan, asks similar questions:

Being an icon is not for the faint of heart. How unnerving it must be to know that your actions have disappointed some stranger. How odd to have anonymous citizens rising up in your defense over something that has caused you no upset. And even more frustrating: How do you show your gratitude or tell your defenders to back off?

via Robin Givhan on Culture: You Gotta Love the First Lady. No, Really, You Have No Choice. – washingtonpost.com.

Sad that we have a whole industry devoted to telling us how celebrities are just like us.  By so doing, they actually perpetuate the public myth.

It’s official: I’ll be moving to Austin at the end of this month.  Peep this image, courtesy of Google Streetview, of the new digs in Austin’s Travis Heights neighborhood.  I’ll be sharing the place with some old friends.

My new house in Austin

Sometimes I feel like I’m learning a new language, and it’s important for me to go over all my word lists before I start editing or writing.  It’s like a cue that tells my  mind to move out of conversational mode and into language that is more descriptive.  I can definitely see a change in my storytelling!

During the editing process, I’ve really come to understand the importance of a strong vocabulary.  Since the current book is about a killer, there’s a lot of shaking and grabbing.  Unfortunately, those words are popping up WAY too much.  Today, I’m sharing my list of synonyms for these words.  Hopefully they help grab your brain and shake a few words into it

Syn. “to shake”

• tremble
• quiver
• shudder
• shiver
• convulse
• jerk
• totter
• wobble
• quaver
• twitch
• flutter
• jolt
• rock

Syn. “to grab”

• clutch
• catch
• grapple
• grasp
• grip
• hook
• latch (onto)
• pluck
• seize
• snag
• snatch
• take
• nab

For those of you not on Facebook, here are 25 random things about me.

1.  Because I was born on the 1st day of Christmas, I was sent home in a baby-size Christmas stocking.

2.  A couple weeks after I came home from the hospital, a friend of my mom’s accidentally dropped me down a flight of stairs.  I hit my head on a brick.  Since I was a newborn, the bones hadn’t hardened, so everything was ok, although some may say otherwise

3. When I was 8, I decided to taste some leaves from a bush next to our back porch.  I passed out and fell down the porch steps.  When I woke up, I was on a table in the doctor’s office.  They had pumped my stomach and stitched up my chin.  I had a metal beard for several months.

4.  In 2nd grade, we had to take an aptitude test.  For the three testing days, we were trapped in the cafeteria.  On the second day I had a bit of a stomach problem. I raised my hand to ask if I could go to the bathroom.  The teacher came over and I puked on her.  I then puked on the school nurse and the principal.

5.  Although I modeled from age 19 until I was 28, I had a low self image.  I’m so glad I’ve finally grown into the arrogant bastard I always wanted to be

6.  My mom never understood me or my brother.  She thought he was the actor/musician/artist and I was the engineer/math/science dude.  We grew up to be the opposite.

7.  I want kids.  Like most guys, I want two boys.

8.  I got married in Berlin.  My family found out through Facebook and MySpace.

9.  My BFF in Jr High and High School committed suicide in 1999 after his mother was unable to accept his homosexuality.  When I found out, I drove around Austin, making a continuous loop and draining a full tank of gas.   The entire time, I felt like he was sitting in the passenger’s seat next to me, so I yelled at him.   It sent me into a year long depression.  In high school I used to spend the nights at his house on the evenings after my mom had attempted suicide.  He was one of three gay guys from my high school who committed suicide after graduation.   They all shot themselves in the head.

10.  My favorite outfit as a kid was a superman cape and superman underroos.  I wore them to the store, restaurants, everywhere.  I was certain I could fly.

11.  When I was 11, I had to have dental surgery to cut out two extra teeth that, had they not been removed, would have grown from the roof of my mouth.

12.  I used to get in so much trouble for crawling through sewers, painting my body with wild blackberries, playing in rainstorms and digging holes in the backyard.  I think those experiences led to my love of gardening.

13.  The scariest moment in my life was waking up hungover in Brooklyn on September 11th, 2001.  I just barely saw the second tower fall.  The first person I called was my Aunt.  Neither one of us said anything, we just cried.  My mom couldn’t reach me until 5 PM.  I’m so thankful to Amy for being there for me.

14.  One of the happiest moments of my life was two weeks later in Paris on the Eiffel Tower with my grandparents.  It was something I’d always dreamt about as a kid.

15.  Goals: I  want to be a media mogul.  I want to change the way we tell stories and share experiences.  I want my next book to be published.

16.   While living in Cologne, Germany, I ran into Jasmine, a good friend from college.   It was completely unexpected.  Neither of us were having a good time, so we decided to just backpack around for a while.  I was living above a Chinese restaurant at the time.  I went downstairs and told the owner that I had a family emergency and had to leave immediately.  It was the biggest lie I’ve ever told and it worked.  I still have a hard time walking by that restaurant when I’m in Cologne.

17.  I slept with a stuffed Pooh Bear until I was 26.

18.  I have slept overnight on benches in parks in Austin, New York, Paris, Barcelona and Rome.

19.  When I was living in Berlin, my roommate stole everything I owned.  Since I didn’t have any clothes, I had to get them out of a dumpster.  I also collected bottles and cans for money.  You learn how to budget real quickly in that situation!

20.  As a 16 year old, I gave CPR to a drunk driver who had flipped his jeep.  Almost a third of his face had been ripped off.  He died in the hospital.

21.  When it comes to memories, I have no concept of time.  10 years feels the same as a month or a week.  I also forget what city I’m in at least once a day.

22. The first time I lived by myself, there was a wasp’s nest in the bathroom window.  Being the hippie that I am, I chose to live in harmony with the family of wasps.  They loved to crawl around on the bathtub walls while I showered.  They never attacked me, but they were leery of strangers.

23.  I accidently shot my younger brother in the back with a BB gun when I was 12.  Luckily, I was so far away from him that the BB just got stuck in his skin and didn’t go in to his spine.  We never told our parents.

24.  I found my first dog, Sarah, while riding on my paper route.  I’d always catch her and then return her to her owners.  Finally they just let me keep her.  She used to ride in the bags that I carried my papers in.

25.  For a short while in 2004, I had the most friends on *ahem* Friendster.  A news article, “The case against The Facebook”,  questioned whether I really could have 288 friends.  (http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2005/1/13/log-off-the-case-against-the-facebook) Oddly enough: Two years after that article, I was quoted in the New York Times. It was about Facebook http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/technology/06facebook.html

Bonus:  I am blessed with such an amazing group of friends, family members and former co-workers from all over the world.  I love all of you and thank you for being a part of my life.