Thursday, February 01, 2007
List of the Day: Bad V-Day Gift Ideas.
Posted at 03:11 pm
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
a few things about a few things.
013107(10:10): i am sending this post via email, as an experiment, due to exigent circumstances in the workplace. // so i believe i've officially developed the worlds most pleasant cigarette. well, it's everything i want out of a cigarette anyway: totally homemade, smooth flavor, thick velvety smoke, and very easy on the pocketbook. as i mentioned earlier i'm mixing & melding tobaccos, and i've come up with what i think is a satisfactory end-product. it's a pretty simple process, and i'm happy with that. mother nature does all the work really. if you want to try one i'm considering trading them in sets of five (5), just give me a couple weeks notice. // i was having a bad couple of days, which followed a string of very wonderful days, and i think i figured out why the bad days happened: i put my shoes in a new spot overnight. when i had them in the doorway things were fine, but when i moved them to the kitchen nook things got ugly; but now that they're back by the doorway things are fine again. once i realized the deciding factor i tried putting them back in the old spot again and.. boom, good things happened. you call it superstition, i call it mexican magick. // similarly: i'm also trying to develop a couple of tonics for common ailments (colds/flus, insomnia, melancholia, immune system, girly problems, etc.) drawing influences from both "western" medicine, and longstanding folk remedies; hella Apothecary John of me. so far i think i've kept myself from a couple of ugly bugs that were going around work. i started to feel gross, took some magic juice, and not only did they not progress, but i actually felt better than normal. it's all common sense and basic biology, and i only keep what works. // in other nudes: i spent most of yesterday cutting old pictures & entries out of a discarded encyclopedia set. it was a nice diversion of sorts, plus it offered the satisfaction of knowing that i was kind of recycling; everybody wins. // so i gave my first official "letter" of recommendation yesterday. a friend of mine listed me as a reference for a volunteer job at a museum, and i had a sizeable phone interview with their coördinator. i enjoyed it muchly. it felt like a magazine interview, only it wasn't about me or my junk. but still, i liked the "on the spot" -edness & spontaneity of it all. // music kind of annoys me these days, even my old favorites. it all feels abrasive to me, like when i have a migraine. // um. anyway i guess that's all. the end.
Posted at 11:03 am
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
10am: so i turned my blacklight closet into a workspacestation for drawing and writing and making arts. my little kitchen table thing fits in there plus a stool plus cigar boxes filled with sharpies all the colors of the rainbow (and then some) plus stacks and stacks of papers and books and clippings and Various Things. but mostly it's just crap which i turn into more crap. i really love it. it's my new home away from home (kinda). // i'm eating some amazing purple grapes from chile. so sweet & fresh. // the end.
Posted at 09:41 am
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
4pm: went for a walk on my lunch earlier to get some air i had a headache and i held the door open for lots of people and one guy compained about the wind and we started talking & walking the same direction i knew him already he is a homeless vietnam veteran and we walked and talked for a while and i mentioned my headache in passing and he offered me some of his nerve pills for it which he gets for free because he's a vet and i took them without water and they worked right away we walked downtown towards the court house until we ran out of sidewalk and had to cross the street so we crossed it and he kept talking about various intoxicants and medication they have him on for shell shock and explained to me how to make psychedelics from rye and mentioned how someone stole his sleeping bags last night and he was going to see if he could get replacements so he didn't have to sleep in the freezing cold again tonight and then we parted ways and i walked back towards work and saw someone else i knew so i called to him from across the street and he started to jaywalk over to me but there was too much traffic so he went to the crosswalk and crosswalked over to where i was which was the parking lot of the place where they print the local newspaper and we talked about hendrix & amplifiers and then he got the holy spirit and started speaking in tongues and then he apologized and then he talked some more about the standing room only guitar concert that he dreams of giving some day and how he will reserve me a ticket and i thanked him and he gave me a great big squeezy hug and thanked me for helping him and i said you're welcome and that some day he would have his magic concert and then i excused myself and walked back to work with my headache feeling better and i was smiling to myself on the inside at the marvelously odd things i come across sometimes but don't mention. // the end.Posted at 03:33 pm
011707: so i discovered a new something. i'm not sure how to explain it so i'll just ramble. // in exploring the culture and history of tobacco one will inveritably encounter the value of ageing one's tobacco, be it cigars or pipe. fresh is almost never better, and there is always an elaborate process of sweating & fermentation that has to occur before a tobacco is properly mature. (think of this in terms of one's life as well, for example.) i learned this first in my research & experimentation with cigars, and i am finding the same now that i am taking up the briar. to age one's tobacco is to allow it to mellow, and bring out its full flavor & natural sweetness. this is nothing new. but what i haven't encountered is the ageing of cigarettes. now i understand that on the surface these words don't seem to go together, but i believe there is a world of unexplored territory where this is concerned. my small experiment thus far confirms this hypothesis. // see a few nights ago, discontent with the hotness and harshness of a particular type of cigarette, i buried a few of said cigarettes deep in one of my pipe tobacco containers. i thought at most the cigarettes would adopt some of the aromatic qualities, if at all. but last night upon trying one of the buried cigarettes (after three days of "melding") i found that the character of the tobacco had changed dramatically. it was far less dry, less harsh, and had a very "well-rounded" quality to it. this was only after a few days, so i can only imagine what a month or two would do for it. i would be like sweet heaven all up in your grille. // so anyway, this makes me want to try the same experiment with some non-aromatic pipe tobaccos, like perhaps some more traditional English blends so as not to complicate the subtle flavors. i suspect only good things can come of this. i'm tired of dry chemically cigarettes, and will continue to experiment with this until satisfied or completely bored with it. // the end.
Posted at 11:51 am
Thursday, January 11, 2007
oh hell just lean into it.
011107: feeling a unmistakenly Outside-the-Box today. i cant relate to people in the usual manner and conversation is beyond me and its like im watching myself watching myself. // i just feel like drawing and reading and writing and consuming tobacco in my tiny hind closet. perhaps some pacing from time to time and a series of catnaps under heavyblankets. i tried to work on my bills earlier but i ended up making an art project out of it. my mind got itself all catatonic & Dug our Hole Deeper. i warmed up some old coffee and stared at the clock until it was time to come to work. even then i was late. // its getting harder and harder for me to live in that world anymore. not THE world just THAT world. DHD. perhaps this will pass but i cant help but feel my psyche is like a stretched tshirt that will never regain its shape (however only slightly off) or will have those dents from the hanger on the shoulder -you know the ones- evermore. im okay with this. // i also spazz a lot these days like pauls brother john. we shall call them full body ticks. but its only when i think of something beautiful. // i probably shouldnt post this but whatever. only The Dear will read it anyhow. // out-there music has been my only salvation this week. it quells the foreignness of the world. // the end.
Posted at 01:55 pm
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
2:30pm: i stopped by the local tobacconist shop on my lunch break. it was kind of intimidating going in there for the first time, but i soon learned that it was all in my head. the shop turned out to be everything i hoped. an older bearded gentleman flashed his dentures at me as i walked in and i returned fire. i offered a handshake and introduced myself as myself. i asked to be directed to the loose pipe tobacco (which it turns out he blends & mixes himself) to which he gladly led me. the shop was all hardwoods & glass and smelled of a rich cuban heaven. he was tall and humble and immediately likeable. i nervously confessed my novice status, but assured him that my interests were sincere. i explained the type of smoke i was looking for (a thick aromatic smoke) and asked his recommendations. he let me sample a few of his best-sellers and i narrowed it down to two blends in particular, which he then measured on his old-fashioned brass scale and put into two thick ziplock baggies. on each bag he placed a sticker with his logo on it, and wrote the blend of tobacco on them in his shaky old man penmanship. it was gorgeous. i also asked for a bundle of little cream colored pipe cleaners ($1.15) that were displayed there on the counter. they caught my eye immediately. they were nothing like those bristly wiry things you see in drug stores. no, these seemed to be made with the specific intent of seducing the innards of your pipe. all cottony & voluptuous. anyhow, he rang me up and asked me to report back with what i thought his recommendations. ("will do," i said.) together i hope we will figure out my preferences & the opposite, in due time. about this process i am excited. // i'm glad he was nice. // the end. Posted at 02:34 pm
011007: so the pipe experiment went well-enough. i was underwhelmed and unimpressed by the tobacco itself (to be expected as a novice?) but it was interesting how the nuances developed as the pipe was broken in. even so, i still have a way to go before it is properly seasoned. it's going to have a hot, woody taste until a layer of "cake" is built up in the chamber, but it is slowly mellowing out. on an upnote, i think i have the hang of packing & lighting the bowl properly. you light a pipe at least twice. the first time to develop a layer of ash on top, and the second to combust the guts. after that you only relight if it extinguishes altogether. // i'll probably visit the tobacconist soon to try some quality blends, since i know the drugstore crap is not my cup of tea. or tobacco. or whatever. i've been brushing up on the nomenclature just so i don't feel like too out of place when i walk in there. // but really this is just a personal interest. i hope it doesn't come across as vain or egoistic or pretentious. it's none of those things. i see it as a private, intimate affair, and a nurturing of the soul. // i guess that's all for today, bitches. xo.
Posted at 10:54 am
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
010907: i stopped writing because i felt that nothing really mattered. and now i'm writing again for precisely the same reason. // "why? why not?" ~leary's last words. // so i just got back from lunch. i got some quick eats from maria's. on the way back into work i stopped by the cigarette store on coffee & scenic to do some research. i picked up some nat sherman (natural classic) and some captain black (original) pipe tobacco. the sherman's i can attest to being quite formidable and in a class quite their own. the quality of the tobacco is noticable right away. i may go with the light's next time though. or maybe i'll just try some dunhill's. anyhow i wanted to experience these two types of tobacco so i bought them. the reason for buying the captain black is because i bought an interesting new pipe a few days ago and plan to season it over the next few days. // resolution: i hope to collect a wide range of pipes & related accessories this year. but i intend for it to be a slow process, focusing more on quality and uniqueness rather than quantity. this is an old interested, revisited. // sorry if this post is a bit disjointed & rocky. i guess that reflects how i feel today. // later. Posted at 03:38 pm
Monday, November 27, 2006
when it rains, it poors. ($$)
