yesterday i went to the beach with amba lantz, KP and baby bear, and i even went swimming. even though i didn’t get whipped around by waves crashing over me it still ruled. i think i haven’t swam in the ocean in at least three years, which is crazy.

the ocean is really big. really really big, and obviously there’s insanely huge and old things at the bottom of it. we only saw tiny tiny fishes, which were encircling us in schools as we just stood there looking at them. i’ve never seen such things at the beach, and it’s easy to treat such an apparition as a blessing, like seeing a rainbow or a six-legged cow, but probably there was something totally harsh herding them towards us with gnashing teeth and the dead eyes of a predator. but at the time it was like a rainbow and for that matter it still is “it was like a rainbow”. i mean, not for no reason do we abstain from looking a gift horse in the mouth, but it’s also possible to behold the mouth and live. also lots of things happen for almost no reason. GEEZ! let’s just agree that shiny things are nice! also on an unrelated topic salt is good.

this morning me and sheryl ann began our donut odyssey, in which we are going to all the donut places in town. mike’s friend erick is really into donuts, and sort of opened our eyes to the donut scene, or rather to the idea “let’s go inside the donut place rather than just eat out of the dumpster”. big up! full report forthcoming.

scott reber- this morning i was listening to your “seven branched larch boughs” cassette and at one point i forgot i was listening to it and thought i was listening to an air conditioner, until i remembered that i don’t have an air conditioner. there was a great moment of confusion when i realized that i was still sweating. it’s hot out and it looks like “it looks like it’s going to rain” but then it doesn’t. i hope you’re having fun on tour!

the king st block party mentioned earlier was totally totally awesome and inspiring with lots of free food, a loud party DJ interspersed with talent show acts, and everybody hard repping and being respected. hard workers at the artichoke food co-op, stone soup, toxic soil busters, food not bombs, EPOCA, and other groups were all out, and everyone was in the mood to talk about what are you doing and why are you doing it and how can i be a part of it. and not just collegiate jerkloafs- full community– totally everyone, from scampering homeschoolers to toothless hard-lifers that still like popsicles and puppet shows. total vision of harmony. it was a hot summer day again, everyone was radiant. i was in heaven. a woman sang plena, to the accompaniment of just guiro and tambourines. she had a microphone but really didn’t need it. small girls in huge dresses danced on stage. i was in heaven.

tonight was a full moon and i got bitten by a dog, which is also cool.

for previous pages see the category “comics“.

long time readers may remember the old fujichia participation line, the fruits of which were on the noodles inc. cd. well, for no reason (i mean, with no project in mind), i’ve set up an internet voicemail thing, just to see what happens. the number is:
206-203-2911

when you leave a message the sound file gets emailed to me. i may: post really good calls and/or work them into new electronic works. please call often and from weird places– treat it like a postcard or a bathroom wall. messages have a maximum length of 5 minutes.

first off, today is the king st block party, from 4:00 to 9:00, with the after party at 9 of course. featuring the world premier of the toxic soil busters band “TSB Poppin’ & Lead We Stoppin’”. OK.

last night was the first of two mystery band shows. mystery band is a worcester summer event now in its third nonconsecutive year, in which everyone that thinks they could be in a band puts their name into a pool from which names are drawn six at a time. this is a secret, but the names are not pulled randomly- they are grouped so that people are separated from their roomates or close friends, so that new folks on the scene are distributed, and so that no band has an excess of people who have been in bands before. the only rules are that you have to come up with between 5 and 20 minutes of original music that isn’t a waste of time and has no (or limited) improvisation. this year i thought it was going to be a total mess but it worked out great and every band had at least one really good song. it would not serve to list everyone involved, but here are some high points- “dave and the schmidts” featured dave schmidt on drums, with one arm in a cast, and the other arm holding a full quiver of every sort of drum stick there is and doing all the work. talbot and lars were in a band together with predictably awesome results. snowflake was in a band with joanne and belted out a furious number (and also a drum circle which is casually verboten but whatever). little hondo was in a band with lu-e, elliot, and CJ, which was kind of unfair but again, whatever. it ruled. i don’t feel like any of the bands from this show will break away into playing any more shows, but that’s how cookies sometimes crumble. the next show is… uh, i don’t know when the next show is. make flyers folks!

today during the day i didn’t really do a lot or get a lot done, so when andrea asked everyone at the table this evening what was the best thing that happened i didn’t really have an answer. in retrospect the best thing up to that point was reading this in a book, and copying it into the little notebook i always have:

the white chrysanthemum
even when lifted to the eye
remains immaculate

of course it’s bashõ, quoted in the article “haiku and the democracy of poetry as a popular art”, which is the only part i intend to read of “sources of japanese tradition vol 2″, which doesn’t even have pictures, but looks like it does, which is why i picked it up in the first place. i’m feeling no shame about not making headway on any one of a vast horde of half-started projects. let’s face facts– the best thing to come out of a system based on guilt is the exorcist movie, and the exorcist 3.

i’ve been reading a lot about the musical communication systems of neanderthals. i’ve been listening to tapes at night and then the tape stops and i listen to crickets in the field. i gave myself a haircut but i kept the top long, partly so i’d have more to cut later. there’s been a decent hubbub over renewed interest in the simulation argument, which addresses the theory that our reality is someone else’s computer program; it’s funny in that it doesn’t really “change the game”, but it does introduce a good and interesting argument for a creator, one whose interests are possibly deducible, one whose goals are a sort of entertainment and curiosity, possibly “hands-off”, possibly “cold messin’”, one whose reward criteria (if rewards even exist) is quite possibly interestingness rather than goodness. also “turtles all the way down“– i love shit like that.

in the evening me and sylvan and sarah and penny purtle walked to the seben eleben for sodas and candy bars and ended up hanging out on the curb watching tons of water pour out of a huge hole in the street for a very long time. we were all waiting for the street to buckle and a huge truck to fall in, but this did not happen. when we all really had to go to the bathroom, that’s when we left.

oh, sylvan, i still owe you a dinner. i really want that dinner to be cereal, and not because i’m a cheapskate, although i am a cheapskate.

i fixed the images on all the white vinegar scans, so now hopefully they’ll all load faster and look better. i went to three different supermarkets. i cashed in $90 worth of change. i ate a candy bar from canada. i’m sleepy. at the last supermarket i went to tonight there was a baby in a shopping cart and her and her dad were singing “hey baybay” “hey baybay” over and over again, like in the “hey baybay” song. everyone in line was pretty psyched.

the recording of the commentary for the corleone DVD went pretty good. it was me and ML and MT, and MT was shit-talking lots of people in the video, which made me and ML nervous. i feel like we all said some pretty dumb shit that someone at some point in the near future is going to call us on, but at the same time, who even listens to commentary tracks? no one, right? AJ and lee recorded their parts right before us and left soda and cookies in the room, which ruled. also there was a cat that could say hello. oh, and all the videos were good but the one for snake apartment is really really gross (which is good). i thought my video was gross, but this one is way grosser, way to go brian.

i’m starting to get my finances in order and i’m ordering spirulina online because proper nutrition helps me think better. don’t worry jenine, the air is still thick with the fetid odor of stupid website ideas, but i can’t say exactly when the launch of the newest (and easily the dumbest) will be– i’ve got to stack the cheddar a little higher first, and also melissa #1 is coming to visit in a few days.

for previous pages see the category “comics“.

today was the latin fest on the common, which ruled. i walked down there alone and ate corn on the cob. i saw tiny if if and she took my picture in the sunlight on a polaroid camera. i got to look at the picture and it made me feel really handsome. going to providence tomorrow with ML to record a commentary track for the corleone DVD (set to drop in october). made plans to watch the swamp thing movie with GT at 10am. i don’t have to tell you what the weather is like– any student of literature could tell by my tone that it’s the long sleeved very first glimpse of autumn as a person’s thoughts turn to what they thought their life would be like when they were older when they were younger.

oh what, the lilah/tumble cat show yesterday? that shit? rooooled. i cleaned the shop way way up, so up that now i’m building new weird shit to deal with the void (like always). anywayzzzzz, the show ruled, good turnout, josh played his boombox minisystems and drumamachines, lilah read her computer printouts, the theme was “bucolic / pastoral”, there was a tiny kitty on a leash, someone was eathing pretzels, it was awesome. i tried to tape it but the tapeamachine i used was the one that’s usually in the bathroom playing DEVO while i shower, so it came out pretty warbly and pretty not worth it, but naomi got a video of half the show, which should be up on youtube in a bit, which i’ll link to. there was a great part of the TCPPP set where he passed around a piece of paper and everyone wrote down a noun, and he tied them into a cool song with snapping accompaniment which got softer as his hands got tireder. it seems that everyone pure dug, which made me psyched. i mean, i know it’s good, but it’s comforting to know that one is in good company.

today me and MZ went to providence to do some errands, check out ML’s art which is in the dirt palace window, and see sasha’s store, “forever XV”. maybe you remember me tripping about this a few nights ago, anyway it’s great and a totally totally different project from mine which makes me feel silly for being (i’ll say it) jealous of her financial success.

zag! i neglected to mention that there’s a real chrysanthemum of a show tonight at HBML- lilah ringler and tumblecat poof poofy poof, performing new works as a duo. or rather, as two dueling singles, battling for (and as such defining (and as such creating)) turf. they chose a topic weeks months ago, both have been working on writings and soundings on this topic, tonight they meet and both go at it. it’s at 7′oclock, and space is limited but we’ll cram. with special guest. don’t sleep like i almost did!

today was spent in fine company– eating sandwiches, walking around on errands, rearranging furniture, batting coy eyelashes, and talking about the past and the future (while that great room-filling elephant “the present” chewed cabbages languorously). all in all it was another great day, and in discussion i think i finally landed upon a starting point to a subject on my mind for a week now, that being the endlessly fascinating mr pete, pictured above, who passed some months ago (i just found out), in his old age, of cancer.

mr pete was a dog in my good friend will’s family’s care. i have described him as my favorite living creature, past and present, in a set that includes all of humanity, even myself. mr pete was a friend, or more precisely, a buddy, but many dogs are this. mr pete was and was not a mystery, and he was and was not a simple creature. he was and was not: funny, persnickety, curious. i wouldn’t even say that mr pete was “simply in the world”– somehow mr pete was the world walking around in the world itself, never doing “the perfect thing” or even “his own thing”, but just sort of rattling around bumping into stuff, chewing things he was told not to chew, and barking pretty much indiscriminately. mr pete was totally indecipherable.

in that personality is a performance, you could say that pete had no personality– never to be imitated or duplicated or performed. in the way a wild horse who cannot to be ridden is noble, mr pete was noble, completely unable to be read. it’s easy to anthropomorphize a pet, and to think of them and you in some fantasy world hanging out having conversations. i don’t know how to say this– it is impossible to think of mr pete saying a single world.

will once described mr pete as a “home entertainment center”, and really this is pretty accurate. his motivations were just about unknowable, but he was not deep, he was some sort of unfathomable surface. he was perfect amounts of everything and nothing. he had white and orange fur, a wet nose and stinky breath. he would jump up on the couch when you sat down, sit next to you in such a way that he was 1/4 sitting on your lap, then look you in the eye and rather forcefully step on your crotch. he did this a lot, but every time it happened it had somehow never happened before.

i can’t say rest in peace, or god bless, as in this circumstance i don’t believe in rest, peace, god, blessings, or even “in”. so i guess i’ll just say this: mr pete was a real piece of work.

in conclusion:
1. an un-point-to-able ephus
2. a benevolent egocentric weirdo
3. the universe, everything in all creation, as a dog