Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

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Have i mentioned that i’m going to the Philadelphia Folk Festival? Well, i am. In a tent. Well, i’m getting there via car, but once i’m there i’ll be very much in a tent except for when i’m not. And, there will be folk music – however, the Festival seems to be in Schwenksville and not Philadelphia. Anyhow, i don’t know quite how i managed to get myself into this, but i took off a ton of days from work to do it and i’m going to be working as some kind of volunteer and i don’t really know what to expect, but it all seems like it’s going to be very intriguing. Erin McKeown is playing on Friday afternoon. Other than that all i know is that i’m bring my guitar and enough mosquito spray and vodka to keep a small village itch-free and inebriated, and that Izabelle is lending me a six person tent that’s big enough to entertain in. Yes, nightly itch-free trios with Peter and perhaps a martini or two if i can score some ice. Sure. But, really, if i can find a cheap enough 4-track i’m going to be recording trios the whole time. Anyhow, i can’t imagine how i didn’t manage to mention my musical committment, but that sentence had some very nice consonance going for it, and i think i should go to sleep soon.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/07/4335974/

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Benjy just said something to the effect of i haven’t really been saying much about my life recently. Well… yeah. My life hasn’t been very much of a life recently. There has been a lot of work (42 hours last week), a lot of sleep (Monday to Tuesday is typically 14 hours of sleep, other nights are usually 8), some sports (kickball, bowling, avoiding borishly inebriated theatre people, rollerblading), a lot of guitar-playing, and… well, and some random email to the notify list. But, really, that’s it.

Mention of the list brings up the fact that I would seem to be spread pretty thin considering my participation (and lack thereof) in CK, JLA, CORlog, Repulsed, 25/24 Updates, &; PSB2, but none of those things really directly compete for each other’s content. JLA is only for when i am unlazy enough to write down a review of an album instead of just thinking it; Repulsed is for especially straightforward observations on life or politics that would be redundancies to this log, 25/24 is for noting the work i get done on that project (if any), COR is gated by the amount of music i buy, and PSB2 is just inane. The only spectre of a competitor is the Notify List.


I’ve always held that i’ll post anything to this log that i ever think to write, but sometimes there are things that i don’t think to write – because they’re repetitive or they don’t fit in with the voice of the log or because i just want feedback from them. I started the list as a way for me to keep blogging during the absence of the blog itself, and now that i have the blog back i have enough readers on the list that it represents about half of my regular readership and since they’re interested they have the chance to read all of that in-between content that wouldn’t ever really get written into this box. Every update of the list has involved me staring into the Blogger post screen for five or ten minutes before resorting to email. I suppose i went in the opposite direction of DotComments… instead of trying to make my audience a part of my log so i can track them i’m trying to hold my audience captive to my log in another medium. It’s the same, though, because subscription to the list is inherently participatory in the same way commenting on a post is in that i know that the people on the list read whatever i write to them and if they didn’t want to they would just ask me to be taken off. Whatever. The point being, there will be more life when i have my life back, and if you’re that seriously addicted to me you should probably be on the list (which Benjy is, so he’s just addicted).

Wow, that was pointless.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/07/4335659/

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Songs are sometimes very uncooperative. I just sat down with my guitar and banged out five different variants on a very simple progression in dadgae in the key of G, but none of them beckoned me to speak lyrics to them. It’s so funny, because inbetween writing songs i forget what writing songs is like, and i think i can force it. Sometimes i might have a line or two, but i can’t engineer a whole song worth listening to out of one line – that’s how the crap in my old poetry book mostly occurred. All i know is that it’s supposed to be the polar opposite of the sentiment of a lullabye (if not the sound) and it’s a second cousin to Under My Skin. But, i’ve tried to write this song once before, with 0 results. And, i can’t even articulate what it’s about… making people feel the opposite of a lullabye, i suppose. Riled instead of rested. Blah. Aren’t i supposed to be recording things?

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/07/4331529/

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Not that i think that you haven’t been reading Fluffy Battle Kitten all along, but she made an entry the other day that made me laugh a lot. You should read it, and then read the next handful of entries as well to get a fun little look into Maggie’s life. It’s a well-rounded quintet of entries.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/07/4330547/

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Me and Wheels don’t really get along.

Cars and I generally don’t like each other and though i can drive them in an emergency i don’t find them particularly easy to navigate with or around. And, while bicycles make me perfectly comfortable despite my general disbelief that they can even stay upright with me perched on top, i learned this weekend that Rollerblades are obviously in collusion with their four-wheeled cousins as opposed to having an uneasy agreement with me as their bi-wheeled bretheren do.

Matt & Ayelet seemed pretty sure i’d be able to skate without much ado, but they neglected the fact that i hadn’t ever really been rollerskating or iceskating so that we were starting from scratch. Locomoting was not entirely difficult, but it hurt as my ankles turned and tilted in skates too narrow for my feet. Stopping proved to be challenging, and no easier on my ankles. Falling was easy; i just made sure to fall backwards and i absorbed the impact again and again with my well-cushioned backside with nary a bruise to be seen. However, i wasn’t going to make it down the 3 mile trail and back again with a combination of unsure 10-meter glides combined with full-throttle ass-first plummets to the ground, so i traded Sara the skates for a bike that was too tall for me to mount; to get onto the seat i had to start pedaling with the right pedal at its peak so that i could hop onto the seat as i pushed it down and around.

I like bicycles, and the hum of tires on asphalt while the world is reduced to road and breeze and fireflies. I rode ahead of them until my legs got tired and then i just kept pace while singing harmony with Ayelet and talking about vodka with Matt. There wasn’t any falling, but i suppose it was just as easy a thing to do.


Falling is always easy.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/07/4330452/