--NO ONE YOUNG KNOWS THE NAME OF ANYTHING

…I started Wendy Ortiz’s memoir, “Excavation,” about an affair she had with her 28 year old teacher when she was 13 and in 8^th grade.  I whipped through half of the book in a couple of hours.  Pretty riveting stuff.  Wendy doesn’t pull any punches and she certainly not looking for anyone to feel sorry for her.  She does such a great job with her descriptions of high school life that you end up revisiting your own.  And if you've ever had messed up parents (count me in on that one) you get a heavy does or reliving that space as well.  The emotions are painted viscerally throughout.  Do yourself a favor and get this book.  You won't be sorry..


Here's an excerpt:

Sometimes I stood naked on the closed toilet seat in mother's bathroom.  In the mirror over the sink I could see my body from my nose down to my calves.  The shower blasted nearby, awaiting my entrance.
A tentative hand slipped like a curtain over one of my breasts.  I watched the flesh quiver slightly and my knees trembled.  I put one hand out and steadied it on the window frame next to me.  The blinds were shut like so many eyelids.  The door was locked so that I was alone with the mirror.
I put one finger to my mouth and traced my lips slowly.
I watched this body in the mirror: the flat, naked stomach, the brown shoulders, my pubic hair that seemed strange and messy on the landscape of smooth skin.
I looked down at the puffy toilet seat cover, gauging its ability to hold my weight.  I turned so that I could see the curve of my butt.  Something about looking at my body this way made me feel like there was a dam breaking inside me, slowly but surely.
I saw something sexy, something I wanted, and yet it was here, it was my own...

…I finally got around to listening to Father John Misty.  Not at all what I expected, but it’s pretty great.  Brandon Flowers’ second solo CD sounds nothing like The Killers.  He’s got a lot of massive hooks and some stellar crooning.  He’s not going to win a Grammy for songwriting lyrics, but it’s fun nonetheless.

…Being a Seattle Mariner fan is tough.  I only became a fan in the last four years and they are like that girlfriend who breaks your heart often.  Good grief.

…Later this week I’m heading to Portland for yet another boy’s weekend.  (Yeah, I know, I screw around a lot.)  There should be close to fifteen of us.  Shuffleboard at The Old Market Pub where they have five (count ‘em) tables.  Some of us have been known to open and close the place all in the same day.

…Here are some random things I learned last week that you may or may not already know:

-Top international travel destinations for U.S. travelers:

Mexico – 37%

Canada – 18%

Europe – 17%

Caribbean – 11%

Asia – 7%

-There were 39,518 suicides last year, 108 per day.  22 of those each day was a veteran.  (The National Suicide Prevention phone number is 800-273-8255).

-Only 2% of the world’s population has red hair and only 2% of the world’s population has green eyes.

-A hummingbird flaps its wings 80 times per second.

 …And, lastly, here are a few things I like to start off the new week

“All life is moving through some kind of unhappiness.” Kent Haruf

“We learn from failure, not from success.” Bram Stoker, “Dracula”

“Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight a while on bought too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she has wings.” Victor Hugo

“It's better to dance than to march through life.” Yoko Ono