…(this is a song I didn’t want to write.)

…It’s pretty great to have a best friend in the whole world. It makes you feel really grateful every morning, even if it ends up being one of those rare days you don’t actually communicate.

...I lost my sense of smell a while ago. But for some reason, Eucalyptus is something I can still get a hint of, from time to time.

  …“The apparition of these faces in the crowd; 

         Petals on a wet, black, bough.” 

                 -- Ezra Pound, 1913

…I hope there are balloons where you are, like hot air balloons. It’s pretty amazing when you look up in the sky and see them hanging there.

…This is long, so take a pass if you’ve got a lot of stuff shaking. I watched the whole thing through four times, though, so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UAe9ux2RXc&list=RD3UAe9ux2RXc&start_radio=1

(Pinkpop is the longest-running continuous annual pop and rock music festival in the world, held every year in Landgraaf, Netherlands.)

…You have the keys. Yeah, you do. Open any door you want. Maybe there’s a new room you haven’t been in.

…I almost never do this, but I went back and edited half of what you’re reading here. I realized, pretty clearly, that no one likes a needy, grouchy fuck.

…It feels good to be kind instead of bitter.

…So, it’s Friday, and most people, generally speaking, love Friday because it signals the upcoming weekend. Everyday around here is Friday, or Wednesday, or Tuesday to me, so it doesn’t matter. But I’m happy for you, that you’re about to get a break from the rush of the week.

… Like most of us, I’ve spent a good part of the week thinking about her a lot, trying to figure out why she mattered so much, why her sudden absence feels so colossal and devastating.

I think it’s because—in my lifetime at least—Dolly Parton was the closest any of us ever got to seeing Jesus in the flesh, even if it was on screen or in the back row of a concert.

Whether you believe in Jesus or God or not, she was the living embodiment of that idea—grace, goodness, and hope.

Even my mother, who I often felt was Satan’s fraternal twin, loved Dolly like no other.

It would be nice to live in a country again where these words were true and felt by all of us…

“I have some of everybody in my own immediate family and in my circle of employees. I’ve got transgender people. I’ve got gays. I’ve got lesbians. I’ve got drunks. I’ve got drug addicts—all within my own family. I know and love them all, and I do not judge.” Dolly Parton

 

,..I’d like to be that guy in the band, in the video(s), who never shows his face. I’d like to be that selfless…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlcfgoTRtUQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJnAWZNBZ6o&list=RDaJnAWZNBZ6o&start_radio=1

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIEKXjHgSbs&list=RDaJnAWZNBZ6o&index=2

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seeYCad3kf4&list=RDaJnAWZNBZ6o&index=3

 

…Pinkie Swear.

 

…So far, today feels like a good day to be alive. (But I’m only writing this--right now this second--on a Wednesday.)

 

...Clearly, it’s not that simple. This kid has been here for three hours so far, and he’s not at all conversational, which is a good thing on many fronts.

 

…Sweet Hallelujah, it blows my mind every time. 

…“I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieved my illness is to continue creating art.” Yayoi Kusama (RIP) (She's pictured above today's title slide.)

...“There are a lot of angry dogs around here.”

...The right poem, at the right time, can solve a lot of ills.

…The good news is the internet is out. It’s hard to cause too much trouble when you don’t have wi-fi.

...Strippers? Are you fucking kidding me?

…I think the only exception I’d make is for Royel Otis or Sam Fender.

…I’m not a big fan of aging. I got a haircut yesterday and did something I never do while getting shorn—I actually looked in the mirror. Big mistake. I looked like an elderly grandfather with a bib tied around them and instead of catching food it was catching bits of hair. 

…I wouldn’t mind looking like a grandfather if I could actually have grand kids.

…Everyone says, “You never know; they could change their mind.” The thing is; I do know. They’re never changing their mind.

…Still, I could lose my mind.

…It was awfully blustery yesterday. I definitely saw Dorothy and Toto flying by.

…I hope you’re tired of it, because I sure am. I’m over and done, but I feel okay and you should, too.

 …“Lake America.” What a stupid fucking child.

…However, I did like when someone from Canada said they might change Lake Ontario’s name to “Lake Epstein Files.” 

…“Donald Trump was mentioned more than 38,000 times in the latest batch of Epstein files, according to a New York Times review of the Justice Department's Friday public release.

…“People pay for what they do, and still more, for what they have allowed themselves to be become. And they pay for it simply: by the lives they lead.” James Baldwin

…Is there any reason? Is it all just a lie?

…I think I might have doubled up. I do that more than I should—order twice the amount I actually wanted or needed.

…You can pick your devils but you can’t pick your angels--they choose you.

…In the words of Taylor Swift (who I will always vigorously defend) here’s what I told myself more than a few times this week: “You need to calm down.”

…“She slept so hard, even the accident didn’t wake her up.” Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina

...I had that dream again, where I've parked my car in high-rise lot and don't remember the floor, so I keep walking aimlessly for hours, up and down, up and down.

...Who gets a "Ding" for walking aimlessly? 

...The thing is, I don't care, whatsoever, if anyone understands what I say on Fridays. The ones who should, will.

...It's not a very attractive thing to mention, but I generate a lot of mucus, for whatever reason.

…Tomorrow could be a good day to begin anew.

...There's definitely no one in the world up right now.

…My band teacher in junior high (I played drums, sort of) had a pageboy haircut, parted down the middle, with John Lennon eyeglasses and balloon-sleeve shirts, diagonally striped pants, and ankle boots. I’m pretty sure he was stoned everyday he taught. Mr. Greenwood was his name. Isn’t it amazing how you remember your teachers, even after decades and decades?  

…A miracle mile. Where does it lead to?

...You can't nap forever, until you can.

...I'm most definitely going to need a nap today.

…Maybe you can mix in a blink or two so I know you’re not A.I.

…If you don’t have regrets, you’re not living. And if you have regrets, you’re probably not living hard enough. 

…I’m going to be living pretty hard in about, oh, ten days.

…It’s always about the ending, so let’s end with this:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/die-on-the-road-not-in-hospital-chinese-man-takes-paralyzed-wife-on-epic-road-trip/