Michael Jackson's death

MJ was Dorian Gray. He was the world's most adored child star at 25, passe at 35, grotesque at 40, dead at 50. He's a casualty of naivete and fame. Very sad.

To my son

Eh. You have the rest of your life to decide what to do with the rest of your life.

Barcelona

One of my all-time favorite conversations (a colleague's office, 1984):

BOB HEMLEY: "Hey. You know you have a hole in your shirt?"

ME (examining a small hole in my shirt front): "Oh. Yeah. Burned. A dragon did that."

HEMLEY: "A dragon."

ME: "mmmHmmm."

(pause)

HEMLEY: "Where was this?"

ME: "Barcelona."

15 albums that made me what I am

15 records share (one of those infamous time-wasting Facebook memes)
Here's the original instructions:

Think of 15 (ahem, or so) albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of, musically shaped your world. When you finish, tag 15 (or so) others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!

McCoy Tyner - "Sahara"
Procol Harum - "A Salty Dog"
Mothers of Invention - "Uncle Meat"
Chick Corea - "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs"
Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon"
Joni Mitchell - "Blue"
Beatles - "Magical Mystery Tour"
Crosby Stills & Nash - "Crosby Stills & Nash"
John McLaughlin - "Extrapolation"
Herbie Hancock - "Maiden Voyage"
Talking Heads - "Fear of Music"
Led Zeppelin - "Houses of the Holy"
Miles Davis - "Bitches Brew"
Alanis Morissette - "Jagged Little Pill"
Cat Stevens - "Tea for the Tillerman"
Capt. Beefheart & His Magic Band - "Trout Mask Replica"

Twizzler haiku

I wrote this in response to something Joey Novick posted:

Morning sun, ahhh joy
Lush red, on my Twizzlers jar.
This I can afford.

Goat legs

If you sleep in a funny position, you wake up and your leg's rubbery and numb. Well, that happens to goats too. Who'd have thought that?

Obama's first election night

...thinks the sad part is that Charles Mingus didn't live to see this night.