The living and the dead

Hey people. Today I'm spending the day with a really good friend goofing off and probably laughing tons (and I'm going to love every minute of it), then we're going to my friend Iz's memorial service tonight. It's not really the service, it's that less formal thing-- the "viewing" or whatever. Either way we're going to make it formal-- the saying goodbye deal. What better song for today than Jolie Holland's "Mexico City" from her album "The living and the dead"? It's really beautiful-- I love her weird rural accent and drunky diction.




Yesterday was my first day alone for a long time, and the first day I wasn't directly under the deadline gun in a while, so I took a long lunch. I've been thinking more than ever about being alive. I think about stuff like that all the time, but lately with a couple of cool people I know dying it's been more present with me. I've been really aware of having a body, being in it, like a person test driving a sporty car. So what if I sing really loud and bad in the car? I like feeling sound coming out of me-- I have vocal chords, for now.

It was a good lunch-- I walked around in the river and got wet.

And found this little guy.

This morning I'm going for a little run in the cool rain with a friend's daughter in the magic woods. We're only here for a little while. Pay attention. Move all your parts. Fill your lungs to bursting. Don't sleep through it all.