more of the et ceteras.
as emotionally draining as it has been, i'm still happy to have been a pallbearer at my great-auntie's funeral. she was one of the good ones, to the point where at age 85 she drove her own self to her final, fatal doctor's visit. she was one of the few members of the family---and lord knows, i'm hardly in touch with any family members these days, and don't especially care to be---i still saw on a semi-regular basis. great conversationalist. sharp as a tie-tac. and genuinely good. i mean, i know some people who do good things, and have good aspirations, but there are few people who are good by nature. great, then, it was to lift the coffin to what proved to be a very catholic mass. hyper-catholic to the extreme. i probably reek of incense, incense that isn't patchouli for once.
all the elders made it to the service, reminding me that ridiculous longevity is in my veins. my second-eldest uncle, a rather self-reliant chap at 90 who bowls every week and has an untethered addiction to tv dinners, plus glasses half the size of his head, stuck around. back in the second world war, the japanese sunk his naval vessel. he survived. got onto another ship. the japanese sunk that one too. like me, he prefers to sit and not say a goddamned word to anyone---but listen. nearest him was an aunt of about the same age who used to travel with a sis as a dance team; she dated larry from the three stooges for a while but turned down his marriage proposal. i'm not sure she ever was hitched. but last time i saw her, she sang and did a lovely dance. she doesn't shake my hand; she holds it tightly. as it so happens to be, i mainly see these relatives when somebody has died. we all reconvened in a basement, where we all drank more than usual, bantered more than usual, and somebody found a pie my recently departed aunt had made before dying. custard. with coconut. my personal favorite.
weathering the weather, i still attempt to get out as often as possible for the sake of getting out. in addition to the usual, y'know, ART blahblahblahstuff, i try to spend as much time as possible with the kiwi, who remains both my favorite NZ'er and also the only NZ'er i'll probably know. she's also leaving in about a week, because america is a big and scary place with wal-marts that sell shotguns next to cookie cutters, and nobody in their right mind would stay when they can have bloody fucking new zealand. that said, she quite enjoyed a noise show the other night. inbetween that, i'm getting as much word-of-mouth going about the binge-n-purgery store. the grand opening is march.....21st? 21st, i think. more info in a later post. right now the electrical wiring is still being tweezed. anyway: it's going to be great. a lot of things qualify as "great" as of late. so far this year beats the hell out of last year....you know, 2008, THE YEAR OF SHEER HELL. even the cold and the melancholia and the usual citywide angst has a more inviting edge to it. like there's hope or something, and not in an obama-esque manner. on the other hand, there's a crippling recession that's begun to eat away at my paychecks and job security, so there are some decidedly fucked-up speed traps on the horizon. but money is always a matter of negative comparison. meanwhile, there seem to be good feelings, creeping about, lurking, watching, waiting.
all the elders made it to the service, reminding me that ridiculous longevity is in my veins. my second-eldest uncle, a rather self-reliant chap at 90 who bowls every week and has an untethered addiction to tv dinners, plus glasses half the size of his head, stuck around. back in the second world war, the japanese sunk his naval vessel. he survived. got onto another ship. the japanese sunk that one too. like me, he prefers to sit and not say a goddamned word to anyone---but listen. nearest him was an aunt of about the same age who used to travel with a sis as a dance team; she dated larry from the three stooges for a while but turned down his marriage proposal. i'm not sure she ever was hitched. but last time i saw her, she sang and did a lovely dance. she doesn't shake my hand; she holds it tightly. as it so happens to be, i mainly see these relatives when somebody has died. we all reconvened in a basement, where we all drank more than usual, bantered more than usual, and somebody found a pie my recently departed aunt had made before dying. custard. with coconut. my personal favorite.
weathering the weather, i still attempt to get out as often as possible for the sake of getting out. in addition to the usual, y'know, ART blahblahblahstuff, i try to spend as much time as possible with the kiwi, who remains both my favorite NZ'er and also the only NZ'er i'll probably know. she's also leaving in about a week, because america is a big and scary place with wal-marts that sell shotguns next to cookie cutters, and nobody in their right mind would stay when they can have bloody fucking new zealand. that said, she quite enjoyed a noise show the other night. inbetween that, i'm getting as much word-of-mouth going about the binge-n-purgery store. the grand opening is march.....21st? 21st, i think. more info in a later post. right now the electrical wiring is still being tweezed. anyway: it's going to be great. a lot of things qualify as "great" as of late. so far this year beats the hell out of last year....you know, 2008, THE YEAR OF SHEER HELL. even the cold and the melancholia and the usual citywide angst has a more inviting edge to it. like there's hope or something, and not in an obama-esque manner. on the other hand, there's a crippling recession that's begun to eat away at my paychecks and job security, so there are some decidedly fucked-up speed traps on the horizon. but money is always a matter of negative comparison. meanwhile, there seem to be good feelings, creeping about, lurking, watching, waiting.