Mumble, Mumble, Mumble

Quote of the day

obi-john — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 04:31:09 GMT

"A wonderful thing about true laughter is that it just destroys any kind of system of dividing people." John Cleese

Art Challenge...I'm it

obi-john — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:25:17 GMT

So I've been tagged on this art challenge. If you haven't seen it, here is how it works. If you are one of the first three people to sign up on this blog, you get one piece of art made by me for you (probably nothing quite so grand as the piece pictured above, but hey, who wants an eight foot tall marble statue of a beautiful naked man in their house anyway) The fine print....then you have to do the same thing. Post a blog and offer to make three pieces of art for whoever wants one from you.

Ten things you may or may not know about me

obi-john — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:25:33 GMT

By the way, if you have an hour or two to waste having some serious of geeky fun you can make your own comic book alter ego with, the hero generator, go to http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heromachine2/heroMachine2.asp So I haven't posted a blog in a long time but I was inspired to reenter the blogosphere by the recent ten things challenge that has been making the rounds. So here goes. 1. I have created over a dozen original origami designs. Several of which I exhibited at the origami USA convention in New York City. 2. In 1980 I took third place in the New Hampshire state gymnastic championships (although in the interest of full disclosure there were only five competitors). 3. I speak reasonably fluent Spanish 4. I used to play the trombone. 5. When I was very young my father suffered a stroke as a result of a tragic car accident. He survived, but for the rest of his life he could not use his right arm or speak more than two or three words at a time. 6. I learned from my father to listen with more than just my ears. 7. The last bedtime story that I read to my daughter was the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 8. I know how to tie a monkey fist knot. 9. I make an alfredo sauce that has made strong women swoon. 10. I believe that in at least one of my past lives I was someone you have never heard of who led a relatively ordinary and unremarkable life.

One of the most beautiful love poems I have ever encountered

obi-john — Tue, 29 May 2007 05:49:11 GMT

I'd like to see you in the moonlight I'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks I'd like to walk you through fields of wild flowers I'd like to check you for ticks by Brad Paisley

Hapless Tourist Devoured by Angry Hawaiian God

obi-john — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 06:41:38 GMT

So Amanda and my travels in Hawaii have been wonderful so far. It is a place of magnificent and diverse beauty. It is also a place where, unfortunately, many of the old ways are in decline being largely supplanted by the new gods of tourism and real estate. The Old Gods, being thus deprived of their usual diet of sacrifice are occasionally forced to go out hunting on their own. I was fortunate enough to catch a picture of this one as it leapt from the bushes and caught a wandering tourist (their favorite prey). Amanda and I have been doing our best to appease them by learning as much as we can of their ways and stories and by picking up trash whenever we find ourselves in beautiful natural or sacred places and so far it seems to be working. So, I am hopeful for a safe return next week with the blessings of Pele and her kin.

Show and Tell

obi-john — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:14:25 GMT

Today for show and tell, I have a picture I took of Thomas Edison's dentures

Pajamas and Art Day

obi-john — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 14:15:53 GMT

Whereas it is a cold, wet, rainy Saturday in January. I do hereby declare that today is a pajamas and art day. You are hereby absolved of any obligation to put on regular clothes today, however you must spend at least some portion of this day in some creative endeavor. January the sixth, two thousand and seven Blah, Blah, Blah

Giving Candy to Strangers

obi-john — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:49:55 GMT

Have you ever tried to give candy to strangers? It's a lot of fun and messes with people’s heads in the most delightful way. Last Sunday my daughter and I went to go see a local production of A Christmas Carol that a friend of hers was in. It was wonderful and we came out all warm with Christmas cheer. So we went to the local candy shop and bought a bunch of little chocolates wrapped up to look like Christmas presents and then started handing them out to strangers in the street and wishing them a Merry Christmas. A lot or them were confused. Many of them smiled and said thank you. They all got chocolate, and several people’s day became slightly more pleasant and surreal. I recommend trying it sometime.

Burn

obi-john — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 05:24:34 GMT

On the night of all hallows eve we had a big fire, just Amanda and I. We burned all the stuff that we couldn’t burn on Saturday because of the rain. Three pieces of old broken furniture, files and papers from Kim’s home, anything we no longer needed, all went into the fire. For the first time in a lifetime of strange fires I burned a book. Now I am of course passionately opposed to book burning. But, in my defense, it was a World Atlas from 1978. Considering that it was a physical representation of a worldview that is taking up space in my life and is no longer relevant to my present circumstance, it seemed best to add it to the fire.

A Departed Familiar

obi-john — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 05:19:53 GMT

My beloved snake “Spot” died this past weekend. He was a silent but comforting companion for the past ten years of my life. He taught me many things about patience and endurance. It seems fitting that he should choose this time to move on. He will be missed but not forgotten.

Falling with style

obi-john — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 22:31:55 GMT

So we did it. We jumped out of a plane and lived to tell the tale. It was just as astonishing as I had imagined it would be. While it wasn’t quite flying it was definitely falling with style, as Buzz Lightyear would say. It was a tandem jump so I didn’t have to do anything but just relax and trust that the guy attached to me knew what he was doing. I didn’t even jump out of the plane really. I just relaxed and he pushed us smoothly out of the plane. Next thing I know I’m looking up and watching our plane disappear at an alarming rate. The free fall went from about 14,000’ to about 9,000’ and lasted about a minute. My instructor took us cruising across the sky checking out the scenery from the White Mountains to the Atlantic. He pointed out a large cloud below us and said, “see that cloud down there?” I nodded, then he said, “watch this” and took us straight for the biggest thickest part of the cloud, and then down and into the cloud. Everything was just white for a moment. It was at this point that we hit the UFO that had been hiding inside the cloud at the time. Although it was a rather jarring stop to the free fall we seemed to be relatively unharmed. I know those things look like metal but actually they are quite soft. These luminous beings came out of the craft toward us speaking some kind of language composed of chirps and whistling noises. They held out a device that appeared to be a translator of some kind, however, it only seemed to translate into Portuguese. As luck would have it my jump instructor was Brazilian, so he was able to communicate with them. From what little I could understand they seemed to be lost and needed directions. At this point my wife, who had jumped out after me, came hurtling past. She saw me and waived, but I don’t think that she saw the spaceship. My jump instructor tapped me on the shoulder and said, “The aliens are asking, who was that lady?” I turned to them with my best Grouch Marx impression and said, “That was no lady, that was my wife.” And we jumped over the edge to try and catch up with her.

Geronimo!

obi-john — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:48:59 GMT

Oh My (non gender specific) Deity! I'm jumping out of a plane in a couple of hours. It's something that I have always wanted to do, but I must confess to a modicum of trepidation. If I don't make it, it's been fun knowing you all. Tell my wife I love her.

Helping Kim to Die

obi-john — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:02:56 GMT

As most of you are aware Amanda and I have been spending much of the past few months taking care of her mother in the last stages of cancer. For Amanda this has meant moving down to Boston to live with her mother to be a full time caregiver. For me this has meant alternating between living alone up in New Hampshire and driving down to Boston as often as possible, Trying to offer as much support to her and her mother as I can while juggling responsibilities at home. It all came to a dramatic end this past Monday. Kim passed after a long hard slow decline. In the final two weeks one or both of us was with her around the clock and we watched her go from being able to walk by herself to needing someone to hold onto, to needing a walker, to needing a wheelchair, to needing to be picked up and carried by us. We watched her loose the ability to communicate or control her own body. We did everything we could to make her comfortable, we cleaned up most every kind of fluid a body can produce, and made the most of her few lucid moments each day. It was one of the hardest and most difficult experiences of my life, but at the same time was one of those rare moments in life when you know that you are in exactly the right place doing exactly the right thing. When people hear that she died most people want to ask if she went peacefully. The short answer is no. There was nothing quiet, peaceful, or painless about it. The final stage of her death went on for over ten hours, and even with the morphine it looked like more pain than I have ever seen anyone endure, and that includes watching Lisa go through 12+ hours of labor with no meds giving birth to Athena. She was coughing up blood all day and I think I must have taken out 6-8 bags of bloody tissues and bed pads through the course of the day. She couldn’t speak, she could barely nod, but there was part of her that was definitely still present and aware of what was going on which may have been the hardest part. Amanda and I and two women from hospice took turns sitting by her side, cleaning up the blood, holding her hands, talking to her and comforting her as best we could. By around 11:00 that night we were all getting pretty worn out and Amanda said that she could use a glass of wine. There was a bottle of coconut pineapple wine that Kim had brought back from a trip to Florida that we had been saving. We decided that there was no better time to open it. I poured glasses for Amanda and I and one for the woman from hospice who had been with us all day. We drank toasts to Kim and the life she had lived, and with that she stopped breathing. I think we all stopped breathing for a little while there too, not sure if this was really the end. She didn’t start breathing again. We did. Although her body was gone I believe that her spirit was probably still in the room for a while and could hear us. So Amanda and I said our last farewells to her and wished her well on her final journey. The whole experience was astonishing, intense and trying in ways that I had not anticipated, but I’m glad to have gone through it, and to have been able to offer what support and comfort I could. It still feels a little surreal to think that it’s over now. I apologize if this was too much information for some people but it feels good to get it out and it’s not a story that I wanted to have to tell repeatedly when people asked. Thank you all for the support and love you have offered throughout this time.

Quote of the day

obi-john — Fri, 05 May 2006 16:52:07 GMT

"Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it." Bertolt Brecht

Bumper Sticker Wisdom

obi-john — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:25:34 GMT

Every now and zen someone manages to take a whole lot of wisdom and distill it down to the point the it fits on a small sticker. A couple of weeks ago I encountered three of the best examples of this I have ever seen affixed to the road cases of a band I was working with. They read… Plant Seeds and Sing Songs Improve Your Life Quit Bitching and Start a Revolution Just thought I’d take a moment to share these little morsels of wisdom.

The last ride of the Bloody Mary

obi-john — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:09:59 GMT

She was a good van. She carried me through many trials and adventures. She provided comfortable shelter at magical festivals and gatherings. But, now she’s gone. Gone the way of every other vehicle I’ve ever owned, which is to say that someone from the junkyard came and took her away when she finally became terminally uninspectable. I’ve always been sort of an automotive bottom feeder. I buy beater vehicles and nurse them along through a long series of minimal and occasionally half assed repairs squeezing the last bit of life out of them until they just can’t keep going anymore. Since my vehicles often last me only 2-4 years they tend to mark out chapters in the story of my life. Before the Bloody Mary, there was the (Free) Enterprise, and before that the Millennium Falcon (she may not look like much but she’s got it where it counts kid). Now the Bloody Mary has gone to join them in that great junkyard in the sky, to gracefully surrender her spare parts to newer vehicles who need them. Which will also be the eventual fate of my own body. Long live my new van The Black Pearl.

A Deep Thought for Valentines Day

obi-john — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:46:38 GMT

Love is not something that you can put chains on and throw into a lake. That's called Houdini. Love is liking someone a lot. Jack Handy

Quote of the Day

obi-john — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 18:30:12 GMT

“You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation” Plato Plato agrees, fun is better.

For the Love of Music

obi-john — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:16:49 GMT

So, for my birthday, my lovely wife got tickets for my daughter and us to go see the Kronos Quartet at the Music Hall in Portsmouth. The concert was last night and it reminded me of why I love live music. I got to listen to four performers who truly deserved to be called masters of their instruments and their craft. They played with the precision of a machine and a soul of pure poetry. Do yourself a favor. Some time this year, take yourself, and anyone else you care to bring along, to a real concert. Not “a show” at a club where everyone is there to talk, hang out, get drunk, and find someone to go home with that night, and the music is there as mostly as bait to lure you in to buy beer. Go to a real concert, in a theater, with actual people playing actual instruments, then sit down, shut up, and just listen to someone who has dedicated their life to creating music.

Intelligent Design Revelation

obi-john — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 02:57:28 GMT

So I’ve been following the whole debate on teaching “Intelligent Design” in the schools as an alternative to evolution. In case you haven’t been following it, it basically comes down to a bunch of Christian fundamentalists dressed up as scientists. They believe that the theory of evolution is flawed and the diversity of life on earth is too complex to have occurred naturally and so this must be proof of some intelligent designer who created all of this (probably in seven days if you ask them). Now, my usual critique of this idea is that you have to reckon with the fact that something like 95% of all of the species that have ever existed on the planet have gone extinct. So, you have to think, design…'maybe, intelligent…'maybe not. But, that’s when the revelation hit me. The problem with intelligent design is not that it’s just the book of genesis wrapped up in a lab coat. No, the real problem with intelligent design is that it does not go far enough! If you really look at the world around you with unbiased eyes you have to realize that the diversity of life and other observable phenomenon in our universe are so complex that they could only have been designed by a committee. I mean think about it, there must have been dozens if not hundreds of designers. Then above them a layer of middle management to help streamline processes and create an environment of empowerment or whatever it is that middle managers do. Then, above them there would be a sort of big cosmic board of directors issuing mission statements and directives that would then filter back down through the layers of management back to the designers. So, by the time these directives get back to the designers they have become so convoluted, confused and contradictory that we end up in a world with things like duckbilled platypuses and quantum particles that can exist in more than one place at the same time. It all starts to make sense now doesn’t it? So help me to quell this tide of ignorance that calls itself “Intelligent Design” and help me to spread the truth of “Design by Committee”. And remember, if evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve.

So what's up with this Bloging stuff?

obi-john — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 02:16:08 GMT

Back when I was a boy people didn't "Blog". We didn't run around cyberspace expressing ourselves with words and images. Heck, back when I was a boy there wasn't even a cyberspace to run arround in. No, back when I was a boy we all sat in the same room watching the same TV set and laugining at the same time, right along with the laugh track. All this new fangled stuff with people just expressing themselves for everyone else to see? Whats that gonn'a lead to? Pure anarchy, that's what it's gonna lead to! You mark my words.