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Train south from Chico to San Jose - #11” The Coast Starlight”

Train was supposed to come arrive at 3:40, but it didn’t. Stayed up until 5:45 am making conversation in the lobby of the Chico Amtrak “station”, and supposedly a good case for vegetarianism too. Got onboard at 5:50 and quickly fell asleep.

Woke up to sun exploding through orchards in full bloom. This really is the most beautiful state I’ve ever seen. Even without having been to any of the big-name attractions, or even a taste of the wilds, I think I might be in love. May my explorations only lead that love to expand and enrich. The passenger in the window seat next to me closed the curtain not long after, spoiling my view, but he can’t hide the love below.

Fresh haircut and I want to live a better way.

Readings on the applications of Buddhist philosophy have left me with mixed feelings. While I’m disappointed to learn that traditional Buddhism asks wives to be soft-spoken and submissive. The more mystical aspects and flowery language describing the divide between this world and that of the enlightened, is just that, mysticism and flowery language. Same play, different actors, religion is whack.

The pragmatic advice on how to live well in terms of understanding Duhkha and Tanha seems to me, but I have no faith in the concept of Nirvana. If all is suffering, then all is suffering always, and not “just until you get the super-bonus-enlightenment-powerup”. That was crude, my bad, I just fail to see the need for an ultimate end to justify the means. The Noble 8-Fold Path sounds awful good to me, sounds like what I would like to be. I’m getting to that age (older) where screwing around and fucking up actually screws things up and I end up getting fucked around. Finding myself with a desire for internal discipline, and searching for a way to live well, the facets of of Buddhism that I can swallow may prove beneficial, down the hatch.

Very rarely have I cut my hair without at the same time initiating an emotional re-calibration. With less hair I am a different thing, hopefully a better thing.

I decided Diana was going to cut my hair months ago, and when she cut it two days ago she asked why I chose her but I avoided the answer. I chose her because I hope some day to be close enough friends with her to ask her to cut my hair. Jump the gun much? I find myself in constant admiration of her, and I’m sure it will be a quite a while longer before I’m used to everyday finding new reasons to respect her, or character traits that she embodies so well and I wish I could represent. Maybe it’s because of her age (older still), or the geographic disparity between our upbringings, that makes her so awesomely new to me. Whatever the cause, it feels as though I’ve never met anyone like her before. She is a Good Person. Every time I attempt to define her, the way we all do with our socially calculating brains, I fail and it only makes me like her more. I’ve met what must be an uncommonly high number of these Good People in my 19 years of research, and none of them have failed to amaze me yet. Keep on doing it to it, you Good People.

ALSO, daily A.J.C. continues, but won’t be uploaded until I return to my scanner, hold tight.

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You called on a Sunday
the third week in winter
spoke of the boy you love and how you
both live so far away
I think it’s great

That they don’t make
hearts this big anymore
might as well get rid of it
so distracting in its way

And they won’t make
and aeroplane that can hold this love
when they know it
will crash and burn anyway

You said the the city’s so cold and gray
you might come to visit me in the sun
someday you joke
but that’s not funny

And they don’t make
boys like this anymore
scared and running blind
and only moving away

And they ought make for you
someone who’ll love you what you’re due
I’m in debt up to my eyes and I’m sorry
but I can’t pay

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Another Journal Comic 3-15-07

With stunning accuracy.

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Another Journal Comic 3-14-07

Here’s to consistency, and high platelet counts!

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Here’s what’s going on with the silly and oft discontinuous artistic “projects” going on in my life (but mostly in my head).

Another Journal Comic + Daily Sketch = More Likely

I figure if I combine these two vagrant and lonesome tasks, I can kill two birds with one stone. The murder-count must rise! Drawing A.J.C. by hand makes it a much less time consuming task, and making the Daily Sketch autobiographical (in theory) provides for no shortage of inspiration. Also, the combined weight of these two “daily” explorations might actually be enough to get me to do it to it every day (in theory).

Foil’d Revolutionaire

This bastard child of a Wacom Tablet and my Philosophy class needs to go on the shelf for a while. I’m still coming up with too many questions of my own philosophy to have a firm grasp on it, let alone illustrate a compendium of philosophies. Some day though.

Meat Machine

Never rests. I’m currently mulling over a few concepts for albums.
Firstly, a 3-way music/comic split with Tanner & Goldy.

Also, a 2-way split with Ryan, in which we both write songs about 6 months, and then combine our efforts into one contiguous “Musicalendar”.

The one album concept that has actually passed into the tangible portion of it’s life-cycle is going to be the second Meat Machine album, containing 20 loves songs, each of them less than or equal to 2 minutes in length. Let’s Us Go Swimming and Foreign Language Appreciation are both children of this thought.

There you have it, some semblance of organization.

Now, a moment of silence for The Show. Currently in it’s last week on-air of it’s year-long run, I can’t help but feel like I missed something awesome by coming so late to the party. I surely ought give some credit to the Mr. Ze Frank, he’s influenced me in ways I may never disclose. For those unfamiliar with Ze’s exploits, I implore you to watch the archives, make a day of it even, you won’t regret it.

Most tag’d post, ever.

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Yes, I cheated to make the date stamp say I posted this at 1:49, eat me.

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(It occurs to me not everyone reads my blog on a screen with a resolution of 1280x1024+, and that these kinds of images can get cropped by my blog’s frame without so much as a horizontal scroll bar showing up. According to the statistics, at least one person reads my blog with a resolution of but 800x600, so here’s to you kid. -jono xoxo)

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Dan Rather: “The public at large has a pretty good bullshit-meter.”

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Older lyrics + newer chords = fuel on the fire. Next album is tentatively titled “Broke Down, Pass Around” …or “Buttspree”.

Let’s Us Go Swimming - MP3

Filling a jar your heart’s seen better days
& I know it could
fill a sea between here and other states
where people don’t look the other way
when people they know fall down
fall down fall down

So let’s go swimming
while it’s still warm
let’s go swimming
let’s go swimming some more

Foreign Language Appreciation - MP3

You really know how to make me shake
from my fingers to my toes
maybe I don’t know how to stand
& down I go
& I’m satisfied telling you
how I feel like some thing’s gonna break

You really know how to make me hungry
from my stomach to my teeth
like I haven’t fed in days
& all I smell is meat
& I’m satisfied telling you
how you’re the only thing I can taste

& there’s still time before
the cities turn red
& there’s still time before
we go to bed

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MP3.

it’s a pain-
deep in my chest
keeps me from moving
deeper than the rest
keeps me from speaking

and you wouldn’t know
from looking
and you wouldn’t know

sharpen the knife
I’ll need it for later
if you left your wife
to chase the dumb waiter

and you didn’t know
what I had cooking
and you didn’t know
-that you weren’t looking

forgive my mistake
i don’t think we’ve met
though I may look used
i feel like a new wreck

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