friday night in the kingdom of doom

I left a project half-finished at the art center as the clouds grew dark and menacing and the radio chirped about tornadoes. They told me I wouldn't make it back before the storm hit but I wanted to be home to watch the onslaught from the front porch, and I'd already done all the work I felt like doing.

It's been forever since I watched a storm come in, and I sat on the glider and watched sheets of rain glide up the street, the lightning crackle above the trees, and the deafening thunder.

My sister is in labor right now and I'll probably be up all night with them, not having to be at work until the afternoon. I'm a little nervous but thrilled for her, because I don't know what this will be like.

In the meantime, I'm starting to recaffeinate with some green tea at the favorite coffeeshop where maybe, just maybe I'll get a little bit of writing done. I've been having a hard time coming up with something when I do sit down to do so, though it's not for lack of trying. It's the beginnings that are hardest, once I start I'm good but if I can't get it started, it just doesn't happen.

The song below is playing and it's fitting, though this album was disappointing when it came out considering that the parts of it were greater than the sum. How one gets Paul Simonon's basslines, Fela's drummer, and Simon Tong's guitar into one room with one of the greatest and snarkiest British songwriters since the Kinks and it ends up just sounding like it's all DangerMouse is something I don't understand, but this one is pretty good for a night like this.



Friday night
In the kingdom of doom
Ravens fly
Across the moon
All in now
There's a noise in the sky
Following all the rules
And not asking why

When the sunset world begins
Turning into the night
I see everything in black and white
And then...

Drink all day
'Cause the country is at war
Soon you'll be falling off the palace walls
I can't be any more than I say
In the flood we all get washed away

When the sunset world begins
Turning into the night
I see everything in black and white

A love song for the collaboration
You and me will never be undone
We'll let it blow away

imagined the future, woke up with a scream...

"life's an ocean / too much commotion/ all this emotion/ dragging me down..."



yeah, this is pretty much where I'm at right now.

love is noise

I have to tutor my kids tonight and I can't get my printouts to download. I feel like one of those weirdos at the library using a public computer because I'm off today and I'm a bit scruffy.

Like most things that happen to me, this weekend was almost entirely unplanned. I had planned on chilling out Friday night but ended up catching up with some old friends at a birthday party and me and the roommate meeting up with a friend after he got off work at Caribbean Flavor.

I somehow initially thought this would involve getting late dinner but instead was dancing away the stress of the weekend to pulsing dancehall and reggae, getting some weird looks because I definitely do not look Jamaican and was not dressed to impress. The past week has turned so many things upside-down that everything almost felt normal and it's to the point where I feel good being out of my element.

We did our lesson with the kids on Saturday about Valentine's Day and had them make paper hearts with words that rhyme on them. One of the babies was sick so I wrapped him in my hoodie and was holding him, trying to get him to calm down and we played blocks with the little girls and I totally felt like I was 5 in the best way giving them the plastic dinosaurs and letting them go all Godzilla on their block city.

As usual, the kids love getting pictures taken. Muk showed me how to play with some settings on my camera a little bit and that's how these turned out.





I didn't want to do anything on Valentine's Day but we got invited over to a friend's place for dinner and it just felt so good to laugh and chill even though I went back early to crash and get some sleep.

I picked up the most recent Verve album at the library and it made me remember why I like anthemic sweeping britpop so much.