Here we are again. Twenty four years ago today my brother Tom lost his battle with leukemia. Recently someone made a video using an abridged version of David Foster Wallace’s memorable “This is Water” speech, which is a little odd, but watching it this morning hit me particularly hard. I can’t help but think of how much life I’ve experienced since Tom died and wonder what his life would have been like had he lived. As usual I’ve tried to honor his memory this week by doing things I know he would have enjoyed. Like Friday night, when we went to Wits. My brother would have loved Patton Oswalt (one of us) and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and he probably had a crush on Ione Skye. Who didn’t in the 80s? Saturday afternoon we swung by Free Comic Book Day at The Source and I remembered all of our trips to Shinders as kids. And Saturday night, we participated in Cinco de Mayhem at CO Exhibitions. I really should have had my Dad make a pinata along with the other local artists.
Sunday was a bit off. In the morning I woke from a bad dream collage: I lost my job. A friend was diagnosed with some awful blood disease. There was a kitchen fire. I got mugged in a parking ramp. Unsurprisingly I got out of bed feeling not at all rested. And proceeded to cook up a storm (without any accompanying fires) before heading to the May Day Parade. We mostly had a good time but the boy and I just experienced synchronized seasonal allergy explosions so we were both a bit punchy and prone to crabbiness/crappiness.
In other news, Saturday is the boyfriend’s birthday. We’re heading down to Chicago to see Boris at Lincoln Hall. Despite being a mother I was oblivious to the impending Mother’s Day when I booked this trip out of town. Without my son. Oops.
Speaking of moms and more:
- The Matrix, retold by mom. Weird bonus: “The Walking (And Talking) Dead” — A Bad Lip Reading of The Walking Dead
- Matt Groening’s mom passed away recently. Read through her obituary and you will a) see what a wonderful smile she had and b) see how much of Groening’s real life inspired/informed The Simpsons.
- What an amazing person. I wish I had that sort of focus. Ray Harryhausen, Master Of Stop-Motion Animation, Dies. My friend Emily rounds up some of his best works.
- 22 cleverly defaced textbooks and exam papers and also science!
- I have long been amused by musicians who achieve a certain level of success and use it to come up with ridiculous riders when touring and whatnot. One photographer decided to document such things. Wonderful.
It was a long hard winter. Now that things are finally warming up (I’ve worn sandals! At least twice!) it’s particularly hard to focus on staying in one place in the here and now. Mentally or physically. The other night the boyfriend and I fully booked our Canadian trip for August. I even did a happy dance. Neither of us have used airbnb before but I feel like we did our homework and made some good choices for our Toronto and Montreal stays. We’ve also got this trip to Chicago, at least one to Pizza Farm, and another to Cheyenne for a friend’s wedding. And my son has some wacky adventures roaming the countryside with his grandparents and their dogs in an RV. But we need to remember to be present in the days that we are here, in our every day lives, and try not to daydream too much about what lays ahead.
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