45 + 5 points
The Archive of _____ by Tricia Tanaka
August 30th, 2008 10:32 PM
Nearly two months worth of my thoughts, collected and excerpted from my 2008 journal.
July 6
Always remember your happiest moments have involved music.
It rejuvenates you and inspires you. Your life should be a musical.
And don't get stuck on just one kind of music, either.
July 7
Weirdness: The word “drum” is pronounced “jrum”, like 'juh-rum” instead of “duh-rum.
July 8
I like the Gauguin painting 'Why are you Angry?'. Even though it's not colorfully beautiful like the others [in the exhibit], it is mysterious.
Why is she angry? Why are the others avoiding eachother's eyes?
And I love the title. It's like something I'd name one of my artworks.
July 10
I watch the Abu Ghraib movie and see how much our government sucks. (No offense)
July 11
I go to a real estate sale. It's creepy, the people who lived here seemed to have no personality at all.
It's a cookie cutter home with cookie cutter furniture, typical books, and RUGS. Only robots have rugs.
I think robots lived here.
It's like the type of house the government makes to convince a spy that people live there, when really no one does. You know that movie.
And the lawn is perfect.
(To the tune of another one bites the dust)
The government mows the lawn
and the government mows
and the government mows...
July 12
I like coconut flavor, but abhor coconut bits in food or drink.
July 13
A 4-year-old punches me in the face, then asks me why I won't play with her.
This abusive relationship has to stop.
July 15
Idea: A diary-reading club, where everyone keeps a perfectly truthful diary and bares all by reading it in front of the other members, say, once a month.
Since everyone will never lie they will become close friends, and also see how alike they really are.
People will feel more comfortable being themselves, and they will try new and exciting things to make their journal entries more interesting.
---
Later a storm rolls in and I do a tribal dance out in the rain. It feels wonderful.
July 17
I watch Sweeney Todd and now I want to be Mrs. Lovett.
July 18
A woman at the thrift store tells my mother I have beautiful hair.
Since she didn't tell me directly, I didn't get to say thank you. If she ever reads this, I want her to know she made my day.
July 19
Lately I have zero appetite. It's bizarre.
July 20
I write monologues.
July 21
At Half Price Books a guy sits right in the middle of an aisle and won't let me by, even when it's obvious I can't get past him.
Jerk.
July 22
I get a cool sticker at the music store!
Idea: A play called something like “Musical World” where everyone in the world sings instead of speaks.
The twist is, there is no music written for the play. It's the job of the actors to invent and improvise the tunes to their lines in a way that portrays their character.
July 23
The Breakfast Club is the best movie ever.
July 25
This image keeps popping into my head of a cane made of clear plastic or glass, and inside is a large single sprig of rosemary, twisting in a spiral all the way up the shaft.
It'd be cool to have a cane like that!
---
I go to Dallas and play You Can Only Walk On Shadows.
July 26
I audition for Annie Get Your Gun.
It is Very Fun.
July 27
I go see Gutenberg: The Musical!
It is the most funny thing I have ever seen.
“Historical Fiction is fiction... That's real”
July 28
The grocery store is out of lemons.
I hypothesis that the Juice Woman is taking them all and making them into juice.
I know she is! I saw her with her juice machine making snake eyes at me as I searched for lemons...
Cathy the Foodie comes to help me, but our search is unfruitful.
July 29
At an awards ceremony I go to, a GROWN 40-SOMETHING MAN has made a slide show with horrid spelling.
“I guess that means... WERE NUMBER ONE!!!”. Like we WERE number one, instead of actually being number one.
Sorry for laughing at you, Grown Man Who Should Know Better.
July 31
A friend of my dad tells me “You don't like to look people in the eyes, do you?”
It depends who the person is, really.
August 1
August sounds like a month that should be in fall, not summer.
---
While driving home I pass a lake.
The sun is setting and there's a man standing out in a skiff on the lake, facing the sun with his arms outstretched, as if to embrace it.
It is beautiful.
August 4
Idea: A history book for people who learn better through art/drawing.
One page would have the lesson, and the other page would ask you to illustrate what you learned.
An extra page at the front would show period attire to base your drawings on.
August 6
The key of G Minor has B flat and E flat in it.
August 7
My three favs: Alexander Calder, Patti LuPone, Fish 'n Chips.
August 8
8/8/08
I am writing Buddha the Musical.
August 10
I finally get some time to practice parkour. Hurray!
August 11
I translate my Facebook into Dutch.
August 13
I really like the name Siobhan.
August 14
“Momma I've made new friends
and they tell me I'm
too special to leave so
I won't see you for a long, long time.”
-A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant
August 15
I make a necklace from Erector set pieces.
It is shiny!
August 16
I go hunting for the Skiff. (Not a small boat Skiff, a magical invisible creature Skiff)
I do not find it.
I also play a game I made up called Run For the LYNZ.
August 18
It's raining. If traceurs are superheroes, the rain is the kryptonite.
It is impossible to safely do parkour when surfaces are wet.
---
I dance in the rain outside a grocery store.
I jolly old man asks me if I know it is raining. “Yeah, there's like, water falling from the SKY!!!” I reply.
He gives me a wink and enters the store.
Jolly old men who wink rock socks.
August 19
Poem I wrote last night:
I like to go to the art museum
where everyone stares at me like I am
a piece of art, too.
---
The stormy weather combined with Dallas's architecture gives a very dystopian feel. I love it!
August 20
My friends and I draw graffiti all over our arms. It is much glee.
August 23
“If you loved me half as much as I love you
You wouldn't stay away half as much as you do”
-Rosemary Clooney
August 24
I see two vehicles in a parking lot that have somehow exploded.
They are completely burned, and the tree and other cars nearby are scorched too.
Firefighters and the Bomb/arson squad are there.
August 25
Coming out of Barnes and Noble, I see a dove crash into the window.
It falls to the ground, flops twice, and lays still.
After a moment its eyes close.
What sort of world is this where people can be killed by windows?
----
Found cool website: blarthsday.com
August 27
Song I made up, in response to a crazy woman. Look both ways, crazy woman!
“Crazy woman,
don't go crossing the street
when I'm driving by.
I will hit you with my prius
and it won't be pretty.”
August 28
Dance Patch Day!
My sister and I party at the Kimbell art museum.
August 30
Someone or something keeps putting stuff on the roof of my house.
A hairbrush, tubing, and today some shingles.
The Not End!
July 6
Always remember your happiest moments have involved music.
It rejuvenates you and inspires you. Your life should be a musical.
And don't get stuck on just one kind of music, either.
July 7
Weirdness: The word “drum” is pronounced “jrum”, like 'juh-rum” instead of “duh-rum.
July 8
I like the Gauguin painting 'Why are you Angry?'. Even though it's not colorfully beautiful like the others [in the exhibit], it is mysterious.
Why is she angry? Why are the others avoiding eachother's eyes?
And I love the title. It's like something I'd name one of my artworks.
July 10
I watch the Abu Ghraib movie and see how much our government sucks. (No offense)
July 11
I go to a real estate sale. It's creepy, the people who lived here seemed to have no personality at all.
It's a cookie cutter home with cookie cutter furniture, typical books, and RUGS. Only robots have rugs.
I think robots lived here.
It's like the type of house the government makes to convince a spy that people live there, when really no one does. You know that movie.
And the lawn is perfect.
(To the tune of another one bites the dust)
The government mows the lawn
and the government mows
and the government mows...
July 12
I like coconut flavor, but abhor coconut bits in food or drink.
July 13
A 4-year-old punches me in the face, then asks me why I won't play with her.
This abusive relationship has to stop.
July 15
Idea: A diary-reading club, where everyone keeps a perfectly truthful diary and bares all by reading it in front of the other members, say, once a month.
Since everyone will never lie they will become close friends, and also see how alike they really are.
People will feel more comfortable being themselves, and they will try new and exciting things to make their journal entries more interesting.
---
Later a storm rolls in and I do a tribal dance out in the rain. It feels wonderful.
July 17
I watch Sweeney Todd and now I want to be Mrs. Lovett.
July 18
A woman at the thrift store tells my mother I have beautiful hair.
Since she didn't tell me directly, I didn't get to say thank you. If she ever reads this, I want her to know she made my day.
July 19
Lately I have zero appetite. It's bizarre.
July 20
I write monologues.
July 21
At Half Price Books a guy sits right in the middle of an aisle and won't let me by, even when it's obvious I can't get past him.
Jerk.
July 22
I get a cool sticker at the music store!
Idea: A play called something like “Musical World” where everyone in the world sings instead of speaks.
The twist is, there is no music written for the play. It's the job of the actors to invent and improvise the tunes to their lines in a way that portrays their character.
July 23
The Breakfast Club is the best movie ever.
July 25
This image keeps popping into my head of a cane made of clear plastic or glass, and inside is a large single sprig of rosemary, twisting in a spiral all the way up the shaft.
It'd be cool to have a cane like that!
---
I go to Dallas and play You Can Only Walk On Shadows.
July 26
I audition for Annie Get Your Gun.
It is Very Fun.
July 27
I go see Gutenberg: The Musical!
It is the most funny thing I have ever seen.
“Historical Fiction is fiction... That's real”
July 28
The grocery store is out of lemons.
I hypothesis that the Juice Woman is taking them all and making them into juice.
I know she is! I saw her with her juice machine making snake eyes at me as I searched for lemons...
Cathy the Foodie comes to help me, but our search is unfruitful.
July 29
At an awards ceremony I go to, a GROWN 40-SOMETHING MAN has made a slide show with horrid spelling.
“I guess that means... WERE NUMBER ONE!!!”. Like we WERE number one, instead of actually being number one.
Sorry for laughing at you, Grown Man Who Should Know Better.
July 31
A friend of my dad tells me “You don't like to look people in the eyes, do you?”
It depends who the person is, really.
August 1
August sounds like a month that should be in fall, not summer.
---
While driving home I pass a lake.
The sun is setting and there's a man standing out in a skiff on the lake, facing the sun with his arms outstretched, as if to embrace it.
It is beautiful.
August 4
Idea: A history book for people who learn better through art/drawing.
One page would have the lesson, and the other page would ask you to illustrate what you learned.
An extra page at the front would show period attire to base your drawings on.
August 6
The key of G Minor has B flat and E flat in it.
August 7
My three favs: Alexander Calder, Patti LuPone, Fish 'n Chips.
August 8
8/8/08
I am writing Buddha the Musical.
August 10
I finally get some time to practice parkour. Hurray!
August 11
I translate my Facebook into Dutch.
August 13
I really like the name Siobhan.
August 14
“Momma I've made new friends
and they tell me I'm
too special to leave so
I won't see you for a long, long time.”
-A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant
August 15
I make a necklace from Erector set pieces.
It is shiny!
August 16
I go hunting for the Skiff. (Not a small boat Skiff, a magical invisible creature Skiff)
I do not find it.
I also play a game I made up called Run For the LYNZ.
August 18
It's raining. If traceurs are superheroes, the rain is the kryptonite.
It is impossible to safely do parkour when surfaces are wet.
---
I dance in the rain outside a grocery store.
I jolly old man asks me if I know it is raining. “Yeah, there's like, water falling from the SKY!!!” I reply.
He gives me a wink and enters the store.
Jolly old men who wink rock socks.
August 19
Poem I wrote last night:
I like to go to the art museum
where everyone stares at me like I am
a piece of art, too.
---
The stormy weather combined with Dallas's architecture gives a very dystopian feel. I love it!
August 20
My friends and I draw graffiti all over our arms. It is much glee.
August 23
“If you loved me half as much as I love you
You wouldn't stay away half as much as you do”
-Rosemary Clooney
August 24
I see two vehicles in a parking lot that have somehow exploded.
They are completely burned, and the tree and other cars nearby are scorched too.
Firefighters and the Bomb/arson squad are there.
August 25
Coming out of Barnes and Noble, I see a dove crash into the window.
It falls to the ground, flops twice, and lays still.
After a moment its eyes close.
What sort of world is this where people can be killed by windows?
----
Found cool website: blarthsday.com
August 27
Song I made up, in response to a crazy woman. Look both ways, crazy woman!
“Crazy woman,
don't go crossing the street
when I'm driving by.
I will hit you with my prius
and it won't be pretty.”
August 28
Dance Patch Day!
My sister and I party at the Kimbell art museum.
August 30
Someone or something keeps putting stuff on the roof of my house.
A hairbrush, tubing, and today some shingles.
The Not End!
1 vote(s)
Terms
(none yet)5 comment(s)
posted by Tricia Tanaka on August 31st, 2008 8:39 AM
lol :D
Alright Burnie, I will offend with zest.
I just don't normally use the word "sucks". I know it's not really a bad word, but it just sounds harsh. Y'know?
posted by Brigadier Walrus on September 6th, 2008 7:44 PM
Though I think this task could have more a potentially more thorough completion, I like the sound of your insights, and I like the way you write about doves crashing into windows, tribal dances in the rain, picturesque men on skiffs.
Also, I agree with Burn Unit. Offend without shame! Especially as regards politics. If your opponent can't reply with a snappy, vigorous comeback, either they or their position is flawed.
posted by Tricia Tanaka on September 9th, 2008 10:43 PM
I understand how there seems to be a lack of thoroughness, but most of the stuff in my journal is very private, and I try to stay anonymous on the interwebs, let alone tell my deepest thoughts.
I think this is at least a little better than my original collection, though, which consisted of city rocks.
Thanks for voting! :)
See, here's the thing about saying, no offense. Most of the time, what people really mean is, I'm about to say something which will offend you, and I know it's offensive, but I'm going to say it anyway. And that's a fine thing to mean, so long as you don't go throwing it all away by saying exactly the opposite. There are times when offense is appropriate, useful, even REQUIRED. In those cases, by all means, offend. Offend with passion. Offend with zest. Offend with a bit of humor, when possible. But don't go wasting all that glorious wrath with a wishy-washy, boiler-plate disclaimer tacked on the end.
Don't take this the wrong way, because, you know, some of my best friends are the US Government, but . . .