Nice and Nicely Done

The Ten Commandments:

1. Thou shalt read Mark Strand's poetry.
2. Thou shalt listen to The Spinto Band.
3. Thou shalt not wear Chacos in December. Or ever.
4. Thou shalt not watch Spike TV in excess.
5. Thou shalt spell "definitely" correctly (there's no "a").
6. Set aside one day a week for pumpkin ice cream.
7. Honor thy publisher.
8. Thou shalt not criticize those whom you cannot defeat in an arm-wrestling match.
9. Thou shalt not speculate on the "death" or whereabouts of Tupac.
10. Thou shalt not abuse the semicolon.

Symphony 1: In the Barrel of a Gun

Nothing’s gonna stop us now, not the long, long lonely, oh, my love.

Dear Graham Greene,

Is The Power and the Glory a criticism of the Catholic church and Latin American militarism? Just wondering. Write back soon.

Love,
Alex

Anyway, I was going to say that I'm glad Obama offered Secretary of State to Clinton. I'm sad that she took it. I wish she hadn't settled for anything less than vice president. But, she never listens to me.

The best thing for depression is alphabet soup.

Thanks be.

Three houses and two dinners later...

Made it through one more Thanksgiving. I love how every year more and more secrets surface. Will I ever really know everything about my family? I don't think I want to. My cousins have A Christmas Story on in the background. I swear, we've barely digested the various casseroles and desserts, and we're already debating real vs. fake Christmas trees.

In other news, I saw Four Christmases last night. For a holiday movie the night before Thanksgiving, it wasn't too terrible. Go to a matinee though; it's not quite worth $9.25.

The most productive part of my Thanksgiving break has been teaching my four-year-old cousin to say "The Alabama tax system is the pits." Our treasurer, Kay Ivey, will be receiving a phone call tomorrow. I'll report back. Ten-four, over and out.

L.

Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a death-like slumber, must always create a sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

Appreciate Brand New.

A new blog for a new brand of sanity. You understand.

So, anyway, I have this theory. If we legalized drinking, but outlawed classic literature, we'd have a bunch of sober teenagers who were well-versed in Dickens, Austen, the Bronte sisters, and Hemingway.

This kind of brilliance doesn't come easy.