A Single Layer

Possibly the greatest adaptation of Shakespeare to film EVER. Check out the York when Romeo (who reminds me vaguely of my cousin Scott), yells 'Tybalt!' up the alley.

Kathryn, do NOT be jealous of me going to the opera. It was weird. They were wearing these bulky animal costumes and clonking boots which might have been okay except that their footsteps drowned out the sound of the orchestra (Oh look! A band!). The plot was supposed to be about the circle of life or something deep, but it really seemed to be more about animals getting it on. It was an opera, though, so plot really shouldn't matter as long as the music is good. It wasn't. I mean, it wasn't BAD - but most of the singing was monotonous, the orchestration was unremarkable, and I hope to heaven no one from the production reads this. It would be so disheartening! They were all skillful - I just wasn't interested in the piece itself. But then, I have only ever seen very classical sorts of pieces. The Marriage of Figaro. Samson and Delilah. And I was listening to Puccini before leaving the house! What do you do? But then again, I was distracted by my seating companion. Five so...

I am going to the opera. Something about a cunning little vixen. What I really want to hear is Puccini. Maybe Madama Butterfly. Un Bel di Vedremo . I'm kinda stuck on it. Reminds me of the scene from A Room with a View , the one in the field 'with Florence in the distance,' though I'm not sure that it's the same aria.

so the last post was rather exclusive. sorry about that, o faithful readers. once upon a time, a friend sent me a snippet of joanna newsom's lyrics. they were beautiful, and i wanted them to have been mine - meanwhile, roommates laughed at them, killing the mood. they might not have laughed had it not seemed exclusive. most of you probably won't like her music (i've found maybe two people who do), but apart from that, she's a poet. here's from my second favorite song in all of creation - second only to sufjan's 'seven swans'. it's called 'only skin', and this is just a small fraction of the nearly fifteen-minute whole: Last week, our picture window Produced a half-word, Heavy and hollow, Hit by a brown bird. We stood and watched her gape like a rattlesnake And pant and labor over every intake. I said a sort of prayer for some rare grace, Then thought i ought to take her to a higher place. Said, “dog nor vulture nor cat shall toy wit...

dear jenny, would you believe it?? you fell for joanna's music on her BIRTHDAY!! how appropriate! like a gift just for her. :) sincerely, molly

heads up: it's now less than three months till my birthday. this will probably be your only warning, since i plan on forgetting all about it myself.

At lunch today, speaking of squirrels and birds and nature, I mentioned to my mother how what is natural is unnatural. And she said that He will put all things back together again. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again even so, it is neither horses nor men who will save our souls, who will patch nature up from her fallen place. - till the king himself comes -

three days off and now back to work. strange to say i'm looking forward to it, but it's true. there are all these fixtures i want to dust. i'm looking out the front window at a pirate ship. that's what it looks like, sans jolly roger. the masts are hung with white sheeting, a crow's nest sits atop it all, prow long and thin... i almost hear the bellowing call of the yeoman, booming across the deck. there was some sort of reenactment the other day. two such ships met each other in the bay and shot cannon fire (no cannons, of course) at each other. the sun was so bright behind them, i couldn't see. only heard the boom and boom as we walked - the whole family - along the bluff to my favorite taco shop. (whereupon i stuffed myself sick, as usual.)

are everywhere and the dogs don't seem to like them moreover the shoes are too intimate with their surface area sticky and white

1. going to disneyland with my brother today. he is home at last. 2. just now couldn't remember holden caulfield's name. had to wikipedia it. felt like a literary idiot. 3. but hey, i've only had a very little coffee this morning. 4. and i didn't like that book anyway. i might like it better now. that i'm older and wiser. maybe. 5. feeling a little weird going to disneyland the day after neuhaus has passed. i should spend the day in black, pacing the beach, rereading passages from death on a friday afternoon . aloud. at strangers. 6. the camelias on the table are lovely. 7. we will be late for disneyland if i don't shut up and get moving!!

forgive me, eager readers, for changing the format of the blog so quickly - again. but i couldn't handle all that blue. there was too much going on. so here's 'minima'. and may it remain so for a while yet.

let it be known throughout the land that my brother will be arriving tomorrow night. i can say tomorrow, since i am writing this after midnight. his absence has seemed longer since his distance was greater and his adventures more numerous. perhaps he will grace my blog with an account of his visit to the north pole or some other such wonder. we shall see. meanwhile, i have just finished day six of my ten-day workweek, a streak of intense book dealing all in the name of said brother's immanent arrival. i'll have three days off together this way. it is a good thing. a very good thing. :) also meanwhile, i must apologize to all of you for whom i owe a phone call or an email. there are even several who have christmas presents sitting in the back of my car. someday soon, i will return to earth and attend to you. someday soon.....

1. Budget. 2. Devote. 3. Be careful with my words. 4. Communicate with friends and family more fully and frequently. 5. Volunteer. 6. Pray. 7. Donate to good causes. 8. Get my facts straight. 9. Read good books (list to follow). 10. Finish writing my novel. 11. Help. 12. Apply. 13. Bring my lunch to work. 14. Stop and listen. 15. Look people in the eyes. 16. Keep my car clean (and undamaged). 17. Smell good. 18. Cook more. 19. Do right. 20. Love Jesus.

Looking for good new year's resolutions? In high school, I had these taped to my closet doors. Some kind of inspiration?

Today, Emily and I drove to Concord. (well, she drove. i sat in the back...) We were depositing our grandfather here, and have now somehow misplaced him. He's around about in his home... and we are wondering where. Dinner later, sleep and back again tomorrow. Tired, back sore, ready for Christmas vacation again.

So Christmas comes and Christmas goes, and the world the holy child is born to rests, as ever, full of dark so deep that all the Norman bishops in the land with all their candles aren't enough to drive it back an inch. - from Frederick Buechner's Godric

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 'Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.' The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of ma...

thank you

Come, if you will, on a Friday night, whether or not I am paying attention. Break me from my reverie, rend earth from sea and sea from salt. Separate the self and shame showing them two not one, then name me - the better half - after yourself, the Son. Come, if you will, in any form. Preferably not that of a woman, lest in my pride I pretend to understand you. Lion or lamb you have been. And as man I have loved you both less and more than I ought - for love is not an easy word. Child and criminal the same, your Spirit a dove and a flame, water and light and the breath of life, barefoot, berobed, bejeweled, begot. Come if you will, appear as you ought - only stop me in my tracks. Still the cycle. Break the back of the beast. Release the wolf from my mind. Temper the time. And whether or not it kill me, show me your face - swallow me like a seed into your breast or your belly. Bury and carry me, embryonic, with or without rebirth - only Come.

you gave your body to the lonely