Not Directly Translatable

You know those lists of words that circulate various social media websites?  The ones that supposedly don't directly translate to an English equivalent?

I personally love them.  Here are some of my favorites:


Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan): A look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will offer something that they both desire but are unwilling to suggest or offer themselves.

Pena ajena (Mexican Spanish): The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation.

Culacino (Italian): The water mark left on a table from a cold glass.

El sbarlusega (Italian): Literally "the shining". A Venetian word for the reflections of water on buildings or ceilings.



 But here are some other things I thought of that may or may not have words in other languages, but definitely should.

• There should be a word for a mediocre day that follows a really great day.  It should encompass the feeling that your day was terrible even though you know it wasn't; it just couldn't live up to the euphoria of the previous day. 

• There should be a word for that moment when you know your friend is thinking the same dirty, inappropriate thing that you are, and you have to avoid making eye contact with them so you don't start laughing.

• There should be a word for the anxiety you feel watching nature documentaries knowing at any moment something tragic and heartbreaking is going to happen.

• There should be a word for the warmth you feel when you remember a summer day in the middle of winter.

• There should be a word for when you almost have yourself convinced you don't really like someone you know you shouldn't like, but actually you still do.

• There should be a word for the effort it takes not to roll your eyes or sneer when dealing with a particularly obnoxious co-worker.

• There should be a word for the very first sip of cold beer on a really hot day.

• There should be a word for the way reading or listening to or looking at some things hollows you out and leaves you breathless for at least 15 seconds... oh wait... there is (well a phrase anyways).

• There ought to be a word for standing in front of a painting and not being able to resist the urge to touch it even though you are in a museum and will definitely be thrown out if you are caught.

Now tell me some of your own.

Asking Believing Receiving

I've decided to ask the Universe for something very important.

Love?

Money?

Power?

Those would all be great too, but what I really want are Björk tickets.

You guys, in February and March Björk is doing 4 shows in Paris, on an island in the Seine, IN A FUCKING CIRCUS TENT.

I just love her so much and I want to see her perform live before I'm dead and buried.

So this is me lighting a million sticks of strawberry incense in front of the statue of the Patron Saint of Icelandic Pixie Gnome Electro-Folk-Pop-Whatever She Feels Like Singers, imploring her to hear my prayer and send me concert tickets and a few plane tickets and maybe accommodations at a 3 to 4 star boutique hotel.

Pretty please?

If Today Had A Theme Song...

... It would definitely be this:

Everyone is just the worst today.  If anyone calls, i'll be in the backyard eating cyanide and broken glass.

And Another Thing...

Why isn't this song on the radio all of the time?   20 years old and this song still kills it!

Holy hell I miss 90s rap videos... they just don't make 'em like they used to.

Things and Such... Also An Imaginary Boyfriend Thrown In

1. Stars - Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It

A lyric from this song (my current running jam), has become my 2013 life motto:

 Take the weakest thing in you / and then beat the bastards with it.

2. This jackalope jewelry holder... which I desperately need because of very important non-negotiable reasons.

3. Speaking of jackalopes and life mottos... this should be required reading (p.s. it has nothing to do with jackalopes).  But only if you're in the mood to have your heart ripped out, re-shaped by powerful, knowing hands, and then gently placed back into your chest cavity... and who isn't?!

Also, I think I'm the very last person on the planet (possibly the solar system) to read this... forever the last person on every band wagon.  As I was reading I kept thinking 'why didn't anyone tell me to read this sooner?!' and then I remembered that they did... lots of people... and several times.  I'm an asshole.

4. Richard Ayoade

Richard meets all of my imaginary boyfriend requirements:

a) English

b) Funny

c) Adorable

d) Incredibly talented

e) Looks great in a suit

New Year's(ish) Resolutions

I'm not a big believer in the Tao of the New Year's Resolution.  Resolutions in and of themselves are not a terrible thing, and I sincerely believe that trying  to be the best version of ourselves is always a good idea.  I just think that can happen any time of the year... make a May 17th or Oct 21st resolution... because there is nothing magical about setting a goal on a specific day of the year.

But I can certainly understand why the beginning of a new year can feel like a clean slate and a good time to start making some positive changes.  And, in that spirit, I have decided to participate.

This is what I have come up with:

1. Make art.  
As much as I can. Every day if I can manage it. I need to do this because it makes me happy.  Because every time I write a story or take a photo I really like, I feel like I could slow strut across a rainbow.  It gives me purpose.

2. Drink more water.
Apparently I should be drinking half of my weight in ounces of water everyday.  There are days when I drink nothing but coffee.  That is atrocious and disgusting.  I'm going to work on this.

3. Cocoon.
Sometimes the best decision you can make is to focus on taking care of yourself first and having faith that the rest will take care of itself in its own good time.  This one is about having patience... something I struggle with constantly. I also need to do some intense hyperballading.

4. Do things that terrify me.
A thing I've learned in the past year is that the more something makes me nervous and uncomfortable, the more I absolutely need to do it.  So I need to keep making myself terrified.

And that's it.  I think it's going to be a good year.

Tingles...

I'm a sap for a good poem. Here are a few that have given me that good ol' feelings ghost chill lately.



Perhaps It Is To Feel Strike

perhaps it is to feel strike

the silverfish of her nakedness

with fins sharply pleasant, my

youth has travelled toward her these years

or to snare the timid like

of her mind to my mind that i

am come by little countries to the yes

of her youth.

                     And if somebody hears

what i say -- let him be pitiful:

because i've travelled all alone

through the forest of wonderful,

and that my feet have surely known

the furious ways and the peaceful,

and because she is beautiful

- e.e. cummings

Becoming a Nun

On cold days
it is easy to be reasonable,
to button the mouth against kisses,
dust the breasts
with talcum powder
& forget
the red pulp meat
of the heart.

On those days
it beats
like a digital clock—
not a beat at all
but a steady whirring
chilly as green neon,
luminous as numerals in the dark,
cool as electricity.

& I think:
I can live without it all—
love with its blood pump,
sex with its messy hungers,
men with their peacock strutting,
their silly sexual baggage,
their wet tongues in my ear
& their words like little sugar suckers
with sour centers.

On such days
I am zipped in my body suit,
I am wearing seven league red suede boots,
I am marching over the cobblestones
as if they were the heads of men,

& I am happy
as a seven-year-old virgin
holding Daddy’s hand.

Don’t touch.
Don’t try to tempt me with your ripe persimmons.
Don’t threaten me with your volcano.
The sky is clearer when I’m not in heat,
& the poems
are colder.

- Erica Jong

O Me! O Life!

O Me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

- Walt Whitman