sweetiehoneydude

now playing: the eagles, "pretty maids all in a row"

i can't remember which single this song appeared on the flip side of, but i have vivid memories of lying on my bed as a teenager with the arm pulled up and back on my record player so that it would keep repeating...and listening to this song over and over and over again. the harmonies on the fade of this song still makes the hair on my arms stand on end.

dylan came downstairs this morning with his gym shirt on under his white polo shirt, skateboarder emblems showing through...i tried to show him the error of his ways, but he wasn't hearin' me today. he then proceeded to put his coat on with the collar folded underneath and throw his bookbag over his shoulder on the way out to the van.

i want to say that it's a boy thing, but i'm here to tell ya...that would bug the shit outta me.

i'm realizing today that i've got roughly ten days to write the entire second half of this book. and, in the spirit of this epiphany, i just lost a few hundred words to my tempermental computer here at work.

could that be my karma telling me that i'm not supposed to be doin' this here?

no way, man.

incidental to the book, i had a long conversation today with one of the other primary characters...who pointed out that i have a tendency to lean on the word "man" quite a bit, and that it might be inappropriate to address her as such. i tried to explain my use of the word as a term of endearment, but it was - sadly - to no avail. therefore, i've been forced to utilize another not-quite-word to address this individual.

i'll adjust. eventually.

people, for all their purposes and functions in life, sometimes serve well as signposts - markers - barometers for how far we've come, for how many miles we've put behind us or how many miles we have before us. there are people who serve as role models, as icons, as examples, as reminders, as reference points...some become good friends, some are just incidental characters near the bottom of the credits - "man with guitar" or "musician in corner" or "chain smoking woman" or "stoic farmer in baseball cap" or "redneck at traffic light"...but they eventually become unwitting, thin rails of iron with small green numbers at the top along our road - perhaps without even realizing it sometimes, as they give us a glimpse of the big map with the red arrow, notating that "you are here".

i think that i did some time as a signpost today.