moving the superhero fish - part 2

it's amazing how a new space defines your possessions as much as your possessions define a new space.

Alabaster takes a ride

you see, i had it all worked out - a four tier system for packing - and labeled the boxes with this system in mind. tier 1: the stuff i was going to unpack right away. tier 2: the stuff i was going to unpack if i had space. tier 3: semi-permanent storage and memories. tier 4: the stuff i no longer want and will part with as soon as i figure out how.

it didn't work.

the problem is that these turned out to be less rules than guidelines and only worked really well for my books. these i separated so well that i went from five double-stocked shelves to four single-stocked shelves with room to spare (new books!). most slid easily into tier 3 - these being books i've already read and don't need to see/reference regularly. i only pulled out five books to add to the, now dusty, books-for-used-bookstores bag.

some boxes became a hodgepodge of stuff i hadn't packed yet, didn't need to be immaculately packed because of the short trip and now that they're there, i don't know what to do with the stack that hasn't quite made it to the storage room because they're too poorly packed.

as for the tier 1 boxes, now that the majority of my stuff in at the new place, i realized that there is a postulate, two really, that supersedes all my attempts at an organized move: 1)all useful things should be packed separately or on top (so that you don't have to dig to find the scissors, screwdriver, measuring tape, etc used in unpacking. dishes also are especially important on this, though less when you're moving, like i am, into a fully furnished house). with this supposition i managed remarkably well: heavy metal, shown below, has been my constant companion during many moves and has not let me down yet.

heavy metal

also my brother has the most absolutely perfect kit for such endeavors and one which i will own just as soon as i go to my friendly neighborhood hardware store:

the perfect picture-hanging kit

plus a garage full of tools and a few rolls of duct-tape, so i was all set there as well.

the second axiom of moving is this: new space necessary dictates what you will unpack first - so only take out what you have found a place for. i had forgotten this fact nearly entirely while packing and thus feel a bit lost among my possessions.

i guess that is all for now, but more pictures are coming soon to a fish or a tourist near you.

moving the superhero fish

yay! the time has finally come - it's moving week.

this week i'll be spending way to much time in my room, covered in dust and books, overwhelmed by my possessions, cringing from papercuts (the ones from cardboard boxes being particularly painful) and wishing that i had super powers - mostly i think telekinesis and teleportation would be the most helpful ones. (if anyone has some spare toxic waste or gamma radiation lying around - send some my way.)

at the end of it all will be the start of a new adventure, a new space to spread into, to help define, a new life to sort out and, and and...

well, let's face it folks, moving sucks.

for some of us moving is easy. often it not only depends on where we are, but who we are. i, my dear friends, am a pack-rat who can organize anything that isn't my life. i will keep anything that i can imagine a use for and as you may have noticed, i have a large and vivid imagination. also, for some reason, in the last few years, i have become sentimental, which has amplified my inability to throw anything away, (or if you like, my ability to hold onto unnecessary things for untold reasons).

why do i need physical representations of my memories? i never needed them before. why now? what? so that when i'm old and senile and can't remember anything, people can hold these fossils in front of me and say "this is yours"? do you remember? say "this is you..."? do you recognize? say "this is your..."? do you recall?

ah but i know better than that - i already don't trust my memories...maybe i keep mementos because i am obsessed with time and dreams.

anyways, anytime i stop moving i collect stuff, like karmic dust in hard-cover form (esp. books). this time i haven't moved in about eleven months and instead of gradually gathering stuff over the months or years, i was hit with seven boxes of it right when i arrived from my two-thousand mile trek, with my stuff, one friend and a car (yes, this road trip did involve kansas).

it's weird, this time i'm moving four blocks and i think it's harder than when i moved from New Jersey to Colorado - mentally and possibly physically, if not emotionally. then - i had a deadline (end of lease), a size limit (in or on the station-wagon) and a long way to go (one trip only). now - i can drag it out if necessary (moving out of brother's house), no size limit (can make multiple trips) and a bunch of stuff i don't know what to do with.

here - a quick explanation: i went off to college in New Jersey, having left seven (seven!) boxes of stuff stored at my parents' house in Colorado. after college i continued my sojourn in NJ for a few years. i spent about a total of seven years there before deciding to return to the rustic charm of the rocky mountain state. however, about a month before i came to live with my bro - my parents finally sold their house and moved the rest of their stuff to California - giving me back my childhood and all the stuff i couldn't throw out when i made the transition out of the house. there so much stuff here that i don't want, don't know what to do with and don't want to through away.

so that's where i am now my little fishies - i've got all my books packed, some blankets and two more days till i move in officially. i'll keep you apprised of my progress and (perhaps) bring you pictures of my triumphs.

can mysfit get all of her shit from one place to the other and still keep her sanity? tune in later for the next exciting adventure: same fish time! same fish channel!

the mute fish

i have a sound-proof wall around me
and my fish is wearing earmuffs

i am not communicating

this is not communication

here, i am silent

are you listening?

all lines of communication are down
please resume living as usual

there's a starland waiting in the fish

where did it come from?  have androgynous rock star aliens finally taken notice of the fact that we rock?  well, no, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist.


happy anarchy

fri 7/22 11pm
munchaba lounge
58 gardiners ave
levittown, ny

thurs 7/28 10pm
kenny's castaways
157 bleeker st
ny ny

wed 8/3 8pm
starland ball room
570 jernee mill road
sayreville, nj

it may not be hunkabunka anymore, but starland is probably the biggest venue for us to date.  tickets are available now, in advance for $5.  at the door it's $10 and we don't get the count, so please please please talk to your favorite anarchist and buy these tickets.  you can buy them through our site as well.  we don't charge outrageous fees like ticketbastard...errr...ticketmaster does, just enough to cover shipping.  direct yo'self to 

http://www.happyanarchy.com/ticketscheck.htm 

and pick them up today!
the new shirt designs are coming along nicely.  i can't say when we'll have them, but i can say it will be sooner rather than later at this point.  highlark records shirts are also available at all of our shows and thru the higlark site.  pick one up or a pulse pistol, plasma cannon-toting chipmunk will kick your ass.

brush your teeth, stay in school, and follow your fish.

see us: www.happyanarchy.com
write us: happyanarchy@happyanarchy.com


-t-

the blogging fish

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time. You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

goodbye penny lane

so they closed one of my favorite coffee houses, a monument of my home town and a staple of my teen years.

penny lane is now officially closed as of last night. this place, which has been adorning boulder, colorado, usa for almost a quarter of a century, like a antique jewel from a time of free expression, is now and suddenly gone. this place, where ani difranco played her guitar and nirvana did a two day gig when their car broke down; this place, its second abode christened by allen ginsberg, a regular of the place, reading his epiphanies to an overly pleased crowd in 1994; this place, which frequently heard the words of so many poets and songsters in its lifetime of providing good coffee, free shows and open mics; this place, which was keeping some of boulder's culture, america's culture alive is now and suddenly gone. penny lane is gone

they held candle-light vigils, sang hallelujah and held a five-hour poetry reading - hoping the gods of creativity would come through for us one more time and save this sanctuary, save some of this magic. but to no avail. "the clan is scattering" one man told me and penny lane is gone.

i got up in front of the mic for the first time in months at about 11:45 p.m. and blanked out the words to my best poems, got pissed off, left the small green stage and walked out - goodbye penny lane.

i didn't even stay around for the ritual singing of "penny lane", by the beatles, at midnight.

i don't know what happened - the words wouldn't come. to me, penny lane has always been about words: the walls are made of words, the coffee's filled with words, the people are the words. it was the first place i ever got up and ranted into a mic; spoke words of hope and anger and fun before a crowd of total strangers. and it might be the last.

in order to write in this eclectic fishbowl meeting place of poets, minstrels and fictional characters (all real), all i had to do was sit down with a cup of joe, find a beginning and pull. then hold on as the distilled poetry leaked from the ceiling where no rainwater dripped, only words. sometimes just watching the decades pass me by - in fashions and personalities - was enough to get me over writer's block.

and now that it's gone, i wonder - where will all the words go?

farewell to penny lane - you will be missed.

heeeeeeeeeeere's fishy.

all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish. all work and no play make ben a dull fish.

mysfit's fish poem - as big as it gets

(ok, i lied - if you click on it it does get a little bigger and if you view it in big view, not fit in window- you may even be able to read some of the words)

review fish - samurai fish

since i'm not very good at these review-thingy-bobs, i have avoided saying much about the movies i've seen recently (except perhaps the ones that pissed me off - like that quantum documentary). the most notable of recent movie viewings that i have neglected to comment on was The Corporation - suffice to say, if you haven't seen it - see it now! however, i have fallen head over heals for old samurai pictures, and i must spread the joy. SPREAD THE JOY!!

Zatoichi

my newest love is Zatoichi.

lovable and dangerous, blind Ichi travels the lands of feudal Japan, drinking, gambling and defending the innocent. this series of 26 movies (mostly from 1960's to early 70's) details the adventures of a blind swordsman, who traveled the country as a masseur during the early 1800's. everybody tries (and i do mean tries and fails) to get a drop on the poor, blind masseur and Ichi often tests people to see if they are honest. he has a gambling habit and a bad tendency to be in the wrong place at the right time to get sucked into other people's problems. invariably anyone who faces him dies a quick and sure death. he fights by hearing alone and therefore, has one of the most interesting fighting styles i've ever seen. his cane sword may seem, if not common-place, at least familiar in current day, but back in the 60's it must have been revolutionary.

i don't know about you, but if i've just watched a blind man take down ten to fifteen men with about as many sword swipes, i'd drop my sword and offer him a drink.

as a long time fan of the martial arts genre as well as an avid (if currently starved) Anime fan, i've never been much for westerns. however, in watching these movies i can see their influence on the western genre - cowboys, drunken gambling and noble outlaws - now mix that with traditional japanese culture and you're getting close.

Ichi (also Zatoichi) is played by the legendary actor Shintaro Katsu in all but the last movie (which came out in 2003). he was born in Tokyo, Japan and died of lung cancer in 1997 - he was 65 years old. this series remains a favorite in both Japan and the US - and why not, this is top quality samurai action.

Lone Wolf and Cub

so last night i was introduced to a samurai movie called "Baby Cart to Hades". unlike the Zatoichi movies, which stand alone, the six movies in the Lone Wolf and Cub series are the continuing saga of Ogami Itto (played by Tomisaburo Wakayama) and his son, Daigoro.

he was the shogun's official executioner, a master of the kill, when he was unjustly accused of heresy by the same clan who killed his wife. he now roams Japan as assassin for higher: "500 gold can buy his sword, but nothing can buy his honor".

this series came out in the early seventies and i can't resist listing the american titles, for you:
"Sword of Vengeance"
"Baby Cart at the River Styx"
"Baby Cart to Hades"
"White Heaven in Hell"
"Baby Cart in Peril"
"Baby Cart in the Land of Demons"

i have only seen one and will probably share more about them as i watch the rest. however, from what i can tell, these are strange period pieces, as they are set in a transitional period in Japanese history, where some of the samurai carry guns as well as swords and are not less honorable for all that. in the one i saw, Lone Wolf takes down an entire army with baby cart and sword. i kid you not, the baby cart is an arsenal of weaponry and much of the controls are at the hands of Daigoro, who has to be around 4 years old - you'll just have to see it to understand.

the infrequent fish

my friends call me

today i met a barber
doorman, doctor, explorer
words exchanged
and directions changed
with not but a shaking of hands

has anyone a hole
or half a whole at that,
to help me puncture this bubble?
my love waits for me outside
slight and sunny amid the rubble
stained brown and ashen
from smack cigarettes, eyes
trained on an approaching vanishing point
muscles long in anticipation
strained and frozen

o to be clever!
read songs to me
sing me some poetry
i can’t hear anything over
this droning air conditioner
that is making me cold

there’s not much variety
to be had on this island
(these days i am
a lowly potato bug)
the brighter species
driven away by
pollution and corruption
dropped in between oceans
largely ignored by fish
and set upon from all sides
by glowinthedark boxing shrimp
one more reason to sit still
     and
          sink
               into
these depths that remain unsounded
dreams, schemes that are not unfounded
with attentions, intentions that may be golden
but for this wooden leg that keeps me grounded
like a stalled space program

quickly, one pissed off fish i am

i'm about out of time but i couldn't let this go un-fished. I don't watch Fox News, but thanks to my dear Skrambled, I have been clued into a site called News Hounds. Their motto is "We watch FOX so you don't have to". It's a great site, but what i found on it today makes me one pissed off fish.

According to Bill O'reilly of the O'reilly factor, if you don't agree with him in this "Talking Memo" you are helping terrorists and are a traitor to America.

All I have to say is fuck him. More on this when I have time

episodes of strange and unusual fish - part 8

alright, so the fish has been calling my name all through my dreams and i've realized that everyone can see the pictures but me. well, at least on this computer, all i see are spots, for no apparent reason. don't ask me about the gray picture in part 17, i don't know, but if you click on the pic you can see my darkside.

so i guess i have failed to mention the bizarre things i do to computers. jenn see knows the way machines can respond to one's personal physical energy. she destroys stereos or rather stereos commit suicide around her.

forget quantum and the cosmic loaf (with marmalade)!! step right up, because we have undeniable proof that you affect me and that i still have a gravitation pull on Neptune - even if it is very small. you can't deny it, because i won't hear no for an answer.

story 1: every now and then my old laptop would give me a pop-up menu "system is unstable - press ok". there were no other options so i pressed ok and returned to what i was doing, unhindered.

story 2: for about two weeks the a: drive (yes this was a few years ago - i still had a 3.5 floppy diskdrive) ceased to work entirely. well, that's not completely true. placing a floppy in this drive would crash my computer unless i took the following steps (in order): a) place disk in drive; b)immediately turn off active desktop; c)press button on drive to remove disk (don't get nervous that the disk doesn't pop-out); d)go to my computer and double-click drive; e) turn on active desktop. then the drive worked fine - see simple. after about two weeks, i never had trouble with the drive again.

please share your strange encounters with machines in the comments section and please, don't step on the mushrooms

{unfortunately Song of the Purple Mushroom Fish is an intrumental}

episodes of strange and unusual fish - part 17

for some reason, once we began meddling with the physics of time, strange things have been happening here on the fish. there have been inter-dimensional fish, like the one above (compliments of monkey 0) popping in and out of existence all over the place. I don't know if you can see the pictures posted here or not, but all i get are dots. so let that be a lesson to all of you little fishes - LEAVE THE COSMIC LOAFS ALONE!!!!

(stay tuned to the fish for further developments)