tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11337522863129638432024-03-13T09:06:46.670-07:00Daily ShaneUpdates on shows, projects, and the rantings of a crazy personShanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-27976968259810404122012-04-29T05:52:00.001-07:002012-04-29T05:52:25.234-07:00The bear went over the mountain----To see what he could see.<br /><br />We climbed up the foothills of the Kyrgyz Mountains yesterday. It was humbling and a beautiful reminder of my place in the world. Yes, in a hippy dippy spiritual one with nature kind of a way, but more so in a you can't help but be a part of the world kind of way. <br />You are here. You are alive. <br />While most people spend there whole lives striving and struggling to leave a mark on the world. I've sort of stumbled into affecting at least a few lives. And while admittedly it's not at all why I do what I do. I can confidently say that I will never be able to ignore that fact again.<br /><br />The other day at a meet and greet a young girl said to me, "Thank you for coming and shaking up our lives."<br />And I said, "really?<br /><br />Modern dance. Shaking lives up? She explained that it was the fact that we were people who were clearly passionate and enjoyed doing what we did. Most importantly, we were doing it. The questions at that meeting weren't about being famous or MTV or step up 2. They were asking us how do I live my life in a way that will make me happy, how do you define success, how do I do what I love, etc.<br />The idea of doing what you want, saying what you have to say in the way that you want, as Sean would say, "Speaking an old language, in a new way, with a contemporary accent." is something that as an American I completely take for granted. Well I used to anyway.<br /><br />Each day here I am more and more grateful that I can do exactly what I want and have the opportunity and proclivity and to live my life as an artist. For me there is no other way. But the blinders have come off. Nothing exists in a vacuum. It's simple physics. You cannot create something from nothing; therefore living a life of creation cannot help but alter the world around you. The inverse must be true as well and for this I am humbled and extremely grateful. <br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/29/746.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/29/s_746.jpg' border='0' width='130' height='130' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br />Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-17432525648690224112012-04-19T23:20:00.001-07:002012-04-19T23:23:41.449-07:00I was so hungry I could've eaten a horse... Then I didWell apparently it's the half way point of the tour.<br />Since I last updated we've had two shows.<br />Tonight will be the third at the pyramid.<br />It's a giant pyramid.<br />Pretty cool.<br />The audiences receptions have been nothing if not overwhelming.<br />Also I ate a horse steak.<br />It was pretty good but I'll gladly stick to beef.<br />Speaking of which check out the Belgian film "bullhead"<br />Very intense. Very good.<br />During our current call at the last place I got tulips.<br />That was a nice surprise.<br />I have a really nice stage burn on my hip and two splits under my big Fred flintstone toes. But they're healing having not performed for a few days, just master classes.<br />Last night the embassy threw a reception in our honor.<br />We've been playing lots of monopoly on my iPad. Apparently the company finds my business practices shystie. <br />I won the first game but lost the last two.<br />Reading and enjoying very much Derek Raymond's first book in his factory series "he died with his eyes open"<br />I've been having crazy dreams and my roommate tells me I grunt squeal and thrash..... But at least I'm not yelling.<br />Missing the hustle and bustle and sheen of new York city. And my lady and puppy son. But still insanely grateful and humble to bring modern dance to other cultures and get paid to do what I love.<br />We have our first day off on Sunday where we'll go sight seeing in Almaty.<br />I'll update then.<br />Cheers from the middle<br />Shaner <br /><br /><br />Oh I almost forgot at restaurants and pubs they serve (instead of beer nuts) a plate of very salty string cheese that tastes like smoked mozzarella .........<br /><br />It's amazing.<br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><br />Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-51167184132748409812012-04-13T22:53:00.001-07:002012-04-13T22:53:53.422-07:00Email from audience member 2Dear Shane,<br />My name is Helen and I would like to express my thanks to you for the<br />wonderful show you made in Ashghabad! I lack English words to express my<br />delight and I guess there exist no such great words in any language. So<br />marvelous it was. I attach a photo taken with the help of the camera of my<br />cell phone (that's why the quality may be far from being perfect)...You<br />might have had plenty of different photos with your fans, still I found it<br />possible to send you another one to remember our sunny Turkmenistan. Don't<br />you find this girl's dissatisfied face funny? I do, and I think that it is<br />radiant with joy when taken with her camera.<br />In spite of being dying after the concert and being practically torn to<br />pieces by people around you (may be that's why you don't face the camera)<br />you managed to answer my question about "Radiohead". When I heard the<br />voice of a singer during one of the dances I thought it to be "Home video"<br />(a band, similar to "Radiohead", but not so popular, though you may have<br />heard of them. Here is their official web-site www.homevideo.fm if you are<br />interested). But they don't have such song, that's why I made a conclusion<br />that it was "Radiohead". You backed up my opinion. Thank you for that!<br />I again thank your whole team. May be, one day, somewhere in New-York or<br />elsewhere I'll watch your show again. I wish you to continue making people<br />happier by your dances. I equally wish you success in your creative work.<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br />Helen<br /><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3625.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3625.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sunny%20Turkmenistan%20&z=10'>Sunny Turkmenistan </a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-58678363274888879642012-04-13T22:23:00.001-07:002012-04-13T22:23:29.998-07:00Sketches<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3480.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3480.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3483.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3483.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3484.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3484.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3485.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3485.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3486.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3486.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3487.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3487.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3488.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3488.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3489.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3489.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3490.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3490.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3491.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3491.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /> <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/3492.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_3492.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Airport%20terminals%20mostly&z=10'>Airport terminals mostly</a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-71668139238444671372012-04-13T00:38:00.003-07:002012-04-13T00:56:15.914-07:00An email from an audience member Hi Shane,<br />I just wanted to thank you for the great show you guys performed in <br />Ashgabat. I love any form of art especially the one that people <br />perform. Unfortunatelly, there are not such performances in our<br />country and I doubt we will have in the future. <br />Best of luck,<br />Nariman<br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Ashgabat,%20Turkmenistan%20&z=10'>Ashgabat, Turkmenistan </a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-75992849953075970472012-04-13T00:38:00.001-07:002012-04-13T00:54:45.560-07:00I'm big in Ashgabat.<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/13/92.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/13/s_92.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />Well this has been quite a start to the trip. From napkin flowers at breakfast to exchanging music with young English students, to teaching a workshop to 200 orphans, to being the first (and maybe the only) American dance company to perform in a country where their own national identity and culture is so strongly enforced that outside influences are strictly controlled, shaking hands with ambassadors, to taking hundreds of pictures with excited people who have literally never seen anything like what we did last night on stage. And I mean never.... They've seen what Hollywood has produced but live performance is quite a different thing and contemporary art that has meaning beyond spectacle is quite another.<br />There was skepticism at how we would be received at first and even at the top of the show there was apparently still some hesitancy as to what was happening on stage but Sean's brilliant and subtle use of humor broke down all cultural barriers astonishingly quickly. <br />I wouldn't be surprised (and this was confirmed by some of the English language students who volunteered to help out backstage) if there was a small trend of wearing horn rimmed glasses in at least the Ashgabat youth culture. Shane Dennis Rutkowski bringing pub tricks and 90s nerd/alt rock fashion to the world.<br />I could go on and on about how fulfilling and rewarding this experience has been but I think you get the point...<br />What I will say is this<br />We've changed things.<br />Next stop Almaty, Kazakhstan.<br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Somewhere%20in%20the%20air%20between%20Turkmenistan%20and%20Kazakhstan%20%20&z=10'>Somewhere in the air between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan </a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-26788593145995101732012-04-11T09:32:00.001-07:002012-04-11T09:32:38.147-07:00It's a yurt and we're in it!Here's. My pre show recap of this week in Turkmenistan....<br />Since I can't access the blog online I wasn't sure if my last post went through which became a good excuse for me to slack off on the blogging and just use instagram. <br />So we arrived Saturday at about 3 or 4 am from Istanbul then waiting to get our visas and went through more security (where we found out that a few people's luggage didn't make it.)<br />My little carry on bag which I checked did... Phew.<br />Update: after a couple days they got their bags<br /><br />Anyhoo we drive into the capital under a giant full moon and see an impeccable clean and empty city of gold and white marble and fountains lit up like las vegas. Palatial opulence abounded.... The rooms had their own works of art individually lit in them.... You get the point. See the previous post.<br />I stayed up and battled with the Internet discovering that they slow down the speed to next to nothing in the predawn hours. Timewarner does a similar thing during peak times to save bandwidth ....<br />Then I ate breakfast which I wont recount every meal I ate this week but the diet is no different that the one I eat at home except with a lot more lamb. Eggs meat cheese and coffee. Rice and a meat filled donut at one point.<br />You read that right. <br />Meat donuts.<br />Also we had lunch in a yurt. <br /><br />So I've been loving the food and I feel great although the smog and dust has been a little hard to get used to.<br />Sunday we went to the national museum where we saw the worlds largest carpet weighing 2 tons... And other archeological finds the last 7,000 years or so....<br />Then we went to the ruins of a famous mosque...<br /><br /><br />SundayMonday and Tuesday we taught workshops first at the local sports exercise and movement center where they teach yoga and dance and sports and what not. Then Monday was with the local folk dancers who do traditional turkmen dances... And they taught us the wedding dance which although it's thousands of years old I secretly hope its just become the equivalent of the electric slide.<br /><br /> Tuesday we went to the national ballet school and after an amazing warm welcoming from the director of the center we went went to meet the dancers and walked in during their barre.<br />Boys on one side girls on the other. All in traditional ballet uniforms and their teacher giving bar in his full suit and tie.<br /><br />Of course once Sean starting teaching they all loosened up and jumped right in.<br />I should probably mention that until fairly recently all dance and opera was completely outlawed. And even more recently it's only been traditional folk dancing and Russian ballet....<br /><br />The teacher's tie was off and sleeves rolled up by the end as everyone was getting in on the action.<br /><br />It was pretty great. Plus even without our amazing translator, maya, who translated all of Sean's classes I think it's hard to resist Sean's energy no matter what language you speak.<br /><br />Today we took a day trip that started at 5am to the old city's of Mary and old merv.... Which along the great silk road are amazing ruins of huge mud brick structures and amazing domed mosques and tomes sounds like a very cute old couple to my american ears.<br /><br />What else? Last night Becca, my roommate and I, did laundry in the tub and using the laces from my boots rigged a clothes line.... The hotel has a laundry service but we're trying to save as much per diem As possible.<br /><br />For the first three days our driver was the amazing Sergei ..... He was a huge man with big meaty mitts for hands, who smoked skinny little cigarettes and had a gold tooth, and drove like a bat out of hell. <br />He even danced really well when prompted.<br /><br />After seeing a piece we do called metal garden he was convinced that I had the same facial expressions as an old Russian film comedian... I'm assuming a sort of soviet buster Keaton.... But who know. It was a greatly appreciated compliment.... I'm gonna miss him.<br /><br />What else. We stick out like sore thumbs but everyone has been insanely nice and mostly just seems entertained by us. It's a very polite society but no one is certain about how the performance tomorrow night will be received. It's a sort of social experiment for them.<br /><br />The president who is the be all end all of power and national identity will be watching either a live feed or see a video tape later to judge whether or not they will have other modern dance companies in the future. While its an honor to be the first I hope we won't be the last.<br /><br />Oh we also had two meetings with local American language students who were thrilled to speak with and meet natives like us. And I found the kids who loved rock and roll and we bonded over the foo fighters.<br /><br />While I'm here to spread the cultural language of dance... The roses I make out of napkins have become a big hit.<br />I made one on the first morning for tony to give our waitress at breakfast and she loved it so much she wanted to learn to make it. So I taught her.<br />The next morning there were vases filled with paper napkins of every color in the breakfast room.<br /><br />Spreading art through pub tricks.<br /><br />Tomorrow we tech and dress and do a workshop for 200 orphans.<br />Then perform for diplomats and the ambassador and maybe even the president via video feed.<br /><br />I'll let you know how it goes.<br /><br />Dosvidanya <br />Doobre veecher<br />Shane<br /><br />Oh and I'm slowly learning Russian.<br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Ashgabat%20%4040.746056%2C-73.940621&z=10'>Ashgabat </a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-11511650511610087802012-04-06T18:59:00.001-07:002012-04-06T21:14:07.535-07:00Viva las VegasHoly opulent gold trim batman<br />Arrived at like 4am this time and went through the visa process.. Just gonna stay up and have breakfast in a bit before a day of sight seeing but seriously the city is so beautiful.... And well I can't stop saying it but... Opulent<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/06/2987.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/06/s_2987.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />That's my hotel room.... Here's some other photos that may or may not upload because the Internet is wonky....<br />I thought hotel wow in Istanbul was fancy but this place wins.... <br />Also when I arrived in the hotel in Istanbul the James bond theme was playing in the lobby it's a sign... Having read to Russia with love in Ohio.<br />International man of mystery leaving you with these<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/06/2988.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/06/s_2988.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/06/2990.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/06/s_2990.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />This is little Sean a puppet I made on the flight....<br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=%D1%83%D0%BB.%20%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%88%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%20%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B8,Ashgabat,Turkmenistan%4037.930016%2C58.386690&z=10'>ул. Алишера Навои,Ashgabat,Turkmenistan</a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-69819513749792883072012-04-06T02:23:00.001-07:002012-04-06T03:02:35.971-07:00It's a tour---- and I'm on itSoundtrack- the good the bad and the queen "a soldier's tale"<br />645am left Ohio after a great show at the university. Then flew to dc then flew to JFK which was hard to fly into JFK and not be going home... Really tugged at the ol heart strings.... Then after making a few phone calls and a last meal of a martini and steak panini I found out that thanks to the most amazing tour manager ever I was upgraded to first class.... Which on a ten hour flight made all the difference. Holy crap there was so much food... And I got to watch Sherlock Holmes 2 again...... Then completely lay down and sleep for 7 hours..... Hopefully I'll get to see a little bit of Istanbul in our 9 hour layover.....<br />Also I'm in the future. So wanted to let you know on the east coast that Friday is looking good.<br />And since the turkmen government wasn't thrilled with the idea of us performing our first show was cancelled which considering that it was on Sunday will be a welcomed break for the bodies.... Still teaching lots and doing cultural stuff though.<br />Will update more as the adventure continues but for now it's a tour and I'm on it.<br />Signing off from the 'how will I ever go back to flying coach' first class luxury <br />Shane<br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gi0Rt0slfy4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />Update: I feel great having slept gonna shower and shave we have a little under 6 hours before we fly to Turkmenistan ... Which I think is like a six hour flight....<br />The only story to report was an older man stopped dead in his tracks in the airport and stared at me for a very long time, he even turned to watch me go.... It was either my hair. Jealous of the cry baby curl... Or he thought I was Robbie Williams <br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/04/06/362.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/04/06/s_362.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39,000ft%20first%20class%20cabin&z=10'>39,000ft first class cabin</a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-73295876921760012532012-04-03T20:56:00.001-07:002012-04-03T20:59:50.724-07:00Day one on the roadCurrent soundtrack: dr. Dog "ain't it strange"<br />Greetings from the beautiful and wondrous Athens, Ohio.<br />An hour on the subway, two flights, one lay over and a two hour car ride later and we hit the stage. Nothing to crazy to report today besides eating a protein bar, a triple cheese burger, and a 12 ounce new York strip steak today.... I'm still kinda hungry but saving the churros for breakfast.<br />Tomorrows show should be good. Performing with the students from Ohio University who are doing a piece that Sean set on them.... Not looking forward to the 630am travel call the following morning but at least we can try and get in a nights sleep in a bed before sitting on planes for all eternity. Although still pretty excited to go to the future....<br />The real highlight of the day was the woman at Airport security telling one of my co dancers, David, to remove everything from his back pockets and when he assured her that his pockets were indeed empty. she said ... "oh" and checked out his butt....<br />Also I was the only one who packed for a one month tour in only a carry on roller board and a backpack..... Weird.......<br />Till next time<br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Athens!!......%20Ohio&z=10'>Athens!!...... Ohio</a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-31614992638365103962012-04-02T11:53:00.001-07:002012-04-02T11:53:29.522-07:00They pay me not to come home (a Tom waits inspired post)It's starting to sink in that very soon I will be in the other side of the world... I've kinda shrugged it off but it's also going to be the longest tour I've ever been on..... I can also think of it as going back to the future because it's 11 hours ahead over there. <br /><br />It's a strange and beautiful life and I know that fit now I'm torn in regards to my feelings about leaving the city..... I hate leaving this island....(not to mention my lady and puppy-son) . But this will be a once in a lifetime experience to share art and culture and the gift that I can't help but do with countries where some of them haven't had any exposure to western culture ever only becoming democratic in the last 4 years....<br /><br />The Sean curran company taking modern dance where no modern dance has ever gone before....<br /><br />I keep wanting to make the joke that this has international incident written all over it but I won't.... But I think I just did.... But anyway my dance belts are packed... I shined my boots and I have a badass haircut....<br />While I am technically being paid not to come home.... I'm also going to be doing things that people have quite literally never seen before. And that's pretty awesome.....<br /><br />Of course we going to Ohio first so I'll curtail my poetic excitement for a few more days.....<br />Until then<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uquHa5O7MVkt " frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />You said it Tom<br /><br />They pay me not to come home<br /><br />You know I gave it all up for the stage<br />They fill my cup up in the cage<br />It’s nobody’s business but mine when I’m low<br />To hold yourself up is not a crime here you know<br />At the end of the world<br /><br />I kick my foot at the lights<br />I breathe it in all night<br />There’s a light on a canvas tree<br />Money from home supporting me<br />They pay me not to come<br />I won’t eat crow<br />Ill stay away<br />And though all roads will not lead you home my girl<br />All roads lead to the end of the world<br />I sewed a little luck up in the hem of my gown<br />The only way down from the gallows is to swing<br />And I’ll wear boots instead of high heels<br />And the next stage that I am on it will have wheels<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=On%20my%20couch%20staring%20at%20my%20single%20carry-on%20bag&z=10'>On my couch staring at my single carry-on bag</a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-54786250296002216232012-03-30T12:40:00.001-07:002012-03-30T12:40:39.473-07:00Testing one Two, one two, just two just twoSoundtrack : Beirut "Rhineland (Heartland)"<br /><br />The Daily Shane has really become the biannual Shane but I figured I would resurrect it to keep a record of the upcoming tour for friends and family and super shane jr' in the future.<br /><br />Currently we are driving to a boarding school in Connecticut for a master class and a show but will be back in the city tonight. <br />After a weekend of packing and taping money and documents to my leg hair and attempting to construct a cyanide capsule fake tooth in the event of capture it's off to the magical land of<br /><br />Wait for it--<br /><br />Ohio.<br /><br />Wait that's not it . We have master classes and shows at Ohio University. Then on Thursday we fly to <br />Wait for it--<br /><br />ISTANBUL!<br /><br />Bamn. That's the one. Long layover then on to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and then Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Republic).....<br /><br />It should be an adventure.... I'm bringing along Ian Flemming's to Russia With Love and will be talking into the bottom of my shoe often. <br /><br />Until the next time<br />Das-ve-danya, comrades<br /><br /><br /><br />Update this boarding school is Hogwarts.... Plus the food is free and it's taco day. <br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=In%20a%20van%20somewhere%20in%20Connecticut%20&z=10'>In a van somewhere in Connecticut </a></p>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-3281311369886748472011-05-13T17:35:00.001-07:002011-05-13T17:35:52.743-07:00New York doesn't love you<div><p>"The subway ride to Colombia is far. It was like really scary to do by yourself? It was like half an hour *gum snap*. The people were weird? I wish this was a new train? Where are we going again. I'd much rather go to nyu. What's that smell? Ugh I almost fell?!"</p>
<p>The subway is dirty. The crazy people who live here have more of a right to talk as loudly as you are right now. That tall blank guy singing California dreamin on an out of tune guitar, that old woman completely decked out in gold lemay, that other old woman that can take a single step forward with out arching backing and throwing all her wait forward while at the same time yelling "Aaaahhhhhhh shit" (she does this with every step), the little drunk Mexican who fell asleep and sneezed on my arm, the fat black lady who sat on half my thigh, and the man who finished off a whole bottle of sleeping pills while everyone watched as he slipped away (I'm disgust mind you. Don't worry I told he conductor. Wonder what happened to him). All of these people the crazy the smelly the dead eyed commuters the insanely agitated and opinionated middle aged women with eccentric fashion tastes, they all belong here. New York loves them. New York doesn't love you though, new York doesn't even like you, new York wouldnt walk across the street to piss in your mouth if your teeth were on fire. So stop complaining. Next time take a cab.</p>
</div>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-41326058992147970802011-05-12T10:52:00.000-07:002011-05-13T13:20:54.471-07:00True love is...<div><p>Picking up another beings poop.</p>
</div>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-76816310370556309812011-05-11T20:11:00.000-07:002011-05-13T13:20:54.782-07:00The truth is...<div><p>The beauty of finding five bucks on the subway platform beats the shit out of a fifty hour work week.</p>
</div>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-63365228237188480492010-05-13T07:20:00.000-07:002010-05-13T07:21:14.520-07:00Warren Ellis says"Dance like you're stamping on a human face forever, love like you've been in a serious car crash that minced the front of your brain, stab like no one can arrest you, and live like there's no such thing as God." <br />— Warren Ellis<br />Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-25519332949737927602010-03-30T07:51:00.000-07:002010-03-30T07:52:43.791-07:00Pulled Down Shade- Bukowski<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOOC2OBdPH4M1qO9RDiMC6vINfnsn_esQADb8La5eO1AhOGO3RwkOSWt1Cssk4HMiNTK_EDJRFcvrqMbn4qYn8l3uKGMZQ4SskddGURdTovVWfUiTw0Mg0Z_Elvpn1fiBSTvSLrVZZxlE/s1600/bukshit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 136px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOOC2OBdPH4M1qO9RDiMC6vINfnsn_esQADb8La5eO1AhOGO3RwkOSWt1Cssk4HMiNTK_EDJRFcvrqMbn4qYn8l3uKGMZQ4SskddGURdTovVWfUiTw0Mg0Z_Elvpn1fiBSTvSLrVZZxlE/s200/bukshit.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454439925319276978" /></a><br />what I like about you<br />she told me<br />is that you're crude --<br />look at you sitting there<br />a beercan in your hand<br />and a cigar in your mouth<br />and look at<br />your dirty hairy belly<br />sticking out from<br />under your shirt.<br />you've got your shoes off<br />and you've got a hole<br />in your right stocking<br />with the big toe<br />sticking out.<br />you haven't shaved in<br />4 or 5 days.<br />your teeth are yellow<br />and your eyebrows<br />hang down<br />all twisted<br />and you've got enough<br />scars<br />to scare the shit<br />out of anybody.<br />there's always<br />a ring<br />in your bathtub<br />your telephone<br />is covered with<br />grease<br />and<br />half the crap in<br />your refrigerator is<br />rotten.<br />you never<br />wash your car.<br />you've got newspapers<br />a week old<br />on the floor.<br />you read dirty<br />magazines<br />and you don't have<br />a tv<br />but you order<br />deliveries from the<br />liquor store<br />and you tip<br />good.<br />and best of all<br />you don't push<br />a woman to<br />go to bed<br />with you.<br />you seem hardly<br />interested<br />and when I talk to you<br />you don't<br />say anything<br />you just<br />look around<br />the room or<br />scratch your<br />neck<br />like you don't<br />hear me.<br />you've got an old<br />wet towel in<br />the sink<br />and a photo of<br />Mussolini<br />on the wall<br />and you never<br />complain<br />about anything<br />and you never<br />ask questions<br />and I've<br />known you for<br />6 months<br />but I have<br />no idea<br />who you are.<br />you're like<br />some<br />pulled down shade<br />but that's what<br />I like about<br />you:<br />your crudeness:<br />a woman can<br />drop<br />out of your<br />life and<br />forget you<br />real fast.<br />a woman<br />can't go anywhere<br />but UP<br />after<br />leaving you,<br />honey.<br />you've got to<br />be<br />the best thing<br />that ever<br />happened<br />to<br />a girl<br />who's between<br />one guy<br />and the next<br />and has nothing<br />to do<br />at the moment.<br />this fucking<br />Scotch is<br />great.<br />let's play<br />Scrabble.Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-43436972498871624622010-03-08T10:03:00.000-08:002010-03-08T10:09:33.895-08:00This is WaterDavid Foster Wallace<br /><br /><br />(If anybody feels like perspiring [cough], I'd advise you to go ahead, because I'm sure going to. In fact I'm gonna [mumbles while pulling up his gown and taking out a handkerchief from his pocket].) Greetings ["parents"?] and congratulations to Kenyon's graduating class of 2005. There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?"<br /><br />This is a standard requirement of US commencement speeches, the deployment of didactic little parable-ish stories. The story ["thing"] turns out to be one of the better, less bullshitty conventions of the genre, but if you're worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise, older fish explaining what water is to you younger fish, please don't be. I am not the wise old fish. The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude, but the fact is that in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance, or so I wish to suggest to you on this dry and lovely morning.<br /><br />Of course the main requirement of speeches like this is that I'm supposed to talk about your liberal arts education's meaning, to try to explain why the degree you are about to receive has actual human value instead of just a material payoff. So let's talk about the single most pervasive cliché in the commencement speech genre, which is that a liberal arts education is not so much about filling you up with knowledge as it is about "teaching you how to think". If you're like me as a student, you've never liked hearing this, and you tend to feel a bit insulted by the claim that you needed anybody to teach you how to think, since the fact that you even got admitted to a college this good seems like proof that you already know how to think. But I'm going to posit to you that the liberal arts cliché turns out not to be insulting at all, because the really significant education in thinking that we're supposed to get in a place like this isn't really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about. If your total freedom of choice regarding what to think about seems too obvious to waste time discussing, I'd ask you to think about fish and water, and to bracket for just a few minutes your scepticism about the value of the totally obvious.<br /><br />Here's another didactic little story. There are these two guys sitting together in a bar in the remote Alaskan wilderness. One of the guys is religious, the other is an atheist, and the two are arguing about the existence of God with that special intensity that comes after about the fourth beer. And the atheist says: "Look, it's not like I don't have actual reasons for not believing in God. It's not like I haven't ever experimented with the whole God and prayer thing. Just last month I got caught away from the camp in that terrible blizzard, and I was totally lost and I couldn't see a thing, and it was 50 below, and so I tried it: I fell to my knees in the snow and cried out 'Oh, God, if there is a God, I'm lost in this blizzard, and I'm gonna die if you don't help me.'" And now, in the bar, the religious guy looks at the atheist all puzzled. "Well then you must believe now," he says, "After all, here you are, alive." The atheist just rolls his eyes. "No, man, all that was was a couple Eskimos happened to come wandering by and showed me the way back to camp."<br /><br />It's easy to run this story through kind of a standard liberal arts analysis: the exact same experience can mean two totally different things to two different people, given those people's two different belief templates and two different ways of constructing meaning from experience. Because we prize tolerance and diversity of belief, nowhere in our liberal arts analysis do we want to claim that one guy's interpretation is true and the other guy's is false or bad. Which is fine, except we also never end up talking about just where these individual templates and beliefs come from. Meaning, where they come from INSIDE the two guys. As if a person's most basic orientation toward the world, and the meaning of his experience were somehow just hard-wired, like height or shoe-size; or automatically absorbed from the culture, like language. As if how we construct meaning were not actually a matter of personal, intentional choice. Plus, there's the whole matter of arrogance. The nonreligious guy is so totally certain in his dismissal of the possibility that the passing Eskimos had anything to do with his prayer for help. True, there are plenty of religious people who seem arrogant and certain of their own interpretations, too. They're probably even more repulsive than atheists, at least to most of us. But religious dogmatists' problem is exactly the same as the story's unbeliever: blind certainty, a close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn't even know he's locked up.<br /><br />The point here is that I think this is one part of what teaching me how to think is really supposed to mean. To be just a little less arrogant. To have just a little critical awareness about myself and my certainties. Because a huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded. I have learned this the hard way, as I predict you graduates will, too.<br /><br />Here is just one example of the total wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute centre of the universe; the realest, most vivid and important person in existence. We rarely think about this sort of natural, basic self-centredness because it's so socially repulsive. But it's pretty much the same for all of us. It is our default setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth. Think about it: there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute centre of. The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV or YOUR monitor. And so on. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real.<br /><br />Please don't worry that I'm getting ready to lecture you about compassion or other-directedness or all the so-called virtues. This is not a matter of virtue. It's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default setting which is to be deeply and literally self-centered and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self. People who can adjust their natural default setting this way are often described as being "well-adjusted", which I suggest to you is not an accidental term.<br /><br />Given the triumphant academic setting here, an obvious question is how much of this work of adjusting our default setting involves actual knowledge or intellect. This question gets very tricky. Probably the most dangerous thing about an academic education--least in my own case--is that it enables my tendency to over-intellectualise stuff, to get lost in abstract argument inside my head, instead of simply paying attention to what is going on right in front of me, paying attention to what is going on inside me.<br /><br />As I'm sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotised by the constant monologue inside your own head (may be happening right now). Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. Think of the old cliché about "the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master".<br /><br />This, like many clichés, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth. It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger.<br /><br />And I submit that this is what the real, no bullshit value of your liberal arts education is supposed to be about: how to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone day in and day out. That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense. Let's get concrete. The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what "day in day out" really means. There happen to be whole, large parts of adult American life that nobody talks about in commencement speeches. One such part involves boredom, routine and petty frustration. The parents and older folks here will know all too well what I'm talking about.<br /><br />By way of example, let's say it's an average adult day, and you get up in the morning, go to your challenging, white-collar, college-graduate job, and you work hard for eight or ten hours, and at the end of the day you're tired and somewhat stressed and all you want is to go home and have a good supper and maybe unwind for an hour, and then hit the sack early because, of course, you have to get up the next day and do it all again. But then you remember there's no food at home. You haven't had time to shop this week because of your challenging job, and so now after work you have to get in your car and drive to the supermarket. It's the end of the work day and the traffic is apt to be: very bad. So getting to the store takes way longer than it should, and when you finally get there, the supermarket is very crowded, because of course it's the time of day when all the other people with jobs also try to squeeze in some grocery shopping. And the store is hideously lit and infused with soul-killing muzak or corporate pop and it's pretty much the last place you want to be but you can't just get in and quickly out; you have to wander all over the huge, over-lit store's confusing aisles to find the stuff you want and you have to manoeuvre your junky cart through all these other tired, hurried people with carts (et cetera, et cetera, cutting stuff out because this is a long ceremony) and eventually you get all your supper supplies, except now it turns out there aren't enough check-out lanes open even though it's the end-of-the-day rush. So the checkout line is incredibly long, which is stupid and infuriating. But you can't take your frustration out on the frantic lady working the register, who is overworked at a job whose daily tedium and meaninglessness surpasses the imagination of any of us here at a prestigious college.<br /><br />But anyway, you finally get to the checkout line's front, and you pay for your food, and you get told to "Have a nice day" in a voice that is the absolute voice of death. Then you have to take your creepy, flimsy, plastic bags of groceries in your cart with the one crazy wheel that pulls maddeningly to the left, all the way out through the crowded, bumpy, littery parking lot, and then you have to drive all the way home through slow, heavy, SUV-intensive, rush-hour traffic, et cetera et cetera.<br /><br />Everyone here has done this, of course. But it hasn't yet been part of you graduates' actual life routine, day after week after month after year.<br /><br />But it will be. And many more dreary, annoying, seemingly meaningless routines besides. But that is not the point. The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing is gonna come in. Because the traffic jams and crowded aisles and long checkout lines give me time to think, and if I don't make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to, I'm gonna be pissed and miserable every time I have to shop. Because my natural default setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me. About MY hungriness and MY fatigue and MY desire to just get home, and it's going to seem for all the world like everybody else is just in my way. And who are all these people in my way? And look at how repulsive most of them are, and how stupid and cow-like and dead-eyed and nonhuman they seem in the checkout line, or at how annoying and rude it is that people are talking loudly on cell phones in the middle of the line. And look at how deeply and personally unfair this is.<br /><br />Or, of course, if I'm in a more socially conscious liberal arts form of my default setting, I can spend time in the end-of-the-day traffic being disgusted about all the huge, stupid, lane-blocking SUV's and Hummers and V-12 pickup trucks, burning their wasteful, selfish, 40-gallon tanks of gas, and I can dwell on the fact that the patriotic or religious bumper-stickers always seem to be on the biggest, most disgustingly selfish vehicles, driven by the ugliest [responding here to loud applause] (this is an example of how NOT to think, though) most disgustingly selfish vehicles, driven by the ugliest, most inconsiderate and aggressive drivers. And I can think about how our children's children will despise us for wasting all the future's fuel, and probably screwing up the climate, and how spoiled and stupid and selfish and disgusting we all are, and how modern consumer society just sucks, and so forth and so on.<br /><br />You get the idea.<br /><br />If I choose to think this way in a store and on the freeway, fine. Lots of us do. Except thinking this way tends to be so easy and automatic that it doesn't have to be a choice. It is my natural default setting. It's the automatic way that I experience the boring, frustrating, crowded parts of adult life when I'm operating on the automatic, unconscious belief that I am the centre of the world, and that my immediate needs and feelings are what should determine the world's priorities.<br /><br />The thing is that, of course, there are totally different ways to think about these kinds of situations. In this traffic, all these vehicles stopped and idling in my way, it's not impossible that some of these people in SUV's have been in horrible auto accidents in the past, and now find driving so terrifying that their therapist has all but ordered them to get a huge, heavy SUV so they can feel safe enough to drive. Or that the Hummer that just cut me off is maybe being driven by a father whose little child is hurt or sick in the seat next to him, and he's trying to get this kid to the hospital, and he's in a bigger, more legitimate hurry than I am: it is actually I who am in HIS way.<br /><br />Or I can choose to force myself to consider the likelihood that everyone else in the supermarket's checkout line is just as bored and frustrated as I am, and that some of these people probably have harder, more tedious and painful lives than I do.<br /><br />Again, please don't think that I'm giving you moral advice, or that I'm saying you are supposed to think this way, or that anyone expects you to just automatically do it. Because it's hard. It takes will and effort, and if you are like me, some days you won't be able to do it, or you just flat out won't want to.<br /><br />But most days, if you're aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-up lady who just screamed at her kid in the checkout line. Maybe she's not usually like this. Maybe she's been up three straight nights holding the hand of a husband who is dying of bone cancer. Or maybe this very lady is the low-wage clerk at the motor vehicle department, who just yesterday helped your spouse resolve a horrific, infuriating, red-tape problem through some small act of bureaucratic kindness. Of course, none of this is likely, but it's also not impossible. It just depends what you want to consider. If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won't consider possibilities that aren't annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down.<br /><br />Not that that mystical stuff is necessarily true. The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're gonna try to see it.<br /><br />This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship.<br /><br />Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship--be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles--is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.<br /><br />Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful, it's that they're unconscious. They are default settings.<br /><br />They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing.<br /><br />And the so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving.... The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.<br /><br />That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.<br /><br />I know that this stuff probably doesn't sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational the way a commencement speech is supposed to sound. What it is, as far as I can see, is the capital-T Truth, with a whole lot of rhetorical niceties stripped away. You are, of course, free to think of it whatever you wish. But please don't just dismiss it as just some finger-wagging Dr Laura sermon. None of this stuff is really about morality or religion or dogma or big fancy questions of life after death.<br /><br />The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death.<br /><br />It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:<br /><br />"This is water."<br /><br />"This is water."<br /><br />It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out. Which means yet another grand cliché turns out to be true: your education really IS the job of a lifetime. And it commences: now.<br /><br />I wish you way more than luck.Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-21002650356803833172010-03-04T08:52:00.001-08:002010-03-04T08:52:43.042-08:00Happy In Paraguay<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/414TmP12WAU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/414TmP12WAU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-48724258089273102962009-12-27T10:56:00.001-08:002009-12-27T10:56:36.449-08:00Super Emo Friends<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://worldfamousdesignjunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/emofriends.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 430px; height: 1256px;" src="http://worldfamousdesignjunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/emofriends.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-87211534885125287872009-12-26T09:01:00.000-08:002009-12-26T09:02:51.280-08:00Keeping Things Whole - mark strand<br /><br />In a field <br />I am the absence <br />of field. <br />This is <br />always the case. <br />Wherever I am <br />I am what is missing. <br /><br />When I walk <br />I part the air <br />and always <br />the air moves in <br />to fill the spaces <br />where my body's been. <br /><br />We all have reasons <br />for moving. <br />I move <br />to keep things whole. <br /><br /><br />- Mark Strand<br /><br />Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-25684227574025964312009-12-15T06:29:00.001-08:002009-12-15T06:29:34.864-08:00Inner PeaceI dont usually get all spiritual but this email I got recently really makes a point<br /><br />Subject: Inner Peace<br /><br /><br />I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished.<br /><br /><br /><br />So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of Godiva. You have no idea how freakin' good I feel right now!<br /><br /><br /><br />Pass this on as it was to me.<br />Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-79869113238630680052009-12-14T06:36:00.000-08:002009-12-14T20:11:25.286-08:00ATHF Christmas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.cdn.turner.com/adultswim/music/tools/img/athf-christmas.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 240px;" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/adultswim/music/tools/img/athf-christmas.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4jI2mvvAyuQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4jI2mvvAyuQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-46429061929406507892009-12-13T06:41:00.000-08:002009-12-13T06:41:00.527-08:0012 Days Of Guido ChristmasNo Offense meant... just for fun<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Aogz162O5pE&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Aogz162O5pE&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1133752286312963843.post-83160937951627795792009-12-12T07:25:00.000-08:002009-12-12T07:28:03.339-08:00What's are we going to do tonight Brain?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.scrumalliance.org/system/resource_files/0000/0412/pinkyandthebrainwp2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 466px;" src="http://www.scrumalliance.org/system/resource_files/0000/0412/pinkyandthebrainwp2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Watching the Animaniacs Christmas special on VHS this morning (one of the perks of working from home)<br />and I thought I would share a little christmas spirit and nostalgia for 90s cartoons.<br />Oh Pinky and the Brain... edu-tainment, where have thou gone.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ws8mBLZEnBc&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ws8mBLZEnBc&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382479337797060116noreply@blogger.com0