Hard sun

I realize, with terrible guilt, that I've only written 8 blog entries in all of 2008. This is irresponsible of me but I will make it up to you, dear readers.

I was just listening to my headphones, typing that intro when I noticed that I had a missed call from "Home." Wondering what was up (because my family will be seeing me on Monday as I'm going home to vote) I made my way downstairs and called back. So... my dad is flying south tomorrow morning to Florida to be with my grandfather. My grandma died today-- no sickness, no suffering, no hospital. Just reclined in a chair, maybe resting her eyes after finishing a book. And that's the way to go, I think.

It's weird to think of my dad flying down and not going with him. I feel called, or obligated-- like this is reunion of the Frederick Michael Stringers and I'm staying up north. I worry about the last impression I made. I hope my grandpa gets to see me at least another time. There isn't much family left.

And what do I do now? I guess I just keep on as usual. Write what I was going to write before the phone call.

Rest peacefully, Grandma Stringer.

I love you,
Mike


So I shaved my head yesterday. Please enjoy these pictures of the process:

Before (while dressed in 'guido' party swagger and clearly stolen from facebook):














The Process (thanks Mark, for shaving the back of my head and Sean for lending me your beard trimmer for use on my dome):















After!















A lot of people ask me why I decided to buzz all of my hair off. The reason is this. I wanted to do something different. Something wild, unexplained and unpredictable. I wanted to be in the moment, foolish and brave. Its the 'now' we forget too often, I forget too often. And all this 'now time' spent worrying about past and future is wasted. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to dive into projects and be excited about things. Do things that make people think I'm crazy-- just to fucking do them. To be there. Then. Now. So that's what I'm going to do.

My List:
Shave head
Spend weekend in woods, writing
Record EP
Finish "Caribou"
Write novel
Drive to California
See the American west

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list, but this is a nice foundation. It'll happen. It's got to.


Bomb the blogosphere,
Mike