6.29.2011

lessons

it is so deceptively easy to get hopelessly wrapped up in what you think is in someone else's head, what you think might happen, what you think you're going to mess up on.

this habit frequently results in the infamous 'downward spiral', as i fondly call my own tendency to catastrophize. i find it exhausting and frustrating, and i'm sure it's not exactly fun for anyone else around me either.

it begins with a small nagging problem or worry, and quickly blossoms into a giant void of hopelessness in which you are certain you are an absolutely hideous failure with no talent or intelligence whatsoever that will spend the rest of your life alone - except for your 18 cats, which will eat your face off when you die before anyone finds your body.

i've learned it's important to re-assess what's going on in your own head first, give yourself a hard reality check. do you have reason to think what you're thinking? is it really a gut feeling of instinct, or are you panicking yourself over something you extrapolated from a tiny, probably meaningless action or word?

these things are ridiculously difficult to distinguish between. the line between them is so very thin, and to make matters worse, it tends to smear and wobble in times of high emotion or anxiety.

nonetheless, that self-checking process needs to happen before you even allow a thought of the frantic downward spiral into misery to enter your head.
once your mind takes that first stair down, you risk the possibility - even the probability - that you will be wallowing in the depths of despair over nothing at all.

stay put

watch my back
so i make sure
you're right behind me
as before
yesterday, the night before tomorrow

dry my eyes,
so you won't know
dry my eyes,
so i won't show

i know you're right behind me

tonight
lykke li

6.27.2011

i wish i could believe

wasted
you tell the truth
when you could've lied
troubles
are on the rise
cause you're in disguise

and if it isn't me,
then pack your bags and leave
i wish i could believe
the devils won't take you back
out to the salty seas

mouthful of diamonds
phantogram

6.24.2011

the earth is warmer when you laugh

and love is the scene i render
when you catch me wide awake

and love is the best endeavor
waiting in the lion's mane

lion's mane
iron & wine

6.20.2011

i am no one you know

when you play the field selfishly everything
works against you:
one can't insist on love or
demand affection.

you're finally left with whatever
you have been willing to give
which often is:
nothing.

- excerpt from 'a poem for swingers'
by charles bukowski

6.14.2011

by blood & by mean

so tell me
when you hear my heart stop -
you’re the only who knows

tell me when you hear my silence
there’s a possibility
i wouldn’t know


possibility
lykke li

6.11.2011

don't you let me go

i dry my eye, dry my eye
falling deeper by the hour
dry my eye
dry my eye, dry my eye
don't let me fall deeper now
dry my eye

tonight
lykke li

6.10.2011

side streets

i habitually run for miles, sweating my ass off on the cracked sidewalks of my little hometown. it's my hobby, my obsession, my therapy.

usually i run into some people walking dogs, a couple of sunburnt kids on shitty bikes, maybe a few middle-aged ladies with water bottles and fancy sneakers trying to get fit for that midsummer vacation to florida. but today was different. everyone and their brother was out and about, breathing in that muggy air drenched with the smell of all the flowers that lost the battle against the heat of the past few days.

as i was panting and shuffling my way down a side street, i thought about how i felt i had a pretty good day, all things considered; i thought about how i need to run a little bit more before shimmying into that new skirt; i thought about the poor, abused skin on my shoulders soaking up even more UV rays as i ran.

i squinted into the evening sunshine as a group of people got closer - a middle aged mom, older dad, and three young kids, the youngest of which was enthusiastically heading the pack with a fake push-vacuum (the kind with the little balls inside) and a polka dot bathing suit ensemble. that made me smile as i hopped off the curb to give their troupe full clearance to pass.

that smile was glued to my face while the father asked me something i didn't quite hear, and remained when i asked him what he'd said. it was even still there when he repeated jokingly, 'what are ya running from?'

but it was gone in a split second when i answered, 'myself'.
gone because i didn't even realize that's what i was going to say; gone because i wasn't trying to be funny; gone because it was automatic and morbid and completely true.

6.08.2011

curtains

i find it hard
to drive your stupid car
i find it hard
because i never get that far

and you put my brain in overload
i can't change gears,
i cannot see the road

you've got concrete eyes
and i cannot see your face
and i failed in life
cause you crushed me with your hate

stupid car
radiohead

6.05.2011

i'll give it

i'm naked

i'm numb

i'm stupid

i'm staying

until we bleed
kleerup feat. lykke li

6.02.2011

tell me what's next

those things that i've lost
and things that i've sold
this case is now closed
and the trail has gone cold

and your sticks all are snakes
i throw them aside
and twist til they break
but they never die

this is not enough
this is not enough
this is not enough for me

human remains
tom mcrae