Hail Dropped Like Bullets (Rerun from Last Year)

Cold night air everywhere...

Carrie had a boyfriend. Someone she knew from High School.

We never saw him, but we heard all about him.

Then, one night, she showed up crying. He'd dumped her by letter. Couldn't even wait until they saw each other. Couldn't call her (although it was before cell phones, back when long distance still meant anything).

She waved the letter and we looked at it. It was filled with typos and grammatical mistakes. Someone said "he's an illiterate dope, you're better off without him." This made Carrie cry even more.

I took her for a walk. We went down the hill. To the statehouse with the big fluffy lawn.

I made her roll downhill on the lawn. This momentarily made her feel better.

And we walked back up the hill.

"I never thought we'd be together forever," she said. "But I thought we'd make it to New Year's Eve."

And she started to cry again.

I wanted to hug her, but I didn't. Instead I distracted her with a story about a girl I knew in High School.

It was a funny story. And it made her laugh.

But she would have rather had the hug.

When we got back to the dorms, she thanked me for the walk. Then she hugged me.



"Maybe you and I should hang out later," Carrie said.

And I nodded. I wanted that too.

But I didn't want to swoop in after she'd been dumped.

And it was right before finals.

So I didn't do anything about it.

And then Carrie started dating this guy named Marc. And whenever she saw me, she'd give me a sad smile.

A smile that seemed to say "you should've hugged me."

And I nodded. Because I should have.

Tis the Seasoning

Found on the Interwebz

Because, you know, Christmas.

Boxing Day Go Here, Read This, Listen to That, And Watch This Other Thing

Sometimes you box the day, sometimes the day boxes you.

Steven, from Stevenology 2.0, reports from the Graham Parker & The Rumour show in Santa Cruz.

Holly from The Song in My Head Today hips us to my new favorite Atheist Christmas song.

Hey Dullblog re-re-re-examines Magical Mystery Tour with links to a slate review that includes a link to the following "new" (or at least new-ish)documentary:

Watch Magical Mystery Tour Revisited on PBS. See more from Great Performances.

Two More Christmas Favorites

Because It's Just Not Christmas Without Them

John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" and Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" are among my favorite Christmas songs ever.

Also in my top 5 Christmas songs are:



and:



I've never quite been sure what to put in the 5th slot. Maybe that song by the Pogues. Or the Squeeze Christmas song. Or "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses. Or "All I Want for Christmas (Is World Peace)" by Timbuk 3.

Whatever's on your list, here's wishing you a fantastic Christmas (or whatever holiday or non-holiday you celebrate) and an even better 2013.

Merry Christmas

Another year over...

Watching Darlene Love on Letterman, I wonder which late night show would have John Lennon appear every year on the last show before Christmas.



Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Darlene Love is a National Treausre

And still sounds as good as she did 49 years ago...

I guess it started sparse back in 1986:



(Bonus for the Spuds Mackenzie ad, I guess...)


But it's gotten a bit more elaborate in the past 26 years:




May we all sound that good in our 70s....

On the Shortest Day of the Year

The Winter Solstice is not a time for mourning, it’s a time for celebrating.

Think of it as Yoga for the Earth.

Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. Hold.

Align chakras up from the magma at the center of the planet to the highest mountain peaks.

Most of the year we're breathing in. Or we're breathing out.

Twice a year, we hold. In the holding, magic can happen.

In the pause, anything's possible. All over the world.

The Druids knew this. So they celebrated the holding.

After months of losing light, we pause. And in the pause we reflect light outwards. And then we start the long, slow process of gaining light, building back towards a period of growth. It’s slow at first and the progress isn’t always obvious from day to day. We gather, we collect. Later we plant. And grow. Then harvest.

We stop and change course during the pauses. And that's where the rules are thrown out.

In Iceland, there’s a town in the Westfjords that is technically below the Arctic Circle, but they have darkness through January because the sun never gets very high in the sky and a local mountain keeps the town in shadowy darkness. They celebrate the Solstice there – and celebrate “Sunshine Day” in January with a pancake breakfast attended by all townspeople the first day the sun peeks over the mountains. They pause. And then they eat. Pancakes.

While others lament the shortest day of the year and wonder where their sun has gone, the Druids knew this as a special time.

So they’d pause.

Yoga for the Earth. Hold the position. Breathe in. Hold.


This is a time when your stars are aligned. So go into the world.

And make your own magic.