must remember!

anne enright on the importance of failing as a writer:

Now when I hear of people taking a year off to write, I worry that a year might not be enough. You must fail as a writer for much longer than that, I think, before you know what failure is and what use you might make of it. I didn't realise, when that first book fell apart, that every book falls apart. That this is the gig. You sit there and watch your word-count drop, and you hold your nerve. I have survived this process now many times. But the first time was the worst, and I was lucky to be among friends.

from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/22/anne-enright-writing-author

the suicides - janet frame

It is hard for us to enter
the kind of despair they must have known
and because it is hard we must get in by breaking
the lock if necessary for we have not the key,
though for them there was no lock and the surrounding walls
were supple, receiving as waves, and they drowned
though not lovingly; it is we only
who must enter in this way.

Temptations will beset us, once we are in.
We may want to catalogue what they have stolen.
We may feel suspicion; we may even criticise the décor
of their suicidal despair, may perhaps feel
it was incongruously comfortable.

Knowing the temptations then
let us go in
deep to their despair and their skin and know
they died because words they had spoken
returned always homeless to them.

message in a bottle

been staring at gaurang's photographs much too much
bas, no more external stimulus
now i want to see ladakh as i see it
take my own pictures
make my own memories
locate thoughts in my head on my own
no not some forced attempt at "originality"
just an attempt at thinking on my own again
before it all slides back down
and these thoughts i want to write, whenever possible
and those written thoughts i want to
hopefully
translate visually into pictures, doodles, photographs
film, collages, maybe even other words (others' words)
don't know anyone who wants to collaborate just yet
but you don't find unless you look
come let's be unselfish partners in crime
for two weeks and no more
there are many ways to talk to me
if you think about it

not all those who wander are lost

there is a very-far-away feeling building
distance is the theme song of this year
my heroes are dying
my myths are fading
it's not fun being lost anymore
so much that i
need tattoos to remember my mottoes

correct!

When students ask, "When did you know you might be a writer? How did you know?," one of the things I tell them is that they may be designed for that life if (a) they need to do it in order to feel good about themselves, even though (b) doing it almost never makes them feel good about themselves.

- Jim Shepard

got money?

ladakh fever is ON!

tickets are booked! jackets are bought! jaws are set!

i'm BURSTING!

most of us are just going to laze around eating momos and doing yoga. one of us (me) might also be working full time on just trying to breathe. not milann. see widget below!

for when saturdays used to mean apple juice in a wine glass

...to mumbai

found poem on gtalk chat with scratchpost.

dramaqueen: when you going?

scratchpost: i'm so excited
i'm at the airport
waiting for flight

dramaqueen: o!

scratchpost: tokyo to melbourne to canberra to sydney to melbourne to mumbai to ladakh to mumbai to goa to mumbai to pune to mumbai to kerela(hopefully) to mumbai to the netherlands

dramaqueen: hahahaha

scratchpost: ...to mumbai

dramaqueen: :)

what's czech for, i love this movie?

to everyone i met at the party last night...

I don't go to parties. Well, what are they for,
If you don't need to find a new lover?
You drink and you listen and drink a bit more
And you take the next day to recover.
Someone to stay home with was all my desire
And, now that I've found a safe mooring,
I've just one ambition in life: I aspire
To go on and on being boring.

- wendy cope, being boring

ooh!

i want!

done.

i cannot work today. i cannot and so i will not. i will make the decision as simple as that. i will not agonize over it. i will not work on trying to decide what to do. i am just doing it. i will not float around in guilt while still not achieving any work--doing-ness. i will just not achieve. and i will watch tv and read a bad mystery novel. and i will guess the end on the 50th page and still enjoy it. ok? ok.

found poem

Selwyn: so is the white elephant dead?

dramaqueen: yes yes

Selwyn: :'(

dramaqueen: its a good thing

Selwyn: but y?

dramaqueen: he was always in the way

Selwyn: real sad
poets r always obsessed with killing things

dramaqueen: mostly themselves :P

Selwyn: rabs dint kil himself

dramaqueen: rabs?

Selwyn: rabindranath tagore

dramaqueen: ah that rabs
depression wasn't cool back then, now it's so hip no

Selwyn: yeah kinda

dramaqueen: why have you been saying no for so many days?

Selwyn: jus aisey
:)

found poem: "An unintentional poem discovered in a nonpoetic context, such as a conversation, news story, or advertisement. Found poems serve as reminders that everyday language often contains what can be considered poetry, or that poetry is definable as any text read as a poem." -- www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_f.htm

home

watch the trailer then the full free online release at http://www.youtube.com/homeproject.

there's such a lot of world to see

Moon River, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,
wherever you're going I'm going your way.
Two drifters off to see the world.
There's such a lot of world to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end--
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.

today...

...the ultimate life problem.

"ooh cool video"
"i should share it"
"how?"
"tweet it?"
"blog about it?"
"share it on google reader?"
"maybe the linkedin bunch will enjoy it?"
"argh."

possible tattoo?

"no eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn"

--jim morrison, the wasp, la woman

just one year left :)

for cobble stoned roads and early gray chai. and words and words and everywhere words. ah.

it's what you do to me

Hey there Delilah what's it like in New York City
I'm a thousand miles away
But girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do
Times Square can't shine as bright as you, I swear it's true

Hey there Delilah don't you worry about the distance
I'm right there if you get lonely give this song another listen
Close your eyes, listen to my voice it's my disguise
I'm by your side

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me

Hey there Delilah, I know times are getting hard
But just believe me girl, someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
We'll have it good, we'll have the life we knew we would
My word is good

Hey there Delilah, I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away, I'd write it all
Even more in love with me you'd fall, we'd have it all

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends would all make fun of us
And we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way

Delilah I can promise you
That by the time that we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame

Hey there Delilah
You be good and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school
And I'll be making history like I do

You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Delilah here's to you
This one's for you

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me

unknown

"Being solitary is being alone well: being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice, aware of the fullness of your own presence rather than of the absence of others. Because solitude is an achievement."

--Alice Koller, An Unknown Woman