Tiny Threads: An Insignificant Series

Yes, those of us who work on the 10thfloor judge those who take the elevator to the 2ndfloor.

#TinyThreads

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The Madonna Timeline: Song #156 – ‘Extreme Occident’ ~ Summer 2019

{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}

I WENT TO THE FAR RIGHT
THEN I WENT TO THE FAR LEFT
I TRIED TO RECOVER MY CENTER OF GRAVITY
I GUESS I’M LOST
I HAD TO PAY THE COST
THE THING THAT HURT ME MOST
WAS THAT I WASN’T LOST

The current ‘Madame X’ run we have going remains unbroken, as this marks the fifth Madonna Timeline in a row from the latest album. I was just about to suffer from some overplaying fatigue – a danger for any new Madonna album – but this has jolted me into an early Renaissance of celebrating that recent release. This is one of the more intriguing songs on ‘Madame X’ – with an old-world sound and ambivalent lyrics. Madonna returns to the well-tread (perhaps overdone) circle metaphor, but that is the only time when things dip a bit. The sparse arrangement of plucked strings and piano is a slice of atmospheric charm and drama, with searching lyrics that find Madonna ricocheting through time and space, touching on her own history, with a Wizard-of-Oz-like denouement.

I CAME FROM THE MIDWEST
THEN I WENT TO THE FAR EAST
I TRIED TO DISCOVER MY OWN IDENTITY
I GUESS I’M LOST
I PAID A HANDSOME COST
THE THING THAT HURT THE MOST
WAS THAT I WASN’T LOST
I WASN’T LOST

In a sunny summer dominated by the ‘Madame X’ album, this was a reminder that summer could go dark, and ruminations on finding oneself could run deep. Self-exploration and self-examination have earned dirty named for themselves in our selfie-obsessed society, but there is room for them when the intent is pure and the goal is noble and genuine.

{Spoiler alert: life is a circle.}

NO, I WASN’T LOST
IT WAS A DIFFERENT FEELING
A MIX OF LUCIDITY AND CRAZINESS
BUT I WASN’T LOST, YOU BELIEVE ME
I WAS RIGHT, AND I’VE GOT THE RIGHT
TO CHOOSE MY OWN LIFE LIKE A FULL CIRCLE
LIFE IS A CIRCLE, LIFE IS A CIRCLE, LIFE IS A CIRCLE, LIFE IS A CIRCLE
LIFE IS A CIRCLE, LIFE IS A CIRCLE, LIFE IS A CIRCLE, LIFE IS A CIRCLE

Alone in a strange country… isn’t that everyone at some point? Even if you’ve never left home, there are moments when we all feel like a stranger, even in our own space, even in our native land. We are but visitors on this earth. Transient beings who will be turned over into the earth without much fanfare or remembrance. Not in the grand scheme of things, not in the infinite history of the universe. And such is the danger of ‘Extreme Occident’ if you let it get that far. Such is its beauty, too.

AQUILO QUE MAIS MAGOA
QUE EU NÃO ESTAVA PERDIDA
AQUILO QUE MAIS MAGOA
QUE EU NÃO ESTAVA PERDIDA
 
SONG #156: ‘Extreme Occident’ – Summer 2019
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Tiny Threads: An Insignificant Series

When it comes to making trouble I’ve always had one motto: you can fuck around with everyone but Andy. I mean, I’m not stupid. He is a retired police officer.

#TinyThreads

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Hot Law Recap

The last weekly recap of the summer (not to worry, an extra-linky four-part summer recap will finish off the season in proper form come next weekend) this one gets kicked off by a fine group of finely shirtless male celebrities.

From there it gets even hotter with this post of Jude Law bulging out of his Speedo and walking in slow-motion to give a glimpse of everything. 

We need beauty, we need art!

We celebrated Dad’s 89th birthday.

Summer rains can be beautiful. 

Social media ennui

Bucolic euphoria by the Beekman Boys.

Oven lovin’.

The debate of a divided nation.

Reflections of my bare ass.

Making plans, Doogie-style.

Hunks of the Day include Alec Smith, Curtis Stone, Jay Ryan, and Brooks Koepka.

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End of Summer Reflections

“When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and, like a dream, glides away.” ~ Sarah Helen Whitman

Our end-of-summer recap posts will go up next weekend, but for now a little sneak preview cloaked in shadow and distorted by glass and reflection. Like the watery haze of a chlorinated pool, or a sun so bright it adds an impossible sheen to everything beneath its glory, summer is a heady mix of the seen and the unseen. The world grows bigger and brighter and greener before our eyes, the pace seems simultaneously quick and languid, and the air feels heavy and light all at once.

The bulk of September, lest anyone forget, is still summer. I always lost sight of that when returning to Brandeis at the end of August. I would prepare for sweater weather and cold nights, and always regret that I didn’t bring more short-sleeved shirts for un-air-conditioned dorm rooms and stuffy T rides. We are so quick to let summer go.

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ~ John Lubbock

This year I’m making the most of it until the very end, holding onto every last ray of sunlight, basking in every day we inch back up toward the 80’s. Summer has been kind to us. It isn’t always, so I offer gratitude and thankfulness as we near its end.

“I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.” ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

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Tiny Threads: An Insignificant Series

We are a divided nation. Especially when it comes to candy corn and cilantro.

#TinyThreads

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Fall Season Premiere of ALANILAGAN.com

Season premieres always thrilled me. If there were new clips and an updating to a show’s theme song, that was even more exciting. (Who among my generation didn’t delight at every updating of the intro to ‘The Cosby Show‘? I still remember that tropical orchestral version that turned it on its head in the best way.)

We’re changing things up a bit here for the fall season of ALANILAGAN.com – which has its own premiere on September 23 – the official first day of fall this year. Don’t worry (well, go ahead and worry in this case) there will be regular posts up until then, including a fantastic summer recap for the few kind folks who have been clamoring for some pool shots these past few months. You got to skin it to win it.

The fall season of this site will begin where I have rarely gone – into my work history with the state of New York. It’s a bit of a dry start for anyone who isn’t in the drudgery, but it has some juicy tidbits for anyone who’s been part of the state system.

On a broader scale, we are also headed into the fall and/or possibly winter of this blog. At a whopping sixteen years of age, this thing is a dinosaur among blogs, and part of what has kept it going is not commercial or popular success – it’s just a simple need to create. That won’t change anytime soon, but blogs haven’t been hot in quite some time, and to do all of this takes time and work. The latter I don’t mind, but the former is in short supply these days, and doesn’t look to expand any time soon. But that’s for me to figure out, and no sense in saying anything other than I think we’re well beyond the halfway mark of this website’s lifespan, at least in its current incarnation.

To keep things interesting in this second act, I’m going to change up the general pattern of this site. A typical day of posts has more or less included a morning piece, a midday collection of #TinyThreads, and a Hunk of the Day happy ending to finish the evening. We are reshuffling this a bit. Fall demands change.

First up, I’m easing off on the Tiny Threads series. It was, to be sure, an insignificant series for this site, but will still crop up from time to time – just not on the daily schedule it used to occupy. You should totally check in now and then and follow the long linky trail that each of those posts has within it (just keep clicking on the #TinyThreads link to bring you back to a previous TT post).

I’m also moving the Hunk of the Day to the middle of the afternoon on most days, when I can shoot out a proper promo post on FaceBook and Twitter during my lunch break. Pretty people bring in appreciators of beauty, who may then (hopefully) peruse more posts. Or they can simply enjoy the prettiness in the middle of the day, when most of us need a jolt of inspiration to carry us into the evening hours.

The Madonna Timeline is most definitely into its own winter season, with the final quarter of songs I have locked and loaded and ready for random selection. There are a few gems yet to be excavated, though the main soundtrack of my life has already been pilloried for the series. [See ‘Crazy For You‘ or ‘Live To Tell‘ or ‘You’ll See’ or ‘Secret Garden.’]

As for the rest of it – the Naked Male Celebrities, the Tom Ford, the Fashion, the Flowers, the Family, and Andy – much will continue as it always has, at least for the time being. This is the stuff of my life, and I’ll keep trying to make sense of it here, with all its accompanying foibles and follies and frills.

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Tiny Threads: An Insignificant Series

Is it really that difficult to produce an oven door that we might actually see through?

#TinyThreads

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Beekman Euphoria

It happened as I swirled the bar of ‘After the Sun’ Beekman 1802 soap in my hands and drew the lather over my arms. The shower was warm, the day had been long, and in this solitary moment of indulgence a simple bit of soap brought beauty and solace to the evening. It struck me that this was what the Beekman Boys had been talking about when they explained their vision not just for a cleaner and healthier lifestyle from their beauty products, but a happier one. As the captivating aroma of lavender filled the room and the softness of aloe and goat milk permeated my skin, I thought of the notion of happiness, and how gloriously contagious it could be. If you can be happy, do it. If you can be happy and naked and surrounded by suds, do that.

Having been a Beekman 1802 neighbor since this trip to Sharon Springs in 2012, I’ve been religiously using their products, and it’s enriched the way I take care of myself (and others, because these items make great gifts). The bar of ‘After the Sun’ soap has lasted since earlier in the summer – a glorious creation that perfectly soothes any angry bits of redness the sun may have inadvertently left on the skin. I place it back in the holder, where it leaves neither soap scum nor mushy residue, and once again wonder at the simplicity and enchanting properties of goat’s milk.

More than that, I experience a moment of euphoria – a moment of sheer happiness and comfort and joy culled from the beauty of the world, and the way in which the Beckman Boys so lovingly spread that message of happiness. It’s in the idyllic wake-up pictures of their farm that they post, in the uplifting way they give back to their local community on small and grand scales, and in the careful curation of products that eschew harmful chemicals. They leave their mark in a sustainable fashion, and share their message of happiness with neighbors around the world. There’s no better way to be a citizen of society. We are all in this together, and there’s something very poetic about finding all of that in a simple bar of soap. 

{This weekend, the Beekman 1902 company will be hosting the 10th anniversary of their annual Harvest Festival in Sharon Springs and if you’re in the area you should absolutely check it out. I don’t think we’ll be able to make this one, but we will be watching their televised HSN event and being neighborly that way (while also stocking up on holiday gifts… ok, and maybe something for me because the giver needs some pampering too).}

 

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Sky Storm Beauty

Do you remember that now-classic Steven Spielberg scene at the start of ‘Jurassic Park’ where the suspense is built upon a single ripple in a glass of water? It portends the arrival of the Tyrannosaurus rex and is chilling in its simplicity and power. I was reminded of that when I looked out the window and saw bits of bark and leaves fluttering down from the sky. Up until then the day had been a lovely one and there was still light in the sky. But falling debris out of nowhere meant that the winds were high nearby, and strong enough to carry such lofty detritus down to the earth. A metaphoric substitution of a coming storm for the coming fall. Such dramas, if they stay so little, have always thrilled me. I went outside to the backyard to await its arrival…

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9/11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My Father’s Birthday

Tomorrow marks my Dad’s birthday, but since this site remains silent on 9/11 we are giving him a proper post a little bit early. He’s getting up there in age, and like many of us he’s starting to show it, but whenever I’m with him I can always find some bit of spark or a sly smile that reminds me of some laugh from 30 years ago, and I’m reassured that he’ll always be my Dad. 

I am now one year shy of the age my father was when he had me, and thinking of that gives a whole new perspective to my childhood. Imagining having a baby at this point in my life sends shivers down my spine, and though my father was older than most people when he had his first son, when you’re a kid you don’t always notice such things. I certainly didn’t – my Dad was all-powerful and unstoppable. He got up and went to work early each day, he would get emergency calls in the middle of the night and bolt out of bed to the hospital, he could mow the lawn and plant a vegetable garden in a single morning, and somehow have the frame of mind and delicacy to peel me grapes after dinner. But by your mid-forties, you pretty much are who you are, and adding a child to the mix is bound to disrupt even the most accommodating of people. My brother and I no doubt pushed against the orderly life of a Virgo, but we all managed to make it through, and are in many ways richer and better for it 

Through hard work, stubbornness, loyalty and love, he’s been the patriarch of our family – someone who came all the way from the Philippines to make a better life for himself and his family, while never forgetting where he came from or the people he had to leave behind. He deserves more than one day to celebrate all that he’s accomplished, and all that he’s been to us over the years, and as he gets older I’ve been trying to make sure I’m present whenever we’re together, so that I can remember. Tomorrow we will have him over for a Filipino dinner and celebrate his special day.

Happy birthday Dad – I love you.

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We Need More Love, We Need More Beauty

Tomorrow this site goes dark, as it has since I first started posting things in 2003, in honor of those lost on 9/11/01. The beauty of September has been marred ever since that date, but it also marks a time to remember all the love that is still in this world. I forget about that sometimes. Here are a few posts that remind us of the capability of the human heart, and what we can do when we pause to see the beauty of the world. At least, it’s what I try to do – and what I need to do more often. 

Walking in the woods.

Looking up at the moon.

Breaking the day.

Smudging a home

Holding hands

Wedding love

Babysitting adventures

Painting memories

Wording.

Falling for Shirley.

Returning to beauty.

Holding the ocean.

Finding woodland peace.

Posing in a tree.

Milking the goats.

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