Top 10 Tuesday

Happy Tuesday. However, it's not so happy when shackled to sickness rendering me couch-bound. The body needs rest sometimes, though. I'm binge-watching Bob's Burgers and reading. Looking out the window, it appears to be a perfect day to be sick; the air cursing of rain and color muting itself to all shades of gray. I'm nook and crannied in the warmest, most colorful place as far as I can see. It pays to be optimistic sometimes. I hope you enjoy the ten treasures I have below.

The Top 10

1. Interview with Maira Kalman on OnBeing Podcast You may recognize her illustrations from The Elements of Style or The New Yorker. Maira Kalman is a writer/illustrator I have always admired and enjoyed. Her affinity for hats, dogs, cake, walking around NYC, and people who have slow, deliberate gaits has always charmed me. I recently listened to an interview with her on the podcast OnBeing. I'll admit that before the podcast, I didn't know too much about her. She is aware that her work demonstrates enthusiasm and a very rare optimism that is refreshing. However, she claims that she too is plagued with dark days and black emotions. Aren't we all. That's the part I was hoping to learn more about. I guess I'll have to do my research. The interview, however, was very meditative. It refreshes one's desire to pay attention. A favorite part was when they talked about the strangeness of being in a museum--a sanctuary of deliberate quiet. Where else do you go to simply look, gaze, and move on with nothing more than silent air leaving your body in hmmm and huh?

2. Universe, Nested In a surreal corner of the internets, I found this not-so-little nested universe. Thinking about using this website--and others like it--creates a bizarre feeling in my body. I named this feeling last night, when I woke up cloaked in sickness, ready to dry heave. It's the feeling of the body letting go, I guess. In my delirium, while in the moment last night, I called it peppery. My body felt peppery. It's when my body began to profusely sweat, I felt the need to take off all my clothing, and a tingling sensation covered me, especially on the roof of my mouth. It's a cold, coarse feeling. That's the feeling I get when I think of the universe and all its synonyms. Anyway, it was fun to dive into the stratigraphies of the universe.

3. Fractal Creating The same man who made the above nested universe created this interesting project, as well, where you're able to create fractals using commands on your keyboard. What is a fractal? It's an abstract image or object that represents a small part of a larger part. It's typically a pattern that is repeated, ad infinitum.

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fractal

4. Creative Nonfiction I have decided to subscribe not only to this magazine, but to True Story, as well. I look forward to getting these in the mail! I've been wanting to read more creative and personal essays and I'm interested in writing more of my own.

5. Receiving a Letter I received a letter from a friend in the mail the other day. It's nice receiving mail of the snail variety, especially if there are poetry and requests involved. To know that someone with what you consider a gorgeous mind wants to work with your mind in return, is a wonderful gift to receive.

6. Being a Nook Person I'm in the process of reading a book of essays by Durga Chew-Bose. I came across what she coined "Nook People".

Those of us who seek corners and bays in order to redeploy our hearts and not break the mood. Those of us who retreat in order to cubicle our flame. Who collect sea glass. Who value a deep pants pocket. Who are our own understudies and may as well have shadowboxes for brains. We remember the soapy swoosh and high-pressure jets of car washes fondly. Of sitting in the backseat, near-worshipful of its cooped, walled-in chaos. We see a baby, burrito-wrapped in her blanket, and think, Now, wouldn't that be nice?

Nook people are those of us who need solitude, but also the sound of someone puttering in the next room. Someone working on his project, down the hall and behind a door left ajar. We look away from our screen and hear him turning a page or readjusting his posture, and isn't it time for lunch?

So, that's just a small snippet of what I loved in her essay. I really identified with this comfortable, shameless introversion so adequately portrayed as being a "nook person". Although I'm ill and uncomfortable, I can't help but feel--at the same time--immensely comfortable in my papoose of fever, mindless television, blankets, and sporadic book-reading. I'll write more about her book next week.

7. Christmas Lights This past weekend, I stayed in town for the first time in a month and spent time with my boyfriend. We had a wonderful, low-key weekend together even though my glands were beginning to swell. We went to the movies, went out to eat, had a disappointing visit to Target, cleaned up and got rid of an old couch that was taking up space in the garage, and put up Christmas lights. Brian loves Christmas lights and is very proud of his light collection. I was very happy to assist him. I grew up watching my dad begrudgingly decorate the house and it was so refreshing to watch a man happily untangle his Christmas lights. It reminds me of this commercial that never fails to make us laugh:

And it also reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Maya Angelou:

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."

8. The Mind's Eye When I woke up ill last night, my body was feeling many sensations in tandem with needing sleep. I decided to sleep on the couch instead of going back to bed that way I would decrease the chance of Brian getting sick. I remember feeling awful yet very peaceful as I settled onto the couch. I could hear the rain pattering outside, but I still felt upset in my stomach. I remember lying there in my wooziness and in my mind's eye, I saw a list of names on a piece of paper as if they were children's names. I couldn't make out the letters in the words but I knew each name correlated with the pangs in my stomach. I remember looking at the blurred names and they were just fuzzy lines. And I remember thinking to myself these stomach pains, they feel like lines. As each pain occurred, one of the "names" got crossed off the list. Weird, huh? This wasn't a dream, either.

9. Speaking of Dreams This past week, I have slept very restlessly and could never get comfortable. I get a seizing, spasming pain in my bad foot that shocks me awake, as well. I typically fall asleep if I blink too hard. So this has been very abnormal for me. But even though I slept restlessly, my dreams were so vivid and elongated. I remember the strangest details: cellophane instead of doors, elaborate maps of Colorado (I've never been to Colorado), disgusting rot on cans of tuna, a misshapen bare mattress on a floor, a friend falling through the sky past clouds and cliffs. I dreamt that my mom and I "escaped from everything" by moving to a small, buckwheat town. Our home was dilapidated and there was no cell service. She began to fall in love with some man from town. Upset, I drove around that town throwing handfuls of tuna at cops and shooting them dead. I remember hurrying back to the shack and getting rid of the evidence. Disgusting cans and packets of tuna, thrown out. Peeling the decals from my car. Using Clorox wipes on a grocery cart I often wheeled around that town.

10. Ghost Signatures A friend of mine introduced me to what are called "ghost signatures". It's the art of using slow-drying ink, writing your signature, and then folding the paper over in such a way that allows the signature to mirror itself, creating very entomologically gorgeous images. Looks like something you'd find in a dark cupboard. Or something you'd pin on your hat. I'm of course smitten and look forward to making my own.

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