NOTHING SAYS CHRISTMAS LIKE...A BURRITO.

Maybe all along we should have been leaving Santa a couple enchiladas instead of another stupid plate of sugar cookies with no nutritional value.

SOME DAYS THE DREAM DEAD, OR HIBERNATING.

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Sometimes Mozart, sometimes Phosphorescent. Sometimes alone, sometimes not. Sometimes strong, sometimes fragile. - - - @phosphorescentmusic #44dads #44music #selfportrait #josephivanlong #solitude There is joy and there is sadness, they are both parts of a whole life to own up to, to acknowledge. And to feel. December the beautiful; the warmest, the coldest month.

A post shared by Joseph Long (@josephivanlong) on Dec 6, 2018 at 6:50pm PST

Some day, some days, the day is heavy,
and the days surrounding that day,

and you pick up a foot, and the other, and move forward, or somewhere,
and try to recall an inspirational meme that reminds you to be grateful for having two feet.

Some days,
the path ahead is paved with a giant screen illuminating the successful dreams you've been a part of helping build for others,

dream-making,

and you don't see your own pixels on that screen,

and the tired,
the discouragement, the dark
overwhelms

the light,

and the memory of having fought hard,
and you're tired of fighting and just have enough left
to keep going and moving a foot, and then another,

and hope that it will be enough
to keep someone else's dreams alive,

for the next day.

NOTHING SAYS CHRISTMAS LIKE...A SELF-PORTRAIT AFTER FEEDING GOATS.

CHARACTER TRAITS | ADVENTURE.

A character trait we’re focusing on this month is Adventurous.

What does it mean to be adventurous; to have the spirit of an adventurer, to adventure into unknown or uncomfortable or dangerous territory? Can someone be adventurous in certain areas and not others?

Is it always a positive attribute? What other traits are related and often go hand-in-hand? And importantly: how do you KEEP AND BUILD a spirit of adventure throughout your life, not just childhood?

An embedded way of approaching life in every facet, not just in the ‘Jack London physical quest into untamed territory’ type? And who are good examples of adventurous spirits in cinema, literature, and history?

I am a big proponent of little ongoing and frequent adventures being as important as occasional bigger ones. Ones where you create, or explore, or discover something in a way that is exciting and unique and different than just approaching as a task to be completed. The road, the long winding road should be filled with wrong turns and side streets and abrupt stops.

Good thing I’m bad at directions.

___

FIRST DAY?

School Districts still on strike. No agreement yet. So no official first day at the alternative school 45 minutes away we commute to twice a week to join other families with similar educational investments in their children. 

I told the children today would be a soft start. Meaning we ran through a handful of items: 

• Khan Academy overview
• "About Me" posters. Always a highlight of the year. I love seeing the changes year to to year. They'll be working on them over the next couple weeks. I gave the first five items to include:
• Name and grade
• Animals
• Foods, desserts, drinks
• Future career
• Type of home, house, hut, castle, van, etc. they want to someday live in
• German and Latin. Jumping back into our explorations into Romance languages, which will also include a heavy dose of Greek prefixes, suffixes, and roots, and probably include more than a handful of stories ancient history, despite the fact that we're focusing on History of the Americas this year. :) 
• Coding. Johannes will continue with block-based, Magdelana will be moving into Javascript right away. 
• Photography. 

Of course their little brother is in the thick of it all. Off we go. Another year of adventure and exploration ahead!

CODEPENDENCY.

Home ownership, hard
It is codependency
Don’t leave, always work

Sometime sadness is crippling
Or trying to be
No luxury of letting it; taking a break and letting it take you out
When you’re a parent.
Trying to put one foot in front of the other
And find things to look forward to, which has always been a forte.
Trying to climb out,
But it’s so hard sometimes to find a faint sparkle down the road of hope that things can change for the better.

When you’ve been trying so hard for a decade and so little seems to have mattered,
If I did something or didn’t.

To help others achieve goals,
dreams,
careers,
success,
lasting friendships,

|
to have invested in those for others and know I was a part,
it does mean something, but I am selfish too
|

to be remembered,
acknowledged,
valued,

fought for,
invested in,

to be continued.

___

Fake it til you are it.

MichaelChabonDorothyParkerRoaldDahlMarkTwainFlanneryO'ConnorNeilGaimanAgnesVardaSteveSpielbergJaneCampionMobyRichardScarryShelSilversteinBasquiatMatisseDavidHockneyGaryLarsonBillWattersonArtBuchwaldAaronSorkinJasonLytleFrankGehry_____________

Deep breath.

Ready set go.

I'm still walking. Or running. I can collapse or walk, so I will run. Prefontaine.

Love you, universe.

Part of the time anyway.

I'll fake it until I can love you wholeheartedly and sincerely again.

Until then...

I will fly with duct-taped wings and fifteen-year old running shoes on the ground.

THE DAY IS WRONG.

The mountain is dead
Little exaggeration
But it feels empty.

The roads we have run
Trails we have walked often
It is too quiet.

Upside down today
The day is leaving, like you
Days come around though.

Sun comes tomorrow
That’s good I guess, for the heat
Heart weight big today.

Change is tough, and dumb
But it’s good I hear, painful
And tears are not bad.

Streaked cheeks meant you love
To know how much, good thing,
I can imagine.

Mountain floats away
Isn’t anchored without you
But it will balance.

With a little time
A lot of time, memories
Stories in its earth.

Always missed, you all
You all have a hill, and hearts
With spaces waiting here.

You will find more hills
And mountains and trees; a home
Happy home you’ll have.

We will see you there
Six hours, road trip, coffee stops
Leave a light on late.

May goodness and fun
And fresh experiences
Brighten your new town.

We will text, phone, fax
And come visit, sometime soon
The mountain is sad.

It will be happy
Again, but today is wrong
Mountain’s not right.

The night will roll on
And the day will start again
New lives will begin.

Photos to be shot
Memories to be made lots
New discoveries.

This is sad, but not
It is, but it will dissolve
Into happiness.

But tonight, sad hill
You’re missed, loved, remembered lots
The day is wrong now.

A day askew, tears.
A mountain, real off balance
A moon, pale and sick.

The sun is coming
And winter too, it’s pretty
Thanks for the years, you.

Real good times, lots, yes
Equilibrium we’ll find
A new normal, yep.

Remember the years,
Sometimes remember; thank you
And we love you lots.

Nighty night, Joe peeps
May your slumber be peaceful
And your days real fine.

We’ll anchor things here
So the mountain is ready
When you come again.

The day sunshiney
The hill in place again firm
Always a light on.

So the day is wrong
But you are strong, so are we
Trying hard to be.

Happy we are, most
For your new fun times ahead
Best for you, the best.

The mountain is here
So are we; maybe halfway
We can meet someday?

Until then, say ‘onward!’
Best of all to you, the best
Do well, smile, eat lots.

We’ll see ya real soon
On mountain, or somewhere else
It’ll be real great.

With high affection
We send everything good
To you all, much love.

From our mountain high
To you in Joseph, your home
We love you so much.

A LETTER TO ALMOST-BIG PEOPLE.

Dear Almost Big Person, and Friends,

it takes a long time,
but finally you get there
and you realise
how cool it is to be big,

and then the nostalgia's
gonna kick in, kid.
ya still got a few moments of child-living left.
you're not all the way big yet.

but just about.

and when you're there,
all the way big,
you can eat popsicles whenever you want,
with your main peeps on each side twenty-four-seven;
that's how cool it is to be big,

today, ya just get one treat though,
cause you're not big enough for two.
enjoy that first one, don't ever forget it,
it'll be the best spinach-and-veggie popsicle your mama'll ever find ya.

and you don't have to do anything you don't wanna,
that's what it'll be like when you're all the way big.
but try to enjoy the journey for a tiny longer.
it ain't too good being little,

but it ain't all bad either.

there's a downside to getting big, maybe two:
ya gotta shower once a month or so,
or other big people get sore.

enjoy the bigness, and don't hurry it up.

sincerely,

A Really Cool Big Person.

POEM : THE WIPERS ARE BROKEN.

Free yourself from intimidation,
The wise said with elucidation
‘Imagine that important person naked,
who has eaten a pastry that was baked.’

It is a leveler, a democratizer, an image of equality
That works magnificently, yet it seems to me,
to go one step more
And bring us to a similar level of floor,
We might also remember
That all, born in January through December,

Once wore diapers
And needed assistance from wipers
Or else they went naked and bare butted
Their dignity intact and ungutted.

But as the philosophy book reads
That begs and asks and pleads
To remember that everyone poops
Digesting what was ingested, from breads to broccolis to soups

For every leader on high
Still lowers their fanny with sigh
And a grunt and a cough and a push and a toot
Whether delicate angel or big hairy brute.
They do what they must,
With no grumble or fusst.

A normal part of being
Like walking or breathing or seeing.
So if someone seems important and mean
Imagine them eating a bowlful of bean
And sitting later on their important throne
With a gasp, a sigh, and a moan

That is horrible to imagine, but sometimes you must
To remember that all are equal, and all turn to dust

We all once had diapers or something thereof
We were all once wiped and taken careof.

So be nice and stand proud,
Don’t be intimidated by those who are loud,
And remember that those who act like a grump
Still are human and make silly noises from their rump.

How to lounge. ___ Thx for the music, @blackheartprocession 😀 #lounging #44books

A post shared by Joseph Long (@josephivanlong) on Apr 24, 2018 at 9:43pm PDT

THEN EVERYTHING GOES DOWNHILL.

The day ahead. Full of opportunities for optimistic opportunists.

One will continue learning how to properly wave goodbye and say thank you.

Another will fine-tune parkour moves and essay thoughts into words about what it meant to be a woman in ancient Sparta.

And a third will follow a love of Hebrew and linguistics and plot a future travel course around the world.

Enveloping all these will ideally be a trifecta of love, insatiable curiousity, and humor. Ah yes, humor. My wife, the delectable @countessbecca, remarked this morn that

😂

“... “Mornings are so full of hope and light. Then everything goes downhill.”

😂

To be with people who can take life sincerely and seriously and love learning...yet also keep a lightness of heart and sharpness of wit and interest in poking fun at ourselves (i.e. me) when we get too preachy....that is a wonderful thing.

Happy Friday, Universe.

DATE NIGHT / LAUNDRY NIGHT.

Same thing.

Merry Christmas.

Bye.

UNRELEASED PRODUCTION STILL FROM UNTITLED TOY STORY 4 FILM.

FILE UNDER: WASH HANDS, SNEEZE INTO ELBOW, SAY THANK YOU.
There are two types of people: those who make food, and those who wait for other people to make it.

Also, there are those who snitch food while it's being made. If you're going to do the third, then you better be doing the first. If you've been in the second category historically, what better time than now to start the first? Throw on an apron and at least sous-chef your way through chopping up some walnuts for that pumpkin surprise.

It's amazing how much fun it can be with a full kitchen of apron-clad bakers and cooks of all ages making merry. And making food. And making a mess. Also, word is that Thanksgiving Day, 12 noon is the kickoff for legal holiday music. Mazel tov, and remember to pick up a knife and help out. Or spatula.

Never too young to help out.

SPEAKERS FOR THE FRINGE.

I'm sure there are more than three things I'm thankful for, but only three things popped into my head this morning, so I'll list them below (see below). They have brought so much joy to my life. If I think of other things to add, I'll try to do so later.

1. FRINGE. The most underrated science-fiction network television show of all time that drew comparisons to X-Files with its far-out speculations and conspiracies, but whose beating heart was the poignant and sometimes hilarious relationship between father and son. So good. Dr. Lee Long, you sir, have some of the best characteristics of Dr. Walter Bishop. Love ya.

2. SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD. Orson Scott Card's follow-up to Ender's Game that raised the idea of what a sequel could truly be and surpassed the original.

3. TOWELS. If I had to get out of the shower every day and completely drip-dry, it would take me a lot longer to get ready, and water could possibly end up congealing on the floor and getting underneath to the subfloor and possibly walls, and if it made its way to structural supports it could collapse our entire house and if we were inside and everything came down around us, it would be dusty and we'd have to shower and the cycle would start all over again, except for not having a house. So we'd be camping for a while, unless our tent was ruined. I'm grateful for towels.

I'm going to put some hard thought today into whether there's more I can add to the list. Will keep you appraised and apprised. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving, and Gwen Stefani has a new Christmas album.

A LAD, A FOREST, A MUM.

a lad’s love for mom

is magnificent to behold;

whole-hearted loyalty

full-smiled royalty 

unabashed 

unbridled 

undisguised ecstasy at being together wherever. 

two-way trail. 

pretty,

pretty awesome.

CAESAR NON SUPRA GRAMMATICOS.

when your dad is making you learn Latin roots,
sometimes you need a comforting ear,
that you can grumble and cry to,
and wish he was less awful.

what a wonderful world that would be.

___

#meandad
#standagainsttyranny
#unitedagainstdad

I AM I AM I AM A GERTRUDE STEIN.

oh summer is dead.

now is the bleak grey night, plus

hot cocoa with straws.

___

a time to focus.

a time to be aimless.

that is the dance.

A DAY LIKE ___ OTHER.

a day like every other, and no other.
use it well.

TWO DAYS FROM YESTERDAY MIGHT BE BETTER THOUGH.

a day like every other, and no other. 

use it well.

HELP, THEY'RE READING TOO MUCH.

One of my favourite things: watching the facial range of emotions when a child is completely absorbed in a book. On an irrelevant related note, for the love of all that is holy and dear to Nina Simone, definitely listen to Benjamin Clementine's 2014 album. So delicious. ____ #44books #reading #ivyandbean @benjaminclementine

A post shared by Joseph Long (@josephivanlong) on Sep 1, 2017 at 11:10pm PDT

#SOUNDOFSILENCE.

A moment to relax...aaah.

AND TIMELINESS IS STUPID TOO.

"I don't really care for patience. It takes way too long. I don't really think patience is that good."

- anonymous

SPARKS, OMD, MEN AT WORK, BOY AT PLAY.

I discovered Sparks last year, the two brother duo who has been crafting their unique brand of (mostly) electropop for 40+ years. All over the place. Still have no idea how they escaped my radar throughout the last couple decades. As a huge fan of Men Without Hats, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and plenty of other '80s synth outfits, it seems inexplicable that I wouldn't have stumbled across them. Their collaboration with Franz Ferdinand (concretely acronymed FFS) was a pleasant and odd little surprise that highlighted both bands' strengths magnificently. Listen: Popular, Pulling Rabbits..., Johnny Delusional, Police Encounters Anyway. Our home will be filled with as much love and as many books, art supplies, and musical instruments as we can cram in and that will get used. Never too young to start making noise. That's where melodies are born. We gotta get him a Moog or 808 next... ____ #44music #sparks #ffs #evel0 #44artinprocess #musicproducer

A post shared by Joseph Long (@josephivanlong) on Jul 29, 2017 at 10:55pm PDT