Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Postitbreakup presents ... you WILL like a Bright Eyes song
If you think you don't like Bright Eyes, well, you just haven't heard the Bright Eyes song that's right for you!
Here's two all-around/"mainstreamish" great ones:
"Lover I Don't Have to Love"
"Spent on Rainy Days"
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or maybe you want to be totally emotionally devastated/amazed?
"Padraic My Prince"
"The Joy in Forgetting - The Joy in Acceptance" (this song is basically my soul, so dis it at your peril)
"No Lies, Just Love"
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maybe you're into the whole lo-fi thing?
"Falling Out of Love at This Volume"
see also: "The Awful Sweetness of Escaping Sweat" & "Puella Quam Amo Est Pulchra"
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maybe you feel a little bit folksy?
"Four Winds"
see also: "Road to Joy" & I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Full Album) & "Soul Singer in a Session Band"
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or political?
"When the President Talks to God"
see also: "Napoleon's Hat"
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maybe you're in love....
"First Day of My Life"
"Lua"
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...or out of love?
"I've Been Eating (For You)"
see also: "It's Cool, We Can Still Be Friends"
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maybe you like more of a beat?
"Down in a Rabbit Hole"
see also: "Hit the Switch"
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spoken word?
"Firewall"
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covers?
"Out on the Weekend"
see also: "Devil Town" & "Blue Christmas"
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poems set to music?
"Nothing Gets Crossed Out"
see also: "Waste of Paint" & "From a Balance Beam"
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other favorites of mine
"Drunk Kid Catholic"
"Happy Birthday to Me (Feb. 15)"
"I'll Be Your Friend"
"A Line Allows Progress, A Circle Does Not"
"Loose Leaves"
"Southern State"
"Sunrise, Sunset"
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in closing,
"Take It Easy (Love Nothing)"
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p.s. Hey. So, today wonderscribe and wonderd.l. Postitbreakup would like to indoctrinate you, if need be, into the Bright Eyes fan base. Will it work? Need it work? It behooves those of you who resist or are on the fence to approach the Bright Eyes oeuvre with an open mind and see what happens. Good luck and thanks to Mr. P, and the same goes to the rest of you. Now, as previously stated, this will be the last full-fledged p.s. until Friday. Rerun post tomorrow, slaves on Thursday, and then newness and completeness again. ** Jax, Hi, pal. Thank you re: Lille. I think I will. ** Billy Lloyd, Oh, yeah, me too, on the rushes and retreats of inspiration like, yeah, as you said, everybody experiences, I guess. No worries. The good stuff always comes back when you least expect it. Forcing it doesn't usually work, true, but surrendering to the fact that you are obliged to make stuff can work. It's weird. A lot of lack of inspiration is just stress and weird insecurities, I think, and sometimes knowing you have to do it can be nice kick in the ass or wake up call or whatever. Yeah, here in Paris, it's like it never snowed at all. Sad, kind of. Well, soon enough-ish, you'll be out of school and off on world tours all the time, and I'll be the one who's hella jealous. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, David. Oh, yes, I got your email. Thank you so, so much! It houses one of my tippy top favorite movies of all time, as you know! And seeing you in the Welles film was great! I've got it set to launch on February 5th, and, yeah, just thank you a lot! ** Alana Noel Voth, Hi, Alana! So great to see you! Ah, the honor was all mine and the blog's vis-a-vis Casey's book, and you just wait until your book comes out. Don't think you're going to get away without a big celebration! ** Misanthrope, Wow, they're forbidding you from hitting the road, or they were. Nice that they care about you so much, or, err, care about their insurance or something? Wow, that was pretty swift -- the transfer from hand to type. You must have very nice handwriting. Awesome! ** xTx, Hey! And you were so right, weren't you? I'm well. Are you well? You seem well. I haven't gotten 'Billie' yet. The mail from the US into France is notoriously unpredictable. It'll probably be here when I get back from Lille. Can not wait to fondle that thang. Big love to you! ** Scunnard, Now I'm worried that I'm missing out on the hugest opportunity by having x-ed my LinkedIn thing. Not really. Well, maybe. I don't remember my Facebook password. It doesn't seem to be one of my usuals. If I ever don't get automatically welcomed into that place with a click, I'll be in trouble or liberated or something. ** Tosh, Hi, Tosh. I'll see if I can find that right state of mind. I loved festivals when I was druggie wannabe hippie teen. I have to find that love again, but where? Must still be there somewhere. Sparks is playing there too? Oh shit, this is starting to seem like an inevitability that I just have to make happen. You saw my comment, right? ** Dennis Cooper, Busy body. ** Rewritedept, Hi. I heard that live-in-concert version of the new MBV track. It did sound kind of great. I'm still sticking to a 'believe it when I see/hear it' policy about that album.Well, I did sign up to LinkedIn for about four hours, but I didn't invite anybody. They just milked me to try to swell their weird ranks. You did tell me all about Kimchi, and I still don't think I've eaten any since then. Got to get back on that hunt. It's raining here too. Blah. ** Un Cœur Blanc, Hi. Wow, that Cioran quote is kind of amazing. It confuses me, and you know how much I love confusion. Understood about needing to keep distance from poetic writing sometimes. Interesting need. I know that need too. My pleasure and honor to spotlight Casey's book. It's beautiful. My mailing address: c/o Centre International des Recollets, 150 rue du Faubourg St. Martin, 75010 Paris, France. Thank you so, so much for the birthday thing. That's so very sweet of you! Love from me. ** Tonyoneill, Tony! Tony, my man! Yes! How fucking great to see you, buddy! This is great! I'm good, I'm good, working, living the life, you know, the usual but in a good phase. That's great about 'Black Neon' getting Germany and France on board. I really had better get my French 1000% better in a hurry. Strange and really too bad about the US. What's up with the US on that? Weird place. Are you coming over to France for the release? New agent, okay, and a good one, nice! And, obviously, really exciting about the 1/2 done new novel! Much needed. I need my Tony time, man, and I'm extremely far from alone on that. A horror film? Fuckin' A! I mean, uh, can you say anything about what the horror is? No obligation, of course. I fear talking about my stuff in progress. Anyway, yeah, so terrific to see you, Tony! I'm glad you're doing way, way more than okay. Lots of love to you! ** 5STRINGS, I believe you. Aw, thanks. Aw, really thanks about the friend thing. Come on, man, you've got to be a friend magnet. I can feel it. Conversion ... how does that happen? Is it inexplicable like falling in love or something? Weird. Modern love. Iommi overrated, what?!? Ha ha. Your insanity would build a really cool boy. Don't ask me how I know that. ** Robert-nyc, Hi, Robert! Casey's book is great. You will not be sorry. Au contraire. Yeah, I think I read eBooks a lot more than I read books now, but you have to remember I'm living over here where English language book access is pretty tough, and I'd rather download than wait a month for Amazon or wherever to send me what I want. Yury's French citizenship is still in the early stages of whatever length process there will be. My novel got very stuck, and now I'm inching forward again ever so slowly, but still. The end is in sight, but it's still quite a ways off, I think. Have a blast at your reading! I wish I could be there, obviously. Let me know how it goes, if you remember. What is your boyfriend's band like? Apologies if you already told me and I've forgotten. Love to you. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. I do have hope for the new Daft Punk, we'll see. It's been ages since 'Discovery', but I do think that album is genius, and, if it's true they're working with Nile Rodgers, who was a genius way back when, I mean, you never know. Cool, I'll read your review in just a bit. Everyone, a review by the eminent _B_A re: the Embassy show I mentioned yesterday right here. Guessing it's a commanding read. Find out. ** Cobaltfram, Hi, John! Welcome back! Hm, yeah, interesting choice there: DC or Austin. I feel like Austin is a much more happening place culturally, but it's not almost next door to NYC, so ... Sort of seems like you won't lose either way. So, you ending up loving 'Amour'. I thought you might. Intense, right? I think the horror movie designation is clever and kind of a really good way to think about it, yeah. ** Steevee, Hi. Hm, well, since you think it's probably not a real conflict of interest, it's hard to imagine that your editor will. But let me know. I'm super curious now. ** Sypha, Oh, okay, those are very good McCourts to read. My favorite is 'Time Remaining', but it's very o.o.p. and hard to get. Aspergers? Yikes. Well, since I've been a list fanatic since I was a kid, I guess if I have the big A, I've survived this long. ** Postitbreakup, Hi, Josh. I'm glad you liked the post/book hints. Oh, the DFW post will appear here on the 9th. Heads up, and thank you again tremendously. ** Casey Hannan, Hey! Thank you, Casey! Thrilled to do my tiny part in the viral thing. Such a great book! Huge kudos and congrats and everything else to you! ** Okay. So, it's Bright Eyes via Postitbreakup for the next 24-ish hours, okay? Afterwards, the blog will do its very best to keep you happy and on the edge of your seat for the following two days, and then I'll come back on Friday to ice the cake again or whatever. See you then.
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25 comments:
Wow! Amazing posting DC... Do you think of the Mystic Valley Band records as completely separate? And what about "The People's Key"? Conor is one of the current greats, for sure...
Postit! Hahaha. The lead-in cracked me up. And yeah, I already did like a Bright Eyes song or two.
Dennis, Actually, what's taken me so long has been my poor handwriting. Which is why I have a little left to finish tonight. However, I've been working on it diligently over the past few weeks/days and that's why it's taken me not so long.
Yeah, I guess they care about us. I don't think they'd be responsible for anything if any of us wrecked. Shit, there's an accident or two on the Beltway here every day and nobody's suing as far as I know.
Fuck, I woke up late today. But I went to sleep late. And dreamt that I shared a place, a huge fucking place, with Harry Styles and an ex (I think). With a homophobe behind us who spent his days yelling homophobic shit at us.
Turn Around Bright Eyes
Korea Goes Cannibal
Hey Dennis,
hope your trip to Lille goes well. My weekend was relaxing. Didn't work so juts did some reading and jotted down a few lines of writing. kinda slow. watched a bit of the tennis too.
The Story of film is being showed as a 15 part series on sbs tv here in Australia. You can watch some of it here: http://www.sbs.com.au/films/movie-news/900489/the-story-of-film-an-odyssey-sbs-two
It takes a while to get used to the voice over but it's got some good scenes from movies i'm not aware of which piques my interest. Tonights episode introduced me to 80's chinese film.
Scott
Andy's San Diego is coming to La Jolla
Hi Dennis, I missed your comment! Or I least I think I did. If you want, you can send it to me again at tosh.berman@gmail.com
Or here. You may not have an answer for this, but in Los Angeles at the moment there are a lot or vinyl record stores opening up. Right now it is sort of the golden age of record stores! Even more now, even when I was a kid. In our neighborhood (The East Side) there is at least 8 or maybe 10 individual record stores - including Amoeba. All of them are very good to exceptionally great. Has the vinyl obsession made it into Paris?
And do get back to me about whatever the subject matter was/is. I hate to miss communication from you!
Dennis, I think you'll do just fine.
postitbreakup-
i liked bright eyes a lot more when i was like 15-19, but i still listen every once in a while to get nostalgic. i think 'lifted...' is probably the album that's held up best out of his stuff over the years, but there's a few gems tucked away on each album. have you ever heard lullaby for the working class? it's ted stevens from cursive and mayday's old group that were a pretty huge influence on oberst's early stuff.
d-
have fun in lille. is it a for fun trip, or is it a for work trip? if for fun, have a whole lot of it and if for work, don't do too much.
-me.
Nice post, Postitbreakup. The only Bright Eyes album I ever purchased was "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn," and I think the main reason why I got that one was an article in the paper said it was electronic and experimental. I haven't listened to it in years, though I recall liking the first track, "Time Code," at least.
Dennis, yes, I think "Time Remaining" is out-of-print (though when has that ever stopped me?). I hope to get to McCourt maybe in April. Two nights ago I got so annoyed with "The Tunnel" that I put it down and picked up "The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde" instead. I'm almost halfway through it (it's not a long book), but there are so many beautiful and emotionally-moving stories to be found in there.
Postit! Chad loves Bright Eyes, and I think Conor is pretty great. I'll show him this, he'll love it.
DavidEhrenstein: tota ecrips of da haat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASv6EfQAjDA
Dennis,
I think that's a good way to look at it: we're not going to lose either way. Chad, at first, was adamant about leaving Texas, but now he's admitted that there is so much coolness in Austin it'd be a shame to blow it off. That sort of thing.
'Amour' was definitely my movie of the year (did I say that yesterday?) and I can't wait for it to hit DVD because I am going to buy it. Yeah, it was brutal and intense, but also made me feel like a better person for having seen it, like an Ozu or something. On a side-note, I really loved how the movie seemed free of politics. Sure, you could maybe think that it was pro-euthanasia, but really I think Haneke is more than willing to let viewers draw their own conclusions, like in all of his movies.
While I was in Austin, I gifted my copies of 'Frisk' and 'Guide' into the local gay scene. Well, I gifted them to my friend Chris, in the hopes that he will pass them on to some of his really cool friends we met. We hung out with a cool gaggle of gays at this lovely French bistro and they all added 'The Sluts' to their Amazon wishlists; I'm telling you Dennis, that cover is a wonderful draw/bait-and-switch (though I think it encapsulates the book, I really do). Chad started it, the Sluts, last night, and within 30 pp he was sort of blankly staring at the TV and saying, "He captured it, he totally captured it, it's amazing." So kudos, and maybe you can become fashionable in Austin.
But other than that, things are quiet again
All the best
J
Yeah, it is weird. I think if you overthink things like your process or your style and try too hard to consciously make something using the structure you did last time or try too hard to write in the same style that you have previously it can seem forced and usually produces shite, so I try not to think about it haha
I am sort of glad the snow has gone but I am sad because it's another Christmas that I've not gotten the chance to experience the snow at home (as opposed to where I study) because we live infront of a farm with a GIANT hill and apparently it is very fun to sledge down. I have no idea though, as I've missed it both times we've had snow at this house :( Alas!
Postitbreakup: I love Bright Eyes! 'First day of my life' though a very popular one, is my all time favourite. I remember that's how I got talking to my now ex boyfriend, we were planning on seeing Bright Eyes in Manchester together, and I would listen to First Day Of my Life just as the bus would roll into the town centre and I would see him standing there and be in love. A slightly melancholy anecdote for y'all.
xx
hey dennis,
have enjoyed these music/guest posts the past few days, looking forward to being on 'the edge of my seat' the next few days, of course. i've been busy trying to finish everything 'mandatory' before getting back to that Grove Press edition of Sade. i'm enjoying it immensely, feel like i retained Paulhan's essay perhaps a bit better than Blanchot's but after both i'm convinced there's something entirely 'other' in Sade that i've long looked for. one gets the impression he's not merely renouncing certain codes and structures here on earth on in the France of his day, but that he's somehow standing in the center of the very dark, endless void screaming his lungs out. i dunno. in the moments between readings i'm basically doing schoolwork and listening to late era black flag and somehow it all makes sense. i loved the profile of Casey Hannan, i hadn't heard of his books and i'm now definitely following his efforts. may try to rework the George Miles Cycle piece to account for your (and now my) Sade influences and i'm really looking forward to pursuing that. heard somewhere once that a choice was to be made between bright eyes and elliott smith and i guess smith has always attracted me more, though the references in bright eyes are always nice (his mention of DeLillo, etc.) speaking of which, i'm a huge fan of Frederick Exley (thoughts?)and recently found that DeLillo and Exley were friends (or at least penpals) which i found quite interesting; also that Gaddis (of whom i know you're a fan via the post of books you're looking forward to in 2013, etc.) was a fairly close friend of Exley's. this is merely last-minute nothingness to add to this note. also, read this Esquire piece where Exley supposedly (i think he did) sleeps with Diane Sawyer, and enjoyed it much the same way i've enjoyed his novels of late. ExleySawyerEsquire
hope everything's going well!
grant
hey dennis,
Sure, I'll let you know how the reading went. And glad to hear that you've become unstuck in the novel writing process and that things are starting to move on Yury's French citizenship. My nephew who is turning seven a week from now is getting a Nook ereader for his birthday, and my other nephew, now ten, had gotten one when he was around seven or so. When I consider that, it makes me think I better get on it. Your scenario over there and the need to read ebooks totally makes sense. I wouldn't want to wait for the books to arrive either.
My boyfriend had a previous band called Katatak, but he now has a new band called Teribalanamal, which is the band that he's doing shows with. They have a post-punk sound, like a heavier version of the Cure circa Seventeen Seconds, with a bit of Sonic Youth vibe kind of thrown in. They are on reverbnation. You can just Google "Teribalanamal" if you want to check them out. I'm hoping it goes somewhere for him, since he enjoys it so much.
Okay. I guess I'd better get back to work.
Take it easy,
Robert
Now this is my kind of guest blog post. ;] Brings back ton of memories.
Back when I was in high school, I started to suspect I had a knack for getting into bands *right* before they hit the mainstream. I can remember digging Bright Eyes and Cursive about a year before Saddle Creek exploded, as well as Death Cub for Cutie. But Bright Eyes/Conor was always my favorite, particularly the album Fevers & Mirrors. I still think it does one of the best jobs of capturing manic-depression in record form.
I worshiped Conor and the tortured, starved, and boyishly beautiful persona his music helped to cultivate. Back in 2002 I drove to the western side of my state to see him perform with his rock 'side project' Desaparecidos and I was mortified/thrilled when he walked by me before the show started to grab another beer.
What happened...well, I think he just grew older, received mainstream acceptance, got more into country twang, and lost that 'I might just kill myself after I'm done recording this song' vibe. So I can't say I listen to BE much anymore but their music still reminds me, very vividly, of my teenage years.
I like Bright Eyes, but I thought Desaprecidos' album was brilliant, and I'm disappointed Conor Oberst didn't do more with that band.
My editor didn't think the potential conflict of interest was a big deal. I'm going ahead with the review tonight.
postitbreakup: Bright Eyes are wonderful. I think Lua is my fave song, but that changes. I'M WIDE AWAKE, IT'S MORNING is really a trip, and really haunting with Emmylou Harris all over it. Digital Ashes in a Digital Urn is awesome. Very great band. Very cool post!
Dennis: Hey, D. Hope you are well. It's been scattershot here with the flu. But I DID end up with an assistant / nurse who is working off her student loans. So, she's been helping out. Once the flu - this is a real SOB flu - is gone, I might finally have the workings of a space I can 'do my stuff' in. Being sick is boring.
Best to everyone.
Njr
Latest FaBlog: Fait Diver -- Holden Pattern
Thanks Dennis and everyone for commenting, I wanna reply individually but won't be able to until tomorrow but I wanted to say I'm reading and appreciating ths feedback and long live Conor
The steroids tablets were finished earlier, so now I'll see if there's an improvement over the coming days. Tomorrow is my first shift back at work in a week, and then I'm off for another couple of days. Had some productive time off: wrote up the as-yet unpublished Embassy review, wrote about half of the video nasty thing for Darren Banks's Palace Project, and today went to see my Friend Ross's photography show in preparation for writing yet another Skinny review.
Daft Punk's Discovery really defined the pop charts of the decade. All that ersatz 80s sparkle and Autotune isn't for me, but I have to admire the way they fashioned mainstream music into their own image.
The shock of the new: Daft Punk Alive 1997 (Full Live Set)
I'm well. Trudging along on the novel but still hopeful.
Hope Billie arrives soon.
And, POSTIT!!! i already love Bright Eyes, so this was a treat. I am the CHAMPION OF IDIOTS!!!
@Postitbreakup: Nice! I’ve never been a huge Bright Eyes fan, but I love “First Day of My Life” …that song’s literally been playing through my head all day.
my Bright Eyes story:
In college I had a friend who was obsessed with Bright Eyes, she was a fully rabid fan…he was playing a show in Dallas, so me, the girl, and another friend went to go see him. The show was pretty good, and then after it was over my friend managed to get us backstage. She was a very attractive girl, and she was really good at talking to people, somehow she talked to one of the roadies or something…so anyway we went backstage, and Conor and the rest of the band was back there with a bunch of people. And Conor started really chatting up my friend, and he invited us back to his hotel, where they were having a party.
So we went to the hotel party and it was pretty awesome, a bunch of people were there drinking and smoking weed and stuff, and we felt pretty cool…plus we were happy for our friend because she was bascially hanging out with her idol, they seemed to be hitting it off. So maybe half an hour we notice that friend is making out with Conor in the corner…making out really intensely. Seems like they were making out for a long time, but everybody was pretty twisted that point…and then all the sudden Conor starts acting really annoyed, and he’s like “Get out.” And he points to another guy and says: “This one, and those two over there, they gotta go.” So the guy takes us outside, then says something like “sorry” and goes back inside.
So basically what happened is he threw us out because my friend Sarah wouldn’t sleep with him…and she was crying all the way back from Dallas to Sherman because she was drunk, and Conor was her idol…but anyway that’s my Bright Eyes story. Everybody was laughing about it the next day, it was a really fun night. We consoled my friend by saying: “You made out with Conor Oberst last night, nice”
Also since I’ve got this chance, are you going to SXSW this year for the Alt Lit readings? If you go to Steve Roggenbuck’s tumblr and look at the tour dates you can see where he’ll be, he’s coming through Dallas too. But anyway I’m planning on being in Austin during those days, so if you’re planning on being there and want to hang out, that’d be pretty swag. I mentioned this to John Fram too, but I don’t know if he’ll be going or not.
And that’s the end of my long ass comment, hope you have a great week…
@Dennis:
Hey Dennis, hope your travelling is going well…I’m doing pretty good—I haven’t been submitting anything for the last few months because I’ve been slowly stock-piling things and revising them, but now I’m ready to get back into the game, I’ve got a bunch of stuff planned. I’m planning on also posting a lot of poems and pictures to this tumblr, if you’re curious…I want to keep that updated with new poems a couple times a week, I’ve posted some this week
http://dankland.tumblr.com/
But that’s pretty much it, all my free time is pretty much going toward lit related things right now.
I read this Christian Science article that was pretty interesting, says that Gen Y might be “the most book loving generation alive” Anyway it was a boost for me to read that, seems hopeful.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0815/Gen-Y-the-most-book-loving-generation-alive
Take care! Safe travels
Hi.
We had super cold and snow. Dad died, and because he did I didn't notice. My hands grew numb and I didn't get why. It didn't hurt like it used to, and I kept forgetting to put enough clothes on.
Everything is different but I'm the same. And I think I'm going fine. I make loads of plans because they seem to be worth so much more.
dad took a lot of space and was super intense, so he left me an ocean of freedom. But it feels very cold. And I'm scared because now I have to want things on my own.
he brought little safety to anything at all, yet nothing has ever felt as insecure as things now.
And I dream of him a lot.
I used to love bright eyes in high school. They used to play one of their songs on mtv at night, and I used to sit up and wait for it to come on.
I had a long mainstreamish rock period in high school because I hung out with almost no metal heads. Though I guess that depends on what you call metal and what you call rock. And how much you have to listen to it to be into it. I was always into it. i just didn't do anything about it.
It was a nice period. I knew who I was, and who my friends were. And they were all close to home, and in sight almost everyday. I still do, but they're further away. And sometimes I forget that I know them that well, so I forget they know me just as well.
When my friend decided to pass away I hated everyone for living, now I love everyone that is alive. Guess different deaths have you think and feel different.
After july 22 time passed so fast, now two weeks seem to have gone on for a year.
I don't want this winter ever to end. I want to fall into the softness of the snow. This year is going to be the start of something giant, and I can't really tell what it is yet.
I've stopped telling time. It's useless, as right now I'm useless at it.
The thought of summer makes me sick. I want autumn, but if winter can't break me in it's austerity then neither can summer in it's chaos.
Still it's going to be fine because I have love, and I have people I got to give it to, and I'll be happy for them.
So also for you. Lots of love.
Stranged out you can use when ever you want.
I was to write something else but I forgot.
I hope you're well and that everything's fine. I haven't really kept up for a while.
Take a piece of our winter sky and use it if you want to numb out for a quiet while.
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