Beach Lake, PA

Perfect autumn afternoon with Eunice.

Amber Alert

Dear Rachael,

This morning I was underground for about 3 hours. The E was stuck mid-tunnel and we waited almost 2 hours before a "rescue train" arrived. Everyone had to evacuate to the rear and head back towards Queens. They said there were 867 passengers total. We were squeezed into the other train which started having signal problems since it's going opposite direction of track. I left my house at 8:50 and arrived in the office at 12:20. Also on 3 hours of sleep.

Since there was no reception at all, my boss contacted Marilla (listed as emergency). Mar reached out to Bei who sent out an urgent email to a bunch of my friends. See email below.

-----

Hey Guys,

Jeanie did not show up to work today and she did not call in, which is very un-Jeanie like. I've tried calling her, but her phone is off and have not heard from her since last night. Have any one of you heard from her? Are anyone of you close to where she lives now and can check in on her? If can locate her, please let me know. Thank you.

------

Search party was immediately commenced and everyone sent texts/ called my phone nonstop (which went to voicemail) and asked around. My coworkers were freaking out since MTA did not list any train issues. I came above ground only to find my phone in a frenzy. Some thought I was trafficked into sex slavery. Some thought a stranger lured me into his shiny van. Some thought I was kidnapped from the bathroom (since that was last place Regina saw me in). One thought "Please, that bitch probably had a one-night stand and is passed out drunk." Jared was going to swing by apartment and check up. Of course, in the back of everyone's mind they thought I'm probably just stuck in train. Still panicked anyway. In the end, I showed up at work and my boss gave me a hug.

Today's lesson is that if I ever plan to escape, it won't be so easy.

Northeast Road Trip

Enjoyed a beautiful autumn trip in Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Manchester, Kennebunkport, and Portland, ME. These photos are only a tiny snippet of my adventures. Transitional seasons can be exhausting as your body braces itself for all fluctuations in weather. The foliage was worth it though, especially in the company of my favorite people.

Nightcap with Guillaume and Raed

Place Émilie-Gamelin, Montreal

Convos with a view

Quebec City

Ceiling of National Gallery of Canada

Ottawa

Kennebunkport, Maine

Sapokanika

After waiting 5 long years, Joanna Newsom's new album, Divers, is now only an arm's reach away.

I first heard Joanna's voice during senior year of high school in 2004. Peace, Plum, Pear was among a shuffle of new discoveries that period (mostly indie rock) but by far in its own category. Until this day, the line What was golden, now gray, and I'm suddenly shy" still hits a weak spot in the inner girl that I keep inside. Despite the sounding barriers that's kept people away from Joanna Newsom's music, I am only more in love with her storytelling with all its interwoven obscurities, ciphers, and intimacy.

My favorite songs:
1. Emily
2. In California
3. Soft as Chalk
4. Sawdust & Diamonds
5. Sprout and the Bean

Drag City recently released her newest video, Sapokanika, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Joanna sings and strolls down the streets of Greenwich Village, streets that I know and walk everyday. Besides its sweet and charming melody, the song is coated with an eerie sentiment to the ghosts of the village. The history and burial grounds is no secret. Yet how strange we go about our lives knowing that these graves tucked under our feet is part of the scenery.

Where all the 20,000 attending your footfall

And the causes they died for are lost in the idling bird calls

And the records they left are cryptic at best

Lost in obsolescence

The text will not yield, nor x-ray reveal

With any fluorescence 

This coming winter, I will be locked in my room untangling her new album.

Saturn Return

today/ yesterday/ may 19th

morning chiropractor appointment
trains congested and running late
going to work
surprise treats from cupcake cafe
meeting
assisting an event
time square grab and go
walking to murray hill with correy
dinner at chat nawab with adriana and noah from berkley
brazenhead books
poetry night
running into angelo, marilla's intern
acoustic sing-alongs
aeroplane over the sea
anyone who knows what love is (will understand)
reading poems
miguel hernandez
time to call it a night.

home now.
happy birthday to me.

Carrie & Lowell

It's like discovering Sufjan for the first time again. Nostalgic, delicate, perfect.

Sighful Days

This illustration describes current mood pretty accurately.

Favorites of 2014

Three great albums: Beck's Morning Phase, The War on Drugs' Lost in the Dream, and Master Remix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell (tribute album).

1. The War on Drugs - Red Eyes
2. Beck - Turn Away
3. Mimicking Birds - Bloodlines
4. Strand of Oaks - Goshen '97
5. TV on the Radio - Quartz
6. Wye Oak - Logic of Color
7. Jesse Winchester - All That We Have is Now
8. Rodrigo Amarante - Irene
9. St. Vincent - Birth in Reverse
10. Hamilton Leithauser - 5am

Rest in peace, Jesse Winchester.

Shout out: Sufjan Stevens-  A Little Lost (Arthur Russell cover)

Previous faves: 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008

Off the Grid

I feel a great lightness of being. It's fun wandering off without the nuisance of social media and tagged photos involuntarily documenting after you. Reverting to pre-internet outings makes me feel inexistent, without shadows nor footsteps. Sometimes I feel like a breeze in the wind and all of the sudden life is easy again. I need to remind myself this.

2014 had its beautiful moments. Too many to count.

Gregory Alan Isakov

Current mood: