Happy New Year etc.

we can consider any day New Year's Day because one year begins just after the last ended, coming full circle. circles and circular processes have no beginning and no end save what the perceiver chooses. you can consider your birthday your personal New Year's Day.
i prefer to start the year count with Year Zero, not Year One. European cultures came to the zero concept in mathematics late. the Hindus of India and the Mayas of Central America had it much earlier.
i prefer to count the years not around the purported time of the birth of Jesus, but from the estimated age of the earliest known cave paintings (about 40,000 years ago) or, better still, from the estimated age of some gold mines in southern Africa (about 100,000 years ago). that far back, also, the purported ancestor of every human alive today lived: a woman whom anthropologists have nicknamed Eve.
the day corresponding to May 28th in the Gregorian calendar makes the most sense to me as the year's first day for common usage, because on this day in the year designated "585 BC" in the Gregorian calendar, the earliest event in human history to which we CAN assign an exact date occured: the cancellation of a battle between the Lydians and Medeans in Asia Minor. this bit, subsequently verified in other sources, first came to me from Isaac Asimov's book Of Time and Space and Other Things.
but enough about May 28th. TODAY marks the anniversary of the birth of American jazz pianist Billy Tipton and the death of French mathematician Joseph Saurin...so a toast to them.
my one New Year's resolution: to read The Grapes of Wrath. i got inspired to do that from a recent visit to a museum: the John Steinbeck Center in Salinas. on that visit, i also discovered, in one of the rooms there, something with no obvious connection to Steinbeck: some collages and assemblages by a Carmel artist named Kay Villalobos. WONDERFULL stuff! so a toast to John Steinbeck and Kay Villalobos as well.
for now, i continue with the book on Critical Mass Day mentioned in an earlier blog entry. concurrently with that, issues 5 and 6 of Found Magazine.

good night.

Personal Questions (self interview)

Holden, what did you do last time you couldn't sleep?
got up and watched The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
which parallel universe Earth would you like to visit?
first, i'd narrow the range of choices down to those Earths in which no version of me exists because my parents never met. this is to avoid giving my corresponding self the disorienting shock of encountering his double. from there, i'd pick an Earth in which the entirety of the Satyricon by Petronius, all the writings of Heraklitos and all those of Sappho survived intact long enough to get translated into modern English and published. i'd find some library with those books in that world, settle in for a spell and read 'em!
what kind of memorial service do you want when you die?
an informal gathering at a friend or surviving family members's house wherein the attendees can share memories of me, say whatever they need to say and share food. i'd keep it secular so everyone can feel comfortable.
what foods did you used to hate that you like now?
beets, lemons and prune juice.
if you could be a musical instrument, which would you choose?
the one that i already am.
which languages do you know?
ingles y espanol.

as i was saying...

the cold continues apace. i don't even want to THINK about my next gas bill. it looked like we might get some rain here today in Santa Barbara, but i didn't notice a drop. one of the pleasures of the season: egg nog. i best like mine heated, with some brandy in it, and with cinnamon on top.
will go out of town from the 23rd to the 27th to see 2 of my brothers and their families. We'll convene in Aptos where my brother Bryan and family live.
today i finished Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen (which i enjoyed) and donated it to the front table in the Sportsman Lounge. for a bookmark, i used the accidentally torn front flap of the dust jacket of another book, The Meaning of Tingo by Adam Jacot de Boinod. "tingo?" a verb from the Pascuense language of Easter Island meaning to borrow, one at a time, all the objects that one desires from the house of a friend. this book is about unusual words from languages from around the world, with a special focus on words which have no exact equivalent in English. a favorite: yuyurungurul. an onomatopoeic word from one of the aboriginal Australian languages (i forget which) referring to the sound a snake makes moving through tall grass. i read that the author works as a researcher for the BBC. he also wrote a follow-up, titled Toujours Tingo. my next book: Critical Mass: Bicycling's Defiant Celebration, edited by Chris Carlson...picking up where i left off a while ago in that book. it concerns Critical Mass Day, a tradition that began over 10 years ago in San Fransisco. on the last Friday of every month, people in scattered communities worldwide ride their bikes en mass.
Santa Barbarans have embraced Critical Mass Day only intermittently and in small numbers. still, i fondly remember how one year the last Friday in October fell on Halloween, so Critical Massers rode their bikes in costume. i WISH i'd had a camera with me. i especially liked one rider's jester costume.

good night.

another Tuesday evening

that "tickly mucus in the throat thing" has just about left of its accord. i didn't get echinacea tea, cough drops, garlic or anything else.
presently i wear 2 sweaters and my scarf because of COLD weather, plus i've turned the heater on. last night i *couldn't believe* the chill in my house. it amazes me how much cold air can come in through key holes and such!

more later.

Sunday

today's the birthday of the great Tom Waits, and also of 2 other people who loom even larger in my consciousness...my brother Bryan and my nephew Bryson. happy birthday, guys!
the visit with my sister Elena (and her husband Michael and their daughter Selena) that i mentioned anicipating last time went well; we all met for coffee, then they continued on their way.
i'd like to take this opportunity to recommend the videos of 2 Youtube participants: Sungha Jung and Lev Yilmaz. Sungha is a 12 year old Korean acoustic guitar VIRTUOSO (no exaggeration)! Lev creates a cartoon series with voice-over narration titled Tales of Mere Existence. autobiographical, and very funny. the content has some of the flavor of what Harvey Pekar writes.
for the past few days i've had this tickly mucus in the throat thing that's making the rounds. it's on its way out but i still cough intermittently, so i'll try to get echinacea tea tomorrow. that, and go to the bank and pay my electricity bill.

good night.

Tuesday evening

okay, i didn't post anything on Sunday. so sue me. just know that if for whatever reasons i don't manage to post anything on a Sunday, i will in any case post something sometime that week or my name is mud.
today (what's left of it) is the birthday of the painter Georges Seurat and the comedian Marty Feldman...so a toast to them! my favorite Feldman movie: Young Frankenstein...and it might well be my favorite Gene Wilder movie and Mel Brooks movie too...well, now...it competes pretty tightly for my affection with Blazing Saddles. hard to pick a favorite Seurat painting!
got a call from my sister Elena who lives in Chico today. she's in Ventura visiting our aunt, uncle and cousins, and tomorrow she'll stop here in Santa Barbara to see me before continuing the long trek home.
i had a really nice time this past Thanksgiving, visiting the Ventura section of our tribe. My brother Memo and family who live in Glendale turned up there too. USUALLY, it's been my habit to go see the northern California section for the holidays. for various reasons, that couldn't happen this time.
before i completely forget, i'd like to enthusiastically recomend the last movie i saw; an old classic called Black Orpheus. for anyone who doesn't know, it's an adaptation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set in Brazil during Carnival time. i don't want to say too much more so as not to spoil it, but i'll just say that the jazz standard commonly known in this country as A Day In The Life of A Fool (true title Manha de Carnaval, Morning of Carnival) comes from this movie.
holidays and other yearly special occasions that are meaningfull and relevant for me include (but are not limited to) the solstices, equinoxes, new moons and full moons. i always try to do something to mark those occasions, but i don't do the *same* things every time...that would bore me. my favorite cultural new year's day: Chinese New Year. i love the traditions (and i'm not Chinese). i think it would be a BLAST to visit San Fransisco for Chinese New Year! what i've tended to do on Chinese New Year myself is just have lunch in a Chinese restaurant.

till next time...peace!

my first REAL blog entry

hiya. i've started this blog primarily as a way of keeping in touch with lots of people who aren't nearby...far-flung family members, former locals who've moved on, and friends who never were locals in the first place with whom i've communicated via snailmail, email, social networking websites, telephone, and intermittent in-person visits. i'll keep everyone informed about me, my doings and experiences this way, and i intend to post every Sunday (barring exceptional circumstances) or more often if the spirit moves me, and all of you can, in turn, keep in touch with me by leaving messages in the comments section.
about the title of this blog, "Cracks"...it derives from this statement from the Leonard Cohen song Anthem: "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."
special greetings to Randolph and Mona who sent me email recently, and to Cozy in Santa Monica. i propose a toast to Henri de Toulouse-Loutrec and Scott Joplin; today's their birthday. here's someone playing Maple Leaf Rag:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dN3aFyYTtc

damn! it's already gotten late on me, and i must go to bed. i hope to post a more newsy blog entry next time. peace.

another test

this is just to see if i can post clickable links:

www.writersalmanac.org

testing

this first blog entry is just a test, and now i'll go to bed.