Self Help Radio 122123: Gary's Favorite Music 2023

(album covers from Discogs & Bandcamp)

Here you are. A selection of songs from mostly indie & postpunk releases of the year. I listened to these records a lot. That's how they made the list. Maybe you'll like them too.

Listen to the show at the Self Help Radio website (which is what those words are linked to). Remember there's a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) needed to listen. Everything I played is below except! On the original FFP show I played the radio edit of the Lichen Slow song - this one has bad words. & I didn't have time to play all the 3 Clubmen song. This file includes it.

To the person who sent me the message during the show that said "Thanx for not doing a Xmas show this year" - you are very welcome. Please enjoy non-seasonal favorites of mine.

Self Help Radio's Gary Favorites Show 2023

"Ceremony" Joe Policastro Trio _Ceremony_

"Men Are The Problem" Momus _Krambambuli_

"No One" Linda Smith & Nancy Andrews _A Passing Cloud_

"Markin' It Down" Swansea Sound _Twentieth Century_

"Lizard Queen" Teen Angst _Barn Sour_

"Relative Poverty" Mozart Estate _Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! & The Possibilities Of Modern Shopping_

"Medical Cube" Pataphysics _Pat Sounds_

"Schrodinger's Party Animal" Neon Kittens _Schrodinger's Party Animal_

"There's More" House Of All _House Of All_

"Back To The Swamp" Bas Jan _Back To The Swamp_

"Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is" Sparks _The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte_

"Cleaning Crew" The Mountain Goats _Jenny From Thebes_

"Shady Town" Corvair _Bound To Be_

"Back In The Middle" Spearmint _This Candle Is For You_

"Molotov In Stereo" Frankie Rose _Love As Projection_

"The Notion" Spector _Here Come The Early Nights_

"Comes A Time" Neil Young _Before + After_

"Broomhorse" Tele Novella _Poet's Tooth_

"Lady Grey" The Clientele _I Am Not There Anymore_

"Sadness" Soft Science _Lines_

"When I Was A Young Man" Robert Forster _The Candle & The Flame_

"Fallout" Yo La Tengo _This Stupid World_

"Bug In Spring" Subsonic Eye _All Around You_

"Thursday" Who Is She? _Goddess Energy_

"Magnetism" Lavender Blush _There's Nothing Inside Your Heart_

"We Did Nothing" Graham Parker & The Goldtops _Last Chance To Learn The Twist_

"Preset" Lichen Slow _Rest Lurks_

"Aviatrix" The 3 Clubmen _The 3 Clubmen_

Whither Gary's Favorite Music 2023?

(A classic, found here)

At the risk of boring you, today's Self Help Radio is about my favorite music of the year. This is a thing we deejays do, although many of us try to sound grandiose & say it's "the best" of the year. It's not, of course - what's best is an opinion, & you might agree with my opinion, but at best it's just best for us. No one's opinion is more important or more valid than anyone else's. It's weird that people don't understand that.

Please listen to the music that I listened to most this year with me! It's happening today from noon to 2pm on 90.3+98.3fm in Portland & online everywhere at Freeform Portland dot org. Maybe something I play will become one of your favorites too.

Preface To Gary's Favorite Music 2023: Being Philosophical

That's a picture of my dog Yoko. She turned 11 last Friday. She's one of my favorite things about 2023, but she's been one of my favorite things she since adopted us in 2015.

Lots of people make great arguments that lots of other people can't or won't recognize. I recently finished Bart Ehrman's book on Revelation called Apocalypse. It is (in my opinion) a smart, well-written, easily digestible tome which argues that the book of Revelation neither predicts the future (like evangelicals & fundamentalists believe) nor serves as a book of hope for the persecuted & suffering (as Augustine believed). He actually laid out the argument on his blog a while back but that shouldn't be considered a replacement for the book if you're interested. My point is, there are people in my life - born-again friends & relatives - who are immune to such things.

& wow I do admire Ehrman for writing the book & maybe a few minds might be changed, but my own experience with people - not just fundamentalist & evangelicals - suggests the vast majority won't even listen to the argument let alone try to counter it. & why am I talking about a bible scholar's book?

Because every year there's a slew of "best of" lists at the end of the year. & I personally don't believe an opinion can be "best." Because whose opinion is authoritative? I just typed in "best album 2023" into a search engine & clicked the first three sites - one had SZA at # 1, another had Bully, the third had Sufjan Stevens. Well which is it? "Best" means "that which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable." It's a singular thing. Three things can't be best. So if I don't think any of those are the best - & I won't play any of those artists on my show tomorrow - then they can't, by definition, be the best.

My opinion is that we just say "Favorite." Pitchfork's favorite records of 2023. Etc. It's less arrogant, it expresses an opinion, & it has all the authority an opinion should have - it's what someone thinks. It's not the objective truth.

Every year I wince a little when the "best of" lists come out. People I've never heard of in publications (which aren't really published) which I've never read assert that their opinion is the one we should pay attention to. They know what's best. Not just for them. For everyone.

Every year I write something about this around the time when I want to share my favorite music of the year. Most (all?) of the stuff I play won't end up on those critics' end-of-the-year lists. & I don't care. It's my favorite music. I wish you had a radio show so you could share your favorite music. Although like a lot of the deejays at Freeform Portland, you'd probably call it "the best of 2023."

Ehrman wrote a wonderful book, I complain a little once a year. The comparison is dumb & strained. But I do feel like there's nothing I can do but do the thing the way I do it. & feebly write something like: Of course you think the stuff you like is the best! But be aware that other people like other stuff as much as you like the stuff you like. There is simply no valid way - not appeals to authority, not appeals to financial success, not appeals to popularity - to make an opinion into "the best." But people will continue to do it.

Just like people will continue to believe that Revelation is predicting a future apocalyptic scenario. & even if I wrote as well as Ehrman does, I still couldn't convince the people who make "best of" lists to just be more honest & call them "favorites" lists.

Oh well.

Sandwich

On this day three years ago we drove on a Saturday morning to Hillsboro, Oregon, to get vegan donuts. We haven't done that in a while. We took all the hounds & we found a nearby park where we walked. I don't remember it being cold but it was grey. & everything seemed to be covered in moss.

This sign was somewhere on the walk. It's pretty good advice. Although we were already pretty chill. We had a car full of vegan donuts!

Listening Differently

Is this a confession? Or an admission? Or neither?

It's just something I have been thinking about as I prepare for this week's show, which is my favorite music of 2023. My criteria for favorite is pretty straightforward - it's the stuff I listened to most this year. But I have a problem.

Though I listen to music all the time, most of the time I am listening to music for radio shows. I have two radio shows that are theme-based. That sometimes takes up hours of my listening schedule.

What happens with new releases? Unlike in years past, I find I usually only listen to them a few times. So if I were counting listens, a record that I really liked but that I might have only listened to three times might make the list.

This is not something you care about & that's fine. I only find myself a little disquieted by it.

In a recent conversation with someone I lamented something I never thought I would. I said I missed being bored. I never have the time to be bored these days. But what I might miss even more than being bored was the time spent lying on the floor listening to a record over & over. I remember one day after school listening to Hunky Dory so many times the sun fell & I was turning the LP over in the dark.

Maybe that's what I miss. I don't listen to music that way anymore. & it might make me a little sad.

Have no fear tho! I still hate "best of" lists!

Self Help Radio 121423: Howard Gently Year Two

(Kaleidoscope behind Gently found here.)

Here it is, the third collection of bits from Howard Gently appearances on Self Help Radio. All from 2015, all from Kentucky. I don't actually have a count of how many times my friend Russell appeared on the show, so I don't know how many of these shows I'll be doing. He appeared until last year, although he didn't appear as often in the later years. But anyway. I laughed & laughed playing these.

They are available at the Self Help Radio website. Please know you'll need the username SHR & the password selfhelp to listen. I played songs from the original shows before the Howard Gently bits. How that happened is below.

More Howard Gently in 2024!

Self Help Radio Howard Gently Year Two Show

"Uncle Willie's Desert Museum" Russell Miles _Uncle Willie's Desert Museum_ (Self-Released, 1982)

"Faith" The Boy Least Likely To _The Best B Sides Ever_ (Too Young To Die, 2009)

"Faith" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: March 13, 2015_

"Mr. Blue Sky" Delgados _The Complete BBC Peel Sessions_ (Chemikal Underground, 2006)

"Blue Skies" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: March 27, 2015_

"Same Old Scene" Roxy Music _Flesh + Blood_ (ATCO, 1980)

"Same Old Thing" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: April 3, 2015_

"My Favorite Dress" The Wedding Present _Tommy_ (Reception, 1988)

"My Favorite Things" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: April 17, 2015_

"Goodbye You Lizard Scum" Bill Hicks _Arizona Bay_ (Rykodisc, 1997)

"Los Angeles/New Podcast" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: May 1, 2015_

"One Big Unhappy Family" Isaac Hayes _The Isaac Hayes Movement_ (Enterprise, 1970)

"Unhappiness" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: May 22, 2015_

"Vagrants, Tramps, Hoboes, Drifters, Transients, Bums, & Winos" George Carlin _When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?_ (Hyperion Audiobooks, 2004)

"Drifting" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: June 20, 2015_

"Them Heavy People" Kate Bush _The Kick Inside_ (EMI, 1978)

"Heaviness" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: July 21, 2015_

"Watching The Wheels (Remastered)" John Lennon _Double Fantasy / Stripped Down_ (Capitol, 2010)

"Wheels" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: July 28, 2015_

"Clothes Of Sand" Nick Drake _Made To Love Magic_ (Island, 2004)

"Sand" Howard Gently on Self Help Radio _SHR: August 18, 2015_

"Rudie Can’t Fail" The Clash _London Calling_ (Epic, 1979)

Whither Howard Gently Year Two?

(Ditko background found here.)

To explain today's show in a nutshell: I had a friend called Russell. We knew each other for a long time. For many years he would appear on Self Help Radio in improvised interviews as my spiritual mentor the Rev Dr Howard Gently. Gently was a new age charlatan to whom I was enthralled. He appeared regularly for many years.

Sadly, Russell died earlier this year. He was too young & it was a shock that I am still not recovered from. In his memory, to show how much I appreciated his contribution to my show, I have been playing all his appearances in order. I am up to his second year, so the show is called "Howard Gently Year Two."

If this sounds fun, despite the sad circumstances, listen to Self Help Radio today from noon to 2pm on Freeform Portland. That's at 90.3+98.3fm & online at freeform portland dot org. I miss my dear friend but am so grateful we made these recordings & I still find them so funny. Maybe you will too.

Preface To Howard Gently Year Two: Time

(An image - who knows where from - I sent to Russell on his birthday in 2017.)

This week I am going to play more bits by my friend Russell (you can read why here + for more info you can search for his name on this blog) as my spiritual mentor the Rev Dr Howard Gently. These will be from the second year he did the character so I'm calling it "Howard Gently Year Two."

Listening to these made me go down something like a rabbit hole. I found email exchanges (yes, I have saved all my email) from 1997 when he was trying to make plans with me. It was enlightening - I just didn't remember all the day-to-day stuff - & also a bit saddening. Here is one of the exchanges - he asked me to leave a message if I called - my comments are in italics:

-----

> I always leave a message.  I always imagine you're screening the call.  I

> sometimes wonder if I've offended you somehow, 

You usually have

> in which case I try to either a) be an asshole, or b) be apologetic.  Generally, 

> I count on your good humor & the fact that one day, you will kill me.

Rest assured

-----

It's been very hard to live in a world without him. But gosh it's amazing he can still make me laugh out loud with his humor even though he's no longer here.

Just Another December 12th

In 2018, in Fort Worth, Texas, I took a picture of a bird of prey at the top of a tree.

In 2020, in Portland, Oregon, I took a picture of myself in a filthy mirror.

Gosh, I wonder if I took any pictures at all on this December 12th. Maybe I'll know in the future.

Victim Of The Movies

(image from the IMDb)

Our resident cinephile Chuck stopped by the show last week to talk about films involving victims, which was the show's theme. Go to the Self Help Radio website & listen. Then use these links, provided by Chuck, to follow up & find out more!

Here are two YouTube playlists of films & trailers:

Part 1 (1932-2003)

Part 2 (2004-2023)

Here is his Letterboxd list. Here are his Letterboxd reviews.
Here is the IMDb list of films available to stream for free.

Here is Chuck's IMDb keyword list.

Here are the direct links for Chuck: Twitter,  Bluesky, & Substack.

Please enjoy!

Self Help Radio 120723: Victims

(original image here)

As far as I can tell, there were no victims of this week's Self Help Radio show about victims. Though of course the program wasn't victimless. All the songs were, in some sense, victims. Or about victims. Or has this metaphor been too hopelessly stretched & mangled to the point that it no longer retains even a small amount of the original attempt to say something mildly amusing about a radio show about victims?

Though it is admittedly a weird theme for a radio show, I felt like it came together all right. Though the glue of the show is the oddball interviews. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Listen to the show at the Self Help Radio website. Use this username/password combo to access: SHR/selfhelp. Check out the playlist below because it says also what happens in-between the songs.

Okay then.

Self Help Radio Victims Show

"Victim Of Circumstance" Mike & The Censations _East Side Story Vol. 2_

"Victim Of Circumstances" Roy Junior _Back From The Grave Volume Two_

"Victim Of Circumstance" Joan Jett & The Blackhearts _I Love Rock & Roll_

introduction & definitions

"Victims Of Chance" Tandyn Almer _Along Comes Tandyn_

"Victims Of The Night (feat. Ann-Margret)" Lee Hazlewood _The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes, & Backsides (1968-71)_

"Victims Of The Darkness" Allen Toussaint _Life, Love, & Faith_

"Victims Of The Dance" Tuxedomoon _Desire_

interview with "burn victim" Jeff Simmons

"Burn Victims Suck" Love, Calvin _Mr. Joy_

"Victim One" Foxx Bodies _Vixen_

"Amnesia Victim" Bob & Ray _The New! Improved! Bob & Ray Book_

"Everyone's Victim" Lisa Germano _Happiness_

interview with lawyer Josie Sutton

"Victim Of Circumstance" The City _Now That Everything's Been Said_

"Victim Of Me" Descendents _Hypercaffium Spazzinate_

"Rock-N-Roll Victim" Death _...For The Whole World To See_

"Victim Of Mass Production" The Cribs _Ignore The Ignorant_

interview with actor Joe Sawyer

"Victim Of Love" Freddie May & The Power Plant _Victim Of Love_

"Victim Of Love" The Cars _Shake It Up_

"Victim Of Love" Charles Bradley _Victim Of Love_

"Victim Of A Foolish Heart" Bettye Swann _The Complete Atlantic Recordings_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by to talk about victims in movies

"Victim Of Environment" The Improper Bostonians _Gee, I'm Gonna Miss You_

"I Fell In Love With A Fashion Victim" The Rosehips _The Rosehips_

"Special Victims & Ice-T" John Mulaney _New In Town_

"A Victim Of Gravity" The Tokens _Schoolhouse Rock: Science Rock_

interview with writer Jim Street
+

conclusion & goodbye

"When The Victim Takes The Tyrants Place" Frank Tovey _Grand Union_

"Deep House Victims Minibus Appeal" Half Man Half Biscuit _Voyage To The Bottom Of The Road_

Whither Victims?

(image from here)

"Victims" is a pretty dark theme for a show during the holiday season, it's true. Why on earth would I do a show with the theme "victims"? I have four possible ideas:

1) For whatever reason, our cable box has been set on I think the USA Network as a default for months. The show "Law & Order Special Victims Unit" is always on. & while I do enjoy looking at the elfin beauty of Kelli Giddish (I never have the sound on, so I have no idea what she sounds like), I am mostly unfamiliar with the show & don't want to watch it. But I see the word "victims" all the time.

2) This is something I occasionally worry about. I look at the list of themes on the Self Help Radio web page & I get to the letter V & I despair that - except for all the Valentine's Days shows - there are so few themes I've covered that begin with the letter V. Maybe I thought I might do one before the year's end.

3) This is something that's been happening recently: I am mishearing familiar lyrics. It's like my brain is preparing me for dementia. So I was listening to the first Tin Machine record a few weeks ago & the song "Prisoner Of Love" has been stuck in my head but I keep singing "Victim Of Love." Why? Who the hell knows?

4) That's also number four - who the hell knows why I picked this theme?

What I do know is that the show about victims - which will have a lot of interviews - will air today from noon to 2pm on Freeform Portland, which is on the air at 90.3+98.3fm in town & online everywhere at Freeform Portland dot org. & do not despair - listening to the show won't make you a victim - it'll make you a survivor.

Preface To Victims: Peanuts Victimization

Here are three different Peanuts strips that mention different kinds of victims. I of course do not own these. I scanned them from the excellent Fantagraphics Peanuts collections. They are also from different times & I am too lazy right now to identify just when. Let's just enjoy them, shall we?

Shane MacGowan RIP

(image from Wikipedia)

This morning on my KBOO show I played three hours of music by Shane McGowan, from the Nips to the Pogues to the Popes. You can listen to it now at the KBOO web site. It wasn't meant to be comprehensive, I didn't try to tell his story, I just wanted to play his music. I hope that I did him justice. & if you listen, I hope you like.

Jury Duty

(no idea where I found this, sorry)

In lieu of having anything interesting to say today, I share with you a poem I wrote twenty-five years ago, called "Jury Duty." It really was inspired by my first experience with jury duty. My second experience happened earlier this year. Anyway. You will be relieved to note I don't write poetry anymore.

flea dip, someone strangle me with wire from a murdered

folksinger's guitar. your honor, one lawyer is funnier

than the other, i fear that will influence my decision as

a juror. lonely downtown morning, pretty girl on a bike,

crossing against the light. i am not long for this world.

every song i like leads me around & around, like i am

chasing my tail, eating my tail, finding a strange broken

heart to consume, finding it's mine. your honor, i don't

deserve the six bucks you're gonna pay me for this, &

you're prettier from farther away. contempt of courtship.

your handclap's out of time, i won't listen to dr. israel

with you no mo, mon. the only light in the room is green

light from a fleakiller contraption, & i find myself a

blinking, flirting with it. like with the space between 

notes in a song, between heartbeats, where i want to stop.

the day doesn't feel wasted, surrounded by bitter & sad

fat men, really, really fat, thinking of ways to get out

of serving, why so cooperative, then, why not lie? why do

i get funny looks when i can't imagine a life sentence for

such a young man? just for robbing someone at gunpoint?

amusing lawyer, petulant prosecutor, pock-marked judge man,

austin turns cold & gray, i like it when the rastafari rap.

Self Help Radio 113023: Magda's Birthday Show 2023

This was an actual conversation between my wife (who is the person for whom I do birthday shows this time each year) & me about this show:

Me: Did you like the show?
Her: Well... I don't really like birthday songs.
Me: But it's the thought that counts?
Her: (pause) Sure.

That's what I call true love!

Here is that show, featuring not only a lot of birthday tunes I've never played before, but also interviews with listeners who want to tell us about the most favorite birthday present they ever received, is now available to be listened to at the Self Help Radio web site. This information is helpful - username SHR, password selfhelp. The show has lots of songs & interviews & all are noted below.

Happy birthday to you!

Self Help Radio Magda's Birthday 2023 Show

"The Birthday Waltz (with the Knaves)" Mavis Rivers _The Complete Tanza Recordings 1949-1952_

"Happy Birthday, Baby" The Four Knights _Jivin' & Smoothin' Original Recordings 1951-1959_

"When’s Your Birthday, Baby?" Vince Eager _The World's Loneliest Man_

introduction

"Birthdays" Teen Angst _Barn Sour_

"Happy Birthday Syd" Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies _What's On The Inside Has To Come Out_

"Baby On My Birthday" Skating Polly _Chaos County Line_

"Edie's Birthday" Honestly Same _Hot Plate Only_

listener Marty Young talks about his favorite birthday present

"Happy Birthday" Jenn Champion _The Last Night Of Sadness_

"Lisa's Birthday" Florry _Sweet Guitar Solos_

"Birthday Cake" Teen Idle _Nonfiction_

"Birthday Song For The Dead" Josephine Foster _Domestic Sphere_

listener Montgomery Yeardley talks about his favorite birthday present

"It's Your Birthday" Vera Ellen _It's Your Birthday_

"Happy Birthday To My Girl" Gary Wilson _Tormented_

"Happy Birthday To Me" Luv Clowns _Love Clowns_

"Birthday" Middle Class Fashion _Girl Talk_

listener Matt Yankle talks about his favorite birthday present

"Birthday Girl" Tru Art _Mixed Emotions_

"Birthday Girl" Pop Levi _Juicy Diamond_

"Birthday Girl" Boo Frog _Boo Frog_

"Birthday Girl" Fortune Teller _Birthday Girl_

"Birthday Girl" Amber Smith _My Little Servant_

listener Mandy Yates talks about her favorite birthday present

"Second Birthday" Dear Nora _Three States: Rarities 1997-2007_

"Birthdays Are Sad" Girl For Sale _Seaspeak_

"Plans For My 31st Birthday" Boy Miez Girl _No More Than A Game_

"Happy Birthday" Kokomo _The Collection_

conclusion & goodbye

"Poem On His Birthday" Dylan Thomas _Reads_

"Birthday Girl" Cold Country _To Providence_

"Birthday Girl" Sparhawk _Lost Hawks: Unreleased Recordings 2006-2011_

Whither Magda's Birthday Show 2023?

Every year around the time of her birthday, my wife gets a radio show. From me. I've been doing it for almost as long as I've known her - & almost as long as I've done Self Help Radio.

This radio show consists of songs about birthdays. "That seems dull," I imagine you saying. "The same dumb birthday songs every year." Ah, but it's not that. I have some rules. I always have some rules.

For example, I never play the same recording twice. This means, for example, you might hear the Beatles' "Birthday" - a very famous birthday song - many times, but only once have I played the famous recording from The White Album. All the rest have been covers.

Another rule is that I personally have to like the song. There are quite a few birthday songs. It turns out there are a large amount of them - the vast majority - that I simply don't enjoy. & artists don't make a lot of new birthday songs. So while I find a handful each year - subdivided by whether I actually like them - I spend a lot of time unearthing ones I've forgotten.

Does my wife appreciate it? To be honest, I don't even think she knows I do this.

& so I say this is a birthday show for you too! If it's your birthday today - or if you had a birthday this year - or if you have a birthday coming up - here are lots of birthday songs for you!

Your birthday party/radio show is happening from noon to 2pm on 90.3+98.3fm in Portland & online at Freeform Portland dot org. I made that cake up there so - oh dear. My wife has already eaten it. Well. It is her birthday show after all.

Preface To Magda's Birthday Show 2023: The Old Complaint

Every year around this time I am faced with the knowledge that there are a finite number of birthday songs I liked (as opposed to an infinite number I don't) & I need to dig deep for ones I've missed. Because I have done now like twenty of these shows for my wife & it's harder each year.

Of course I keep doing it because I love her & I think she's flattered by it. Although I did ask her what he favorite birthday presents have been & she didn't say, "The one you make for me every year on the radio." So maybe she doesn't care?

One day I'm just going to play birthday songs I don't enjoy. No I won't. I could never do that. Sigh.

Back into the stacks to find more songs!

Mirror Universe

That's a picture I took on this day five years ago. I was living at the time in Fort Worth, Texas. It might explain why the trees have so many leaves this close to winter. In Texas, the first really cold night usually happens around Halloween, but if that doesn't happen, it'll get really cold over Thanksgiving. It might warm up again in early December, but the cold weather in November will fool you every year into thinking winter has begun.

My mother left my father when I was four. He was a drunk. My mother started dating someone when I was around eight. That person was also a drunk, but my mother didn't move in with him & kept him at arm's length. My mother was a deeply superstitious person. Which is why it was so weird when he gifted her this decorative I guess you'd call it picture which was a canvas with pieces of a broken mirror on it, arranged artistically but not reassembling the mirror.

It's not something I talked to my mother about. If she has seen me break a mirror, she would've screamed as though I had swallowed a bomb. Perhaps she thought the bad luck caused by breaking so many mirrors (he had several in his apartment) resided solely in him. & he truly was someone who had had many, many misfortunes in his life.

As for the bad luck caused by broken mirrors, how did it work? Don't ask me - I don't know the mechanics of superstition. Like, does breaking the mirror alert demons? My mother thought such questions impudent. She didn't have to explain, she just knew it was true.

The mirror above wasn't broken, someone just put tape on it as though it had been broken. Fooling the demons, I suppose. But maybe it brought bad luck anyway - someone left it on their lawn. To be given away.

Or maybe it's not a mirror after all? I hadn't really looked at the picture. I don't remember the circumstances of taking the picture - it was obviously on a dogwalk but that's all I can say for certain. Maybe it wasn't artistic, the placement of the tape. After all it looks like it has a kind of vent - what mirror has a vent?

Honestly I should pay more attention. I was focused, then as now, on the reflection of the tree.

Something Something Sleep Something

Do you sleep? What's that like? Do you sleep many hours in a night?

Do you dream? Do you remember your dreams? Do you dream of places you haven't been in years?

Do you wake up in the middle of the night? Does it take you as long to get back to sleep as it did to fall asleep in the first place?

Do you nap? Do you wake up confused after every nap? Isn't it weird that you still love to nap?

Do you know how much you should sleep? Do you fear you don't sleep nearly enough? Do you refrain from keeping track because you know you're not sleeping enough?

Seriously, do you sleep? Seriously - what's that like?