click clack gorilla

ab nach amieland!

Nervous energy. Everywhere. Right down to my fingertips. Tomorrow morning I will get on a plane in Frankfurt, and tomorrow afternoon I will get off of a plane in New Jersey. When I think about it even just a little I am still completely astounded by the concept of flying. Every single time. It has [...]

daily life

It is Tuesday morning, and it is my turn to do the dishes. I pour water from the canister next to the stove into a large metal pot, and I light one of the burners on the stove. While the water is heating, I read blogs. What a strange combination of the primitively simple and [...]

euphoria descends

I have started moving things into my wagon. Euphoria has descended. I have grinned like an idiot. I have sighed like a love-lorn princess. I have hopped up and down while clapping my hands. Pictures have been taken. Objects have been moved from one wagon to another. Exclamation points and cartwheels have been handed out [...]

people of bingen, cologne, and düsseldorf!

Gorilla songs! Whiskey! Bar fights! Good conversation! Self-produced CDs and cassette tapes! Household appliances turned into instruments! We (we=Black Diamond Express Train to Hell) are going on an itsy bitsy weekend tour, and I’ve gone and broken out six years’ worth of exclamation points just to tell you about it. Friday, August 13th: Keine Wut [...]

my other life

It isn’t that I haven’t been writing lately. Though wagon/trailer/wheeled-house-ship repair has consumed most of my life, I am still out there writing for money two days a week. This is certainly better than not writing, but whether or not it is better than writing more amazing things for no money is up for debate [...]

and sometime soon i will finally stop babbling about wagon repair

Eight hours of computer screen in one day, even if it is only two days a week, is enough to cure me of the internet. And so I show up here less and less, even though I occasionally write to you in my head, putting together sentences I’d maybe use to tell you about commuting [...]

suddenly things were moving so fast

Though in the meantime I’ve hit another rough patch, yesterday was a glorious day. The ceiling, as it was when we started yesterday afternoon: The final turn of the screw: Fucking finished. Enter hail of exclamation points. Enter cartwheels. Enter tired feet and high fives: The rough spot I’ve hit today is that I’ve started [...]

pictures full of light

Two days ago it finally rained. Black clouds rolled in, and a strong wind swirled dust from the construction site across the street everywhere. There was dust in our eyes and mouths as we scampered from wagon to wagon, making sure that windows and doors were shut tight. The heat broke, and we all stood [...]

chicken little says the sky is falling

Hemp! Hemp insulation sheets! Just returned from a building supply store marathon (four! in one day! gurgle.) I now have everything that I will need to finish the inside of my wagon. Everything. It is impossible. A finished wagon—this wagon, finished—has belonged to the realm of dreams for so long that even as I watch [...]

as it stands

It has been a summer like fall, and I have been quietly glad. Glad, because this is my favorite weather for working. In the hot sun I melt into squishy siesta. I get very little done. Instead I have been working on my wagon, and as I proposed, Things Are Happening. I’ll be damned if [...]