Friday, March 30, 2007

Oh Happy Day

Thanks to the fine customer service practitioners at Target in Lynnwood, Washington I am now the proud owner of another French Press by Bodum. Thank you for all your prayers and support through this difficult time.

Advice: Be gentle to hot, thin, soapy glass.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Good Grief?

When confronted with grief, what do you do? I do what I think a lot of men do, I kill it or I run from it. Grief is not safe, it's not masculine; I've got to get away from it as quickly as possible. Diffuse it with a joke, or maybe with optimism. Or maybe with a sense of futility - I can't change it, so why should I feel it? But what am I so afraid of? And if you are with me on this, what are you so afraid of? What does a tear, especially in front of someone, cost you?

What if we followed in the footsteps of Christ? He was a man, a brilliantly strong man, but he was also called a "man of sorrows and full of grief." I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.

Maybe to truly be a man is to embrace your sorrow instead of hiding from it. Maybe strength is being able to feel, to weep and shed tears for yourself without shame. Maybe a good place to start is to grieve the fact that there is shame for a lot of men (myself included) when it comes to grief and, indeed, tears. Why should I be ashamed of my tears? Why should I be afraid to feel?

Cry, wail, tear your clothes, because our world has a really fucked up view of masculinity, and we have inherited it.

But what will we do with it now that it's ours?

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Horrible Travesty at the Kitchen Sink

I was just washing my Bodum french press that I bought about 3 weeks ago and it shattered in my hands. I didn't drop it, or hit it with a frying pan, I was holding it gently and washing it with a sponge. I am really pissed off right now. And to top it all off, I now have no way to make my own coffee tomorrow, so I have to go to a coffee shop and pay two dollars for a freaking cafe americano which will be only marginally more delicious than what my press pot would have made me for two dollars cheaper. Damn you, Bodum.