I Think You Should Be Prepared For

To Me, That Ugliness, That Grotesqueness - That's The Essence [of Life]. That's Where You Realize, It's Not About All The Consonance And The Harmony. It's All The Parts That Are Wrong That Help Explain Why We're Drawn To Something - What The Mystery Is - Just As Much As The Beautiful Things.

With Rock Band, You Can Play Along To Black Sabbath Or Nirvana And Possibly Find New Ways Of Appreciating Their Artistry By Being Allowed To Perform Parallel To It. Rock Band Puts You Inside The Guts Of A Song.

To Me, The Grotesque Is Like A Sonic Manifestation Of Reality. I Don't Know How You Could Look Out Onto Our World And See Only Beauty. And I Like Beautiful Things. I Like The Aesthetically Harmonious. But I Am Much More Attracted To Something That Is Off-kilter. It Is A Truer Reflection Of Not Only Nature, But The Human Spirit - The State Of The World. I Just Think Everything Feels A Little Off.

I Think Short-term Goals Are Important. Trying To Set A Missive For Yourself For The Entire Year Can Be Daunting, And It Can Feel Too Easy To Fail Or Fall Short Of That.

Living In Portland, Which Is A Predominantly White City, The Privilege And The Luxury To Be Able To Obsess Over A Certain Kind Of Minutia, That I Think, If You Did Not Have That Privilege, Would Never Be Bothersome. When People Are Worried About Whether "local" Means 100 Miles, Or 50 Miles, Or 10 Miles From A Grocery Store, I Just Think, "wow. What A Privilege It Is To Have That As A Major Concern In Your Life." As Opposed To, "can We Afford Food Tonight?" Sometimes I'm Just Shocked At What Becomes Concerning In These Kind Of Communities.