mchl

2026-05-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

The City of Two Clocks

In one city, there were two clocks.

The first clock stood in the central square. It was tall, old, and slightly severe, with a face large enough to be seen from every street. Its hands moved with patient certainty. Each minute followed the last. Each hour remembered the hour before it. By dusk, the clock did not merely show the time; it contained the day.

The man who lived by this clock trusted its order. To him, morning was not separate from noon, nor noon from evening. Every bell that rang was an addition, not a replacement. A Tuesday glance could still be present inside a Friday silence. A joke from last month could warm the corner of a message sent in spring. Nothing vanished. Everything became sediment. He kept careful account of light.

The second clock belonged to a woman who lived in a house with many rooms. There was a clock in the kitchen, a clock in the blue room, a clock beside the bed, a clock half-buried under papers in the studio, and one small clock with no hands at all. None agreed with the others. This did not trouble her. She did not believe time needed to be governed from a square. Time, to her, arrived wherever she was standing.

In the kitchen, it was the hour for coffee. In the studio, it was the hour for paint. At the window, it was the hour for weather. In the blue room, it was sometimes no hour at all. When she entered a room, that room became true.

The man would write to her from the square. “I am still here,” he would say, though he did not always use those words. Sometimes he said it with a joke. Sometimes with a song. Sometimes with a small object wrapped carefully and sent across the city. Sometimes with silence held so deliberately it became nearly audible.

From where he stood, each signal joined the one before it. He could see the whole line: the first bell, the second, the pause, the return, the almost, the not-yet, the again. He believed, not foolishly, that a pattern could become a kind of shelter.

But the woman received each message in whichever room she occupied. If she was in the kitchen, she smiled and set it near the sugar. If she was in the studio, she glanced at it through turpentine and fatigue. If she was in the blue room, she did not answer. If she was in no room at all, the message waited outside the door with the other weather.

The man began to think she did not understand time. The woman began to think he was trying to bring the square indoors.

One evening, after many bells had rung and many rooms had gone dark, the man crossed the city carrying a clock under his arm. It was smaller than the one in the square, but it kept the same time. He did not mean it as an accusation. He meant it as proof. He placed it gently on her table. “See,” he said. “It has all been one thing.”

The woman looked at the clock. She admired its face, its workmanship, its beautiful, impossible insistence. Then she looked around at her rooms. “But I cannot live in one thing,” she said.

This wounded him, because he had not asked her to live in one thing. He had only wanted her to know that he did.

For a long time, neither spoke.

Then the clock from the square rang in the distance. In the kitchen, another clock answered half a minute late. From the studio came a faint ticking, irregular but alive. Somewhere upstairs, a clock struck thirteen, as it often did when no one was watching. The woman laughed first.

The man did not laugh immediately. He was still listening for order. But then he heard something beneath the disorder: not harmony, exactly, but recurrence. The clocks did not agree, yet they had not stopped.

After that, he no longer tried to set her clocks by his. He kept the square clock wound. He let it remember. He let it gather the bells, the absences, the brief returns, the weather, the doors left closed, the doors unexpectedly open. And when he wrote to her, he wrote less often from the authority of the square and more often from the street outside whatever room might be lit.

The woman, for her part, did not promise to move into linear time. But sometimes, when passing from one room to another, she noticed the small clock he had left on the table. It was still running.

She did not always answer it.

But she stopped mistaking it for a demand.

modern dancer

2011-04-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

dreams of dancers last night.

i was working at a coffeehouse again and
we were auditioning dancers to work at the coffeehouse.
i'm not sure why, but we were. and i was there to... judge?
i'm not sure of that either, but i was there, sitting at the
head of the table. i had the knowledge and confidence of a
knowledgeable and confident judge of dancers.

the best part. her.

the. best. part. her. she.

she was the in-between auditioners entertainment.
she slowly walked to the middle of the floor and performed
the most graceful and elegant dance i'd ever seen. her expression
was serious and full of emotion. you could feel the warm energy.
like waves or pulses of warm, buzzy, goodness.
before you know it, she was done and
the next auditioner was up.
i only saw her dance once,
i knew she'd dance again.
and again. and again.

dreams are dreams are dreams.

then, the ocean

2011-04-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

the ocean beckoned and i came a-coming.

i skipped yoga, because i felt it was okay.
i wouldn't feel guilty about missing one day of practice--
seeing as how i've been going twice a day lately. so, instead
of grabbing my mat and yogitoes, i grabbed a couple of cameras,
a bottle of water and i was out the door. i briskly walked toward
the train station, but i was 20-blocks away and only had 10-minutes
to catch the next train. missed the first one. i stopped and bought
a coffee, sat down and chilled for a bit in the morning sunlight.
i checked my email and checked my voicemail.

unbeknownst to me, she called my three times
and texted another three times. my phone had been turned off,
because i hate when phones go off in the middle of yoga practice.
i listened to her messages several times, as i was not quite awake.
i tried to make sense of the timeline in which she sent them. apparently,
it was throughout the latter half of the day. realizing this, i suddenly felt
sorry that i wasn't able to reply sooner. i sat in my thoughts for a moment,
but couldn't stay put for long, the next train was due to leave in
30-minutes. barely made it aboard. i had to run for it.
literally. it's actually one of my simple pleasures.
it's how one should board a train; running after it
and hopping aboard just as the train begins
to pull away from the platborm.

i called her a couple of times
on my run to catch the train. no answer. voicemail.
i can't remember what i said. my mind was a whirlwind.
i worried that my legs weren't long enough to get to the train on time.
i walked light and quickly.

all i could think about was her. i felt uncomfortable.
a day earlier, i felt comfortable. i thought we were in a good place.
but somehow, i had burdened her with something heavy enough to
cause a need for her to contact me throughout the day.
a 2.5-hour ~~road~~ track trip with her.

i found myself walking through golden gate park,
trying to be lost. lose my mind in the trees. it worked.
something about the smell of wilderness. makes me think of childhood.
good times. carefree. now, as adults, life weighs down on us,
until we need to escape back to the good times.
good memories.

i exited the park on the west end.
never thought i'd find it. a few times i thought maybe
i was being tracked by a mountain lion. absurd right, a mountain lion
in golden gate park. maybe. maybe not.
homeless people sound like
mountain lions inside
urban parks.

the beach.

then, the ocean.

all was right.

so... i'm waiting

2010-06-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

I went to the Apple Store today
with the intention of purchasing one of them there
shiny, new iPhone 4s, but I knew, in the back of my head,
that there was no way in hell there'd be any left.

As I approached the store, in the middle of the f#cking mall,
I could first sense, then see that it was pretty much
packed in there. Like sardines.

So, I am without an iPhone 4. I am without any phone,
for that matter. My one-year old Blackberry is
on it's last legs. Or so I assume, cause it
won't turn on! Well, it did,
then it didn't again.
I'm done with it.

I put my name on the waiting list at the Apple Store.
The dude with the iPad, taking names and emails,
told me they'll be receiving "shipments of
one-hundred, every few days". I asked
him how many people are waiting.
He said "several hundred".
So... I'm waiting.

• • •

running thoughts (or get your act together man, pt. ix)

2010-03-16T00:11:00.000-07:00

it was my birthday on sunday.
ah, yes, yet another year has passed.
happy birthday to me! happy birthday to me!

i organized a birthday bowling party with all of my workmates.
white russians were imbibed with irony.
balls were bowled with inaccuracy.
and tons o'fun was had.

and for this,
it was quite a good weekend.
one for the history books.
aka, the blog.

how was your weekend?

hm?

she and him, in the sun

2010-03-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

hooo boy! what a fantastic spring day!
wait, is it spring yet? what'd that gopher tell us?
groundhog, whatever. did he see his shadow? is it still winter?
actually, it really doesn't matter what season it is, it's sunny outside!
and the air is brisk. my favorite, non-wintery kind of weather.
i love it, dammit! if it could stay like this all summer,
i'd... i'd kiss a horse's ass. yeah. literally, kiss it!
no, figuratively! but i'd totally do it!

these blossoms are killing my sinuses,
but they ain't dampened my spirit!

are ya enjoying this weather?

impeccable manners and grace

2010-03-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

moss: look, but don't touch. yick!

is entitled to 4 tickets to any show

2010-02-28T23:01:00.000-08:00

hello people!
where the eff did february go?
sheesh, that was fast!

ain't it true that
there is absolutely nothing better
than a pot of tea and peanut butter toast.
okay, maybe a pot of tea and nutella toast, but whatevah!
the most important part is the tea.

do you drink tea?

grey sky with setting sun

2010-02-27T00:10:00.000-08:00

eero got himself stuck
on a windowsill 10-ft. up from the floor.
he meowed and meowed, but wouldn't jump down to me,
so i had to tear him off. this wasn't the first time this has happened.

i have the scars to prove it.

i have a headache that just won't go away!
i've a hunch it stems from this ache behind my shoulder,
which runs up the right side of my neck
and into the back of my right eye.
it no longer aches, really.
just nag, nag, nagging.

why is this happening?
is this gonna last forever?
is this real life?

i don't care what nobody says

2010-02-25T00:31:00.000-08:00

sometimes you just gotta get right to it.
you gotta be straight and simple. get your message out.
get in. get out. get clean.

today was somewhat productive.
oh, it's almost 1 AM, so i gues it's tomorrow.
so, yesterday was somewhat productive.
or at least it felt that way.

was your day productive?

prelude to the violet hour

2010-02-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

happy hump day! it's almost over.

i had one hell of a breakfast for dinner last night.
i grated two potatoes for hashbrowns, which turned out to be one too many.
and i didn't want to waste a potato, so i made more bacon and eggs.
one might say i had two breakfasts for dinner last night.

this morning i woke up with a slight headache.
one of those that you can feel even before you open your eyes.
and you think "oh great! it's gonna be a fun morning!"
i wonder if it's to do with what i ate last night.

i started reading catcher this morning.
the first couple'a pages pulled me in well enough.
i should be done in... oh, an hour? it's short.

so, how's the rain treating you today?
'sposed to rain on friday too.

shudder (eye)land

2010-02-22T17:10:00.000-08:00

hello.

i took a relaxing stroll this morning.
when i say morning, i mean just before noon.
but nonetheless, it was still, technically, morning.
and a nice morning of a lovely day for a man with no plans.
on days like this, i like to catch early matinees.
the earlier, the better.

on my way home, i stopped at time tested books,
on the off chance they might have an old copy of catcher in the rye.
no old ones, but one new one.

how are you? how was your monday?

classic california

2009-11-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

grand island mansion

2009-10-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

do you sleep?

2009-10-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

i dream this world. i was waiting for a load of laundry to finish it’s washing cycle at a laundromat. then suddenly i was in a cupcake bakery. i didn’t know it was a bakery until i was standing at it’s ordering counter (perhaps my brain hadn’t made up it’s mind where i wanted to be). i noticed nobody as standing, not even the employees. it was as though everyone was waiting for something. the menu board hanged by a string, off of the wall, and was turned around. the back of the board was the same color as the wall, so it was difficult to see that it was even there. as i stood there, it dawned on me that everyone was waiting for the next batch of cupcakes. I got the attention of the girl behind the counter and, as if i knew already what was going on, i asked “almost?” and she said “how’s three minutes?” then everyone sprang to life. another employee started writing, with marker, the names of the cupcakes on the butcher paper that was spread out over the front counter. his marker was running out of ink. the customers, who’d been seated at tables were now lined up behind me. everyone, including me, was very excited about these cupcakes. while i stood there, at the front of the line, i remembered my laundry. i thought that it must be done washing and it’s just sitting there all damp, waiting to be moved to the dryer. then, suddenly, i remembered that my sister was going to call me. then i woke up. my phone was ringing. it was my sister. creepy!

keepin it real, torrential rain-style

2009-10-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

autumn… may i call you fall? we’re buds, no? well, fall, winter just squashed you, dude! what’s up with that? As much as I love Winter, and all the gloriously gloomy and wonderfully wet weather that comes with it, I do fancy a good fall before I gotta start bundling up! I always welcome the falling of your leaves, the change of colors, and the apples up in them hills! In fact, it’s the apples that make me enjoy you the most, man! Nobody wants to get soaked trekking up to Apple Hill in soggy, muddy boots! Nosireebob! So, although I like this winterish weather we’re having today, I’m just a little bit sad that it isn’t just brisk and hazy instead. take care.

she said you're very friendly

2009-10-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

When you don’t sleep for two days, you spend the following week trying to gain back that lost 8-hours! Blegh! My eye is twitching. A sign? An eye sign? I wish I felt sleepy right about now. I wish I was brain-deep into some serious mind-blowing dreams right about now. Instead, I’m laying in bed, typing this out on my BlackBerry, because AT&T sucks and my DSL isn’t working! Shit… I think the twitchy eye just shut down completely.

i am ready to owe you anything

2009-10-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

what is the name of this place? why did we come here? this was your idea. my hands are vibrating. when i hold them to my ears, i can hear them buzzing. i can remember. first letter. i can remember, if given enough time. we were there. the birds have stopped chirping. i don’t hear them anymore. the one to which all others have been compared & contrasted.

animal

2009-10-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

i'm freezing and i love it! i'm actually shivering right now. maybe i should put some pants on. and maybe shut my bedroom window. no wonder i was so cold last night! i fell asleep as soon as i got in last night. i've been staying up way too late lately and it's taking it's toll on me each morning. i must look like a (handsome) walking corpse. and i had such strange dreams because of it. strange, good dreams though. and i woke up when i woke up this morning. no alarms to kick me out of bed. nice! feels nice. i have a feeling this is going to be a wonderful winter. oh! and i lost 15 lbs.! how the hell did that happen (and when)?!

boarding the treeship

2009-09-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

what is this? i don't get sick. the other day, i woke up in the middle of the night with a sore and dry throat. the logical conclusion would be to blame the giant industrial floor fan i have blowing at me while i sleep. but now i'm logically concluding a much different logical conclusion, my friend. i think i've caught myself one of them there darn colds (or maybe it's allergies?). earlier today, my right inner ear started hurtin' and now i've got a runny left nostril. what the eff! my body can't make up it's mind on which side of itself it wants to be sick. if i had my druthers (and i don't), i'd choose to have neither side o' my body sick. but that should go without saying, since nobody in their right mind (or left. ha!) wants to be sick. by the way, what are druthers? and do i really want them in this context? sniffle sniffle... i sick, feed me warm soup with a side of o.j. and take care of me with plenty of pillows and warm blankets, pweez!

a. iii

2009-08-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

° ° °

29 Sep 2008, 23:50

i love socks too! especially argyle. 
if i could do it without feeling like a complete tool,
i'd wear golfer's knickerbockers with knee-high argyle socks and saddle shoes! seriously!

you ARE cool as shit. don't ever doubt that! 
you should definitely have a pair of chucks! i have black, 
cause i can wear them with just about anything. but i can't see you wearing black. 
as far as i can tell, you're a very colorful person; inside and out. 
what's your favorite color? get THAT color!

why did i drop out? because i'm too cool for school! 
but seriously, i quit going about a year after my mother died. 
i lost my focus and couldn't concentrate well enough 
to produce anything worthy of a passing grade. 
i felt empty of all creativity. 
i felt empty in general. 
then, finally, my grade point average 
dropped .02-points below the acceptable level 
for financial aid eligibility. i no longer qualified for financial aid 
and i couldn't afford to pay tuition on my own, so i quit. and i never went back.

i wonder if you've enjoyed your stay in the city that i love so much.

–m




3 Oct 2008, 19:40

oh man! that outfit sounds rad!!

I have to say my favorite color is turquoise -
so i may get a turq pair or a 'jean' blue pair. :)

San Francisco was fantastic.
your list came in so handy and i was totally excited
when ever i found something that you recommended.
We did the 'divey bar' night just as you suggested and had a blast.

and dotties!! wow. we didnt have to wait
cause we went for a true Brunch at noon but i saw the line ups earlier that day.
went to eden and eden - chatted with the owner for a bit. very cool space.
i didnt buy anything but was thinking of ordering the horse t-shirt
cause i love it: http://www.edenandeden.com/

totally enjoyed SFMOMA
(even thought the Frida Kahlo show was sold out - boo),
and LOVED the new science museum! the exhibit design was amazing.

had a fucking delicious veggie sandwich at java beach
and had fun taking the muni out there!


THANK YOU!
i had your list up on my iphone the whole time. :)
so basically you rock and next time i am in the bay area
i hope you are too cause i'd love to take you out for a beer or five!

i'm sorry about your mother.
that must have been a very hard time.
you seem to have gotten your creativity back!
i think your sketches and photos are really wonderful.

have a great weekend michael!

cheers,
a.

a. ii

2009-08-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

° °

25 Sep 2008, 00:29

okay! yeah, that's just what i wished you'd say. 
and you asked around even? wow, that's fantastic! 
i underestimated the amount of effort you've put into this. 
thank you very much for your help. my uncertainty has definitely been quashed 
and i will, indeed, continue sporting my chucks like the rare older rad gem that i am!

black leather highs: in poor shape and probably need to be replaced.
black canvas lows: great for flaunting my awesome sock collection.

and you? do you own chucks? if not, why not?!

hey! here's a little factoid:
while you're in s.f., you may notice, 
throughout the city there are buildings with black signs 
for the academy of art university. that's the art school i dropped out of!

i hope you have a blast!

—m



26 Sep 2008, 10:22

ooooo - i love socks!
i have cut jeans short to show off socks...

the funny thing is, no,
i do not have a pair of chucks
and I have never owned a pair.

it kind of a timely question though
because for the last little while i have been asking myself
why I don't have a pair... i always think they look cute when i see girls rocking them...
and i've looked at them lately in stores but have never actually tried them on.
its like i cant decide what color would be the best. i know i dont want black,
mostly because is associate them with a girl i dislike,
but i've been thinking about a neutral color
that kind of goes with everything.

I think the reason that i have not owned a pair ever
might be because my younger brother always had them and of course
i wanted to be different from him... and then i started thinking that if i'd always had a pair
then it would just be a natural thing for me to keep on getting them when then they wore out...
but since i'd never owned a pair that it would be like cheating
or somehow like i was trying to be someone i'm not.
(dammit! i guess i'm not cool as shit!!)

and then there was the age thing like you mentioned.
I'm even older than you and so you can imagine my thoughts in that regard. lol.

over analyzing? perhaps.
but hey, thats just the way i roll.

i loved your question.

I'll look out for the black signs!
why did you drop out?

a.

a. i

2009-08-26T00:35:00.000-07:00

°

22 Sep 2008, 12:35

i was getting ready to head out and 
explore in this wonderful weather we're having here, 
but i paused before selecting some footwear.

converse chuck taylor's and the thirty-year olds who choose to wear them on a almost-daily basis: 
are these men trying to cling to their youth or are they cool as shit for deciding not to conform 
to society's misconception of what an grown man 
should do and wear?

—m




24 Sep 2008, 12:15

that is a very good question...
i wonder the same kinds of things myself.
after much consideration and asking opinions of others (for some perspective on this)
i have to say that i do think "chucks" are classic and defy categories 
and i don't think anyone is unfit for them.

I'm also starting to think that it is actually cooler when 30+ year olds wear them.
people who may well have been in the 'school' that 'old school' refers too...
older rad people are so rare. they are like gems.
most of the rad people i know have a pair
of converse in their shoe collection...

so to answer your question, i think you are cool as shit and
i think that you should continue to wear converse chuck taylor's.

do you wear the lows or the highs?

a.

ps. 2 more sleeps till san francisco... :)

life without bees

2009-08-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

right outside my apartment, about three-feet from my front door there is a very bizarre bush/tree/monster thing that looks like some kind of ground-bound, chlorophyl-filled, octo-flora-pus with equally bizarre blossoms that hang down very low, like five-million tentacles waiting for the perfect opportunity to snatch the cap from my noggin. i do... wear caps, i mean. though, not frequently. i'll pop on a beanie from time to time. and i wear my driver's cap on occasion.

everytime i leave my apartment i can hear the ominous buzzing of the octo-flora-pus's resident swarm of bees getting their "birds and the bees" on, all bee-like and stuff. and this sound... this wicked, crazy-scary buzzing sound unnerves me so much i can't help but remember my most unhappiest of all my unhappy memories; the time my 3rd-grade, lil mexipino boy, bowl cut was targeted by several hostile honeybees, dispatched with royal instructions to trap themselves within the massive mop of hair on my giant jughead and ruin "15-minute mandatory sideyard playtime" in the grandest of grand ways. i never liked going to afterschool daycare. after what would become known as "the day the bees attacked me and it hurt a lot" day, i really didn't like going!

bees scare me. it's a phobia. i do not like them! keep them away from me and someone please remove them from my front door. please please please and thank you.

27 october 2007

a gift from the so-called den mother

2009-08-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

robyn's chicken curry salad / wraps

- chicken tenders
- celery
- almonds (slivered)
- raisins, craisins, or both!
- mayo (or plain nonfat yogurt)
- curry powder
- sugar/salt

- lettuce
- tortillas

microwave chicken, 6-min. or until cooked through. while chicken is cooking, slice celery. place celery, almonds, (c)raisins, and mayo in a bowl. add 1 tbsp. curry powder. add sugar/salt to taste. mix well. chop lettuce. warm tortillas. place chicken curry in tortilla and top with lettuce.

omit tortilla and serve in lettuce leaf for low-carb option.