Melody Jones » uncategoriz”able”

speaking up

admin — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:17:07 +0000

hello…
is this fucking thing on?

… am i speaking the english?

being “home alone”

admin — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 07:07:59 +0000

is not really as fun as the movie.
well, maybe the part when he slaps aftershave on his face.
yeah, ouch!

another notable anniversary

admin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:42:30 +0000

this week represents a time, just six years ago when the temperature dropped, the inhibitions disappeared and two people who had been pushing the friendship/flirtation boundary… pushed it to the point of no return.
two friends, a rock show, red wine, a man in lingerie, a girl smoking in the boys room, words of a smitten kitten, enamored of this musician who is drawn to her by name but stuck on her because of the way she made him feel. like an electric storm, attraction seemed to touch down randomly. but this was no random union. these two supernovas had finally found their super counter parts and the world was about to get a lot more exciting for both of them.
happy anniversary mj.
infinite love

worst nightmare

admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:53:41 +0000

technologically challenged
from childhood
so this isn’t something
you haven’t been through before
but it hurts like hell
every single time
you lose data
your blood sweat and tears
music, thoughts, drawings
the stuff from between your ears
it’s all still there
in your mind
but to write, photograph, play
it all again
that would be hard
because everyday offers up
a new opportunity
a new experience worth documenting
every day keeps you moving forward
not looking to the past…

long story short. the old pics from this site are gone forever.
hope you saw ‘em while you could.
back to square one.
time to start a revolution part 2.
a revolutionary’s tale in the second act…
viva la mj.net

they were the best of times…

admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:58:56 +0000

they ARE the best of times!
if i had written this post a few days ago, i may have had another story. we’ve been yelled at forcefully twice, scowled at on the train many times, and treated like lepers at the onsen… but we’ll just call these moments of “being lost in translation” … cultural differences, yeah, that’s it!
for every negative creep, we meet a kind spirit willing to help us along our way. for every scowl, we return a smile… and for that, we are able to stay sane in this very traditional and foreign country.
let’s face it, we are anything but traditional people. we do not even follow the social norms of our own country, let alone those of japan. and though we believe that treating people the way we want to be treated should apply anywhere in the world, not everyone treats themselves as kindly as we do.
there are many things here causing the pollution of these otherwise kind spirits (here or anywhere else on the planet.) i blame the food people eat, the stimulants they allow themselves to be subjected to as well as the general belief that what is different is bad; and since a lot of these things are difficult to escape, the blame goes nowhere, to no one. if there is any thing to point a scowling finger at… i blame the corporations. from those producing cigarettes to pachinko machines, cars and nuclear power plants, addicting foods and convenience.
i could go on and on but i won’t. this post is about the best of times. like i wrote before, for every negative, there is a positive.
the warmth and kindness we feel when entering an ancient shrine is like nothing else we have ever experienced. the gentleness and care put into every stone and piece of wood is almost too beautiful to describe. the ritual of sweeping, and cleansing the earth with water every morning is a breath of fresh air. these are the traditions that we have grown to love and plan to take back with us to the states.
the simplicity of things here is more than inspiring! our small room with nothing but tatami mats, futon, blanket and pillow have allowed for the most restful sleep we have ever had. the long walks through immaculate gardens contrast the chaos of a natural forest, yet complement it perfectly. there is order in chaos and chaos in order and somewhere within, we will find our own balance.
certainly evolving quicker here due to the short nature of our trip and the huge impact everyday has on us. we have found the most wonderful vegetarian restaurants that fill us with love every time we visit them. there is an obvious difference in the “vegan options” of a steak house and the exquisite flavors of foods cooked with love in an organic veggie kitchen.
today we are off to see more sights. visit more temples, observe more shrines and certainly encounter millions more sakura (cherry blossoms). we have even been promised a specially made batch of vegan sakura ice cream as well from one of our favorite kyoto restaurants!! these are the little things that make life so very enjoyable.
everyday is a good day.

this problem may be bigger than “us”

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:56:06 +0000

i have heard of this legendary “great pacific plastic garbage barge” before. i have discussed it at great lengths when shooting the environmental shit. i had heard it was double the size of texas. but in this last article i found, it is said to actually occupy a space that is twice the size of the continental united states!!!

778016.html”>http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html

eeeeeekkkk!!!

who i have become

admin — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:54:37 +0000

after a few days on oahu and a whole week on the big island, hawaii, i can barely recognize the person i was before i came here (note: my last post).
after having the experiences that i’ve had here, i may never be the same. i’ve slept on top of a live volcano, watched hot lava being spewed out of the earth just a half mile from where we laid our heads, hiked through rain forests, body surfed boogie boarded and swam in the pacific ocean, snorkeled with millions of fish and sea turtles along some of the best reefs in the world, seen waterfalls coming out of the side of cliffs and seen craters that could swallow a hundred homes, experienced japanese and botanical gardens like never before, lived off the grid on an organic farm for three days (no internet!), eaten fruit right off the trees… i feel like all of these experiences have shifted my priorities. have i mentioned that i didn’t even bring a hair brush on this trip? let alone a blow-dryer or flat iron! now… who am i again?

definitely hoping to keep the aloha spirit inside me as i return to the mainland.
many more pictures and inspired words to come…
mahalo!

new fascination

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:53:20 +0000

stop me if you’ve heard this one…
but i have a new obsession/observation/fascination with…
drum roll please…

graffiti!!! call it youthful expression, vandalism, public art, counter culture at it’s own critical mass… call it what you will… but i’m feeling it.

graffiti |gr??f?t?|
plural noun ( sing. -to |-t?|) [treated as sing. or pl. ]
writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place : the walls were covered with graffiti | [as adj. ] a graffiti artist.
verb [ trans. ]
write or draw graffiti on (something) : he and another artist graffitied an entire train.
• write (words or drawings) as graffiti.
DERIVATIVES
graffitist |-tist| |gr??fid1st| noun
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from Italian (plural), from graffio ‘a scratch.’

ok, backstory: yes, i owned Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo at a young age.
listened to the beastie boys, and 2livecrew when i was in elementary school
maybe i was even responsible for some sharpie art in my day…
but, now? at my age? graffiti?

it all started over on one fine saturday afternoon, when i had a couple of hours to kill strolling up and down solano avenue. i ended up in a bookstore. as soon as i saw the cover to “street art”, i flipped through a few pages, and it was all over for me. i was hooked. not only had i found a new form of personal expression that had brought me closer to my roots… but i thought i had found my mother fucking people. i paid cash for my new found treasure, and went strolling on my merry way.

meanwhile, for the past year or so i had been photographing tags all over town. i found it amusing at times, and often insightful at others. there is wisdom in the vandalism, i thought. wisdom in the experience of being a vandal. i saw my initials with a star at my bus stop one day… and even though i did not write them, i appreciated that someone else did. they were fearless in my eyes. and even though that fearlessness could simply be the result of inexperience… i envied that naivety.

then it came to me… am i not a vandal, myself, deep down inside? carving my initials in every head of hair i come into contact with? inscribing words into peoples minds with my mouth and not my hand? could i not swing back full circle to the young rebel who feared nothing? is it too late?

and am i not, still, a revolutionary?

freedom

admin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:50:01 +0000

one’s independence is a beautiful thing. having the ability to take a saturday off to participate in the dyke march… priceless!

je ne suis pas mort

admin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:28:45 +0000

things were looking a little grim around here, so it’s time to expose the brighter, younger, unburned side of the figurative leaf.

impermanence is inevitable, sure, but life is too wonderful and precious to be wasted thinking about it ending.

so today i turn a leaf. after talking to an old friend about my recent encounter with death that left me thinking about life. he replied, “Life and what do you think?”

“ugh” i thought. what a vast question. i was unable to put into words what i was feeling right then. i was unable to explain that this life is the the only thing i know. i cannot remember being dead or in another being or in between. i have no recollection of these same molecules over the billions of years that they have been the exact same molecules (or at least elements… or at least atoms, or particles therein.)

“Life and what do you think?” i think it’s fucking weird and ironic and slightly deceiving. it’s hillarious and tragic and everything in between. life is what you make it. it is mostly in your head. the brain’s ability to compute and translate it’s experience is basically all that we have.

fuck. at least i am not dead. je ne suis pas mort.

all that’s left

admin — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:33:21 +0000

all that’s left from yesterday’s tragedy is an unsolved murder case, some burnt up candles, and a half empty bottle of sake (the bottle is not half full in this case). yesterday was the saddest day i have experienced since moving to the bay area. i went to work the same as i always do, but instead of taking the bus home, i got a ride with a friend. this was a blessing because had i walked my normal walk home i would have been stopped by masses of people and police tape. the entire street was blocked off by police and the house on the corner was completely blocked off by that all too familiar yellow tape. this was the house on the corner that had been visited by police not too long ago. in fact, a cop car blocked off that same intersection only about a month ago investigating some other incident at that house. but this incident was different. i knew something was up by the looks on all the people’s faces. there were about 20 people and 4 cop cars in the middle of the street and the mood was grim. i decided not to have my friend drop me off there, but instead further down the road to a restaurant where i could meet up with my husband and decide what to do. after dinner he decided to walk me home and asses the situation himself. by then there were even more people gathered and the road and house were still blocked off. we went inside for a minute and then decided to ask the owner of the corner store what happened. he always knows what is going on in our neighborhood, so we thought, surely he could shed some light on this for us. when we walked outside of our front door i saw the saddest thing i had ever seen in my life. the mother of the victim arrived home and released the emotions of her son’s death. she howled a cry that only a mother can cry after losing her son to a senseless act of violence. it sounded like she just came home and found out for the first time. the men in the street began to drop their heads as if to hide their own sadness. the mother continued to wail as others tried to console her, but i couldn’t stand to look anymore. i decided not to go to the corner store, but instead take a walk so i could catch my breath. i was crying pretty hard myself by now and decided to sit. my husband then consoled me as i put myself in each of the grieving parties’ shoes. the mother, father, brother, sister, girlfriend, teacher, minister, (neighbor). i, too, had lost someone very close to me by way of a bullet and could relate to the feeling that manifests from such a senseless act. i remember the havoc it created to the entire community when joey was killed. not only to his family and friends, but also the people he went to school with, to church with, who lived in his same small town. not to mention the friends and family of the 16 year old boy who shot him to death. i’m sure their lives will never be the same, especially the father who owned the gun. and imagine being the first girl he kissed, or danced with or …my husband and i sat there by the side of the road for what seemed like forever. we watched one of the most beautiful sunset’s i’ve ever seen. pinks and purples and golds oh my. it was such a beautiful contrast to what awaited us on the other side of the street. as we sat there many people passed. some were headed to the gathering on our street. others were clearly perplexed. we walked to the store to find out what had happened. someone said that at about 10:30am the guy who we always saw hanging out in front of our house was shot to death, in his bed. i realized later that i had walked by his house at 10:05am that morning. here’s what the local paper had to say about it:BERKELEYMan shot, killed in South Berkeley home

Police were investigating the slaying of a Berkeley man who was shot inside a home in the 2000 block of Emerson Street.

Paramedics received a call shortly after noon Thursday from inside the South Berkeley residence and arrived to find the man had died from his injuries, Officer Andrew Frankel said.

Frankel declined to release the man’s name and age or to say whether he lived at the residence. Police are not releasing information about a suspect or motive.

Anyone with information may call… not too much info there, but at least it made it into the paper. it seems that all too often this kind of news gets swept under the figurative carpet. you wouldn’t believe how many searches i had to do before i even found this article which was finally found on the third page of section B of the sf chronicle. (reprinted without permission).anyway, after we left the store we had to make our way back home. that’s when we saw the first of the candle-lit vigil that was to continue to take place for the next hour. with it was sobbing and throwing things into the gathering of candles in the middle of the road as well as pouring out of alcohol onto the ground. it was a scene from a movie. large men with dark skin and white shirts, embracing one another. young mothers and fathers clenching their own small children. a teenager who brought balloons in the shape of stars. it was a sight i will never forget.the sounds of bawling young girls eventually died down and the night rolled in. after several more hours the police tape was balled up and placed in a neighbor’s trash pile and the candles were moved to the sidewalk and the street was re-opened. but the next morning on my way to work, the candles were still lit. i’m not sure if people stayed up all night mourning or if they woke up early to begin again, but either way, i will never look at that house the same again. the mysterious house on the corner with all the foot traffic and young people out front will never be the same to me or to them. i am sad for all who live there and all of the people who were affected. and for all of the people who still have yet to be affected.

in the blink of an eye

admin — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:22:45 +0000

on his commute to work today a friend got hit by a car.
hopefully he will have little more than debt to remind him of the terrible spill he took.

it’s scary to think of how impermanent we are. how quickly it can all disappear.

makes you wonder if he kissed his dog and cats goodbye. if he remembered to tell his wife he loves her.

did he called his mother back last weekend… would his loved ones ever be able to enjoy an easter celebration again when that was the holiday weekend their dearly departed, went?

am i the only one who has thought about death to death!?! and every time it enters my life or simply dares to, as it did today, i am confronted with this simple fact…

it can all be taken away, in the blink of an eye.

please drive/ride/walk/bus/breath/read/write/sleep safely, my dear friends.

spring came early this year

admin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:09:42 +0000

it seems like just yesterday when the leaves fell

then the buds blossomed and got saturated with rain

time goes by quickly and now i sense change in the air

for me and the cherries, spring came early this year

“Change is inevitable. Change is constant.” -Benjamin Disraeli

selling out or in-it-to-win-it?

admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:25:55 +0000

|?sel?out|

• a betrayal of one’s principles for reasons of expedience

so does anyone remember my recent retail un-accomplishment (i was proud to announce that i had the lowest retail to service ratio at the salon i work for)? i have news on the subject that is unsettling.

let me preface my confession with some background info… i have a serious wanderlust, people! i want to travel something fierce! so when a trip to minneapolis was waved under my nose, which would be gifted to the top sales person at work, i started selling products like there was no tomorrow.

so my question to you is this… does this make me a sellout?

a promoter of consumption, i am not. a wanton consumer, i do not promote. but my current suggestive state does, in fact, promote sales.

my only defense is that i actually believe in the products i sell. from the ingredients they contain to the post consumer recycled packages they come in… i am a fan of the company’s sustainable practices and humanitarian efforts. so on that front i am not lowering my standards or betraying my principles by selling their products. however, no corporation is perfect. someone somewhere is making a lot of money off the suggestions i make to my clients.

clearly i feel guilty about it. but is guilt enough to change my behavior? i am still on the fence, but definitely leaning towards the city of minneapolis.

retail sales are down…

admin — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:53:45 +0000

hurray?!? in light of the recent “lull” in economic growth in this country, i am pleased to make the following announcement… drum roll please… i have the LOWEST retail-to-service ratio at my salon!!! what does this mean? i provide a lot of services to my clients but i do not encourage a lot of consumption… it’s just one more way that i make a difference everyday. now if only i could convince my employer that this is a GOOD THING.

bonfire

admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:40:10 +0000

there is nothing like the smell of smoke

that lingers on your body and clothes

after a great bonfire on the beach

wow

admin — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 07:33:05 +0000

amazing

mike patton

admin — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 00:49:23 +0000

see you tonight.

my new addiction… shhh!

admin — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:14:33 +0000

last night i went to the san francisco opera house to see a performace of the magic flute… and oh my god… i’m hooked!! ok, so i could have done without the pretension, but it was worth it. first of all, the orchestra blew me away! hands down the best musicians i’ve seen in a long time. the first chair violinist and the glockenspiel player were out of this world. and the actors themselves were brilliant story tellers and vocalists. the woman who played the queen of the night hit a series of notes that could have punctured my ear drum if not executed perfectly… but she nailed it! and the set design was so interesting, not to mention the hair, make-up and wardrobe! so that’s it… i’m hooked.

001011001011: let’s start a revolution!

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 01:04:07 +0000

greetings fellow robots and humans

in an attempt to make contact with a broader network, and of course have a forum for my endless banter, i have created this fabulous website. here, i will plant many seeds. and those seeds will, against all odds, grow into a unified tree. and by seeds i mean ideas. and by trees i mean a revolution.