Rainy Days

I love rainy days.

I always have. Even when I'm stuck out in them, unprepared, getting drenched down to the skin, I love it. I can't really explain the appeal, except to say that there's just something about the quality of the daylight, the chill in the air, and the rushing sound of the droplets falling, like the world suddenly speeding up... that appeals to me.

Maybe it's because, when I was a kid, I got to stay home from school if it rained hard enough. Maybe on some deep psychological level, rain represents freedom to me -- the thought of all that pent-up moisture suddenly being released from its cage. The tension in the sky subsiding as it pours itself out over the world.

Maybe it's because after it rains, the sky looks like this...

Maybe I just like getting wet.

Soon, the wife-monster and I will be moving away from California, the reasons for which I won't go into here, except to say that I feel I've squeezed all the juice out of this fruit that there is to squeeze, and all that's left are the bitter parts.

We've set our sights on Portland, Oregon, and among the many changes we'll have to get used to out there is that, in Portland, it rains. A lot. Or so they say. We visited early last year, just as the last bits of snow and ice were fading from winter, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that only two out of the five days we spent out there saw any rainfall.

It's a nice area, with nice people, and an artistic vibe that gives me the warm comfies. It's also bicycle friendly, and has good public transportation, which means that I'll be freer to get from place to place without need of a car (a rare blessing coming from the Pod-like Lifestyle of L.A. County).

When we visited, I was actually shocked to see just how many people get from place to place on bicycles. They've even given them their own lanes on the city streets. When you get to a red-light, the cyclists have a place to roll up and stop ahead of the cars, and they get to go first when it turns green. They're forcing drivers to be considerate and attentive, and their methods are so efficient, it baffles me. In a happy way.

And on top of all this... it rains there. A lot. So they say.

But here's my dilemma... I ride my bike to and from work everyday. It's only about a five-minute trek; ten, tops, if I'm lazy. And during the three or four weeks a year when it actually rains, those five-to-ten minutes are all I need to get soaked to the bone.

So, I have to wonder... in a city like Portland, where a third of the vehicles on the road are bicycles, and the rain falls freely and frequently... how do these people manage? Do they just resign themselves to getting wet every time they go outside? Do they sell special rain-proof coats for bicyclists to wear over their regular clothes and bags? A "Portland Poncho"? They must have a way of coping... and that's something I'll need to learn once I'm out there. Getting soaked to the bone is plenty fun when I have nowhere to be; less so when I'm commuting to the office.

Either way, the move will be a new adventure, and I look forward to meeting it head-on.

I also look forward to the rain.

Why Farther Room?

It's not because I'm a poetry buff, that's for sure -- not that I have anything against poetry. Like all forms of creative expression, I both respect and appreciate a good poem, but I've never been drawn to them on an academic level. Because of this my knowledge of the classics has been, and probably always will be, severely limited.

Still, I've managed to absorb the odd bit of verse through my various other interests. I discovered James Thomson's City of Dreadful Night when it was quoted in The Crow: City of Angels novelization. I learned about W.B. Yeats's The Second Coming when it inspired the title of the Angel season 4 episode, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." And T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock was brought to my attention through a comic book called Violent Messiahs: The Book of Job.

VM is a comic I hold very near and dear to my heart for no other reason than it's just really, really damn good. The story is well-told, the characters complex and interesting. The ideas are broad and ambitious, with themes deep, dark and elusive, and a tone that never becomes complacent, hop-scotching from one emotion to the next. It is a story whose reach ever-exceeds its grasp, and every time I read it, it makes me want to be a better writer.

Avoiding spoilers, in the fifth chapter (issue) of the book, the main character finds himself at an existential crossroads, torn between family obligations and the deep, powerful desire to connect with another human being, and set his own path in the world. He turns to the poetry he learned as a child, finding guidance in one particular passage by T.S. Eliot...

"Do I dare disturb the universe?
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all...
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall...
Beneath the music from a farther room."

It's a powerful moment -- one of my favorites -- and it propels the main character onward to the end of the story.

So, readdressing the original question: "Why Farther Room?"

For starters... Because of Violent Messiahs.

But it doesn't end there. It's a great moment in a great comic, and it's definitely a cool name, but to justify using so esoteric a reference, I figure I've got to have a better reason than that. Especially considering my aforementioned ignorance in the realm of poetry. The title should have meaning... and it does.

In my eyes, what the quoted passage is about, to some degree what the entire poem is about, and certainly what Violent Messiahs is at least partially about, is feeling trapped within the circumstances of one's own life. Wasting away in stagnation while being too afraid to change those circumstances for fear of what the unknown might hold. To me, the Farther Room is something familiar and unattainable. The curious unknown that so many people look toward but never attempt. It's where all the magic happens.

In my own life, I know I've gotten tired of staring at that door and wondering "What if...?" I'm ready to finally go there. No more anticipation; only action. That's what this project represents. We are in the Farther Room.

I know what a lot of you will say...

...and I suppose you'd be right.

It's kinda corny, and I have no doubt that my interpretation of the poem is way off... but it's something that inspires me. And isn't that the beauty and purpose of art? For the audience to find their own interpretations and value within the creation?

I think it's pretty nifty.

Anyway, before I wrap up, I wanted to share a few other "Farther Rooms" that I've found out there in the great unknown:

• A Farther Room is a wordpress blog maintained by a Los Angeles-based writer named Blair. With topics ranging from entertainment to science to politics, Japanese ramen houses and, yes, even bacon bikinis, I've found in my short time reading that it lives up to its self-proclaimed title as "wonder log of the worldwide web." Probably the blog you should be reading instead of mine (but you can read mine too).

• Music From A Farther Room is the 2004 debut album by American violinist Lucia Micarelli. If you enjoy violin and/or instrumental music, you should definitely give it a listen. I'm greatly enjoying it. Plus, she's from Queens. Represent!

• music from a farther room is a LiveJournal blog by an aspiring writer/singer/song-writer named Jo. She's "busking on the internet" as a means to earn enough money to leave her small town and go to school in Boston. It's a pretty nifty idea and she seems to have the sort of spirit we (I) here in the Farther Room respect and encourage. If you hear a song you like, throw a dollar her way.

• Music From A Farther Room was an art exhibition which ran from July 31 to September 27, 2009, at the Gosford Regional Gallery near Sydney, Australia. The unifying theme is the concept of all points in time existing simultaneously, and the relationship between youth and age within that context. Fascinating topic, and there are lots of pretty pictures, so give it a gander!

• Music From A Farther Room is a short film written and directed by Tobias Munthe. I have no idea what it's about, but here's the trailer.

Also, be sure to check out Violent Messiahs: The Book of Job, and its sequel, Lamenting Pain, both of which were recently rereleased through IDW Publishing.

Be Interesting...

This is the biggest dilemma one faces when trying to create a blog. Well, a blog that's about anything, anyway, which this blog is supposed to be. I just haven't figured out what that is yet.

I've done the day-to-day, random stream of consciousness thing and it was fun for a time, but something so haphazard can be pretty easy to put off, forget about, and ultimately ignore altogether. Besides, I get the rampant randomness out of my system on Twitter these days.

And besides, that's not what this project is about. For starters, I'm actually looking at this as a Project, which automatically places it on a different level from, "Dear Internet Diary..."

I'm not saying I won't be posting about my experiences or thoughts here... it's just going to be more regulated. I want to write about something. Not just anything.

So, for my own clarity, and to start laying some ground to build on... here is a mission statement for what's to come:

1. I will always (try my best to) write about something. No random updates on my latest bowel movement, or the various science projects growing (sentient) inside the abandoned Tupperware in my fridge. That's what Twitter is for.

2. I will always be positive. Which is not to say that I won't be critical. If I don't dig a song or comic or movie I've chosen to talk about, I'll say so, and go into as much detail as I feel is necessary to explain the reasons for my assessment. I also won't hold back if I feel the need to write about a topic I find disagreeable. But this blog will not be a dumping ground for complaints, cynicism, bitterness or prejudice. In short... negativity is easy. That's not what this project is about. This will be a place of positivity.

3. I will always (try my best to) post regularly. As I said above, I'm trying something different here. A blog with a purpose. Such an undertaking demands a certain amount of reliability, I think. I'm still figuring out the details, as you can see, but once I settle on a posting schedule, I will try my damnedest to stick to it. Do I think I'll always be able to hit my update deadlines? Probably not. But, I will try. It will be a consistent goal. I think this is important to both the success of this Whatever This Might Be, as well as my own development as a Whatever I Might Be.

4. I will always (try my best to) be interesting. I want people to read my blog. I want an audience. More importantly, I want to be able to satisfy an audience. What that means is that I will try to provide a variety of interesting subject matter to keep people reading. I will do entertainment reviews and creator/show/comic/podcast spotlights. I'll eventually post my own podcasts. I will do interviews. I will post my own photography. I will post about my life and my experiences and my interests and, on rare occasion, I may even try to be funny.

The deep dark secret of this blog that I have yet to reveal is... this is as much about me expanding my own horizons and challenging myself as it is about keeping you entertained. I know what I find interesting when I read other people's blogs, and I want to try to provide that type of experience myself. So, I'm going to try to keep it interesting.

Dunno how well that's working out so far.

Oh, the adventures to come...

Cuz...

I dunno why. Cuz maybe.