Steve Zwilling
02/08/09


10 Verbal Photographs

1. When I am past the point of being tired and tip toeing through that line of zombie-esque feeling, I start to hallucinate things on the wall.
2. The sun leaks through the gray clouds like strings connecting the sun to the green earth.
3. A billboard, which leaks persuasion through words of pity and despair, want you to donate your vehicle to somebody in need. Ironically, the billboard was about to fall onto the highway because it was swinging back in forth in the fierce wind; where is the pity in that? The billboard could have crushed a lot of the vehicles that people in need could have used.
4. I had a dream that my parents recently divorced and I was a young child, which really happened, but my father was remarried to Janis Joplin and I was offered a part in her band, but as a journalist.
5. I imagined that I put myself in the place of William Miller, a young music journalist that went on tour with a rock n roll band in the movie Almost Famous, and it was my calling.
6. The Who might be one of the hardest rocking bands in the world because there decibels on stage blow enjoy the people at the Super Bowl out of their seats.
7. When trying to squeal a note on the guitar, I have to be plugged into some sort of amp because it is a hidden ringing noise.
8. I work two jobs and go to school full time. I deserve to go along with this notion in my head. I go to Europe and write reviews on different bands trying to get popular.
9. I had a dream that my band went to the bit time with a record deal, but the record label CEO made us change our type of music to polka and that became the alpha genre in our society.
10. When I tip a pizza boy, or girl, they say thank you every time. It makes a good name for the delivery occupation. Not saying ‘thank you’ after a tip seems to be an annoying pet peeve of mine.

10 Treasures

1. “Even modern English people are imperious, superior, ridden by class. All of the hypocrisy and the difficulties that are endemic in being British also make it an incredibly fertile place culturally. A brilliant place to live. Sad but true.” -Pete Townshend
2. “Kerouac opened a million coffee bars and sold million pairs of Levis to both sexes. Woodstock rises from his pages.” -William S. Burroughs
3. “And maybe it’s the time of year. Yes, and maybe it’s the time of man. And I don’t know who I am. But life is for learning.” -Joni Mitchell
4. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” -Mark Twain
5. “All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swit, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever present perils of life.” -Herman Melville, Moby Dick
6. “Ignorance is the parent of fear…” -Herman Melville, Moby Dick
7. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” -J.D Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
8. “It is difficult to keep the public interested.” -The Flight of the Pigeons from the Palace
9. “The audience huddled together. The people counted their sins.” - The Flight of the Pigeons from the Palace
10. “A few babies, boobies, silly’s, simps.” - The Flight of the Pigeons from the Palace

This past weekend was one of the more influential ones of my life, not only visually, but also physically. I work at a children’s hospital in Detroit, which is a good job, but the hours can be very instantaneously detrimental to my body. For example, this past weekend I worked from 3pm on Friday night all the way through to 3:30pm on Saturday afternoon. I will admit that the money is very nice, but I was in a state of mind that I have never experienced in my life. Some people take hallucinogenic drugs to achieve that statue of my being at that time. I was tired to the point to where I was seeing things. Obviously I could not sleep at all, so when it came down to it, I was a walking zombie, but I observed everything in a new light. I envisioned my calling on music and what I want to do with my band, on the way home every billboard spoke out to me in many different fashions, I looked at music and bands in a whole new light, and the little things in life became more noticeable and perishable. I could lose them anytime so I started writing and for hours on hours, in my pain-staking zombie persona, I pushed through and picked a few of my new experiences.
My theme for the treasures is many quotes that I have read over the past week. I read bits of Moby Dick because I remember reading it and hating it, but felt bad, so I read some of it again. I remember exactly why I despise it, but Herman Melville has spectacular quotes. They really hit home for me. I often live in fear of certain things and he helped to explain how I was feeling in literature. The different quotes, for example Joni Mitchell, William s. Burroughs, among the others, have taught me that life is about learning. Fear should not be an issue. Live without fear, to an extent. If I want something I should go get it, don’t ever let anything hold me back. I rounded it off with JD Salinger’s quote because, although he is a choppy writer that I do not prefer, he does write some pretty provocative lines from time to time. I don’t tell anybody anything because I am afraid of getting to close to people, but I know this is unhealthy. For the time being, it seems healthy because I need to discover life through my eyes and then through my pen.