Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Crooked fingers & mission #1


I took/made this handprint at the local watering hole in Pella.


“Bill Gates says, ‘Wait till you can see what your computer can become.’ But it’s you who should be doing the becoming, not the damn fool computer. What you can become is the miracle you were born to be through the work that you do.”



this winter is so shitty, i got a paper cut just now (or a little bit ago) and didn't even notice until i tried scratching my knuckles; the skin on my hands and hips and back and chest and ass is really dry and therefore itchy. It's Iowa. What should I have expected? it makes me think of that line in Water for Elephants (if you haven't read it, do and this won't spoil anything because it happens almost immediately). The main character is in the retirement home after waking up from a nap he doesn't remember taking and he looks down at his hands, really looking deeply at them for the first time since he can remember, and thinks to himself about them. the quote is roughly this: "these can't be my hands. they're all withered and splotchy and weak. my hands were strong and spot-free. they're bony and pale. they're shuddering constantly. these can't be my hands." the physical signs of aging are hitting me kind of early (probably because I'm so unhealthy because I don't sleep and I don't eat right). anyway, just before I was about to become depressed, I thought to myself all of the awesome things these hands have done. They learned how to play guitar by themselves (as well as a slough of other instruments). They saved a kids life at the pool last summer. One of the right hands fingers was spirally fractured and was never the same again; he still has trouble playing power chords.

MISSION: Trace your hand on a sheet of paper in any artistic fashion that you desire. Then on that same sheet of paper along the margins or within the hand, write all the amazing things this hand (or both) has(have) done from the perspective of that hand as if it were anthropomorphic. these can and should be both positive and negative things. Ex. "When I was 14, I met Julia's hand for the first time; she squeezed so softly that I nearly dropped to his side," or "when I was 12, I discovered masturbation. I didn't get the appeal but the chick attached to me sure seemed to." I'm supposed to be studying for French right now and I've got a ton more homework where that came from but I'll try and post mine as soon as possible. I'd like to have a place to post stuff rather than the comment section mais quelle que soit (yeah, I had to look it up).

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