Wednesday, July 2, 2008

New Day #188

While it might seem that my life is a series of madcap adventures, the truth is that I pursue these experiences partly as a way of keeping depression at bay. Without constant stimulation, I can misuse my imagination to feed my myriad of anxieties.

So today I once again biked over to the Large Nipples house (14 miles roundtrip--whoo hoo!), this time to work on my next book while Storm worked on her one-woman show for Portland Center Stage. I really savor working in the same room with another writer--when we each get stuck we have someone to unstick us. Of course, you run the risk of influencing each other too much. When we were done, Storm told me she found her work much lighter for my presence, while I wrote a joke about puppies drowning in the "death bag."

Eventually we took a break to partake in one of Davey's son's favorite pastimes and today's New Thing: Burning Barbies. Otherwise known as the "Barbiecue."

Here's Davey with a Disney doll he decided looked like Shaggy from Scooby Doo



That siren you hear at the end is not the fire department, though it wouldn't have surprised me if it were.



Turns out there are innumerable ways to mutilate dolls, all of which I found creatively stimulating. Like the best art, it allowed me to look at something ordinary through new eyes.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Storm has an antique chest at the foot of her bed onto which are carved the words "Hodie non cras," which means "Today, not tomorrow."

An apt reminder to Live Large.

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4 comments:

dpaste said...

And to think that when I was six-years old and mutilating my sister's Barbie dolls, I was already an artist ahead of my time.

Noah Champion said...

I actually ripped the head off of my sister's Skipper doll (Barbie's pre-pubescent teenage sister...my mum thought Barbie was too lascivious).

This occurred during a frustrated tantrum thrown in response to my sister inserting her toe into my left nostril.

Yes, you read that right.

Granted, I did have to replace her doll with my own hard earned allowance.
Oh, the injustice.

Anonymous said...

Oh, the memories of being tortured by my brother, who would take the head off my dolls, light a firecracker, put it in the body of the doll (we're talking larger than barbies), quick replace the head and toss her out of the attic window to explode midair... Marc, you bring back horrid, twisted memories today... ~KCN

Marc Acito said...

Okay, I'm TOTALLY going to do that as another New Thing. Stay tuned...