And thus, shall we make a Day of Rest for all of our days.
Plans for this weekend: [ n o t h i n g n e s s ]
‘Sonoma County Splendor’ Category
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Every Day Should Be Sunday
06.11.2010 by Shannon
Category Daily1, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: day of rest,relax,sunday | No Comments
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10 is a Magic Number
07.25.2009 by Shannon
Wow….Wow. Wow.
There are a lot of clichés about what high school reunions are like — a sick glory in revisiting painful teenage dynamics with people whose faces you may remember, names you no longer do, while awkwardly catching up in pithy sentences about what each of you have been up to for the past 10 years.
“Me? Oh, you know… school, job, travel… just living the dream.”
Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | No Comments
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David Bromige – Collaborative Poems IV
06.24.2009 by Shannon
“The quality which makes man want to write and be read is essentially a desire for self-exposure and masochism. Like one of those guys who has a compulsion to take his thing out and show it on the street.” – James Jones
More collaborative poems with my mentor David Bromige… (more…)
Category Poetry, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: david bromige,mentor | No Comments
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David Bromige – Collaborative Poems III
06.22.2009 by Shannon
‘There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.” – Terry Pratchett
More collaborative poems with my mentor David Bromige… (more…)
Category Poetry, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: collaboration,david bromige,mentor,poems | No Comments
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David Bromige – Collaborative Poems II
06.16.2009 by Shannon
“A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it to be God.” -Sidney Sheldon
* * *
More collaborative poems with David Bromige, my mentor… and don’t ask me who Janice or Betty is. Or if you do, I’ll tell you they are perfect illustrations of David’s humor. Putting a name like “Betty” in a poem? Writing about a jazz singer we don’t know? David was always reminding me not to take myself nor poetry too seriously…
Category Poetry, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: collaboration,david bromige,harmless,mentor,poetry | 1 Comment
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David Bromige (1933-2009)
06.12.2009 by Shannon
It is with extreme sadness and spiked loss that I mention the passing of my friend and mentor, David Bromige. I wanted to be able to write a great spread of prose or poetry, honoring his sharp wit, playful creativity, and a life in words.
But for now, I will just provide this link and some quotes I captured during our lazy days writing poetry in the garden of his Sebastopol home… because sometimes things need time to sink in before the words come.
My love and support to his family Cecilia, Maggie & Chris.
DAVID BROMIGE QUOTES / FOUND POEMS (more…)
Category Announcements, Poetry, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: david bromige,mentor,poetry | 1 Comment
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Choking Hazard
05.18.2009 by Shannon
I feel like a working single mother, slinging hash until midnight, then stumbling home with three little mouths to feed, in want of love.
(more…)Category Narrative, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | 3 Comments
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Humble Beginnings
05.05.2009 by Shannon
So, I got a new job.
Technically, I already have a job: I am a Freelance Naming Consultant, but these days, with the economy in the crapper, things are a little slow. Normally, I would take the opportunity to just… work less. Which means writing more, traveling more, spending time with the fam more. However, after my recent tax returns, it seems I owe a little more to my dear old Uncle Sam than I expected– and, well, there went my savings…
Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: happiness,Humble Pie,humility,Penngrove,waitress | 2 Comments
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Found: Life Quote
08.20.2008 by Shannon
The “life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.” -J.M. Barrie
…thank goodness for humility and that other story.
Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: Barrie,diary,expectations,life,quote | No Comments
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Found: Life Plan
08.13.2008 by Shannon
The house is being painted. It is time to purge.
While tossing out old boxes, I uncover this little gem: an old “plan” of mine titled: “Life Plan.” Written: Summer 2002 (21 years old). Reads as follows (verbatim):
(more…)Category Sonoma County Splendor, This Modern Life | Tags: | 1 Comment
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Anywhere Else in the World
06.30.2008 by Shannon
Returning home from Turkey has been a mild culture shock I still don’t think I’m over; whereas before I did yoga twice a day, ate fresh vegetarian meals, and my most difficult decision consisted of whether to read in the hammock or swim in the Mediterranean — I have come home to an avalanche of work, raging forest fires, and my cat bleeding from the head*[1]
(more…)Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | No Comments
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Oatmeal Bath for One, Please
03.18.2008 by Shannon
Covered in poison oak at the moment, and barely able to type with calamine-encrusted fingers. Last time I ever take those damn dogs for a walk in the forest.
Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | 5 Comments
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07.11.2007 by Shannon
Back from Turkey sun-sitting hotly drinking tea along Petaluma river old ladies in straw hats and gray-haired men who’ve found second youth in bike riding drinking coffee (muscles are controlled passion) their mean lime spandex leotards bragging about the last sprint across Spring Hill. I: 26 “retired” smile to spend morning drink lemon hibicus hovering over crisp pages Marcus Aurelius’ suggestions for Stoic living one glove, bike shorts — back in, you know? special Specialized tshirt with back pocket Gu bobby socks those little shoes with knobs clunk clunk acoross the wooden deck punching more holes than history can handle do you know how fast i can pedal? i can pedal fast very very fast
Category Sonoma County Splendor, This Modern Life | Tags: | 2 Comments
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(It’s Universal)
07.09.2007 by Shannon
Yesterday was my official One Month Until Departure to my next travel adventure: Vietnam and China. The countdown reminded me of what a nice time in my life this is — being home, time to pursue personal projects, friends and family close by, and the joy of being in the Sonoma County for the quiet and slower pace it affords — and how I have to appreciate it while it’s here.
I keep telling myself “enjoy the moment” before I go away again. Simple things have felt deeply important: coffee with friend, evening walks around the neighborhood, breakfast with my mom, morning tea with my cat, hours of personal writing time — little things that remind me: this is home, now.
It reminds me that a deadline shouldn’t be necessary to feel this kind of appreciation.
* * *
I had dinner with my friend J. the other night. She has spent the last 8 months traveling through India and Asia. Change was apparent: Her hair was blonde and stylishly cut, she had many stories to tell, and she looked softer and happy. Even the cadence was different when she spoke, more knowing, and when I pointed this out she responded, “well, I feel different!”
After dinner we went for a walk around Sebastopol. She began to speak of this evolution. As she touched on theme after theme of what she had learned while abroad, I couldn’t help but smile and realize that these same themes had woven themselves through my past half-a-year as well: balance, finding a healthy pace of life, the courage to deviate from plans, acceptance of self As Is.
And in fact, how no matter where you go or are, how readily those lessons seem to pop up in anyone’s life who’s looking for them.
With gratitude infusing her breath, she said, “I’d have never learned these things had I not traveled; I learned all this because I left home.”
I smiled at her, and nodded quietly, knowing that I learned all this because I’d returned.
Category Narrative, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | No Comments
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My Dear Dead Deer
05.12.2007 by Shannon
I know.
I’ve been horridly neglectful – know that although we Penngrovians like to take things slowly, there’s been a surprising amount of distraction in this little country bumpkin’s life, resulting in lack of posts: The second annual SlinkyFest was fun and festive; Grandpa’s memoir has kept me busy; I’ve been working on my poetry (of all things) with new friends Richard Denner and David Bromige, and I’m making preparations for a trip to Turkey.
But I promise interesting tidbits and Not Keeping Score-isms soon.
In the meantime, check out this lovely piece of human beauty compliments of The Smoking Gun. We’re introducted to Bryan James Hathaway, a young man who got frisky with a deer carcass. Note page three, when — in defense — his lawyer quotes Billy Crystal.
(I love people.)
Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | 1 Comment
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No One Person Should Have this Much Time
04.03.2007 by Shannon
For those of you who are still wondering “what that silly girl Shannon is up to” [reference belated New Year's Video] the answer is this: found other non-employed free-spirits to make grainy dance videos to bad pop songs*[1].
(admit it: you love Hilary Duff, too…)
*[1] I swear that neither of us are under the influence of any intoxicating substances. Swear.
Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | No Comments
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No Foolin’
04.01.2007 by Shannon
I had visions of masterful Shannon-egans (tasteless pun intended) and skillfully executed jokes today on NKS — you know, something like “I’m going to quit writing my blog,” or “I’m moving China to become a gogo dancer,” or “I’ve shaved my head in a show of solidarity with Britney” — but then I remembered I’m neither masterful nor skillful at executing jokes, so I decided to steer clear of any April Fool’s Day trickery.
Nobody likes to feel the fool anyhow, and no one certainly likes a fool who fools fools.
So let’s just leave it with– nothing has changed: I’m still an old woman in a 26-year-old body (I played Balderdash with friends last night until the “wee hours” of 1am and considered this a rowdy night); When asked if my days of “living in my parents basement were numbered” I replyed “of course. It’s knowing what kind of number that’s the question;” and I spend more money on books per month than rent.
And that’s no joke.
Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | No Comments
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IN FLUX 2
01.26.2007 by Shannon
A MULTI-PART EXPLORATION ON WHETHER PEOPLE CHANGE, THROUGH THE COMPLETELY UN-SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL ITEMS FOUND IN SHANNON DEJONG’S “SPECIAL BOX” AND ASSORTED CHILDHOOD MEMORABILIA*[1]
Part II
Speaking of whether people change…
I’m about to sit down at my computer and write a post about change in perspective.
I am about to write about how I may have been feeling just a teeeeensy itty-bitty-bit restless with all this transition to the country bumpkin lifestyle away from the city, and that maybe I’m not as solidly Golden-Buddha-Monkey about not knowing exactly, perfectly, pink-ribbon-ly where my life is headed.
So sue me that I’m not the Dali Lama when it comes to life transitions. (Deep breath in, deep breath out.)
I am about to write a post about a friend of mine who came to visit me out here the boon-docks.
The post that I am about to write? It will describe a particularly moody morning, where I am questioning this whole move-from-the-city-thing (“There’s no culture here. What kind of a town doesn’t have at least one transvestite?!”)
It will tell about my lovely friend who comes to visit and reminds me that the grass in Penngrove is always greener: over lunch my friend will be so enamored with my little Sonoma County retreat — this sleepy little town complete with barns, pastures and sheep — that she will say it is her “new life goal to live here some day.”
She will go on and on about the stresses of the city and what a wonderful set-up I have, and how lucky I am to have some time to chill out with the cows.
Well, shit. I can’t very well feel restless after that. Sometimes we just need an outside perspective to help us change our own.
And so I am about to sit down to write this post for you good people, thinking it a mighty fine lesson –
But before I do this I type into the search bar of my own blog “perspective” just to check to see what else I’ve written on the topic, to avoid repeating myself, and what do I find but this post titled “Visitor” from May of last year in which I learned a similar lesson — in fact, it seems it’s a lesson I keep learning over and over:
“It was a lesson I had learned before — that perspective, not circumstance, dictates happiness.” That’s what I had written. That’s what I had learned.
And I slap myself on my forehead. Because did I remember the lesson on the next go-around? Did I remember to accommodate a new perspective when I wasn’t feeling happy with my circumstances? No, I did not.
So, speaking of whether people change…Consider this a tally mark in the column for DO NOT.
But then again — around here, we’re not supposed to be keeping score…
* * *To be continued…Check back in later to NotKeepingScore.com for the rest of IN FLUX: DO PEOPLE CHANGE?
*[1]Quite possibly the most lengthy and self-indulgent blog posting on NKS to date
Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | 1 Comment
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Found
01.12.2007 by Shannon
Living at home with my folks has afforded me a newfound appreciation of them.
Today, while getting a ride to the bus stop to catch an express bus into the city for a meeting with my boss, I discovered that my dad is not only devoted father, adored teacher, loving husband, and has so much to teach me about hard work, patience, simplicity, and quiet persistance – but the man’s also poet! (and he don’t even know it…)
Found Poem: Spoken by David DeJong
at the corner of Old Redwood Hwy East Cotati Ave.
6:20AM Jan. 12, 2007Proposed Title: Life’s Streetlight
“This is such a stupid light
there’s no one in sight
to the left or rightand finally someone’s there -
and it turns yellow”Category Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | No Comments
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Welcome to 2007! (A Sonoma County scene)
01.08.2007 by Shannon
[Scene: A country house that sits in an idyllic setting. Shannon, a woman in her mid-twenties, rises from her slumbers. She stretches with smile upon her cherub face, Edvard Grieg's "Morning" playing in her head. She places her palms against the windowsill and gazes at the redwood trees beyond. There are small birds perched in the branches, singing.]
Shannon: Good morning, my fine feathered friends!
[She slides her sleepy toes into her slippers, wraps her happy body with a robe and tip toes down stairs. Her parents, Kathryn and David and sitting at the table.]
Shannon: Why, hello, mother; hello, father.
Kathryn & David [in unison]: Hello, dearest daughter.
Shannon: What a glorious morning this day hath brought to us.
Kathryn & David: This day is glorious, verily. What doth this day bring for you, oh sweet daughter of ours?
Shannon: Well, oh kind and unceasingly generous parents of mine, I did have it in mind that upon this most beauteous morn of the first Monday of 2007 I would awaken with the birds and, after watching the frost melt off the fingers of the redwoods and listen to the sheep begin to nibble upon the green backsides of the hills that stretch like the expanses of my dreams — all while sitting in the rejuvenating comfort of the hot tub — I would make myself a pot of green tea and write a “Welcome to 2007!” post to Not Keeping Score. This, my dearest of dear parents, would truly ring in the new year proper, for although I have resolved to make no resolutions, and am trying to be contented with my life “As Is” (no trip to the gym, the therapist’s office, or The Container Store necessary) old habits die hard and this one here [Shannon points to herself enthusiastically] likes to feel the thrill of pro-ac-tivity. You can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl…
[Shannon kisses each of her parents on the forehead and begins to walk away. David and Kathryn exchange glances.]
Kathryn: Shannon dearest?
Shannon: Yes, mother, Oh Light of my Life?
Kathryn: Darling daughter, your father and I commend you on your ambitious plans for the day. It is truly honorable that you should, despite being unemployed and with absolutely no life plan whatsoever of which to speak, you have so asserted yourself as to, in one single day, plan to take a dip in the hot tub, make yourself green tea, gaze at the countryside,
write a blog post. This is truly an amazing feat. We only halt you in your quest to remind you that today is actually the second Monday of 2007 — it is January 8th, you spent the last 7 days sleeping, and generally replicating the behavior of a banana slug, remember? David: — and it’s nearly noon.
Kathryn: –but we wish you all the luck in your endeavor.
[Shannon takes pause. A shadow of confusion washes over her face as she processes this information. Suddenly, her brow furrows and she looks pained. Suddenly, in a huff she stomps up stairs and turns up Yo-Yo Ma to an obscene volume. A moment later she returns to the hallway and yells downstairs.
Shannon: Oh yeah? Well, let's see who's a banana slug now! Just to prove how motivated I am, I'm going to read my entire e.e. cummings collection! And not just the smaller anthologies -- my whole collection! And then I might even write a poem of my own! What do you have to say about that, huh? Who's unemployed now, eh? Eh?!
[David and Kathryn look at each other, smile, and shrug their shoulders, magnanimous in their silence]
[for M&D, who truly are magnanimous]
Category Narrative, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | No Comments
