Nightstand

A weak blip. This is my nightstand as I got ready for school this morning. and this is the song that was playing on the radio.

It's usually a sign of a good day coming when I hear a good song while I'm getting ready, but this time it seemed very prophetic:

"Cow is giving kerosene, kid can't read at seventeen,
the words he knows are all obscene, but it's alright.
I will get by, I will get by, I will get by, I will survive."

Those words seemed about right as getting my kids to discuss things today was like pulling teeth. Hamlet, Bob Dylan, yearbook stuff, they had nothing to offer. I will get by, I will survive.

I've edited this writing to include a brief explanation of the items on the nightstand. The hanging name tag is from my speaking days at Columbia University at the CSPA convention in 2010; to the left is my digital piggy bank, over 76 bucks in change; a picture of my buddies and me at my 10th birthday; a totem-inspired cup/pencil holder from a Yosemite trip when I was about six; hard to see, but a picture of my dad working on a playhouse in his back yard; a baseball I bought at the Jack Kerouac exhibition at the New York City library in 2009; my Ernie Banks figure I bought at Wrigley Field in 1967; and of course, many books I've read over the years. It's an interesting nightstand.