The blog has turned 6 years old. Everybody for free celebratory rootbeer floats at my house, for the rest of the month!

Oh…. is June already over? then make that the rest of next month. My blogging laziness is showing. The blog is a first grader and i don’t even know what day it is.

I remember the days when I would post nearly every day if I could. Well, I say I remember them… but I actually only remember them if I click on one of those months way down near 2003-2004 and read a few posts. Not only was I a completely different person, but it sure seems like I had a lot to say. I have captured some of my finest written words in these pages. Poems, songs, and passages that my dad likes to call “waxing rhetoric” or philosophic or sentimental or whatever flavor wax I feel is appropriate that day. For me, reading these posts helps to strike the same notes that brought them about, and at this time in my life I feel that nostalgic note-striking is probably the greatest purpose that this website can fulfill. What is invisible to most readers, especially in my more recent years’ posts, is the searing heartbreak I’ve been in and out of, the tumult of a swiftly changing life and the day-to-day dynamic of relationships. I’ve always loved having a co-author like Jon to provide an entirely different perspective, whose posts are inter-woven with all of my own.

I’ll be honest: when I started this thing, I imagined blogging far into the future, like dad’s family newsletter, reporting with breaking news about my future children and their wacky wonderment of the world. How far off is that? Another 6 years? More? I was thinking about blogging on davidcomeaux.com for decades, apparently. I really hope I’ll get that far, but for now, I’m just going to keep this thing alive, hoping I have some time to sit down and write a post every now and then.

Thanks for reading the blog.

Ok so a quick update.

• It’s summer. It’s over 100 degrees outside. It’s a mild 75 inside my house. Comeauxs: 1, Sun: 0
• I’ve been recording Nick Lavin’s newest music and have been trying to get it all down before he leaves for 2nd year of med school on July 15.
• The economy is cramping my lifestyle, and Des and I are scratching around at ways to save some bucks (Des says cut the grocery bills, Dave says Oh Please No Anything But That).
• Oliver, the big dog, has bizarrely begun to misbehave and eat the cat’s food, and if there’s no food, he’ll indulge in the litterbox goodies. Speckle, the little dog, who used to be bloodthirsty for the cat, now walks with feline fear in her heart.
• We’ve been eating a lot more fruit lately, since all the good stuff is in season. The smell of a ripe nectarine is somewhere in the vicinity of The Most Delicious Smell Ever.
• Not hanging out with friends enough, especially those still living in baton rouge. Must work on this.
• BOTH of my sisters were in town at the same time for a general summertime/father’s day visit. That was unendingly humorous.
• Julie got me to go running with her, and ever since she left I’ve been telling myself to wake up and do it again but I haven’t. Fail.
• Des goes to Baton Rouge like 3 times a week for Paramedic training, and she’s really good at grossing me out with ER stories.
• I have been to England twice in 3 months, and that reminds me… I still haven’t posted any photos of my trip!! ok, make that priority post no. 1
• Talking about posting photos reminds me that I have to re-vamp the photos pages, because they are SO OLD and outdated
• I think that over the 6 year history of this blog, i’ve updated the photo pages like 4 times. I’m not as quick as dear old dad with the photo updates.

Another Bloomsday, another year I have failed to finish Joyce’s Ulysses. This book is seriously becoming my unicorn, my albatross, (and on a somewhat different level) my literary raison d’être.

Here’s the quote I posted on my live journal about a million years ago. If you like these three sentences, you really should give Ulysses a try. If you start now, it’s likely you’ll finish before I do.

“Every life is many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love. But always meeting ourselves.” Ulysses pg. 210

Here’s the official press release on my work project. I’ll be in England again starting on the 25th of May to finish this thing up, and won’t be back until mid-June. Photos will be more likely this time since i’ll be there longer and the press release is out.

So I haven’t yet posted about my life-changing events.

I bought a house. Can you believe, in the middle of this “credit crisis” / recession, that I could buy a house? Me neither! Besides being the most expensive thing i’ve ever done, it’s definitely the single best thing i’ve ever bought to improve my life. If you value quiet, or privacy, or even responsibility, get out of multi-dwelling housing complexes. Today I started working the soil in the backyard for a little flower bed and garden. My own garden. Not mom’s, not Bennett’s aunt’s, not even my best friend’s garden. Mine and Des’s. In my backyard. I loved it, the same way I inexplicably love sweeping my sidewalk clean. I love living close to my parents too, because I get hand-me-down stuff and borrowed stuff All The Time. One such item, which I also used for the first time tonight in my backyard, is a propane grill. I bought a thick ribeye steak, and gave it a little spice rub, and enjoyed it medium rare and juicy. Mmm… red meat. America Rocks.

I love my job. I’m building big things and learning so much. I work in a small group doing important things for a good company. I’ve been to England! I’m going again in a few weeks! I am still so very surprised at how the world has opened up for me since i’ve graduated. So many things are possible, just like the last time i graduated…

Twitter has just informed me that today is un-officially Star Wars Day.

“May the 4th be with you.”

Please tell me that I’m not the only one that finds this funny in a non-ironic/meta way?

Just thinking of friends lost and found today when I stumbled across this picture on the net. Strange how some people can come into your life with their giggles, and honest problems, and odd fashion and shine so brightly only to fade (or submerge?) only a short time later.

Perhaps they become a symbol, a free association, an unconscious desire - a dim point of light in the evening sky of the mind.

In my personal pantheon of relationships, its often these short-lived but intense friendships that I miss the most. Indeed, in most myths, it’s always the minor deities that cause the problems. Why should it be any different for our individual experience?

Moderating the comments here I noticed this note:

Hi, I googled my name and the most interesting article I found was Jon’s tribute to his grandfather in May 2008. Not only was it lovely, it referenced him as a descendant of Vincent Brault, also an ancestor of mine. I had not heard the story about Altheneuse and wondered if there are more I haven’t heard. I have a copy of a little tattered brown book my great-aunt has, which lists the direct genealogy from prior to Vincent, down to today. If Jon has any information or stories he’d want to swap with me, I would love any pertinent history.

Apologies for putting you up on the front page without your permission Amy, but I didn’t want your request to get lost in the comment threads. More to the point, my father has done a great deal of genealogy research that also traces our contemporary Breaux family-line back towards France. I know both he and I would be very interested in swapping information about the family tree.

If you’d like to contact me to chat further, I can be reached at jon.breaux (at) gmail.com. Thanks for reading!

When I was in England, I flipped on the tele and saw this commercial.

Me sized meals

A message from the UK National Health Service, it’s about not overfeeding kids, aimed at kids. The reason i’m posting this here is because of the kid’s narration… the cadence and accent is such a perfect regional example of… whatever region it comes from! There are so many accents over there it’s incredible. I don’t think there’s as many (native english speaking) accents in the US.

Also present in this commercial: Sausages and Mash. For every meal.

My first night in England was simply aristocratic. Staying at the Goodwood Park Hotel is charming. I am enjoying myself, and am beginning to exude that characteristic Brit haughty condescension no less! Look:

Ok, perhaps characteristic Brit dry humor would be more accurate.

Before I came, for some reason, I had the idea in my head (probably from Michelle and Mom and Dad) that English food is one of the most boring cuisines on the planet. Please dispel this notion immediately. I had a couple of excellent meals and I haven’t even left the hotel. Beginning with a steaming-hot Leek and Potato soup, the Braised Lamb dinner was absolutely the most tender and juicy lamb I have ever had, served with pan-seared veggies and slivers of pear. I never imagined that pears could taste so perfect cooked in a lamb gravy… wow. The next time someone says English cuisine is boring, i’ll just say “What the deuce?”

Recently, I have not been posting very frequently. I attribute this to:

1) lack of blogging enthusiasm
2) reading when i get home instead of internetting
3) working on a private journal

However, all of the above doesn’t mean that things aren’t going on!

In addition to attending a whole bunch of weddings and spring get-togethers and working on some music with close friends, I’ve been brushing up on my psychoanalytic dialectical materialism, er, cultural studies via Zizek, et al.

Also, Incus Records has a brand new site up with over 1000 pages of Derek Bailey info, including handwritten guitar notes! Interested improvising musicians should check it out.

Lastly, how can I convince more of my friends to get on Twitter? Seriously people, I’m never going to get on Facebook . So Twitter is your only option, and I’ll be dammed if it isn’t a good one.

So when you get on that reality TV show you always wanted to get on, remember. You’re not there to make friends. This is an important mantra to repeat, especially when you are about to get kicked off. When you get kicked off, you can then proclaim yourself bosom buddies with everyone still on the show.
via kottke.