Weird Brains

Artists and shamans are both in the business of publicly exercising their abnormal brains. The difference is that shamans are considered to have practical value.

All artists worth talking about are weirdos. I think many of them would have been shamans in a different time. Maybe a shaman is just an artist who has a good scam going. Or maybe it's the other way around.

I've never felt comfortable on the dance floor. I don't understand what I'm doing there, or who I'm doing it for. When I finally got onto the stage, I found a place that made sense. The only place that makes sense, that isn't imaginary or inside a video game.

I've sometimes wondered if I would feel at home in a monastery. Some kind of Zen place, peaceful, lots of time for contemplation. Do places like that really exist? I hope the other monks don't mind if I bring drums.

Today I was sitting on a bench in the snow, near a library, and listening to the Decemberists song "Legionnaire's Lament." I like that one. I like songs with vocabulary words. I started to write down interesting words that rhyme.

Then I saw Sarah Vowell's show, and then Clusterfunk, and then I came home and wrote a rambling blog post using my weird brain.