Tag Archives: resting
The Longest Warrior and the difficulty of doing nothing
Remember how a while ago I started making merchandise for those who wanted a part of The Longest Way? Well, here’s a brand-new shirt: And not just that. There’s also new mugs and other stuff: The design is called The Longest Warrior, and it was made by The Pumpkinbear: Oh, and I’m going to be […]
chained up
At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never sleep on karaoke night. But then I left the window open and I listened to their songs, and I grew strong, and I learned to get along. And so I’m back, from outer space, and I’m resting in my hammock in this […]
the end of the world
I’m staying at a hotel two blocks from the beach. The owner, a man with big, inked arms and the face of a tough guy, gives me wine, laughs roaringly, and lives in order to distribute fist bumps. “But” he asks me, “have you heard of Jehova’s Witnesses? My friends and I are Jehova’s Witnesses. […]
kicking the shit out of some dogs
I’m staying in this small hotel here: It’s got everything: rooms, food, a shop, restrooms, a shower, wifi, and non-stop dance music that is very loud. I am enjoying it. Doing some laundry, resting my feet. Oh, and yesterday I found myself kicking the shit out of some dogs. And I mean full-on football penalty […]
it’s not just in my head
Packing. Waiting. Looking out of the window. Waiting. Eating. Exercising. Drinking tea. Waiting. Someone is playing dance music somewhere, possibly downstairs. I am not even sure if it’s music at all. The only thing I can hear is the beat rumbling through the concrete. It mirrors my heart. The taxi ride to Baghdati takes thirty […]
parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
The city is as sleepy as a folk ballad. Maybe that is because of the heat. Or maybe it’s because Kutaisi isn’t the capital anymore. The last time it played that role was 900 years ago. There is a monastery called Gelati on a hill nearby. It was built during a time when Kutaisi was […]
the hills that I once walked through
Going from Tbilisi to Kutaisi by train takes four hours. It’s a modern train. There is a small tv screen in every carriage, but it’s not switched on. I sit across from two young men with soft, handsome faces and beard stubble. Both are wearing earphones, both are looking at their phones. Next to us, […]
splashdown
It’s not you: It’s the things that are floating around in the blood, clouding the soul. The anxiety. The fear. The darkness. To them I’d like to quote Gagarin: “The path of a cosmonaut is not an easy, triumphant march to glory. You have to get to know the meaning not just of joy but […]
it’s embarrassing to like Bukowski, but I do
I remember I was fifteen when I heard about Charles Bukowski for the first time. It was a group of older boys who told me to check out this writer who was super obscene and controversial. Apparently those who were familiar with his work called him “Hank”, and reading it was supposed to be life-changing. […]
little boy with colors
He is eight now, he wears glasses, and he is a rather bouncy person. I mean he likes to bounce around. In his room. In the hallway. In his car seat. Recently his mom gave him a little microphone with a built-in speaker that can amplify and add distortion effects to one’s voice. She says […]
chainsaws
This circus is much louder than the one I saw in Georgia. There are about two or three hundred people in here, most of whom are kids with their parents. Nobody seems bothered by the sheer volume of the show. They applaud rhythmically to anything resembling music. Then the tune changes and everyone stands up […]
the lagoon
The way to the lagoon leads past two old men with scruffy beards and soft smiles. They are leaning out of the gate of their house near the water, and if you know someone who knows them well then they might just hand you a bottle of something that looks like water. There is more […]
how to sit
In Persia, there are at least two ways to have food. You could be sitting on a chair at a table, or you could be on the floor with your legs crossed under you. To me it often seems as if the way a household chooses to eat could signify something. There aren’t that many […]
back alleys
The back alleys are quiet, the main roads are loud. I try to stay in the back alleys. Cats are patrolling them, suspiciously looking here and there. One of them stops to stare at me for a second, but as I kneel down and offer to pet it, it gives me a contemptuous look and […]
dog brandy
Rice paddies in the darkness. A tall wall with a gate. A yard with two houses. This place used to be a dog. It was a German Shepherd that once lived here, trapped in an enclosure. A family from the city came out every few days to look after it and feed it. It is […]
timelessness
Her apartment is a space without time. The books and the plants, the table and the chairs, the bed, the paintings, the sculptures – everything seems to be just right. It’s as if change has never been a possibility, as if there never was a day when she first moved here, presumably from somewhere else. […]
the cat in the vault
Returning to Tehran feels like coming back to “the city”. It’s not as if Shiraz was small, that’s not it at all. Tehran is just so much bigger. It is also more crowded, more chaotic, and more earthsplittingly loud than most other places I’ve ever been to. Maybe this is the reason why it often […]
Iranian highway rest areas are all the same
Everything is always the same. I step out of the warm stuffiness of the bus and into the fresh air of the day. It is nine in the morning, and I had some trouble getting into my shoes because my feet were swollen from sitting so long. This is the first time I’ve gotten up […]
City of the Persians
Old Shiraz was a nice, quiet place that reminded me of Bukhara or Gorgan or the old parts of Tehran. There was a sense of calmness to it: Some of the old walls had graffiti on them: There were things that looked forgotten: There were religious men: And there were religious shops: Shiraz also had […]
us versus them
A valley enclosed by mountains, some barren and brown, others snow-capped and aloof. In the center a rectangular stone pyramid with a house-like structure on top that looks like a petrified bouncy castle. There is a little doorway into it, and behind that doorway there used to be golden treasures and a sarcophagus containing the […]