thank you notes 6/30
i'm thankful for the difference between pieces of watermelon closer to the rind and pieces closer to the center. i'm thankful for the way that the pieces near the rind are more solid, more resistant to the teeth, thankful for their less saturated color, thankful, even, if i am lazy with the knife while cutting them, that sometimes they bear a subtle gradient between the pink inside and the white-green outside, thankful for the way that those parts of the pieces are even more solid, almost crunchy. i'm thankful for the more tart taste of the parts along the rind. i'm thankful for the contrast between these and the pieces near the center of the melon, which are almost crumbly, their structural integrity compromised both by their chemical composition and by the hollows and crannies in them where the seeds live. i'm thankful for the way that if i'm not paying attention as i spear pieces of watermelon from the bowl, i will occasionally be surprised, after eating several chunks of tart watery rind pieces, by the intensity of the sudden sweetness of a center piece.
i'm thankful for freetown sound, which is one of those albums that is as good as everyone says it is. i'm thankful for the part in the times interview with jon caramanica where dev talks about how "a lot of the music I make, it’s music for me to listen to on headphones to soundtrack me just walking around. I get moods walking down streets that I think sound good in a certain way." i'm thankful for the idea of an artist composing music with that in mind, since i think so many of us use music as a technology in this way, to create or define or harmonize with or clash against a particular place and time and activity. i'm thankful for the announcement video i watched about gilmore girls being available on netflix everywhere in the world. i'm thankful for the acoustic guitar and wordless vocal music cues by sam phillips in that show, which are so deeply embedded into my brain that hearing just a snatch of one in the video offers a small hit of pleasure that is almost narcotically satisfying.
i'm thankful that yesterday evening i did a musical setting of barbara guest reading her poem "an emphasis falls on reality." i'm thankful even though i don't think it's the best or most interesting thing i've ever made, that it still felt good to make it after a long day. i'm thankful that i found the poem, which i had never read/heard, while scanning through pennsound trying to find one that would fit the acoustic guitar loop i had. i'm thankful that listening to it on loop while i played electric guitar against it helped me to connect with this poem in a way that i wouldn't have otherwise. i'm thankful, rather than being too obsessed with how it would feel for other people, to have thought of the interview with dev and to have imagined that i was making the recording for myself, as a kind of musical supplement for my body. i'm thankful for the smudgy field recording of a forest i downloaded from freesound.org.
i'm thankful that i didn't feel afraid about work yesterday and i don't feel afraid about it today. i'm thankful for the way that i feel satisfied (if also very tired) after a day of being so focused on solving problems. i'm thankful when during our end of the day check-in my supervisor asked how it went and i told her about how i made one of the training assignments she gave me way more complicated than necessary and ended up breaking my brain/the app in the process, she replied with a crying/smiling emoji and told me it was good to find our limits. i'm thankful that she and everyone else on my team are very nice and are so smart. i'm thankful for the hangout meeting we had, where i was introduced to the pets of several other team members and did a small interpretive dance to represent my refrigerator, which was droning in the background of my video.
i'm thankful for the salads topped with seared tuna (coated in herbs de provence, which i would never have thought of) which d and i had last night after d constructed them from a paleo meal box thing she had a discount for. i'm thankful that the recipe was good and filling and thankful that i learned things, like how much a few minced olives and capers can add briny loveliness to a pile of mixed greens and sliced vegetables. i'm thankful that d let me have the last strawberry shortcake for dessert. i'm thankful that i microwaved the cake for 40 seconds before adding the cold berries on top, because that contrast is delightful. i'm thankful that because they had macerated so long, the strawberries were soft and sweet. i'm thankful that there was just enough whipped cream left in the canister to cover the strawberries.
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