Better Living Through Introspection

I hate to brag — no, no, wait…that’s a lie — but, it seems that jasonmnovak.com is in this week’s Movable Type spotlight. I’m feeling a little pressure here. Quick, Novak, say something witty!

[sound of crickets chirping]

Good one. Anyway, thanks to all of you who’ve visited from MT’s site. Hope you enjoy your stay here, however brief it may be.

Coming out of the cold snap. The afternoon sun shift its rays across the alley. I slide open the screen door, step out onto the weathered boards of the back porch. Paint chips crackle under foot.

Warmth and light, so welcoming, so comforting. I’m on the cordless with an old friend; my laughter bounces off the alley walls, the garages, the carports, the rooftops of the world. I listen. Tilt my head back, soak in sun.

From inside my apartment, from the stereo, Heather Duby mesmerizes me, claiming she loves me more, tells me to take her love and not let her drown. Beth Gibbons follows her, telling me nobody loves her, not like I do.

The call’s about nothing in particular, not too short, not too long, just right. These are the little moments that last forever.

It’s a bit gratuitous, I’ll admit, but since I haven’t posted in a while I thought I’d take a second and thank Scully and Nisa for stopping by.

And while I’m on the subject of links for the sake of linky-links, you will stop by the better half of this site and take a moment for some slightly higher-than-brow reading, won’t you? Oh, good.
(more…)

So I’m talking with some lawyer in the courthouse cafeteria and he says most people dread coming to jury duty, how you finding it and I say you know, that’s exactly how I felt until I got here and got this tiny little peek into the whole process from a point of view I’ve never had before and I gotta tell ya I’m diggin’ it and he’s like right on, right on and when I finish my blackened chicken and get up to go he says do the right thing, man, do the right thing and I’m like always, always.

The other jurors were an interesting lot, probably more interesting than the case itself, which was civil and — I believe — frivolous. Normally, I’m the type of guy happy to hang out in the background noise, letting everyone do their thing, except when there’s a job that needs to be done so when we were instructed to repair to the jury room to begin our deliberations I stepped down from my chair and was the first outta the courtroom behind the clerk so that when we filed into our private ten-by-ten I would be the first one at the table. I remained standing as everyone took the same seats they’d been sitting in for the last three days, and after the clerk handed us our instructions and closed the door, I let everyone know I’d be the foreman, barring any complaints.

Let me tell you something. People — at least in this country — people are happy when they don’t have to lead. As much we prize leadership, we rarely find it to be a strong quality in the people we know. So when someone stands up and says let me handle this, follow me, we gladly let them. I think I surprised even myself, knowing the instant we were dismissed how I’d take control.

Now, don’t worry, I’m not getting full of myself. On a scale of importance from 1 to 10, with 1 being ineffectual and 10 being life-altering, I realize this little matter is so trivial as to hardly be rated oh-point.whatever…I’ve had higher BAC’s, but that’s not the point.

The point is every now and then you find something in yourself that you weren’t sure was there anymore, or even there in the first place. But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself…

If movies were rated on a scale of what I say (and believe me, I can’t believe they’re not — Ebert and Roeper, y’all listenin’?), Scratch would be rated a must-see. You’ll never realize how much we’re all indebted to Herbie Hancock’s Rocket until you see this movie. It’s worth the admission price for that mystery alone.

I don’t care if you don’t like the music, you’ll enjoy it regardless; it’s got humor, it’s got stars, it’s got champions of the DJ scene, and most importantly, it’s got people who will make you feel better about yourself by comparison (what’s that? you’re a grand world champion of scratch and you got the belt and medals to prove it but you’re thirty years old and still living with your mom? oh, okay, i can dig it).

I poke fun, but don’t think I’m not itching to go out and find me some turntables. From now on, I want you all to call me DJ Novak.