Q: How many hipsters does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Victim's reply : I don't know. How many?

A: It's a really obscure number. You've probably never heard of it.

I met Larry Harvey last night

The name probably isn't familiar to anyone here, but Larry Harvey is the founder of Burning Man. He organized the first "burn" at San Francisco's Baker Beach in 1986 with a few dozen attendees. The Nevada event now draws about 55,000 people annually.

At the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, Cholada and I attended a premiere of a film that documents one camp and their 11 visits to Burning Man. After the showing there was a Q&A with the film makers, some of the BM staff leadership, and Larry Harvey himself, down from the Bay Area. This was pretty significant because Larry rarely makes public appearances. (Among Burners, all sorts of crazy rumors about him seem to float around, and few Burners really know anything about him.)

So it was really interesting to hear him speak, and then chat with him for a few moments. After the film ended, Cholada and I moved to the front row for the Q&A session. We were right in front of Larry and he seemed to be making eye contact with me -- maybe because I was wearing my key vest. After the Q&A I stepped forward to introduce myself and give him a really special key that I'd picked out -- an old skeleton key on a silver chain with a pair of miniature cowboy boots (that seemed to go well with his hat) and a dog tag I embossed with the Burning Man symbol.

He was very gracious, and as folks always do, asked me how the key thing began. I told the story of how I discovered Dad's stash of stolen hotel keys after he passed away, which gave Larry a big laugh. A moment later, Cholada snapped the photo.

After hearing so many rumors and wondering about this mystery man over the years, it was great to meet him in person. He's 62 now, soft spoken, and seemed humble for someone who has created such a massive and influential event. He gave the impression of a kindly grandfather, sort of a dashing older cowboy, but with hippie roots.

We'll be in the Black Rock desert again, the week before Labor Day, and I'll have my keys on. For me there's another layer of interest and involvement now, having met the man who started the whole thing.

GIANTS!

So...our Giants are actually leading their bracket! 3.5 games ahead of the Rockies right now. Anyone wanna make a friendly bet as to how long they will be able to hold their lead? I think that they will stay ahead until June 30th - an arbitrarily picked date but none-the-less will be correct. Any takers? I would even be willing to wage one See's Candy box - closest to predicting when Giants lose the lead (if ever) winner redeems at Family Reunion. (NOTE - does not count if Giants lose lead then re-gain)

fictional fragments from make-believe books

Hello Everyone! It's good to be back on the ol' family blog again. Emily gave me a "friendly" reminder that the we have officially started posting again. So I thought I would christen this re-venture into the Kulka blog-world with sharing an idea I have for a new website. I would love some feedback and what better place to get some brutal honesty than here.

I've haven't coined an official name for it yet, so I'll just start with the basic description and concept:

Fictional fragments from make-believe books.
The site content would be user-generated, meaning people submit content that will be posted on the site, like a blog.

The submitted content would be excerpts from books no longer than 36 words in count. The rule is the books being quoted don't exist (not published), but rather are snippets of peoples' imagination. The posts would have no context. It would be as if you opened an imaginary book and picked a random, short paragraph out. It could be of any genre as well, suspenseful, humorous, fantasy, etc. - complete creative license really.

For example:

"She focused on a tiny insect climbing the wall next to the couch. Somewhere off in the distance a train horn sounded. He would be home soon. The lump in her throat hardened."

or

"The wings fastened to his arms effortlessly as if a master craftsman had somehow foreseen his arrival and yielded a device perfect to the proportions of his body."

The mission is to challenge and captivate people's imaginations with these abstract bits of stories. And they only have a max of 36 words to do it.

Each submission will appear as it's own post. These posts would be open for feedback from other users through a rating system of say 1-5 (1 being not good, 5 being amazing). People will also be able to share their posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media avenues.

For the posts that receive the best feedback, I turn into tangible artwork (posters, desktop backgrounds, etc.) and offer as products to be purchased. like this: click HERE

One of the names for the site I was thinking is "Fabriction" - mixing the works 'fabrication' and 'fiction'. But I'm not sold on this yet.

The idea in its details needs refining, but that's the basic concept. Now if you all aren't thoroughly confused, please give me feedback! If this isn't making sense at all, speak up as well, it will help me refine my concept if I learn how to explain it better.

Who's on worst?

I got to thinking this morning - here we are half way through April, and I am still using flannel sheets on my bed! The weather forecast for the Bay Area this morning told me I will be needing them again this week. What is your current weather complaint?

Meeting Everett

As you know, I met Everett last week. Here is an unbiased opinion of him:

The young man is quite advanced for his age. He is already able to speak, and does so with some frequency. He is not given to ridiculous statements. His pronouncements are made soberly, while meeting one's eyes directly.

Unfortunately, I had not yet learned his native language. I can see that he is a quick learner, however, and will probably soon be able to speak mine. It is possible that he has already begun to understand some of it.

I do not believe what I was told, that he cheats at Scrabble.

Meeting Life's Challenges

Lest you think my safari south provided no difficulties, I submit the following:

It was time to work on my crossword puzzle. As I sashayed toward the puzzle seat, I remembered that I had used up the lead in my mechanical pencil. Since no one was home just then, I went into the unused rooms, searching for a stray pencil. Any pencil. My search turned up one pencil - one with a thick green lead. Not even a dark green colored pencil. Just a thick, light green writing surface.

May you never have to try to fill in those little squares with such a pencil!

The beast of both worlds

Hey, look over there to the right. No, not all the way to the right. On the screen. On the right of the screen. See where it says "Follow by email?" Well, if you can guess what that does, no village idiot you!

Family Reunion - Looking Ahead

Hello, you all,
I have just scouted out our meeting place for the reunion. I think we lucked out big time. The house mother and father are outstanding. They didn't know I was spying out the territory, yet I was royally taken care of. One day Dan drove a carfull to the beach just before dinner time. We walked along a path directly above the sand area, smelled the salt air, felt the mild breeze, heard the ocean, and watched birds flying over the waves, and dolphins swimming in them. Next trip I expect to be watching a bunch of you enjoying the water.

Every morning I found freshly brewed coffee waiting for me. There was one morning when Kathy needed to be away for a while, so before I got downstairs she had gone to buy a paper for me to read while she was gone. She selected the Times, knowing my interests bent more in that paper's direction than the one she chooses to read. The height of thoughtfulness!

I fully expect that such services will be equally shared by all of us, not just the house mother and father, but you will find it easy to do because the house is already used to providing that sort of hospitality.

I also found there is a pin ball machine installed in a room upstairs. Learning that it can score for 4 different people, I started thinking about a team tournament, with 3 people on each team (you can see that multiplies nicely into about the number we expect, possibly omitting Everett, GGma, and anyone else who is more interested in Scrabble or the like.) Actually, I might want to opt for grand score keeper.

Cholada has promised faithfully to be in charge of Saturday night's dinner. (Get ready, you on the selected team.)I am counting on a Cranium evening. Matt is rooting for lawn darts, I believe, but first he had better look for a lawn. A water volley ball game has been mentioned. And here it is only April! Bocce ball and croquet have also been offered. Also some variations of them which seem to belong with the X game category.

Does any of this sound good to you? Let us hear from you.

Love,
GGma

I know, I know, I already e mailed this to all. BUT I was still waiting on instructions on how to use the family blog, until Matt told me tonight that it has been up and running, and there are a few comments on it. So I plan to switch to using it, and invite the rest of you who have not been asleep to use it too.
ALL ABOARD?

GGma

I had been feeling a little draggy last week

I had been feeling a little draggy last week. Despite my morning ice coffee, I could not really seem to wake up, had trouble driving, and needed naps in the afternoon. Cholada jokingly ascribed this to my age. It went on for several days.

A few days ago I finally figured it out while taking my morning vitamins. Curiously, my bottle of fiber capsules held tablet and also, two types of capsules. The smaller ones caught my eye because they looked like melatonin. Actually, they were melatonin, the herbal yet potent sleep aid.

I guess that while consolidating our medicine storage, my adorable wife went too far.

Since making this discovery I have been peppy in morning again, and things are back to normal.

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Three guys walk into a bar.  The fourth one ducked.