Matt Gordon's Blog, page 9

The Weekend

Have a great weekend! We say that right? Especially on days like today, just before a weekend that is longer than usual.

And when we say it, we mean it; at least I do.

Trouble is, I mean it because I want to have a great weekend. I put so much stock in the weekend: its freedoms; its possibilities; its break from the humdrum routine of life.

But this living for the weekend is pretty flawed in that it is only 2/7ths of my life (3/7ths on this holiday version). What of the rest of it? Where’s the z...

Refusing to Yield

This fun thing happened to me today—I’m sure it has happened to you too. I had the green yield light on a left turn at a busy intersection. I waited and waited and waited, until, BAM, I saw my chance! As soon as this black Altima drives by, I should be able to Tokyo Drift myself through the turn without getting mercilessly t-boned by oncoming traffic.

So, with that last image playing through my mind, I inched out into the intersection—you know, to get a head-start and all. My hands were clench...

Unicorns Touching Horns

How about that Miley Cyrus, huh? It is amazing how one spastic, gyrating body has the ability to distract even from a military strike. Restaurants were hushed into subdued fascination when the updates on Syria would cease and more speculation into the Miley Situation 2013 flashed (and wiggled and gesticulated and whatever else) on the screen.

This obsession with a young person publicly twerking into sexuality well before her time, well, it shows where we are as a nation, but this is not news:...

A Striped Sign

Ever need a sign? Just something small to show you the path to take. Like the spoken phrase from a stranger, the one that echoes your precise heart cry. Or a comet that spells things with its fiery tail. You know, something small like that?

Well I found myself in that precarious state just a month ago. I had somehow duped some people into thinking I was hireable. And with a job offer—and an exciting one at that—came a decision: Do I leave what I know? Do I abandon the deep roots I had been try...

Dutiful, Careful, and Ordered in Under Five Minutes

It is difficult being on different pages. That was where my wife and I found ourselves last week, the week before we moved to a new town. I figured the week would be filled with spontaneous daytrips, catnaps, and late-night dance montages. Not my dear, old wife, though, bless her. Turns out, she was dead-set on actually taking all our stuff with us when we move!

Can you believe that? I mean, how many chances in life do you get to make a clean break? We could start over without even having to t...

The Adventure of Unknown

I had a wise couple once tell me, just before I got married, write down all of your plans for the next 5 years, then 10 years, then 15 years. “After you have those lists written up,” the wise couple instructed, “Read them together. Then laugh and rip them to shreds because none of that is going to happen.”

It was the type of advice that was funny in its starkness, and I laughed at them and thought, You people are kind of crazy and My married life won’t be like that.What a couple of pranksters!...

I Just Listened to a Song

I just listened to a song.

More than books or visual forms of art, music is perhaps the most telling of our culture, our age.

And perhaps, this is why I am so moved by that first lackluster sentence: I just listened to a song.

For a spell in my life, this was a routine occurrence. I remember buying my first compact disc in eighth grade. It came out of a tattered locker of a guy so far ahead in his life I failed to grasp it. He was selling cds in order to fund a guitar purchase. He realized that...

Be Smart and Never, Ever “Q”

It is painful indeed when you are ready to start a Monday and your car isn’t. Today, my car wouldn’t start; well, in truth, it did at first but then it died. I did all I knew how to do too: I turned the key repeatedly, I blew on the engine, I slid my finger along its edges—these practices worked better with Nintendo, but it is tough to shed the ways of one’s youth.

And in a single moment I decided I would not call for a ride or steal a bike. I decided I would parkour to work. Recently I watche...

Spoiling My Wife On Her Birthday

If you hang out in the same nuanced corners of this world that I do, you’ll have noticed the presence of online garage sales popping up like weeds. And, seeing how you are nodding and know exactly what I mean, you know all about how people take pictures of their treasures from every angle and then write witty, accompanying captions in the hopes of swapping their “LIKE NEW” possessions with cash-money.

These sites can be really helpful, especially when life’s big events sneak up on you: events...

Moving Day

Adventure is dead. I think I have known this for awhile, but as I approach thirty years of age it is hitting me harder than ever.

This most recent realization of this truth came while scouring for places to live in the town to which my wife and I will be moving. We struck off, young and hopeful, but soon found reality waiting for us in the form of chipped paint, high rents, and spiders in bathtubs. Stress ensued because no one, these days, seems to welcome outdoor living as they did in bygone...