Posts tagged five

May 30th, 2012
The state of my life —or my self— is thus: I feel unambiguously good only when I entertain my dogs. Five was into this. I guess Abby was too.

The state of my life —or my self— is thus: I feel unambiguously good only when I entertain my dogs. Five was into this. I guess Abby was too.

120 notes·
gpoyw five dogs
April 22nd, 2012

A lot of us, mostly not pictured, had an amazing day at Dolores Park yesterday in the impossibly warm weather, which persisted late into the night. Above, Andy and I are discussing something probably quite dull to everyone else, and a baby tries to eat Abby’s potato-chip necklace, the first jewelry I gave her. It was nice seeing everyone.

37 notes·
san francisco Abby andy matuschak five dogs
March 17th, 2012

Close Encounters

An obvious problem with interrogating your dog and measuring the veracity of your posed ideas in the quantity and intensity of licks returned is that dogs tend, like humans, to be most excited about an interaction at its inception. So when I address Five —”Are you really, like, a reincarnated old being of some kind, locked in a dog’s body as punishment or maybe as a reward?”— I get what seems an affirmatively enthusiastic reaction, like: “You did it! Finally he understands!” As my questions naturally grow more specific —the way questions of this sort tend to— I witness correspondingly more muted reactions: “Have you always been trying to tell me?” gets what seems a somberly half-hearted response; “Am I an okay dog owner, considering I didn’t know especially?” is met with an ambiguous, wide-eyed stillness.

I’ve been trying to surprise him in mid-nap with questions of varying scope to break this pattern, but for every engagement that leaves me confident I’m dealing with a sage old alien I have an encounter with Herzog’s profound chicken-stupidity. I am thinking of asking Quora what good questions to unlock or expose the true nature of canine consciousness might be, but I haven’t fully embarrassed myself there yet, so I’ll ask here first: what vast, ancient intelligence looks out from within this bro? And how can I make a connection with it?

99 notes·
dogs five
September 29th, 2011
Zoom Abby and Five.

Abby and Five.

134 notes·
love five dogs abby
September 18th, 2011
Zoom Five, looking happy young for his twelve years, at Bernal.

Five, looking happy young for his twelve years, at Bernal.

124 notes·
photography dogs five
July 24th, 2011

A few weeks ago, Abby, her mother and I traveled to Tahoe, which I found more beautiful in summer than in winter, marauding bears notwithstanding. If you delight in photographs of the pale in clear waters, of scenic Alpine forests, of fields of wildflowers, or of dogs wrapped in hip or grandmotherly garments, you might like the complete set.

102 notes·
Abby bayou california dogs five photography gpoyw
May 25th, 2011
Abby, me, and Five next to the Pacific Ocean, photographed by Nika States.

Abby, me, and Five next to the Pacific Ocean, photographed by Nika States.

Reblogged from propellers for umbrellas
72 notes·
gpoyw nika states five abby california
May 23rd, 2011
On Saturday, Nika, Abby, Five, Bayou, and I went to Tomales Bay to eat oysters and play in the sun. Above, Abs kills some apple cider just off of Highway One shortly before the dogs find a snake.

On Saturday, Nika, Abby, Five, Bayou, and I went to Tomales Bay to eat oysters and play in the sun. Above, Abs kills some apple cider just off of Highway One shortly before the dogs find a snake.

Reblogged from propellers for umbrellas
78 notes·
abby bayou dogs five photography nika states gpoyw
February 8th, 2011

We were pretty certain Five would need to be put down, so we took some last-minute family portraits before we went to the veterinary hospital. Incredibly, he seems to have largely recovered, and he was well enough that I took him to Tahoe so he could have a last frolic, in case he is near his end. It was their first time in real snow, in real mountains.

Here are some photos of the dogs and the people I went with, including Ryan and Todd and Kenton and John and others. Sincere thanks to all the well-wishers who wrote to me about Fivey; Abby and I really appreciated it.

114 notes·
dogs bayou five tahoe photography
September 22nd, 2010
GPOYW. I’ve been told that happiness and diversion are the worst things that can happen to one’s creative efforts, however minimal they may be. This site has become a catalog of my trips to Bernal Hill, and I’d like to blame it on how much I’ve had to do lately; but I’m reminded of when Who Killed Tumblr quoted Sommer Browning: Twitter has destroyed my writing, but not as much as interacting with people has. Interacting with people has destroyed my writing, but not as much as being in love has. Being in love has really destroyed my writing, but not as much as not writing has. Not writing has destroyed my writing, but not as much as paralytic anxiety has. Paralytic anxiety has destroyed my writing, but not as much as the absolute disappearance of my fingers. That is: I have no real excuse. Anyway: wind makes your hair do really absurd things.

GPOYW. I’ve been told that happiness and diversion are the worst things that can happen to one’s creative efforts, however minimal they may be. This site has become a catalog of my trips to Bernal Hill, and I’d like to blame it on how much I’ve had to do lately; but I’m reminded of when Who Killed Tumblr quoted Sommer Browning:

Twitter has destroyed my writing, but not as much as interacting with people has. Interacting with people has destroyed my writing, but not as much as being in love has. Being in love has really destroyed my writing, but not as much as not writing has. Not writing has destroyed my writing, but not as much as paralytic anxiety has. Paralytic anxiety has destroyed my writing, but not as much as the absolute disappearance of my fingers.

That is: I have no real excuse. Anyway: wind makes your hair do really absurd things.

145 notes·
gpoyw five
September 18th, 2010

Tonight on Bernal Hill; more here, and here’s a silly video.

74 notes·
bayou five san francisco
September 8th, 2010
Zoom Meeting people is easy with the Internet. I spent a lovely afternoon and evening with Internet acquaintance Writer-A, his girlfriend, and her dogs; they were all amazing. While down at Funston he took this photo of me coaxing Five into the surf. Just after I moved here, Abby and I were surprised to hear someone in this new city call my name in a grocery store; it happened to be Ben Lansky, of Metacritique, and though we knew of one another online we had never met. The encounter was surreal and delightful, and we met again for coffee later. Like Writer-A, Ben is a caliber of conversationalist one feels privileged to corner for an hour here or there. We even posed for an impromptu miniature meetup photo that makes me and Abby look lilliputian. And in a sense I’ve met many of you just in the last day or so, thanks to this absurdly generous appraisal from the Tumblr Staff, to whom I offer my thanks less for the kind words than for all their site has given me.

Meeting people is easy with the Internet. I spent a lovely afternoon and evening with Internet acquaintance Writer-A, his girlfriend, and her dogs; they were all amazing. While down at Funston he took this photo of me coaxing Five into the surf.

Just after I moved here, Abby and I were surprised to hear someone in this new city call my name in a grocery store; it happened to be Ben Lansky, of Metacritique, and though we knew of one another online we had never met. The encounter was surreal and delightful, and we met again for coffee later. Like Writer-A, Ben is a caliber of conversationalist one feels privileged to corner for an hour here or there. We even posed for an impromptu miniature meetup photo that makes me and Abby look lilliputian.

And in a sense I’ve met many of you just in the last day or so, thanks to this absurdly generous appraisal from the Tumblr Staff, to whom I offer my thanks less for the kind words than for all their site has given me.

81 notes·
gpoyw five dogs nudawn was right: eharmonyesque
September 5th, 2010

Bayou and Five adore San Francisco, both the city proper, through which they walk leashless and lollygagging every day, delighting in the sights and sounds and smells, and the incredible amount of greenspace in the neighborhoods and around the area. Today we went to Fort Funston.

(Source: Flickr / millsbaker)

45 notes·
bayou dogs five san francisco
March 12th, 2010
Zoom Abby and I bought some boiled crawfish from Mr. Lee at the corner store; we forgot ice cream, but remembered paper towels. With Bayou and Five, we went to the park around the corner, where we always go, and ate four of the six pounds, along with potatoes and corn. Abs even sucked the heads! I fed some of the feast to my dogs, including two cobs which they devoured whole. Then we lay in the grass and napped for a while, being kids and getting sunburned.

Abby and I bought some boiled crawfish from Mr. Lee at the corner store; we forgot ice cream, but remembered paper towels. With Bayou and Five, we went to the park around the corner, where we always go, and ate four of the six pounds, along with potatoes and corn. Abs even sucked the heads! I fed some of the feast to my dogs, including two cobs which they devoured whole. Then we lay in the grass and napped for a while, being kids and getting sunburned.

78 notes·
abby bayou crawfish dogs five five wants that sucker
January 20th, 2010
Distorte: I was given one of those awful digital photo frames for Christmas. Couldn’t imagine what I’d do with it at the time. I suppose this disaster is my GPOYW. For context: because I consider Pierce to be an exceptionally talented writer, a wonderful photographer (see here and here), and -worst of all- the dashing, drinking Irishman I wish I were, I often tease Abby about his superiority as a man. The other day, when a trivial headache brought me to thoughts of brain cancer and death, I thought: if I were to be given, as they say, just months to live, I’d ask Pierce to please step in and make sure she didn’t mourn too long. So now this Internet stranger has become a recurrent meme in our relationship, and as we fumble towards a love triangle I am glad to note that, digitally, I’ve already made a shirtless appearance in his apartment. Nevertheless, I hope he can find a different flyabostic fyllock to flimflam. Also: given Pierce and Sarah Belfort, is there any disputing the superiority of the Irish Europeans?

Distorte:

I was given one of those awful digital photo frames for Christmas. Couldn’t imagine what I’d do with it at the time.

I suppose this disaster is my GPOYW. For context: because I consider Pierce to be an exceptionally talented writer, a wonderful photographer (see here and here), and -worst of all- the dashing, drinking Irishman I wish I were, I often tease Abby about his superiority as a man. The other day, when a trivial headache brought me to thoughts of brain cancer and death, I thought: if I were to be given, as they say, just months to live, I’d ask Pierce to please step in and make sure she didn’t mourn too long.

So now this Internet stranger has become a recurrent meme in our relationship, and as we fumble towards a love triangle I am glad to note that, digitally, I’ve already made a shirtless appearance in his apartment. Nevertheless, I hope he can find a different flyabostic fyllock to flimflam.

Also: given Pierce and Sarah Belfort, is there any disputing the superiority of the Irish Europeans?

Reblogged from Is that blogging?
48 notes·
gpoyw dogs five irish pierce sucks
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Hello! My name is Mills Baker. I write about art, culture, love, philosophy, memory, history, and more. Here are some relatively better posts. This site has been featured on Tumblr Tuesday and is listed in the Spotlight, but it pines for its youth as a coloring book. (Header lettering by the amazing Chirp).