Yo Yo Yobst !

My Grandmother’s Scarf

My Grandmother, Anne Yobst, rocks. She married my Grandfather when I was 7. That wedding was the first time I *liked* boys instead of thinking they had cooties. I even wrote a paper about how grown up I was.

In a conservative Christian family, Anne and I began talking about books and eastern religion long ago. A retired librarian, she always sends me the best books, although Salt, A World History is admittedly tough to get through. Anne inspires me to read and write. Opening a letter from Anne is like reading a beautiful and thoughtfully composed chapter written especially for me. I can see what she writes about, hear her dog barking, and feel her frustrations sorting and trashing all the overly religious books donated to the Salvation Army.

A true giver, Anne knits sweaters and beanies for preemies. She uses a tennis ball for the heads. Can you imagine having a baby that small? Most people can’t and they certainly aren’t planning on it, so they are overjoyed to get Anne’s lovingly knit bundles of warmth. I asked Anne to knit me a scarf for xmas and she asked me to pick out the yarn.

For someone who doesn’t knit, a yarn store is terribly intimidating. I went to one downtown, talked to the women for awhile and decided there was nothing I liked and left with my tail between my legs. It was like going to the great mall of America and trying to find the perfect pair of earrings…except the earrings aren’t finished – they are just pieces of metal I have to imagine as finished products.

I finally got brave enough to visit another shop. I spent hours there asking questions of everyone that works there. Eventually I picked a soft and texturey pink silk and sent it to Anne.

Soon after I received one of Anne’s fabulous letters.

“Dear Dana,

I’m having a good time knitting. The yarn is sensuous feeling and very pleasant to work with. I’ve been knitting so long with thin thread – like baby yarn for the preemies, it feels wonderful to have luxuriant velevety yarn going through my fingers.” She then tells me about Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter, which I need to buy.

By the time I sent her the fourth ream of yarn she was waiting for it and I had a gorgeous scarf a few days later.

Thanks Anne! I love you.

Everyone Loves a Secret

Since we were old enough to listen, to be told things were not our concern, to play telephone and whisper, we loved secrets! A good secret is a little gem that you and zero to infinite friends share. Some people love to keep their secret sacred from everyone whereas other people like to share them with a handful of friends. They get pleasure out of sharing their tantalizing tales. I fall in the ladder category. What fun is a secret when no one else knows it?

Some people like to share their secrets with everyone- anonymously, online and on PostSecret. Get in on some secrets. Share your own.

Here’s one of my favorites. Don’t you hate being the last to know?

yo yo yobst unites 2 brothers

On Dec 11th,2005, I posted a picture and video of my friend Juri Worms singing Baby Got Back.

About a week ago, I noticed that the search term ‘Juri Worms’ was bringing some traffic to my site. Juri is a charming guy with admirers so I wrote him to ask about new love interests that would be cyber stalking him. Juri, a non-geek, who does modeling, wrote me back asking me what the hell I was talking about.

A few days I approved the following comment in german and sent it to Juri. Juri is German.

Hi, Juri!
Ich bin`s Moritz, versucht Dich schon länger zufinden.
Jetzt hab Ich diese Seite beim googlen gefunden.Würd mich wahnisinnig freuen, wenn Du mich mal anrufst oder schreibst. Meine Handynummer ist xxxx oder email xxxx Meld dich bitte!!!!!!!!!

Juri wrote me back with good news.

“wow…do you know what you just did?
my long lost brother googled me and found me through you.
i have been trying to get in touch him him for years and all his contacts were bad.
now he found me.
you are amazing…..bringing familys together.
i will keep you updated..”

i was tickled to help. I didn’t even know Juri had a brotherr!

Yeah for Juri and his bro. Now, to work on Juri’s singing

A Million Little Pieces Review

I just finished reading A Million Little Pieces and it was SO GOOD! I highly recommend it. It’s the first person non-fiction account of James Frey and his experience in rehab.

It’s raw and emotional and written in present tense stream of consciousness.

Here’s an excerpt (this is how it looks in the book too)
“I smile.
Sounds cool to me.
You sure about that, Kid?
Yeah.
I’m kind of fucked up.
I laugh.
Good.
He stands.”

I’m never been in rehab (though after a weekend of drinking like Christmas I think I might need it), or really read that much about it but I think I have a decent idea what it is like now. Although the recovery percentages for staying clean are something less than 20% James manages to stay clean…and he does it without AA which is apparently unheard of. I don’t know that this book would be an encouragement to people in a similar situation because James experiences are unique and his ability to stay clean without AA is apparently unprecedented so it might give false hope to addicts.

Anyway, its a great read and has some interesting bits for the Tao in it that anyone can benefit from. “Failure is an opportunity. If you blame others, there is no end to blame. Fulfill your obligations, correct your mistakes. Do what you need to do and step away. Demand nothing and give all. Demand nothing and give all.”

James’s best friends are a mobster, a judge, a fallen boxer, a love who trades herself for drugs, and an assortment of addicts. Read this before they make a film from it and ruin the power and frantic edge to James’s spoken word.