The Gypsy in My Soul
January 9, 2009
As the recession deepens and job losses mount, I am entertaining my artist friends. I’m not working so I have lots of free time between reading, painting, walking Howard, writing and drinking. Having lived close to the edge for years, the economic melt-down feels like another day in paradise. The paradise of reality. I was tired of being a dancing monkey in fur for the Bourgeois. It’s nice to take a long break and focus on entertaining my constituents and friends privately. Who needs a nightclub or restaurant to have fun? They’re all going under anyway. Why demand employment and add insult to injury? The best thing I can do for the economy right now is not look for a job. We artists are in a good position now. We don’t have any debt because we never had any credit. We know how to live on 5,000 dollars a year, maximum. The only big change I’ve had to make is in the quality of cheese and wine for my soirees.Believe me when I tell you that the best part of your life is about to begin. Stop crunching numbers and face the music. Find out what you really wanted to do with your one and only life and do it. You might have to sell that antique candy dish, but did you really need it?
“No cares, no strings…. My heart has wings…
If I am fancy free and love to wander, It’s just the gypsy in my soul”
Remember Who You Are.
December 16, 2008
We all get caught up in the panic of the times and attempt to squeeze ourselves into a suit of appropriateness. Determined to become employable. We bid low, offer extras, put ourselves on the resale rack: damaged goods, over-washed and shrunken merchandise, replacable, cookie cutter pity-pipsqueeks, we lay our heads down on the train tracks, listening for a vibration – the engine of opportunity – to run us over. Do we spend extra time on our hair? A little less time with our books? Are we reading the Yellow Pages again, looking for God Knows What? – an idea that’s marketable to the masses? Listen, if you’re a wash-out, congratulations. Why wouldn’t you be, standing in the rain, letting your smile be your umbrella, getting a mouthful. Spit it out and change into your most comfortable garment, and stop trying. Just sit back and remember who you are. That’s all you have to do. Everything else will simply come from the rediscovery of what gets you up in the morning – not what scares you into getting up, or forces you to get up. Now, lay down. Flat on your back. Stay there awhile. Remember who you are. There isn’t another crazy person like you on the planet, and you’ve a place here at the table. Just rest awhile, then get up and start living authentically, which means no unwanted intrusions, no soul-deadening excursions, no extraneous noise, no mind-numbing middle men, no frilly-feckless friends, no half-erect half-sober dead-eyed lovers. Clean out your drawers and don’t pay the electric bill. change the oil in your car. Get out a map of the United States and plan a permanent vacation. Run while you can, but don’t forget to take yourself with you this time.
Featured Article:
Dumb- Ster
The cop looked in the dumpster and noticed a picture of his wife. He had just received a complaint from the Olympic Sports store that someone had dumped bags of garbage in their dumpster. That someone was me. I’d cleaned out a few drawers of hometown memories that morning, – high school notebooks, graduation pictures, diplomas, clippings and headed into what I thought was a free-for-all dumpster tucked behind a strip mall. After I threw the bags into the dumpster I took a walk with the dog and when I returned to my car I was met by the policeman and the assistant manager of the Olympic Sports store. Read more »