I heard an interview with Finneas where he said that one of the things he wanted to avoid was being considered “good for his age”.
Man.
This dude is good for any age.
Funny how all that goes….
And…funny how it goes when your little sister is famous.
Of course….she and Finneas are a strong team…so who she is now is in huge part because of who they were together growing up in a creative and musical family.
Anyway….now it’s Finneas’ turn…
Do you know who his sister is?
Her name is Billie.
Josh Ritter grew up in Moscow, Idaho.
Now, just look at him!
They grow up so fast!
Alejandro Aranda!
This is the dude who made American Idol surprisingly watchable again…for a moment.
Anybody who can coax a duet with Ben Harper has got to be good.
What a good thing it is to “not win”, too.
It’s good to see real musicians featured on a show like that.
I wonder how that happened?
Wildfires all around Ventura now….
I hope that folks out there aren’t getting damaged…and that this cool company survives unscathed.
I visited this place a bunch of years ago….and it looks just interesting now as I remembered it being.
The company I work for isn’t known for having a really innovative corporate culture.
We do our job…but nobody talks about saving the planet.
But…if we didn’t deliver the Patagonia catalogs…how would they get that small part of their message out to the world?
I guess everybody has a job to do.
This looks like a good place to work.
I see bear and deer and hawks out on my route.
Where I work is a good place, too…in spite of what the “corporate culture” is there.
I used to do this kind of stuff.
Of course…..not exactly like this.
I was a student.
I was learning.
That was my excuse.
Now, I’m a mailman.
I don’t do art.
I’m busy all the time.
That’s my excuse.
But…if you pursue the world with a sense of wonder….and maintain….MAINTAIN…a sense of excitement about your environment and the potential it all holds…why…then you will hold it all in the palm of your hand.
It’s the maintenance part that’s hard.
It doesn’t matter what you do…art (or…not)…raising a family….playing music….maintain a sense of wonder and a recognition of possible good outcomes…and….things will be OK.
Right?
Art, though, is pretty great.
Here’s another one about this lady.
Good stuff…
Reading this now….on the part about Detroit.
Man.
How is it that a community can go so far downhill in such a relatively short time?
That’s so far outside of my range of experiences.
I can’t relate.
And….what can folks do to bring it all back?
How do you muster any enthusiasm when the situation is so perpetually hopeless?
Enthusiasm when things are rolling smooth is easy….
When it’s falling apart? Not so easy….
I have had an easy and gentle life and I still complain about stuff.
Maybe “faith” is feeling like you can still have a positive effect on your world when it all feels hopeless?
Detroit?
Man.
This is a good book…positive….hopeful.
I need to focus on possibility and quit whining about what I think I can’t change for the better.
Where I am is a heck of a lot easier than Detroit.
Good soundtrack for part of a mail driving day.
The dude rocks hard.
I started running again last week.
Running…walking…moving.
This early in the game…I shuffle.
It’s not something you’d want to see in a race…but, at 4 in the morning…who’s out there to watch me other than the deer and the bears?
I run in an old black t-shirt and my jeans (it’s cool here, now)…and a good pair of Hoka 1’s I bought in a thrift store.
That’s not much of a traditional running “costume”.
That falls in line with the philosophy found in this book by Grant Petersen.
He’s the owner of Rivendell Bicycle Works…and doesn’t believe that you need to “fancy up” to enjoy riding a bicycle.
You don’t need all that spandex and fancy shoes.
He thinks you should be able to get on the bike and go.
He’s kind of a luddite on wheels.
Me, too.
But…if we aren’t convinced that we need a lot of extras to enjoy an activity….how are the companies going to sell us a lot of extras to enjoy an activity?
Awwwww….sometimes that’s the fun of it all….gearing up to (maybe) do something when we’re in full costume and ready for action.
If you can’t “be” fast….maybe you can “dress fast”?
Maybe it’s a good excuse?
“I’ll do the running when I have the right gear”?
I appreciate Grant Petersen’s philosophy.
Just run.
When I cut a new bridge for Zoe’s cello, she’ll sound just like this….if we can find a church big enough.
Her old bridge curled up like bad paper in a rainstorm.
There’s a lot of tension on a cello bridge.
A $5.00 hunk of maple from China should fix that.
That …and some relatively sharp knives and a belt sander.
A real luthier would roll over in his grave if he heard me talking like that.
If I don’t do a good job though we aren’t really out anything.
Just a bunch of time and $5.00.
What’s worth more, anyway?
Time… or money?
Where are we going to find a church big enough to play this in?