more normal than not

This looks kind of familiar.

I looked up “dirtbag” on YouTube, and this is one of the videos I got….an extended trailer for a movie that’s being crowdfunded about the life of climber and “dirtbag”, Fred Beckey.

I guess that the description of dirtbag is that it’s a person who chooses to live on the fringes of society so they can pursue an obsession….to the exclusion….usually…. of “normal” employment or relationships.

When you work at camps for years of summers, you get a chance to hang out with a few “dirtbags” (if you’re lucky).

So….this really looks kind of familiar.

I don’t know if I could target an obsession long enough to be a real dirtbag.

I could probably get into the sleeping in driveways and not having a real job part of the equation.…maybe….but I don’t think I have enough focus to obsess on one thing for a lifetime.

I know that I could get into the roadtrip part of being a “dirtbag”.

That’s easy to get into that…

Fred Beckey’s an interesting character…..

Support the Kickstarter campaign at the Kickstarter site….

Here’s one of the promo pictures from the film..

 

Freedom from convention…..”finesse the conflicting demands of wild nature for a certain freedom from convention”.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Here’s another video….one that’s not connected to this film. It was produced by the Patagonia company….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9d9Of1NJjs

 

I used the word “stasis” in my post yesterday….and then had to look it up to see if what I thought it meant was what it really meant.

I guess I got close.

Sometimes that’s the best you can do…..”get close”.

Yesterday, I remembered using the word…..and then started thinking about the word equilibrium .

Equilibrium…..”rest” because everything’s equal….all the things that might pull you in one direction or another just the same….so you can rest somewhere in the middle of it all….unmoved and unperturbed.

If you have your equilibrium with you, you can stand up straight.

Then I started thinking about things a little.

Now, if I’m balanced and full of “equilibrium”….and I can stand up straight and move through life without confrontation or a lot of strife, I probably won’t attract much attention.

That’s probably a good thing.

I like to fly under the radar.

I don’t want people to notice anything bad about me.

But if I never have to lean into a hard wind….or have to fight to keep my balance….how strong is any of this life going to make me?

“Rest” is a good thing….I need some peace in my life, I need balance, I need acceptance…..I need people to have some confidence in me.

I need them to know that I’m going to (at least) try to do the right thing.

Thoreau talking about the life of quiet desperation ( I wonder if that was kind of a “throw away” line for him? Just writing off the top of his head….not putting any really heavy thought into that little concept? Could be…..)…..talking about it like it was an omnipresent part of the human condition….and here I was….in the mail jeep….thinking about “equilibrium”

.

Me in the mail jeep….wondering if the comfortable balance might be just as bad as a life of “quiet desperation”.

I do need “balance”…I love that thought….but maybe it’s the shake-ups that teach me how to stay upright?

Maybe I need something that moves me in a way that doesn’t always let me just “rest”?

Art…passion….new scenery and insights.

Maybe none of that ever gets figured out.

Maybe I’m just the guy who anchors himself to the familiar….because if I have something easy to prop myself up against, I never lose my balance?

Maybe that’s what it is? The props….the car, the house, the job….things to keep me upright when the world is shaking around me?

Maybe the best thing to do is not think too hard about things like “equilibrium”….and just pretend, like the rest of the people around me, that it’s never a problem trying to stay on my feet.

“Act as if”…..right?

(This post is from February of 2015….and one that I never published. Maybe there was a reason? Who knows? I don’t know if figuring out everything is more important than just accepting some confusion? Maybe “accepting the things I cannot change” is as good as it could possibly get? Anyway….old post….resurrected.)

I was listening to a podcast again yesterday of a conversation between Tim Ferriss and Kevin Kelly.

At one point in their talk, the conversation veered over to a discussion of the Amish.

Kevin Kelly likes the Amish.

Did you know that the Amish are apolitical?

They don’t care about politics.

Good for them.

I listened to conservative talk radio today while I drove the mail around.

That was pretty horrible.

Pretty darn horrible.

Of course, after a day of listening to all the yelling, I almost started wondering if Trump wasn’t the way to go this time around.

On Right Wing talk radio, Hillary is the devil.

Maybe I should say the “Devil” with a capital D.

She may not be good….but I doubt that she’s the Devil.

Anyway…..I like the Amish way a whole lot right now.

You take care of your family, live a simple life, avoid technology that detracts from the strength of the community….and you don’t get upset about what some wackos are doing up in Washington.

That sounds good.

I feel like voting like the Amish.

I feel like not voting, too.

This is messed up.

I worry about a lot of things….but I never thought that this was something I should even consider worrying about.

This is really messed up.

Imagine sitting down and getting busy and then up pops some weird rat.

That would really stink.

I don’t know, though….maybe it would be good to have something new to worry about?

Maybe it would crowd some of the old stuff  out of my mind?

Do you know what a difference this guy is making in the world?

Fixing bikes for kids who can’t afford a bike….

One thing that he said that I thought was interesting was that although many of the bikes were donated, a lot of them came from the dump.

The dump?

So much of what we throw away is reclaimable….if you see the solution to a need in someone else’s trash….and have the skills to do the fixing.

And it’s all grass root stuff….getting a guy with a truck who’s able and willing and saying, “Well, you go here…..”….maybe asking somebody else to handle some other part of the operation….covering all the bases.

People want to help….sometimes they just need something to help with….like giving away 500 bicycles.

I like Fat Mac…

Good job!