faster than a speeding bullet….

Posted on by October 9, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOLqNOfzus4

When I woke up this morning, my mind was swirling….fast.

It was insane….at 4 o’clock in the morning, my mind was racing….neurons firing willy-nilly….fast, fast, fast.

I thought, “My gosh, I’m like that guy in the “Limitless” movie….with his mind going faster and faster….getting smarter and smarter….making all these connections and realizations and going places my brain had never gone before.

Smarter.

Man.

And then I realized….”Whoa….my mind is racing….but it’s not any smarter than it ever was.”

Shoot.

Oh, well….so much for that theory.

So I got up….intending to write a blog post.

As long as my mind was racing, why not get up and take advantage of being restless?

So I cranked up the computer (it’s an older computer) and went to log in….and realized that the internet was down.

So I spent the morning doing some diagnostics….and when that didn’t work, started reading a Michael Perry book called “Visiting Tom”, which was a lot better way to spend my time than thinking I was getting any smarter…or trying to coax an un-coaxable computer to allow me to get onto the information superhighway.

It’s OK to not be a super genius.

I can always drink a lot of coffee and ponder things….fast.

If you can’t be smart….be dumb fast.

Speedy little MOE-RON.

you never see the best….until you see….

Posted on by October 8, 2015

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I have some pretty great friends.

I don’t see them all that often….most of them, at least….but they’re pretty great.

I guess that some of them know that I notice that.

I suppose some of them don’t.

I’ll have to do something about that.

I should let them know that they matter to me….. more often.

I was thinking the other day about people….and was thinking about how, until you choose to see the best in people, that a lot of the time you never get to see….the best in people.

Not that my efforts…or my “remembered perspective”….is the thing that makes anyone “good”….it’s just that I think that it’s hard for people to relax into their best selves until someone gives them the safety of full appreciation.

Being “appreciated” is a safe place to be.

I should do that with my own family, too.

“Full appreciation”?

I’m too tired most of the time for that kind of monkey business.

“Fond awareness” I can do….but “full appreciation” takes some effort.

And, you know, the “noticing” doesn’t really change anything, anyway.

Sometimes, it’s easy to see the best….sometimes it’s bright and shiny and enthusiastic and happy.

That’s easy when it’s like that.

Sometimes it’s harder to see.

What’s there is there….people have so much good in them all the time….sometimes swimming below the surface of what appears to be a pretty rank pond of anger and self-induced bad vibes and crummy luck.

Sometimes it’s self-induced.

A lot of the time, it’s just sad things that happened to or around us.

Some stuff is hard to carry.

It’s not like noticing is the thing that pulls any goodness to the top of the muddy water, though.

Maybe it’s just hard to see all that hidden goodness until you look with the right eyes?

I have a lot of great friends.

I see the best in them.

And that’s pretty good for me.

It’s fun to hang out with people of such good humor and greatness.

I want things to be good…so, for selfish reasons, I’m learning to see all the good….all the time.

Jenny told me, “Form follows thought.”

Maybe that’s what I’m getting at?

Awww, what the heck? We like the people who like us.

Nothing too tricky about that sentiment.

I like my friends.

Thoreau in the Jeep

Posted on by October 7, 2015

Henry_David_Thoreau

I drive around in the woods…by the woods….circling the woods….all day.

We are not lacking in trees in this part of North Carolina.

Lately, I’ve been listening to Walden again….on my car stereo.

I downloaded a good version of it off of Librivox.org.

It’s a nice way to spend the day….delivering mail and listening to things that I’d heard quite a few times before.

I pick up something new every time.

I listened more carefully to this section yesterday.

It’s a pretty famous part of the book….so it may be familiar…

As I was leaving the Irishman’s roof after the rain, bending my steps again to the pond, my haste to catch pickerel, wading in retired meadows, in sloughs and bog-holes, in forlorn and savage places, appeared for an instant trivial to me who had been sent to school and college; but as I ran down the hill toward the reddening west, with the rainbow over my shoulder, and some faint tinkling sounds borne to my ear through the cleansed air, from I know not what quarter, my Good Genius seemed to say—Go fish and hunt far and wide day by day—farther and wider—and rest thee by many brooks and hearth-sides without misgiving. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played. Grow wild according to thy nature, like these sedges and brakes, which will never become English bay. Let the thunder rumble; what if it threaten ruin to farmers’ crops? That is not its errand to thee. Take shelter under the cloud, while they flee to carts and sheds. Let not to get a living be thy trade, but thy sport. Enjoy the land, but own it not. Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling, and spending their lives like serfs

There are reasons that people come back to a book over and over.

That passage pretty much says it all…..”take shelter under the cloud, while they flee to carts and sheds. Let not to get a living be thy trade, but thy sport….”

Man, Thoreau!! You nailed it.

That’s the kind of stuff that will free you or completely mess you up, though.

I don’t want the kids to say, “Hey….where’s Dad?” and have to get the answer that I’m in my “castle in the sky”.

If a life of quiet desperation means that everybody’s safe and dry….well, then, that’s a good trade-off.

But….but….but…..”Grow wild according to thy nature, like these sedges and brakes, which will never become English bay.” sounds pretty darn good and righteous somehow, too.

That would be a good thing to teach the kids…to some degree….

“Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth”!!

That would be a good thing to teach the kids….period.

Maybe that’s what I’m really shooting for?

Some weird measure of “controlled wildness”?

Thoreau is just great!

Great stuff.

“books by thoreau” Surprise

packed everything that I own….

Posted on by October 6, 2015

I’ve used this video before….but it’s late and I’m flailing for a quick blog to keep my run complete….and it’s a good song…so I’ll use it again.

Idaho.

What state name rolls off your tongue like “Idaho”?

There should be a kazillion songs called “Idaho”….but there aren’t all that many.

I guess that if the few that I know of are this good….or as good as Josh Ritter’s song….I should be happy with the ones that I know of.

I just heard the line in this song where she sings “tell me Phaedrus….’what’s good?’ “.

I’ll have to listen to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance again….

There are a million and one places that aren’t “here” that I can fixate on…and suppose that they might be better… when I’m tired and unimaginative.

But….and here comes the broken record…the one that keeps coming around no matter how tired I am or how itchy my feet get…it’s pretty darn amazing right where I am.

It’s amazing…day in and day out…it’s amazing.

If I poke my head out the door and open my eyes, I’m going to see something pretty amazing.

And the really good thing about that is to realize that it might not be the place that is so amazing….maybe it’s the eyes that I’m looking through that let me see “the place amazing”?

I see with my brain….looking through my eyes…and if I get my head together, my brain holds the right attitude….and what I see is amazing.

I can go anywhere.

Here’s good.

I’m convinced….where my eyes and heart are….where my family is…is pretty darn amazing.

That’s a good thought to go to sleep on.

The Nicest Donald Trump Rally

Posted on by October 5, 2015

I think that it’s something about the eyes.

Have you seen the Trump family portrait on the cover of People magazine?

trump-cover-768

I think that it’s something about the eyes that really bothers me.

Of course, I’d have to pay it some attention to really get to the bottom of what it is about the eyes that bothers me….but it’s there, even if I can’t put my finger on it.

I’ve heard it said that the eyes were the window to the soul…and that picture makes me wish that somebody would light a candle or something behind those eyes.

It’s pretty dark in there.

So…this rally was a reaction to that…

I think that the Trump camp felt that they better do some “damage control”….and quick.

How much more could he go to the opposite end of the spectrum than a bunch of dreadlocked warriors of love dancing around and singing a song of peace?

It’s kind of opposite of the image he usually projects….but maybe it’s time to embrace the Hawaiian Rasta camp?

Seeing him dancing around the fire….shouting, “YOU’RE FIRED!!” ….just for fun….might even change my opinion of the man.

Here’s his follow-up to this effort….

Maybe there’s a light in there after all….

Donald Trump!! I hardly knew you!!!

 

IT’S FUN TO PLAY!!

Posted on by October 4, 2015

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I was kidding around and I told Nate the other day that “IT’S FUN TO PLAY!!”

Jenny thought that was ridiculous….and funny.

I think that Jenny thinks that a lot of the things I say are somehow both…ridiculous and funny….a lot of the time.

I know that some of the stuff that I say isn’t very funny to Jenny.

Some of it is just irritating.

I joke around too much.

I can be sort of a “smartypants”.

Man….it is surely fun to play, though.

I think that when you become an adult, the way you play changes.

You don’t get out the Lego men and build a Lego world.

YOU GO TO VEGAS, BABEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Actually, that doesn’t sound like very much fun to me.

It would cost money!!

I couldn’t have too much fun if I was spending a bunch of money…..unless….

I WAS SPENDING A BUNCH OF MONEY TO WIN A BUNCH OF MONEY!!

Nah….even that would feel weird.

Maybe the fun is watching these guys have fun?

Oh, man.

I just thought of what would be really fun!!

Going to the new Sierra Nevada brewery…..taking the tour….sampling….and eating a bunch of duck fat fries….and then taking a cab back to the hotel and hanging out with Jenny….that’s what would be fun.

With Jenny.

While the kids played with Legos.

At home.

THAT WOULD BE A BLAST!!

I read that Rod Stewart finally stopped playing soccer….something about his knees giving him problems.

We all slow down….adjust….figure out new ways to have fun….figure out new ways to play.

People get stiff as they age….no matter how much they work out and “maintain”.

But the thing that can stay pliable is our attitudes….MY ATTITUDE.

I can play….I can have fun.

I’m going to buy a soccer ball and kick it around a field with these guys….throw a frisbee more often….fly a kite.

Actually build the treehouse.

Eat some duck fat fries.

Eat some duck fat fries….then recommit to vegetarianism….after a big plate of duck fat fries.

And beer.

Fun!!

Play.

 

good things coming

Posted on by October 3, 2015

I don’t know Nahko.

He was an unexpected find….when I was looking up videos about Idaho, of all things.

He was playing piano at a place in Idaho.

I appreciate the sentiment of this song.

“Black as night….with a little bit of moonlight…”

All we really have control over is our perception of what happens around us…..at least, that’s how I see it right now….

 

 

 

Something About Lowell

Posted on by October 2, 2015

What could be better than a pregnant Emmylou singing “Here, There, and Everywhere”?

I don’t know that it really gets much better than this.

Maybe I’m just nostalgic.

When I was 19, I had a lot more time for music…

I’m glad that the music that I had time for was good music….like this music…..good music.

Maybe the music was just worth giving more time over to back then?

I heard a recent interview with Don Henley the other day ….and he mentioned something about people deserving more in music than they were getting these days.

I’d have to agree.

This is a concert that was given a short while after Lowell George died in 1979.

Nice to see your friends get together for you like that.

Man….this music is so good.

talking about people…talking about people

Posted on by October 1, 2015

I hear that Idaho might be the place to go.

Put down roots….hide out….enjoy the natural wonder while Armageddon percolates outside your door….safe in the womb of the skinny part of a wonderful state.

Nah….there’s more to Northern Idaho than a bunch of survivalists hiding out.

Idaho.

Imagine that.

Here’s a video of a trip up to Sandpoint ID from Coeur d’Alene.

If you were going the opposite direction, you would eventually get to where we might live someday.

That’s a lot of tail lights.

There’s a whole lot more to Idaho than a bunch of tail lights…but I guess that you can’t fathom a journey if you don’t know what the path might be like.

Here’s another video….snowy, this time.

Sandpoint is beautiful….and so is the rest of Idaho.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Don’t let the word get out.

The title of this post was me thinking how funny it is when I report what somebody else said…..and I’m just another person talking about….people talking.

If I don’t really have anything to say….I just repeat what somebody else said.

I could fill up a lot of air repeating things I’d heard.

 

On another note, here’s an old Bonnie Raitt performance…from 1972.

I’d never heard any of this stuff…..it’s pretty great.

 

 

 

 

those darned “them”

Posted on by September 30, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQsIErJ7-yk

Those darned “them”.

When did environmental issues become political issues….or, why are environmental issues political issues?

Why is there so much anger when issues like this are raised?

Everybody has a “them” to point a finger at.

That’s some crazy stuff.

I heard the other day that Shell (I think it was Shell…) had given up on drilling off the coast of Alaska because the cost outweighed the perceived payoff.

Gas just wasn’t worth as much now that we’ve fracked the heck out of the world and our supply has increased.

Shell had spent something like a combined total of 11 billion dollars gearing up to suck all this oil out of the coastline…..and gave up because they couldn’t make any money.

Not because it was damaging environmentally….because it didn’t make economic sense.

If you use “climate change” as a search term in YouTube, you come up with a lot of documentaries.

I can’t watch all of them.

We have small children at home again.

I can’t sit here and watch depressing videos about climate change.

And I can’t castigate myself because what I do for a living is drive an old beater Jeep Cherokee on a fairly long loop every day so that I can deliver a package or a handful of letters…..and that I’m loving this cheap gas that I can buy right now.

I couldn’t live with myself if I thought about everything bad all the time.

Anyway…..what do I do about any of this?

Tune-up my car?

Plant a bunch of trees?

Make some more money and invest in a large array of solar panels?

Figure out a way to buy some “carbon offsets”? (What’s a “carbon offset” anyway?)

THIS IS THE WAY TO START MY DAY!!! WATCH DEPRESSING VIDEOS ABOUT THINGS THAT I DON’T KNOW HOW TO CHANGE!!

Maybe education is the only way to start figuring out any of this stuff?

Maybe watching some of these documentaries isn’t so bad.