more normal than not

We watched an Ice Cube movie again yesterday….the one where his family is rebuilding the house.

It’s pretty funny….but a couple of times watching it is probably enough.

Towards the beginning of the movie, he’s getting up early to get some work done at his quiet kitchen table.

He has a plan.

But, soon, his stepson wants a poptart…..and his stepdaughter is up and has issues of her own….and then it all hits the fan and he’s covered with food and his new wife tells him that they’re expecting twins.

All he wanted to do was get up early and have some quiet time.

Of course, this prompts him to go out into the country and find a “fixer upper” in a small town outside of the city.

A “bigger house” is surely the thing that will fix the problem.

Then things really hit the fan.

Some parts in these movies resonate a little harder than they should.

I’m sitting here, typing this, and Nate is in the other room watching a cartoon.

How early do you need to get up to find a splinter of peace?

Of course, if I wasn’t up, Nate would be in our bed still….waking up Sparrow and noisily trying to integrate himself into a quiet morning routine….so it’s good that I was ready to pop out of bed….and that he followed shortly after….even though he said that he wanted to sleep with Mommy.

I don’t know if Jenny kicked him out or not….but he’s out with me now.

Which is great, really.

I love Nate.

He’s hilarious…but a powderkeg of emotions.

He’s a beehive that gets noisy if I poke it with a stick.

These kids are wildcards.

So I don’t know how early I need to get up to hit that sweet quiet zone that I’m not used to still.

I downloaded an audiobook version of Thoreau’s “Walden” ( on librivox.org ….a pretty darn cool site….tons of public domain books read by people from all over the world….good classics for good listening to at work….all free )….so in the midst of any craziness that comes along, I should be able to find out what “peace” is really about.

At least hear some of Thoreau’s feelings about the matter.

What the heck is Nate watching? Oh…Inspector Gadget.

What the heck.

The morning is the morning….whether it’s quiet or not.

I’d rather spend a noisy morning with Nate than a peaceful morning with no prospect of a “Nate” being around.

My blessings are easy to count.

But…..how early do I need to get up to pretend that I have a chunk of quiet in my life still?

We watched this movie last night on the TV set.

The TV set? Who says that anymore?

We couldn’t sleep….for small reasons….so Jenny and I and Sparrow were all up….and we found this documentary on the Roku.

If you have a Roku, look for an app called “Docurama”….and you can watch this for free.

It’s a great story about this New Zealand family, the Karena family.

If you do a little further research, like any story there’s more to it than meets the eye.

The relationship with the rest of Peter’s family is maybe a little different than what’s portrayed in the movie.

There is more to this story…but taken on face value, it is one of the more interesting things that I’ve watched for quite a while.

I think that this movie is probably pretty easy to find (it looks like it streams on a bunch of sites….surely one of them is “legit”)….and worth finding.

Check it out on the Roku (and use your TV set). The app is called “Docurama” for the Roku. I think it might be available on other platforms.

It’s a good one.

If Sun Ray came around the house….just popping in for some dinner….I might tell Jenny, “Hey….Sun Ray’s here again. No….you tell him….you tell him. I’m not telling him. Well, if you’re not going to tell him, then I guess that he’s going to eat with us again. OK, I guess that’s settled….Sun Ray’s going to eat here tonight.”

I don’t know what I’d think about him coming around a bunch.

I guess it’d be OK….maybe he’d help me design a cob sauna or something.

There are some cool people in the world….and Sun Ray’s one of them….walking around with a hand rolled cigarette and a cup of coffee….barefoot…creating some amazing buildings.

I think that’s what I imagine myself like…..except for the hand rolled cigarette part.

A hippy….building some interesting stuff out in the woods.

That’s me….inside my head.

That’s what my compass would point me towards if I hadn’t grown so good at resisting the magnetic pull of true destiny.

And the only thing that keeps me from doing what I want….in addition to a well-developed sense of responsibility to protect and sustain my family….is the starting.

I think that we can be whatever we want to be.

Most of us are adults, anyway….right?

Don’t “adults” do what they want?

Whatever happened to dreams?

I’m listening to “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” again while I drive around delivering the mail.

I’ve done that before….but I guess that I pick something new out of it every listen, so the repetition is probably alright.

This last time, right at the beginning of the book, he said something about “making good time”…..not making good time….like “getting to your destination in a hurry….in the most efficient manner” but “making good time”….using your time in a way that’s good.

That was a nice point to hear first thing at the beginning of another mail route.

It kind of set me off on a good foot.

What’s my option but to be “in the moment” when I’m doing something like delivering the mail, anyway?

It’s kind of funny to realize that when my friends (the Gandy’s) were first reading this….and introduced me to the book….it hadn’t been out very long.

This would have been in the late 70’s, I guess.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was published in 1974.

I bought a copy of “Lila”… his second…and last…book at a library sale for a dollar….and the librarian said, “Oh….he was pretty popular in the 70’s. I remember him….”.

I don’t think that he’s really “only” tied to an era, though.

Anybody who encourages me to “make good time” is welcome in my life.

That’s a good activity to encourage.

This interview is from a period before the book became a bestseller….shortly after its publication.

 

I was going to write about the Duggar family, but couldn’t imagine how I’d do it or what I’d say.

I’ve heard that if you don’t have anything good to say that you shouldn’t say anything.

Maybe if you don’t know how to say nice things in the correct way….you shouldn’t say anything, either?

That’s a hard thing that family is going through.

It’s tough to be judged because of the actions of one member of the family…and it’s pretty horrible when things fall apart “in the public eye” like that.

Luckily, we fly kind of “under the radar”….nobody pays a lot of attention to what I do.

I could build a big treehouse without a building permit if I wanted to….and if I didn’t wake the neighbors on Sunday morning, no one would ever know.

And besides…..Jenny says that I’m too cheap for something like that Ashley Madison thing.

Josh.

What the heck were you thinking?

You should have been building a treehouse.

You had a good thing going….nice family, nice wife.

That’s some major craziness….pulling a bunch of stunts like you did.

Enough about the Duggars.

I don’t know them.

They sure do have a lot of kids, though.

Back to this treehouse thought….

Treehouse…..and a dog.

Those are the two promises that I made a couple of years ago.

I better get on it.

So…..treehouse, dog, car for Zoe, fix up our house, fix up the house over at the property, build a cabin in Idaho, start a highly profitable publishing business, get a dog….no, mentioned that already….get a new minivan….replace the gasket in the refrigerator door….put new labels in my mail case….um….get a dog….build a treehouse….finish my coffee.

What else?

There are always things to do that are important.

Winter is coming….right after Fall.

I better cut some wood.

And….as far as the Duggar family goes….this is the opportunity for the real ministry to begin. THIS IS IT!! I have a feeling that they’ll be alright….but what a hurdle Josh put in that family’s way.

He should have kept busy with that tree house he promised he’d build.

Should have built the house up in the tree.