We all choose what to celebrate,
. . . how to celebrate
. . . and with whom to celebrate,
choose wisely.
Tune Stuck in My Head
From the moment I could talk
I was ordered to listen.
-Cat Stevens
-Cat Stevens
For three days those lyrics were stuck in my head. They come from an old Cat Stevens song called Father and Son. I checked the lyrics, they have nothing to do with why I the tune kept going round and round in my brain. No, I hadn't heard the song on an old oldies station. Sure I knew the song, I liked Cat Stevens back before he found his own fundamental way to the divine.
And I wasn't hearing the whole song, at times not even the music, just those eleven words. Was I silenced as a child - absolutely not. I, we were all encouraged to be vocal. I also learned early to watch, listen and observe before I acted or spoke.
I had two older brothers and growing up I got to observe them getting into all sorts of trouble. My oft learned lesson was - well don't do that or at least don't do it that way. I was always a good student of staying out of trouble. Which brings me to today's story, which has nothing to do with those lyrics.
I suppose I was about nine or ten; it was a Sunday afternoon, I came downstairs heading for the bathroom. I know it was a Sunday afternoon because my father was home. He was never home during the week, he was always at the pharmacy, which was only half a mile away but he was never actually home, except on Sunday afternoons. He was sitting in his chair with the Sunday Detroit Times unfurled in his hands.
As I passed the kitchen, my mother came out and said something to me; I have no idea what she said but I am reminded of a cartoon character who opens her mouth and some off key trombone notes come out - you know just noize. It probably began: "Timothy, why didn't you do this" or "Have you done that." It was mean, she was being a nag and I didn't deserve it. I don't know if my parents were having a little tiff or if she was just looking for a target to bitch at. But I was in the line of fire.
Problem was, without thinking I said: "Don't you snap at me! I got all A's on my report card."
Now, nothing wrong with that response but the way I said it - it came out way too sassy. We did not use that tone with adults. Talking back to adults was a mortal sin in our house. I wanted to swallow the words as soon as they came out. My content was fine. My delivery, however, had just turned this into a potential shit storm for me and all I had been doing was just walking by.
There was a long moment of silence, a long moment. Then my father brought the two sides of his paper together, turned the edge of the next page and open it up again and kept on reading without saying a word. My mother stared at him, turned with the loudest silence I had ever heard and headed back into the kitchen.
As it turned out I had invoked the magic words - good grades and not just good grades - perfect grades. All three of us knew my mother was just bitching to bitch, but she had picked the wrong target and my father was not going to take the bait and deflect her foul mood onto me. I was just passing through on the way to the bathroom.
So maybe there is a little something there from the Cat Stevens' song. The lyrics tell a story of a father giving advice to his son; advice the son is not going to take. Well I heard my father's unspoken advice that day; I heard it and I remembered it.
If you're doing your job and getting it right, don't take shit from anyone that isn't yours to begin with. I didn't and I don't. Thanks Dad.
M&M Monday - M&M World
There is an M&M World in of all places - Las Vegas. In fact, it's on the strip, right next door to the MGM Grand Casino. The key feature is the chocolate wall.
Yes they have many more colors and even flavors than what you can get in the normal course of human events. M&M World is not a regular stop on my visits to Vegas, not like the MGM lions or one of several poker rooms but I think next time I will make a pilgrimage if only to find new material for my art.
You do know what is number #2 influence, after children's sweet tooths, that really keeps M&M sales going?
Oh and I guess I should mention - today is Pi Day!
--
Art is unsourced from the web
A Disappointing Anniversary
I'm annoyed today. It will pass but today I am annoyed. You see it was a full year ago that I moved into the Berkeley co-op apartment with the truly spectacular view. True the decor left something to be desired but I have low expectations in those areas. There was much debate about remodeling, I was against it. My position was - you don't put money into the place until you are ready to sell. But my voice was advisory only, I did not have a vote.
Then in the late fall a decision was made to move ahead with a complete top-to-bottom remodel. I moved everything out and vacated the space on December 8th. The completion deadline was spoken of as being "the end of the year," now I have enough real estate experience to know that any date a contractor gives you should be multiplied by at least a factor of two. So I expected perhaps late January and would have been only mildly surprised by a February return date.
Well today is the one year anniversary of moving into the apartment and now over three months since I moved out and as you might guess I am not back in yet and expect it will minimally be another week or two even three before I do get back in and even then I expect there will be half a dozen pick-up items that won't be done and will take several more weeks or even months to finish.
Grumble. Mumble. Like a frustrated cheetah when the antelope gets away.
Grumble. Mumble. Like a frustrated cheetah when the antelope gets away.
I'm annoyed today. It will pass.
Traffic Jam at the Top of the World
I do sometimes write short pieces that come to rest other places than this blog. I am going to be doing a bit more of that in the coming months. Here is a bit of Himalayan fiction I wrote that my good friend Pauly used in the March edition of his blogzine Truckin'.
About Truckin': "The contributors at Truckin' write for the love of self-expression, which is a clever way of saying that they generated these stories for free. I'm amazed at their collective bold leap of faith, because the scribes exposed their inner souls to you. With that in mind, please spread the word about your favorite stories. Good karma and many blessings will come your way for exposing new readers to our amazing writers."
A Cat of a Different Color
Let's call this a topical picture dump for this month. I offer these without comment either from the Humane Society or the proprietors of the NYC salon that charges $400 for a feline dye job.
He doesn't seem to be sharing the obvious vibes of peace and love.
Envy is not often associated with cats.
No cats were harmed during the making of these photos; no hallucinogens were used either by the photographers or the fur stylists.
You have to go to sleep sometime.
Apparently they breed.
Care to try out your skills in a claw-free environment?
--
Why? Because sometimes I like to know my blog content drives Michael crazy with the sheer level of the mundane I can achieve.
Imported From Detroit (IV)
Isn't that a great skyline, those gold-speckled black towers right on the edge of a beautiful blue river. It's stunning, it's beautiful, it's Detroit and it's an illusion. Detroit is never going to be a thriving urban center again.
Never.
Yes, it's time for my commentary on the city of my birth. There is one word I have to say about Detroit -- downsize. Stop this insane belief that the city will ever regain the prominence and population it once had. Ain't gonna happen. I don't care how many fine young millennials say they are 'up on the city,' 'high on the potential,' or simply 'pro-Detroit.'
The industrial based is destroyed. The skilled workforce is gone. There is a worldwide recession and if you subscribe to the rhetoric from my last Detroit post, the American Empire is decaying from within. There are far too many other pressing needs to spend billions on saving the rusted hulk that was Detroit. Too many other urban areas need help and they can be salvaged, cut your losses when it comes to the Motor City.
Go small -- downsize. Go Green and local. Try the whole urban farm thing, why not? Make those massive boulevards and highways bicycle friendly. Urban park, urban forest but no more towers. The industrial north is over, hell big industry in the US might well be over and if we are going to be an information age workforce, would you really pick Detroit as the placed you wanted to be plugged in? I've been there, I know what it's like -- move on.
Urban renaissance is not going to happen. Urban conversion or retroversion sure; whatever that looks like. There are a lot of creative people with multitudes of ideas for what Detroit could be, but the one to reject and forever bury is a Detroit like it was in the good old days. Those days are long gone and for quite some time the days and nights haven't been anywhere near good. Don't listen to those people who talk about the decline of the last decade or how twenty years of neglect did this or that to the city.
Detroit hasn't been thriving for over fifty years. Half a century of clear and constant indicators have made it obvious that this city was not going to survive, yet the politicians, the corporations, even the citizens kept the feeding tube connected despite all the obvious signs and cultural near death signposts. Time to pull the plug and turn our attention to what can be saved, call it urban triage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
