Counter to Nature...

 Human Beings warring with Mother Nature? 

Another... really... really... bad... idea... !

Snakes...

 Watch out for the Snakes in the Grass!

Bad Idea!

Human Beings playing God? 

That... is... a... supremely... bad... idea!

"The World's Greatest Drug..."

You gotta bounce. The coffee helps. This interview in the Chicago Reader with Fran Lebowitz totally resonates this a.m. I mean, I think Fran is my Spirit-Animal!

Question: Is she ever at a loss for words? 

Answer: "No. Truthfully, I have no idea where it comes from. The secret to this is coffee. The world’s greatest drug. I just drink gallons of coffee. I have a rider in my contract and the rider is mostly about coffee: how much coffee has to be in the dressing room and my hotel room. There has to be coffee all around me. That coffee is my entire cognitive ability." - Fran Lebowitz

Limits of Being Human...

You are reminded when it comes to the most important things in Life, you are pretty much helpless. We have this illusion of control, but really we are swimming in an enormous river of events, just doing our best to go with the flow, and keep our heads above water. We can't control the flow, maybe we can try to control how we  act & react in the face of circumstances dire and mundane. We basically have to take what comes, try our best to endure. You hear some very distressing news, and you realize, you are powerless to do anything about it, except, Hope for the Best, Think Positive Thoughts, Conjure Up some Healing, Golden, Vibes. So you do all of the above, but you wonder if any of these creative psychic visualizations have any substance or influence in the wider world? Who knows? You think: Everything is Connected (String-Theory!), Everything Counts (a mystical notion - as above, so below). You tell yourself that the Universe is basically a multiplicity of energies; vibes, positive & negative. You are left with Chanting, and Praying, and Focusing your Intention on Positive Outcomes, but these rituals seem sort of paltry in the face of catastrophic events. Another lesson in the reality of being a Human Being in this vast, wondrous, distressing, confounding Universe. 

Chemical Cocktails...

I am convinced we are elaborate chemical cocktails. Want to feel good? It's all about the chemistry. The right elements in the right quantities swimming about in our bodies interacting, collaborating. The best way to get the chemistry right? Food. Organic. Fresh. Probably best to cook it. Eating a variety of foods, mainly or exclusively vegetarian.  You might want to add supplements too. B-12, magnesium, garlic, cayenne pepper, aloe vera juice, vitamin C. I am one of those kooky folks who thinks we are what we eat. Food is the best medicine. Still, it's an ongoing project, a moving target, and you have to adjust and reassess all the time, get it wrong, the chemistry gets out of whack, and you feel bad, it can lead to disease. Best to try stuff. Experiment. We are all unique. We each need to discover the optimal mix. Pick your poisons carefully, Dear Pilgrim. Everything counts.

Sunday Answers...

My friend and I often say, just before we go to sleep: "Let's get an answer." Sometimes we do. I wake up from a very deep sleep with these thoughts on the tip of my mind. I suppose most of this is stuff I know that I know.

Do not take anything for granted, especially not all the things we do take for granted.

Be humble and kind even in the face of indifference and hostility.

Don't be afraid, even in the face of all that scary shit that comes our way.

Do the work. Always, with determination, with inspiration, with gumption, and damn the torpedos.

Have fun. Play. Laugh. Smile often.

Don't worry about what others think, or do, or say.

Listen to everything in the air, but don't take it personally.

Be aware of the nay-sayers, the soul-eaters, those who want to have what we have.

Protect yourself. Meditate. Ground yourself. Eat well. Lean to Clarity and Charity.

Fierce Hope, Fierce Creativity. Fierce Intention.

Do the Work. Do the work. Do the work.

Biblical Days...

Some days have a sort of "Biblical" vibe. Like there is some test or challenge thrown down at your feet, you must pick it up and wrestle with it. You wonder is it God doing the testing and challenging, and if so doesn't she have anything better to do? Or is it a team of Deranged Demon Monkeys who are thinking up funny impossible shit for you to do? 

For instance you have be THERE & THERE & THERE & THERE and pronto! Lots places to go in a short window of time.  Just do it, and be quick about it. And at the same time it is cold, raw, windy, rainy, ok, it's not a rain of frogs, but you know, it is certainly raining cats & dogs, and you are out in the elements unprotected, exposed, vulnerable, on a bicycle, and on your feet, and you are truly, madly, deeply getting soaked to the freaking bone.

What to do? You just do it. And laugh. Yeah. It is sort of funny. And, well, no one is shooting at you, you will survive this day. 

In fact, by late afternoon you are snuggled up on a big comfy couch with a fat little bulldog at your feet, reading Ken Kesey's great novel "Sometimes a Great Notion." (1962). It is truly a mad, burly beast of a novel. You had a bit of trouble at first, getting into the damn thing, but now it's got you hooked, and you are convinced it is some weird-ass masterpiece, even though most folks probably think of Kesey's first novel, not his second as a fabulous, phantasm of an American epic. In Kesey's Universe everything, human, animal, mineral is alive. You are at the 500 page mark and you are really tracking now.

And you took a book-break, put your headphones on and listened to Roxy Music's first album (1972) - an overstuffed masterpiece of many sonic flashes, and Roxy's beautiful baby "Avalon" (1982), pure, gorgeous sonic bubble-bath of sultriness. And you get so much joy and pleasure and inspiration from such great works of art. You know, like, great books and great records totally fill you up. They are important, powerful, necessary fuel. Totally restorative and essential. And you realize that this day kind of encapsulates, everything,  the whole thing, the whole weird-ass experience of  being alive: the testing, the challenging, the lounging, reading, listening, luxiouriously sinking into other states of consciousness.

Luckily, everything worked out. And, now, this morning, glorious sunshine. A new day. Amazing.

"Spiritual Gumption!"

Photo by Kim Morgan on the Set of "Nightmare Alley."

Hell and damnation have been in my consciousness since I was Wee Lad in Catholic grade school. The black-habited Sister Mary Aquanata, my 3rd grade teacher, very "Darth Vader-like," had a mission, she had me convinced that I had a one-way ticket to "The House of Damnation," and I was free to cash in my ticket at any time.

For some reason, this did not scare the "Be-Jesus" out of me. I sort of resigned myself to Hell, and figured, I might as well accept my fate, and try to live my life the best I could. I never thought I'd win that old nun over. Hah! Funny. I am kind of surprised at the "Spiritual Gumption" of that Wee Lad. Maybe it was also a bit of laziness, you know the power of goofing off. Still, even then I had a little bit of that rebellious spirit animating me. Okay, Heaven was not for me, I'd have to make the best my days on the planet. No choir of Angels for me. "I've got nothing Ma, to live up to..." - B. Dylan

Today, I'd say "The House of Damnation" is always with us. I lean to the Jean-Paul Sartre idea that "Hell is Other People." Right. Be careful who you choose to hang with, pick your poisons carefully, everything counts. Damnation is around every corner. Of course, the best parties are found in Hell, but that burning heat is everlasting! Yikes! Step lightly dear Pilgrim!

The Calm...

After the storm, the calm. Everyone scurries for cover, and then, the darkness passes and everyone comes out to face the new day. There is a hangover vibe in the air: weird doings, clouds of drama, now gone, just vapor trails left hanging in the breeze. We must carry on. Do what we have to do, and do it to the best of our abilities. The search for meanings will be put off for another day. Heads down, time to get busy and do the work.

A Hornet's Nest of Twisted Shite...

I often fall back on my go-to phrase: "People are Tricky," (see previous post). I think it is a  quite useful, and true formulation, because it's open-ended, vague, and can account for the crazy-ass spectrum of actions and behaviors of my self, and my fellow Human Beings. Human Psychology =  a hornet's nest of twisted shite. "Everyone has their reasons," and their histories, and their Genetic Blueprints. You know we are the meeting place of Nature vs. Nurture, and when Nature and Nurture collide there will be sparks and blood. We all come from long winding lines of Dead People who also had their loony narratives, dramas and traumas, and comedies and tragedies, and other tales of ordinary madnesses. I do think we carry on the sins of our fathers and mothers. We wear the trauma in our bodies, and in our psyches. 

It is funny and baffling and confounding and sometimes inspiring to come across a Human Being. It is so easy to see all the flaws and foibles and madnesses, horrors and idiocies in someone else. It is instructive. Entertaining. Sometimes horrifying. Harder to see all of this in our own actions and thoughts. We all have our biases and blind-spots, our prejudices, it takes work to try to get past those blocks. I think we read novels, non-fiction, biographies, and watch theater and TV dramas because we are fascinated by what it means to Be Human. We want to see how other people live. What they do, what they think, how they explain themselves to themselves. It's a life-long class. Every day a new lesson. Let's do that Human Thing today and see where it goes.

"Don't be an Asshole." That's kind of a target to shoot for. It's as simple as that. Try to be gentle and kind. Even if the world we inhabit doesn't necessarily value gentleness or kindness. Of course, sometimes you are left with "Fuck that guy," but it's just a moment. And then, well, you know, "people are tricky..."

Apotheosis of Ego & Id...

Yes. I met the cultured, privileged Little Prince. He is an arrogant, grand, snotty baby. His oozing contempt for me and, well, pretty much anyone else within his sight was a live palpable thing in the room. It was like being locked in a plush cage with a feral, witchy animal. Something terrifying and magnificent to behold. The Little Prince is someone who has never had to lift a finger, who has always been pampered, fed, buffed and polished. Someone who has always been praised. No doubt, "a genius" a very special, precious and unique entity. Holy Shite, the World should be so grateful that this amazing being even exists, and that he deigns to be alive in our realm. Not Human, nothing like the rest of us. His "black-hole-sun" burning, smoldering silence is an awesome phenomena to behold. Deeply hostile. Steel-hard. Smoking-cold. Miserable. The Little Prince looks right thru you. Say a word to him, maybe a simple greeting, a friendly "Hello,"  and it vaporizes in the air before you. You walk away stunned by this putrid cloud of pure, supremely-indifferent hate (can hate be so indifferent?),  that hangs above him. Maybe he is choking on the fumes of his own self-loathing & self-hatred? Fetch the Psychoanalyst, pronto! This Little Prince wields a grand indifference to anything alive, anything that is not him.  It is the Grand Apotheosis of Ego and Id. So, so funny. Hilarious. Really. Truly. Madly. Deeply. I had to laugh. As soon as I was safely out of his orbit, beyond the clutches of his strange, dark & wicked gravitational pull, I laughed and laughed, deep belly-laughs; and the surprisingly forceful words popped out my mouth, with no fore-thought, I mean, I spit them into the wind, completely unbidden: "Fuck that Guy!"

Giving Yourself Up to the Elements...

Yeah... what's holy...? Everything/Nothing?

How about:

Spit

Sweat

Blood

Phlegm

Tears 

Piss

Shit

It's been said, "The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth."

You have get "down there" with the dirt, the mulch, the roots, the dead leaves, the broken branches, the rocks, the ants, the grasses, all the various shit. 

Floating in the jet-stream, alive in the Hurly-Burly. Can't be afraid to get your hands dirty. I'm not saying wallow in the mud, but you know, maybe you have give yourself up to the elements. Maybe even eat a little dirt, it probably won't kill you. Let go. Sink in. I mean, I really think so.

Bucket Sunday!

Well, you may be celebrating Easter Sunday, the day that supposedly the stone rolled away and that Major Dude rose up to the Heavens. A quaint notion and nice tale of renewal, rising from the Dead, Resurrecting!

Here in our household we celebrate Bucket Sunday every other Sunday, and well, it turns out TODAY is Bucket Sunday. That's when we put out the Collective Resource Composting Bucket for Monday morning pickup.  A shiny Orange Bucket filled with food-scraps, coffee grounds, etc.

Same concept: Easter and Composting. 

You know, transformation.  

Nothing is really ever dead. Everything turns into everything else.

Little microbes & bacteria: "... gives the vitamins and minerals of food scraps back to the Earth to create healthy soil..." And then from that soil grows new life.

You know, the cycle. Birth, Death, Renewal. Rinse and Repeat. Amen, Brothers & Sisters...

God-Like = Imagination...

Thinking about GOD this a.m. The "Great Almighty," The Big "Whats-it," "The Grand PooBah!" You know, Passover, Easter, Ramadan all collide this weekend. As Bono (Rabble-rousing singer & Protestant Preacher, often playing Jesus),  says (why do I think of GOD and Bono in the same breath?),  All Sons & Daughters of Abraham must COEXIST, seems we can't escape the wafting aura of things holy and profane this weekend.  Oh yeah, just a reminder: don't forget all those Holy Scribes, Prophets, Poets, Preachers of all faiths and flights of fancy were/are human beings, flawed, fallible, complicated, tricky, murderous, lecherous, intolerant, and corruptible.

Can't avoid the apocalyptic headlines this morning either. It's almost like an rolling apocalypse every day of the week. That's one of the results of being plugged into the Global information network. So yeah, the bleak, strange, horrific, illogical, fantastic and disturbing visions of Revelations seem to roll out across our consciousness and eyeballs every damn day. Apocalypse Now and Now and Now...

I coined this phrase on my own: "Everything is Holy. Life is Cheap."  The sacred and the profane are like a cross that we all carry every moment of our lives. Life: A beautiful gift that can be crushed and snatched away at any time. Life: precious, and totally ubiquitous.  One thing, everything, nothing.

If GOD, it's a phenomena that we can't even conceive. I mean conceive away, but it's all rubbish. Think maybe: Not human. Not benevolent. Not all-seeing and all-knowing. Just like a DUMB ROCK. Magnetic. Emitting vibes. Not a creator. Just an energy. Clueless and Careless.

We invent poetic images, we try to paint a different picture. We imagine a Big Daddy.  We don't realize that really our SuperPower is to Imagine, what is there and what isn't...

Plus Ketchup!

"Walk the Mystical Path on Practical Feet." 

Somewhere along the line I came across that line in a book on the Tarot. I try to live it too. Not exactly sure what it means, maybe keep your feet on the ground, even while your head is dancing in the stars? Something like that.

Anyway, before you can try to figure out the big picture of Love & Spirit and Meaning, you have to walk, and talk and eat lunch. Every step, every breath and every bite counts.

Yesterday, post-lunch this was my text message to my good friend, giving a report of my latest meal. 

Yesterday 4:35 p.m. - "Beyond Burgers and pretzel rolls? Like eating GOD. Plus ketchup!"

Maybe You have to Be a Hustler to Understand a Hustler?

We watched "Licorice Pizza" (2021), a film by the great Paul Thomas Anderson a week or so ago. It totally resonated with my partner and I. How would I sum it up? BTW - (I actually hate summing it up, by summing it up, I am not doing it justice) - it is a great, funny, life-affirming film; a story of two, wacky,  misfits, alive in the early 70's, people who just have "no place," don't fit in anywhere, but who possess lots of energy, and ambition, and who are always, always hustling, hustling and hustling!

I mean, I guess, we saw a lot of ourselves in those two characters. And we loved the music, the filming (every frame suffused with art and intelligence).  Funny too. Really funny. I recommended the film to two different sets of friends, and in both cases I was later told: "We just didn't get it."

Puzzling. But, you know, thinking about it now, this morning, of course, they didn't get it. My partner and I, we live in a very affluent neighborhood, we don't really belong here, we are just barely hanging on the margins, keeping afloat with smoke and mirrors, and pluck and pure HUSTLE! And we both come from families who always had to hustle and scrape to make ends meet. We live and work with folks who grew up in totally different circumstances. It is easy to forget there is an Upstairs, and a Downstairs, (see previous post about status games), and although we can rise up from Downstairs to rub shoulders with the folks Upstairs, we really are interlopers. We are tolerated, treated kindly, but really, we are fish out of water.

My friends, my "acquaintances" exist in a completely different social class. These folks are quite wealthy.  And they come from a long family tree of wealth, prosperity, and success. If anyone "belongs," these folks do. They always have done so.

Safe to say these folks never had to hustle a day in their lives. I mean, they are intelligent, accomplished folks, friendly, admirable. Society's winners. Inherited wealth beyond the imagination. You know, on the surface, human beings just like everyone else, folks just like us, but then again, it is true, the Rich truly are different. Their experience in the world is totally different than folks like us. These folks BELONG. They have always belonged.

A movie about quirky hustlers always on the make? They just didn't get it.

Touchstone Book by Johnstone...

I read this Keith Johnstone book "Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre," in the 90's. No doubt one of the greatest, most revelatory books I've ever read. Yes, it's about theater, comedy, improvisation, and teaching, but essentially it is also fundamentally about what it means to be a Human Being. It will change the way you look at the world, and all human relationships in the world.

Off the top of my head I can reel off the astonishments that have resonated with me all these years later: 

All Human relations are "status games." Every damn one. High Status vs. Low Status. All comedy & tragedy stems from status reversals. We derive great joy and pleasure in observing status games. We can also be totally humbled and destroyed by them.

Human beings are hierarchal  animals. Always. In every realm of life. There is a structure of relationship. You will play many roles in life, High Status, Low Status, sometimes the roles will change from one sentence to the next.

Adults are damaged, traumatized children.

All human being are fundamentally creative beings.  Some of us are better able to access that creativity than others. But we all have the capability of being immensely creative. Most of our schooling dulls and destroys our ability to access this creativity. Often it is luck and pluck and circumstance that allows some of us to escape the destructors.

Put a mask on and Human Beings will transform and reveal new selves, darker souls. As Dylan remarked: "Someone puts on a mask, they will tell you the truth."

We all wear masks all the time. For instance: "Rationality is a mask we wear." Yes, we are all basically crazy, batty, totally kooky. As Johnstone reminds us, get to know anyone and one of the first things they will tell you: "I'm crazier than I look!"

Hah! Good morning!

The a.m. soundtrack - Explosions in the Sky "All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone"  (2007). Glorious, shimmering electric guitars and explosive drums and bass. Instrumental. Lightness. Quicksilver. Love.

Again, For the First Time...

Maybe best to wake up to every day with Shoshin - "Beginner's Mind"  - "an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions." Sort of a blank slate. This is not "Groundhog Day,"  although sometimes it feels like it. We are not reliving the same day, no, every day is new, unique, and what we think we know about the day, the world, and even ourselves is actually untested & unknown in this moment. We have experiences and memories, but best not to be imprisoned or clouded, or fogged by them. I always think of Firesign Theater's great line: "Everything You Know is Wrong."  Yes, start the day with that, and see what happens. You know, be "certain of nothing," and well, maybe see what & where being alive, aware, awake to every moment leads you.

Doing the Work...

The Wise Ones (they will remain unnamed this a.m.) tell us:

"Work on yourselves."

Yes. Indeed. We are all works in progress. Perfection is a flashy chimera shimmering out there on the horizon. Don't let that unicorn dazzle or distract you. Get busy. Dig deep. Notice the flaws, the biases, the contradictions, the idiocies, the over-confidences.

We can all do so much better. There is "clarity," a "quality" of living within reach. Listen. Open your eyes. your head, your heart. Take in the moment. Reflect. Come on, do the fucking work Pilgrim...

The a.m. soundtrack: "Mermaid Avenue" (1998). Listening to this fabulous album this morning, does it make me a better human being? Just listening, just simply paying attention? Probably yes. Woody Guthrie, Jeff Tweedy, Billy Bragg, Jay Bennet, early-edition Wilco. Brilliant, beautiful, so, so human. Makes one feel good, and want to do, and, be, good, too. Eternal Delight!

Off the Top of My Head...

Morning maxims:

"Everything Counts..."

"One step at a time..."

"You don't know what you don't know..."

"Everything is Everything..."

"Everything is holy..."

"Everything is cheaper than it looks..."

"Life is precious..."

"Life is cheap..."

"Every moment is precious..."

"Coffee is the will to live..."

"Be humble, gentle & kind..."

"Serpentine!"

"Keep moving, keep smiling, keep laughing..." 

Storm-Tossed...

Tossing and turning all night long. It was like being on a storm-tossed ship. Couldn't get my "sea legs." A bit fuzzy this a.m. The sun is breaking across the land, that's a good thing, kind of a new development. And, yes, well, the coffee (it's always about the coffee, right?!), is doing the trick. Wonder what the day will be bring. Bring it!

Don't Be Too Much...

You have to modulate...

Too happy, you make others pissed off.

Too optimistic, you make others want to kick you.

Too enthusiastic, you make others laugh at you.

You don't want to be "too anything."

MODULATE!

Too visible, they all want to squash you.

Beware, be careful, don't be too much. I mean, yes, be too much, but keep it close to the vest. Let the flame burn high inside, but only show so much, otherwise others will try to douse that flame. It's just the way of those others... funny, that...

Good vs. Evil...

Thinking of those black-habited nuns that helped raise me all those many years ago. I felt like a little caged monkey (I believe in Evolution, yes, Darwin's Dangerous Idea is spot on!), in Catholic Grade School. Couldn't wait to escape out into the neighborhood. Always tried my best to be invisible during the long, boring hours in school. The whole religion thing was delivered to us with such a heavy, literal-minded hand. I resisted immediately, and carried that resistance deep in my DNA for many, many decades afterwards.

Today, I'd say I'm mystically & poetically, (for more on this topic check in with Patti Smith & Nick Cave), connected to my religious upbringing. I see the magic of the mass; the incense, the pomp & circumstance, the theater, the transubstantiation, the wine into blood (ritual vampirism), the bread into flesh (ritual cannibalism), the consuming of the body of the Lord by the the gathered flock (how to get close to Jesus, not to worship him but to BE JESUS? Consume his blood and flesh, TAKE HIM INTO YOUR BODY!), as a symbolic, magical ritual, that was orchestrated to get us to some kind of transcendent state.  Count me in as a mystic, a pagan, a druid, a spirit-seeker and soul-stirrer.  

And what does it mean to BE JESUS? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Humility, Forgiveness, Love, and an ability "to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" without complaint: "they know not what they do."

What was the point of all the smoke and mirrors, the hurly-burly, the grand pomp? 

Today I'd say it was simply a drama of GOOD vs. EVIL. A sort of play-acting that illustrated the concept that both GOOD and EVIL reside deep in the Human Heart (see Carl Jung & Joseph Campbell). All of us in the Human Herd are capable of the GREATEST GOOD AND THE MOST VILE EVIL. And we know the difference. We can choose, we don't need a Heaven or a Hell to reward or punish us. We embody heaven and hell, right here, right now. We can embrace the symbolic nature of everything around us: practice rituals and embrace the poetry & the myths. Try to transcend our human flaws & foibles, hold ourselves to account.

And, well, we see that big ponderous drama played out every day. Yes, there is GOOD in the world, and there is EVIL. Easy to see it, it is IN us. We can all choose to throw our lot in with one side or the other, (as Dylan said: "you've got to serve somebody"), but it is important to realize, to know definitively, that there is an existential game going down right before our eyes every damn moment of every damn day. And there ain't no Jesus, or God, or Demon who is gonna come down and save us. We need to dig deep and get our shit together all on our own, (Patti Smith: "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine, Meltin' in a pot of thieves, Wild card up my sleeve, Thick heart of stone, My sins my own, They belong to me, me..."), leaning to the light.

Human Beings. Universal Human Rights. Catalog the "Crimes Against Humanity" (See the latest Putin edition of Hell). Turn to the Questioning Gospel according to Nick Lowe: "What's So Funny about Peace, Love and Understanding?"

Don't Have to Play that Game...

There is a game...

Bigs eat Littles, the Strong beat down the Weak, the Haves lord it over the Have Nots, the Rich rule over, and squelch, the Poor, the Powerful crush the Powerless.

We don't have to play that game. We can choose to transcend the "needing, wanting, grasping," we can choose to be gentle & kind, and wish the best for all. It's not too starry-eyed. Really.  I mean, hell, why not? I'm pretty sure it's the "kind and gentle game" that is the best game in town.

Work, Eat, Sleep, Dream...

Lately, for me, it's all about simplifying my day to day. Doing one thing at a time. Refusing to multi-task. Trying my best to approach everything with my full attention. Un-scatter my head. It helps to live in the "real world." You know the world of pavement, sidewalks, trees, squirrels, lake, sun, cloud, mud and grass. To breathe in the air of a day. Take it in and let it animate.

I scan the morning headlines, I feel it is my duty to try to "keep up with the news" but most of it is sad and terrifying. I spend lots of my time attending to my favorite "art:" movies ("Licorice Pizza," "The Lighthouse," "Coda", "The Witch," "The Big Lebowski") a good novel (Ken Kesey's "Sometimes a Great Notion") and music.  Mainly music. I let the sound-waves roll over me and enrapture me. Spending lots of time with Sigur Ros, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Stones, Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Nick Cave, you know, the usual suspects.

Work, eat, sleep, dream.  That's pretty much the whole she-bang. One thing at a time. And don't forget: Do the hard things first, no hesitation. That is a lesson learned.

The human story, it will bring you to tears. Sometimes tears of exuberant joy, sometimes tears of grave, deep, despair. I don't think the volume of tears evens out: joy vs. despair. We are left with a vast, brimming pool of tears, deep enough in which to drown. Is it too much to ask to hope to float?

Watching the sunrise this morning. It moves so fast. Reminds me that everything moves so fast. You can cannot hold it, or stop it.

As soon as I said the words "I'm lucky," I regretted it. I could see the Fates & Furies getting ready with some apocalyptic mischief.

Morning thought:: the deepest wisdom is bone-deep; simple, direct, easy to understand, easy to miss, or dismiss.