On The Cusp Of Paradise

    Wally Mart is testing out home shopping robots right now. Place your order online, and the robots will pick your items for you, fill your cart, and have your goods on the way fast, faster'n a disgruntled, mumbling human, faster even than a bright and ambitious kid.
    I suppose this is causing a lot more pressure on those self driving car developers to hurry up and get that technology in place, so human drivers can be replaced and costs can get cut.
     But- and this is the big butt- you will still have to lumber out to the curb to get your goods, or out to the driveway, and then OMG you will still have to unpackage the stuff and cook it!
     Woe be me!
     However, Costco has, as they will, looked ahead and taken things a step further. Complete meals can be purchased. Row after row of reach-in freezers have entrees galore. Heat 'em and eat 'em (and maybe you can even discard the dishes!). 
    Pretty soon the drudgery of cooking and shopping and driving to get our victuals will be passe as self driving cars, robots, and drones do the work for us, which will cut human production costs to the bone. 

More overtime? Not a problem!

Jehyun Sung- Unsplash.com

   Out of sight and behind doors and fences, where industry and farming take place, automation will sweep the land, reducing process times by factors of ten. Imagine how that will look on a graph, a proud promotion-bound manager gleaming besides it. The stock market will be overjoyed when it hears the upbeat earnings news and the Republicans can slash more social welfare programs off the budget 'cuz who's gonna need 'em? The budget will show a surplus and finally really meaningful programs can be put into place without all the fussing about cost. Robot-built houses for all! Three chickens (Chicken Cordon Bleu, no less) in every pot! Better than The New Deal.
    Yup. We're all heading for The Promised Land, folks. The life of leisure that the working class has always dreamed of is on its way. 
   Airplanes will whisk the newly freed to distant shores, where they can "Ooh" and "Ahh" at the sights they'll see, sights unavailable to the mindlessly toiling members of generations past. Every night will be a celebration. Robot chef prepared meals, virtual actors emoting on stage, and at nightly concerts A.I. rock stars will shred their guitars and play incredibly syncopated drum beats that no human could ever match. 
   But, the robots will be sooooo lifelike that only those in the know will know. The rest of us will still have something to aspire to.
   Robot fish will swim the seas, just another sardine in the school or dolphin in the pod, while robot gazelles will bound wildly on the African plains one step ahead of the robot cheetah with Go Pro camera eyes while drones will give us bird's eye views of everything imaginable. Instead of staid old web cams we'll have drone cams, which we can direct anywhere. 
    Traffic will flow seamlessly and everyone will have a car at their beck and call anytime they need it to whisk them to soccer practice, the club, the restaurant, the theatre, or to Bingo. I know this sounds incredible, but it just could be that all the traffic lights will be- can I say it- forever green, as in scrapped? 
     The pesky human form will still have to be looked after, though. But we'll have all the time in the world to go to the gym! Or, we can stay at home and get our twenty minutes in. They say on all those commercials that that's enough to keep you fit. 
     Earth will be one big cruise ship where the party never ends. Whole regions of the country might be set up as role play arenas. Renaissance, Pioneer, Late 60's, Victorian, Civil War, Cowboy, Harlequin Romance, Grimy Film Noir Detective. Pick your world!
     How about Mad Max Land? Intense! Where you can pretend you're on a race, defending the fuel!
     But that's only a past apocalyptic fantasy as fuel needs will in short measure be handsomely met. Solar, wind, and geothermal will have shelved all of our energy issues and carbon emitting vehicles will have been outlawed, except in Mexico, where there will exist a thriving tourist industry where 'daredevils' will be able to drive early 70's muscle cars- (humans behind the wheel!)- on unrestricted and unmonitored roads. 
     Leisure time will be all the time. There will be no more need to meditate to try and get there, because there will be here!

Genetics

      Lots of families at work these days, streaming through the airport. Mom, Dad, a varying number of kids, maybe Grandma and Grampa too, perhaps some In-Laws added in with their kids tagging along. Such sport for a sociologist like me. 
     Sorry, folks, but I just can't help noticing that junior there got Mom's nose and younger sis has Dad's eyes. I can spot those resemblances right away. But if strapping young buck Josh is six feet four and neither of his parents are, that's puzzling. However, most of the time the kids are pretty consistently sized and shaped, and look somewhat like Mom and Dad. 
     Far as how these family units operate Dad is usually the leader of the pack, charging forward, taking care of stuff, and walking point while the tribe follows behind. Mom usually acts as the herder and takes delight in her kid's many 'endearing' and utterly forgivable foibles (like only a mother can do). 
     If ever there was a primary influence in one's life it has to come from being in a family. The dynamics that play out in those little units are amazing to watch, painful at times too, but you gotta hand it to the players for trying. 

See whadimean?

Pedro Henrique Santos- Unsplash.com

     Newborns don't do much but from two years up to five years kids are precious little dears, all squeaky voiced, asking the dumbest questions in absolute wonder, and laughing a lot. I love those little guys. 
     Six and up is also a tender, formative time, there is a lot going on there, and here you can act like a role model for 'em, a strong, capable adult who knows what is going on (ha ha) and can 'splain things to 'em about how the world works. Most of these kids will absolutely believe you. 
    With the early teens I start to see some distancing and a whole lot of awkwardness. Parental skills are called upon to deal with these ones but the worst is yet to come because the late teenagers seem to be the ones least likely to be reigned in. Lots of them are sullen and bored with whatever is going on around them but I have seen some well adjusted and happy families at this point which seems utterly remarkable. Everybody is getting along. How do they do it?
    So many influences have shaped these young people by the time they're twenty that it's incalculable. Genetics have played a role but their social environment has played an even bigger one and if you sat down and talked to them, just interviewed them one at a time asking a series of basic questions, what answers might they give! Snowflakes they are, and I'm not being derogatory here, they're snowflakes in the sense they are different from each other and are on totally unique trajectories. So I'd like to get to know them. Some of them. 
    But who has the time for that? Researchers, maybe, but not me. Still, I like spotting genetic similarites and studying families in the way they interact with each other and wonder how the kids in those families will take what they've learned and apply that to dealing with others in the outside world because I've seen it all, man. I've seen everything from hillbilly families that you just know are going to bumble their way through life up to the graduating class at Eton where the skies the limit and every family that lies in between.
     Better than TV, this.
     'Somebody' (screenplay idea) oughta make a movie!

Ordinary People

     In dreaming up a good plot for a screenplay I have had my thinking cap on for a while now, doing research and exploring what works. There are thousands of movies out there and thousands of plots and it has become apparent that the people who specialize in writing movies work off of a standard formula. It resembles something like the old campfire days where a group of people sat around the fire and told stories. The setup, the challenge, the resolution. Kinda like that. 
     Now everybody has a story, there are things that happen to each person every day that stick out and you rush to tell them to somebody because there is joy in doing that and the joy comes from proclaiming to the world "Something NEW and DIFFERENT happened today!" because, day in and day out, life is pretty damn ordinary. 
      Not a lot happens that is worth talking about. So, if you're going to grab people's interest, you have to describe, say, or do something out of the box because we're all very familiar with the box. We know its parameters better than we want to admit and so entertainment abounds, it acts as an escape route that leads us away from mundane reality- things like work, the neighborhood, your circle of friends, your life.

Premier Night

Jeff Pierre- Unsplash.com

     Rock stars, sports heros, actors and actresses, celebrated people of every genre are our heros. Writers and artists. They bring to us the new so we can experience it. We can live vicariously for a time, go with them on some grand adventure and almost taste the danger, but remain safe in our homes or in the theatre. They bring us the excitement in life that is lacking because, face it, we are extaordinarily tamed, contained, and constrained. Society doesn't like wild things going on, things like miles-long high speed car chases, crazed husbands on searches for vengance, or demented masterminds launching missles from armed compounds on mountaintops. And really, folks- when was the last time you went to a lavish party, were part of a really funny ongoing madcap escapade, or went marching as part of a column containing a mass of people and material? Don't you know that we have to live within our BUDGETS? Politicians will tell you that and right now, many of our elected representatives resemble the damn Fun Police.   
    The wild life? Not for you! Go to work, go home, and watch something on TV. 
    Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO, and the rest will bring the drama to you, write the stories, hire the actors, build the sets, and shoot the action in order to keep the diversion flow going. The pickings at the table are always changing and so CONTENT is king these days, there is a ravenous appetite for it, which only reflects what has always been there, underlying in people, an insatiable thirst for adventure, expansion, newness, exploration, and fulfillment. 
      Any of that being answered out there, in ordinary life? I hear some "Yes!"s but a whole lot more "No, not really"s, because we can dream amazingly big dreams, can't we? 

     Fortunately for us, not a lot of it CAN be played out, because given the opportunity ......
    ....we would have Rambos runnning through back yards, choppers like the ones from Apocalypse Now swirling overhead, and/or The Blues Brothers careeening down our residential streets, which ain't cool, even if they ARE on a mission from God. 
     But I certainly would like to write a screenplay like that! Sounds like fun.

     Let's see here.... ....maybe I could work something out.... ...hmm...
     ....what HASN'T already been done....?

Accept No Substitutes

     (The following was written in about two minutes and there was a lot of 'push' behind it. I don't usually get stuff like this but I did and what the heck I decided to publish it. You decide whether it makes sense to you. I never said there were any rules to 'Thought Of The Day' and this was a 'thought' so it qualifies!)     

     Yea, but for the grace of God go I. Ne'r shall I fret or worry for where I go I am led, and that being led errs not in substance or in fact. There are no words that lead me, phrases that can be twisted 'round. I follow no 'leader', though 'leaders' surround me. I follow my own star, invisible but bright within me, and like a dog, only I hear it's call. 
     This does not mean that I am deluded, for how can a deluded one function but on his/her own, and I am not that way, I am neither flying solo or on some flight of fancy. Step by step I progress, and signs appear before me, ones that I recognize, for they tingle with a vibration that is pure. 
    Neither is this calling strong or overwhelming, for that would deny me free will, and I neither bend my will to God's nor does God to mine, it is a cocreation. 
     And in that cocreation is the fact that I make progress towards my goals that doesn't make logical sense. Miracles leapfrog me past the bedufddled logical thinkers, who can't understand how I am carried save by grace. Enough miracles occur and they turn away, unable to witness futher, for they do not comprehend that which is so easily comprehendible. 
    Functioning this way is not difficult, it is easy, perhaps the easiest thing. No books need be read, none further, for that was all done beforehand. 

Go Speed Racer

Alessio Lin- Unsplash.com

     Slowly the miracle worker pickes up speed until he/she is operating at Godspeed, which is natural, normal. Neither is he/she hesitant, trepedacious, for there is no mystery here. It is like following a well-marked trail but, again, one that is seen only by the one who has joined with the guidance that is available to all. 
     Will you stumble in the dark still, or release that which binds your feet, like vines heavy across the path? The energy has shifted, understanding the way has never been clearer or easier, for it was you, me, us, who have created this opening. It will only get stronger with time. 
     Mark my words, those who read these. The time has come for acceleration of the human consciouness, of human potential. We have only just begun.

     (Whaddya think of that?!)

I Can't Help But Wonder

     At the state of The World these days. Getting on The News is less than stellar entertainment. You'd think that with all the information available for people to portray now that there would be some happier news and there is, here and there, but the majority of The News is a 'shocking assessment of the current human condition/trajectory'. Or is it?
     Looking out my window here, it looks pretty peaceful and when The News is over it's still that way. People on the street don't seem to be concerned about much. 
     Cameras can point in all directions but they are used as narrow focusing devices a lot of the time. Certain ones in the media use them selectively, which is no different than the way many newspapers used to be ran, so none of this is new. I've been presented with 'The News' all of my life, a decades-long ongoing commercial for special interests of one kind or another and while not pleasant to watch, I am immune to its effects to a great degree, as I am to commercials or ads of any kind. Were I not, my house would be filled with products that I don't really want, and it isn't. Neither is my head.
       But, The News keeps trying to grab viewer's attention and put its version of reality in there and it looks like for followers of some politicians, a switchover has definitely happened. Judging by their fervor, they have found a champion for their cause(s). Rally around that package of ideas as much as you want, citizens, but there is such a thing as math, and math never lies. 

Choppering in to the finance meeting

Osman Rana- Unsplash.com

     The bottom line in government is math. Somebody has to pay for every little thing and so a great big book is created, a ledger, which details income and expenditures and is called 'The Budget'. 
      Now it don't matter if you're a city, a county, a school district, a state, or the federal government, you have to wrestle with income and expenditures and those have to hopefully add up to something near zero when it's all said and done or you're going to have a deficit. (There might be a surplus, but those are exceedingly rare). 
     Taxation is that income coming in, all governments run on taxation. When Joe Citizen pumps gas, a lot of the price of that gas is taxes. When Jane Voter goes to the store and buys a loaf of bread she pays sales tax. On and on like that.
    Joe Politician is saddled with the onerous job of gathering the support of certain taxpayers (voters) and then wrangling with other politicans that are trying to please their voters and it all comes down to where the money is flowing and who gets it. Laws that politicians pass are ways of funneling money this way and that, if you haven't already noticed.
     And there ain't any issue that doesn't have a cost attached to it, somehow, someway. It might not be a direct cost, it might be a social cost somewhere down the line that's gonna have to be dealt with sooner or later because government is usually, but not always, left with the undesirable jobs of looking out for the least fortunate, dealing with the mentally ill, housing prisoners, protecting its citizens, and dealing with the trash. All of that (and there's lots more!) costs money. 
    So politicians can go around and spout all the nonsense they want and rile up their followers but after that, they have to figure out how to pay for what they've said and that's when those promises usually fall short. Reality sets in and that reality is mathematics, which can't be argued with because no matter how you explain reality to math, it keeps on adding up two plus two to make four.
      So what politicians do is they hide math, or delay math, or bury math in piles of other equations but even so, that doesn't change things one whit. 
   Eventually, math catches up to politicians. It always does. Might not be the same politicians, though. They might have moved on, or be blaming the ones across the aisle for the fix they're presently in, but math just sits there as always, precise and real and untouched by all the weirdness going on around it. Math can't go there, because it's unalterable. 
   So if you want to know what the real issues are, take a look at a budgetary pie chart and see how fat or thin that pie its being sliced, and who is getting what slice on their plate. That's what all the ruckus is about. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.

Armchair Quarterback

     This seems to be rampant these days, everybody has an opinion and they'd like to share it with you and I'm no different, I guess, though I do like to think about what I put out there some, maybe edit it a little bit, before I hit the Send or Save or Save And Publish button. 
    But, if you think about it, armchair quarterbacking is about all we can do on a lot of things, issues, happenings, events, trends, etc. We're not there, we can't change it, our word is not listened to, so we differ with the call that the coach made and the players enacted.
     I am constantly critiquing everything around me, judging it, finding its flaws and analyzing its strengths. I can't say what I'd do if I were in any situation I'm analyzing but that is a moot, almost ridiculous, point. I'm not there, can't be there, am not allowed to be there, etc. 
    Dig- if I go into a restaurant and critique the food, or pass through a town and critique its inhabitants, I'm just doing what everybody else is doing anyway. We ALL use human GPS, which is short for Game Positioning System, it's how we slot ourselves into the pack. We gauge things like looks, weight, body type, skin color, age, gender, ethnicity, and education and then everything that the players do we observe and critique. 
     So, this habit of ours makes it very hard to let go and just allow things to be, because armchair quarterbacking is sort of an ongoing argument against What Is for our critiques are never entirely neutral. It's "Yes, that's good", and "No, that's not okay", and so on, with everything. 

Mirror image

Luke Braswell- Unsplash.com

     Even if you take up a cause and fight for it, you can only do so much. You'll grow old and burn out eventually. The World will continue on and surely do some other thing that annoys, delights, or puzzles you. 
   Life is a movie that never reaches The End, it just keeps on playing and if you think you've hit The End that's only intermission, one of many, so I don't know if judgement ever stops. It might always be there. Even Jesus was tempted to armchair quarterback now and again, perhaps. But, he couldn't have paid much attention to it. "Just a thought". Nothing to follow or act upon because unconditional love calls for absolute non-judgement.
   And that's the key to the whole thing, isn't it? Judgement can only happen when you've followed a thought too far, held onto it, and didn't let it go. "Ooops!" That's what you get when you daydream in the dream! 
    We armchair quarterback only because there is still something within us that wants things to change, because judgement is our attempt to control things, even if it's just in thinking about them. Letting go of all judgement would be like letting go of our identities. Ah- THAT'S it, isn't it? Separate selves can judge things, while people that see themselves as part of the whole, like Jesus did, can't. The loss of self importance is the gain of equanimity. 
     The absolute diminishment of ego. 
     But, who really wants to go there, and lose what little 'power' they have?
     "I may be tiny in the scheme of things, but from my armchair, I can (in my mind) rule the world!
     But even that little bit of satisfaction pales over time because ruling the world in one's own mind is done all alone and all alone is not very juicy. Who would want to keep watching that movie? 
    Armchair quarterbacking might be the ego's last stand before once again the imaginary self mergers into The Self, the gestalt, the soup of being. No judgement possible there! Guess that's where we're going, all the sensible books say that, but until then, I'll keep part of this tiny little spark called 'me' alive and right here in my overstuffed armchair. I'll strap on my seatbelt, and cue up The News.
    Or maybe I'll pull away from that, and watch a sunset instead. 
    I'm torn, see, between two poles, and this is probably true for most people. "Yes I want to go there" and "No, not today!". Identity is the fulcrum upon which we balance our sense of self. Do I want MORE identity right now, or LESS? What feels better? My suggestion is to do whatever keeps you on an even keel. Stay in balance. That's the most important thing. When you're ready for more of being less, you'll know!

     We're all waffling back and forth, flickering like light bulbs on and off. "Yes I'm a me!" and "Maybe- I'm not?!"
    Too many quiet moments can be destabilizing for some. 
    It'll all make perfect sense someday, I think.

Photo Nut

     Ok. I got an I-Phone (I never know- do you hyphenate that? And what part is capitalized? The I AND the P in 'phone'?) finally, after a long period of hemming and hawing. I'm not so keen on playing games or using the plethora of apps out there but I have been heavy at use with the camera. 
   All good websites have to have pictures, right? So here I am, combing the local area for anything photo worthy. 'Photo worthy' is up to the beholder and I am eclectic when it comes to judging what I think the public wants, which is what I want- quirky, weird stuff. 
     So what have I taken pictures of, in months of photo shopping? Bumper stickers. Stuff people stick on the windows of their cars, on light poles, on guardrails, whatever object a sticker can be stuck to. 
   Sunsets. Lots and lots of sunsets. And signs. Dozens of those.
   Weird clouds. Beach scenes. And who knows what else. I have a whole photo library by now and I have used some of my stuff in my posts but not a lot. 
    There won't be many dog and cat pictures, or baby pictures, I'm not gonna torture you with that, but when I start dipping into my photo library I will be steady on the quirky stuff. But----- there's not a lot of that out there! Not as much as you'd think. 
   I scan parking lots for unusual bumper stickers, and have my eye out in the city for strange stuff where'er I go, countryside too, and in doing this I remembered from my film days that photography is a game of patience. You have your camera always at the ready and you pounce on what shows. 
   The best photographers are always on the lookout for and will readily take the big picture- those magic moments happen sometimes- but more often than not it's the little stuff within the scene that is photoworthy. You take pictures and then crop them in order to get to the thing that caught your eye, and this I do. I take shot after shot after shot (no limit with digital) and crop them. 

Now Changeable comes to Japan

Hugh Han- Unsplash.com

     I-Phones aren't exotic Canon professional cameras but they are amazing in what they can do. I can zoom in and out on a subject. I can take pictures in time lapse mode, or in slow motion, and run them back like a movie. I can take panoramic shots. I can take videos. Often I tweak my photos in 'edit mode', and if I ever was driven enough, I suppose I could take one or two to the Photoshop and really go to work on them. 
   I do this because photos are property. You can't just grab anything off the internet and reproduce it, you have to have permission to do that or you have to pay. I prefer not to pay, I make up my own stuff or use free content sites. If I use the stuff off of free content sites I give the original photographers credit for taking the picture. It's a win/win. They want exposure, and in exchange I get guys and gals scanning the world for me, canvassing the globe for me! Is that not AWESOME?!
   It is, but there is a problem with that, the problem being that what they shoot is pretty vanilla. I like a lot of their stuff but sometimes I want edgier subject matter, shots that are dark and quirky, and they give me young, fresh, clean, and and hipster. Oh well! You've got to work with what you have available. 
    Somehow I get by. 
   In the future I hope to include some time lapse and slow mo stuff in my blog posts, you know, insert more cool techie stuff, but it's a learning curve and I'm not so highly motivated at present. My plate is very full in just doing the day to day. 
     The thing with artists is, they gotta have time to produce and if they don't have time (or are uninspired) production is low so you get what you get.
     Whole artist's CAREERS can be summed up in that sentence. I hope and pray that that doesn't apply to me because I'd like to put out more stuff but fortunately for you, there are millions of artists out there producing.

     Individually, an artist's portfolio might not seem like much. "It took him/her a lifetime to produce that?! But collectively, artist's can put out a lot and in that way we fill the internet and magazines and museums. Art outlives many of the artists that make it. With the unlimited data storage at our command these days these very words I'm typing might last forever. 

    Something to think about!  

   (Or not).

Live Theatre

     I went and saw a musical production last night, 'Singin' In The Rain', and I shouldn't have seen it. I really shouldn't have.
     Oh, the play was good. The lead actor was very capable. His singing wasn't so hot but he could dance pretty well and he carried off his lines with aplomb which made me again think "How do they remember all of those lines/lyrics to songs?"
     The two lead female actresses were good too, and you could see in one the possibility of stardom because she looked like she was born to be on stage, she had that quality that says that she was comfortable there, had found her place, and would only get better in time. The other actress was older and heavily made up in order to play her over-the-top part. To me she was just alright but some members of the audience liked her more than her younger counterpart. The main bit player/sidekick/supporting actor was one of those kinds of people that would find a stage even if it was in Siberia. He had been born to act. 
      In addition to these players, there were many others that played small but critical roles. They looked like they were having a great deal of fun. 

I feel so at home here

Alessia Cocconi- Unsplash.com

     And that's the rub. Theatre to me just looks like a little bit of concentration and practice followed by a whole lot of fun. If I were to be around actors ('thespians') too much, I'm afraid I would become addicted to theatre, which isn't a bad thing at all, but it doesn't pay the bills. Even so, I've always thought that were I to be in a position where I could be part of a production I would find myself in good company. In that company I would choose to play a bit part. I don't know if I could play a lead role, that's one of the big 'if's in life that I've always wondered about. Do I have the right stuff? Could I pull it off? Playing the lead means a lot of practice and you have to remember a lot of lines. Maybe you'd have to sing and dance. For sure you'd be up on stage solo at times. It's one of those really challenging things that I wonder about, especially after seeing this latest play. 
    I used to see Shakespeare plays a lot at a summer venue outside of a city in which I lived, and those actors were good. They had been in many productions before being chosen to play roles in those plays. Their lines were difficult to even recite, much less remember, but they were able to perform with degrees of believability and professionalism that made me think "Remarkable!". Exposure to this I found inspiring, and after observing many performances it became solidified in my being that this was something, that someday, I would (again) like to do, because I knew that I had done this before. Somewhere, somewhen.

 
    Supposing that that was to happen, I think that after my initial foray into easy, light fare would come darker plays, swordfighting, romantic or comedy parts, long speeches under the spotlight, with me, the lone figure on stage..... 
    It could still happen. The dormant seed, long ago planted, had again received water.
    But, coming back to my senses and flights of fancy aside, the bottom line far as I'm concerned is that theatre is just plain fun, and the audience is included in that fun. There is an energy that passes between the actors and the audience, there is immediate and very telling feedback. 
   For example, when the young actress that I (and many in the audience) admired started showing hints of ego during one dance number the audience sensed it and the mood darkened in the theatre some but when she went back to just being ebullient ('having or showing liveliness or enthusiasm'), the audience again loved her. I could read that subtle shift in energy and I think good thespians can too. They ride these waves of feedback and adjust their performances accordingly. 
     Because, when you're doing your thing and the audience is with you, a wave builds and builds and when it breaks everybody is satisfied. It's primal, it's human, and what a charge it is! You NEVER get that from watching TV. You might approach 'it' at times in a movie theatre, 'it' happens sometimes at rock concerts and sporting events, but 'it' really takes off in intimate venues like live theatre. I guess in such a setting 'it' happens because you deeply relate to and identify with the issues that the actors are facing and they represent those issues to you, like they're almost family! They're really not but for a while they are and then the bubble breaks, the show is over, and after applauding wildly everybody files out of the theatre and there is a strange after-the-play glow that quickly dissipates but never really leaves you as you walk back to your car, amongst others that are climbing into theirs, in the parking lot. 
     "Back to the world!" you think, and sigh. 

Where Is God?

     God can't be represented in a picture, nor can any spiritual master from ages past, or any angelic being. Even so, God, Buddha, and Jesus seem to have been personified in certain universal ways. Buddha is almost always depicted as sitting cross-legged, in perfect repose, wearing a robe, his hands in his lap, while pointing and curling the fingers of his hands in certain specific ways, ways that have meanings to his followers. Jesus is pictured as a kindly, long-haired, and rather handsome guy wearing a robe and having outstretched arms, beckoning you to come to him. Since there exists no pictures of either of these spiritual masters, these representations are the most popular ones, each representing that master's bearing. 
     God is pictured like the Greek and Roman gods of old, he a mighty-looking yet aged man, in possession of a full white beard, and don't ever confuse him with Santa Claus because he can be wrathful.
     Currently, there are a lot of spiritual masters/teachers, attained ones, wise, astute men and women who claim to know God very well and exemplify a lot of his qualities but with these folks it's hard to pinpoint exactly where God resides in them. If you look at their pictures, or see videos of them, they may or may not have compelling features but they do seem to carry themselves in ways different from most people so where exactly 'God' (or the qualities thereof) is in that mix is difficult to determine. Is God in their eyes? Hands? Voice? In their 'aura'? All of the above? Seems to me that 'God quality' is a much more comprehensive thing. 

Shazam!

Carl Raw- Unsplash.com

     Anybody that does art is faced with the dilemma of trying to capture the essence of their chosen subject matter and the better artists are able to do that but when it comes to the felt phenomenon known to all as 'presence', true spiritual presence, it's "Yes I think I got some of it" and "No that's not 'it'. Something (probably a lot of something!) is still missing". 
    Truth is, God can't be pinned down, nor can Jesus or Buddha or any saint/prophet/teacher, of which there are a lot-  The Holy Spirit, Isis, Mother Mary, Lord Shiva, Sanat Kumara, White Eagle, Horus, Odin, Saint Germain, Commander Ashtar, Lady Nada, Mary Magdalene, Krishna, Kuthumi, etc., and then on top of that there are all those pictures of angels- (especially the ones of angels). It's not people that are trying to be captured and then demonstrated to others, in a visual fashion, it's energy. Love- can you paint that? Truth? What does that look like? Honor? Integrity? Compassion? These are qualities and states of being that can't be represented through form of any kind. They can't really be put into a painting or a statue, but your subject can hold a noble pose. 

     In drawing, I have seen how PERVASIVE these mythological representations of qualites and states of being are but, problem is, we really have no way of picturing them or representing them otherwise. Basically, what we are inundated with are pictures, paintings, and statues of beings akin to superheros. We can only do this, it is our attempt at bringing what we can't see into form but then again, love and compassion and warrior energies cannot ever be contained in form. Form is far too limiting. These statues and paintings are caricatures of the real thing, cartoon pictures of power and vastness, intimacy and envelopment. How do you draw, paint, or sculpt that?

Under One Banner

     America is the melting pot. Pure and simple. There is no other country I've ever been that is as diverse. So what are we going to do with this varied collection of people? We must be an incredible pool of talent. I don't know the answer to that one, but I do know one thing- now that we're all here, nobody wants to go back 'home', wherever THAT is. This is home. In my case, hell, I don't even KNOW where my great grandmother came from. Story is, she bugged out of central Europe and never looked back so I couldn't take that one-fourth or one-eighth part of me and put it back there even if I tried. 
     So over to the great new land they went, and here I was eventually born, definitely a citizen but without a pedigree, a lineage. I was a mutt in a sea of mutts at school and we all had to compete with each other. We had to find jobs and mates and mates to hang with, we had to make our way through the higher educational system or start businesses or get jobs, and nobody much cared what we did 'cuz it was up to you to make it, do it, get THERE. 
     So all my life, competition, competition, competition. And one thing I have learned is that when it comes to the good stuff, a lot of people cheat. You play by the rules and you are going to get run over most of the time though in some instances you can get what you want without fighting too much. To me those are like miracle babies. 
     We Americans compete for everything, it's our way of life. We rub shoulders and step on each other's toes like life is being at a forever garage sale. 

Same flag where'er you go

Matteo Modica- Unsplash.com

     But, eventually you get to a point where you have enough stuff, you've established a perch somewhere, and you got most of the things you need and we call that 'making it'. You finally got to the place where you can rest. "Ahh....". 
     Down below you, the next gen coming up is squabbling for resources and making their way, and you watch as those danged miracle babies become pop stars right out of the gate, or star athletes, and make bank at twenty two. "Damn lucky" you can only think, because most of their bretheren are trying to get to where you stand, a place that you only were able to reach through superhuman effort and the same amount of devotion to time and to all this people remark that it's 'life'. Really? THIS is life? Feels more like...
     But don't go there, that's a bummer, and being a bummer doesn't get you invited to any parties, though you may write dark tomes about what's been going on in your mind and maybe make it that way! Strange how it works. 
     And now, into all this mix, comes the current administration and man, these guys and gals are crass. Brazen. If you thought you had to fight for what you got these guys are trying to pull out what little safety net there ever was, which wasn't much, because they claim that people coming up are bums that will take advantage of the system if they can. Don't even think about coming to us for help, is the message. 
    So what are you going to do? Seems you have no choice but to perform celebrated 'self-initiative' activities like Crowdfund, pitch your idea to others in collaborative workspaces, be an entrepreneur, start up a company, become a Task Rabbit, drive a Lyft, hustle for your piece anyway you can. Can't be a slacker, oh, that's the worst thing (like that was an option). 
     So when was it EVER good here in the U.S. of A.? My great gramps carved a living out of the wilderness, and that is not an easy thing to do with 19th century tools. But everybody 'round him was doing the same thing. We've been competing since this country's inception, a bunch of ambitious just-landeds enduring hardships trying to make it, or current gen guys and gals trying to keep pace as jobs disappear and pay and benefits erode away. This country isn't a nation of slackers, it's a nation of incredibly hard and driven hustlers because it's never been easy to live here. Only a few make the big bucks, the rest work. And a lot of the time we, with our individual needs and goals, work in workplaces together, only cuz it's the way we have determined gets us to THERE in the fastest, easiest, and least troublesome way.

     In this country there has always been an income divide. Yours vs. mine. We have fought for income share right off the Mayflower. Seems to make perfect sense, then, that if we EVER want to lessen the workload we need to cooperate, and that seems to be the last thing that some divisive people in this country want us to do. But, we're the country with the pioneer spirit if there ever was one and we've got what it takes to figure it out. We just got to lay to rest, to everyone's great relief, that we have to 'Git 'er done!' INDIVIDUALLY.

       (After that, if you still feel like competing, there's always sports). 

Consequences

      Ramifications. Deliberations. Investigations. Iterations. Explanations. 
      In every criminal case, there hangs over the defendant the possibility of being found guilty, and then the judge is given guidelines over applicable forms of remediation, corrective measures, that would bring the errant citizen into compliance with the law. 
     Most laws are people-created. Only some are physical laws, like gravity or the speed of light. 
     People created laws are mutable. Physical laws are immutable. They can't be changed. 
     So what makes people-created laws so contentious? Consequences. The level of remediation required in order to to gain compliance. 
     In ancient times, the level of remediation required was simple. Physical punishment. Quick and effective (and sometimes crippling). Getting kicked out of the tribe (ostracized), or being put to death. There were no prisons, none could be built or manned. Who was going to waste time on that? 
     'Modern' man though, decided that such forms of remediative correction were, while crowd gathering events, they were not exactly pleasing to witness. Wisdom of a sort had started to creep into the upper classes. Morals and ethics, codes of conduct, had been birthed there as preventative measures, these meant to curtail errant behavior before it hit the level where extreme measures had to be called upon.

I can fly!

Jeremy Bishop- Unsplash.com

     If there were NO consequences to actions, there would be anarchy. Society, like a game, any game, is built on rules. When those rules are allowed to be eroded, when the fabric that society is built upon starts to fray around the edges, when behavior that normally wouldn't be tolerated is allowed, when consequences are not delivered, the result is that errant behavior is emboldened- and sometimes this is necessary! The law was too restrictive and nobody cared to follow it much anyway. A good example of this is if the speed limit is 30 and 95% of the populace is ignoring that, there is your answer to THAT law's acceptability. The populace has self-determined that it can function without that parameter in play and sets a new parameter in place, which is more or less followed by everyone. This is obvious, when it comes to traffic. But make the speed limit too high or the road too dangerous and have a few accidents occur, and lights are installed or traffic is slowed down somehow. Laws are never never perfect, but somebody has to make the call on what the correct speed should be by taking all factors into account. 
     Unfortunately, law breakers are unwilling to fit into parameters that would satisfy the operation of systems or enable predictable mean codes of behavior. Lawbreakers just HAVE to be outliers. If a law is in place, thery will break it. They seem to be born to break laws, and these kinds of people are the ones that cause headaches for everybody around and have the cops shaking their heads, judges too, because those folks tried, they even lowered the bar in hopes that that would be pleasing enough but no, trouble came and determined that that wasn't good enough for them. 
     SO OUT COMES THE CONSEQUENCES STICK AND IT'S NOT PRETTY BUT IT HAS TO BE DONE. TOUGH LOVE IS EMPLOYED. 
     I'm not saying that this is what is going to happen to the present administration but they are a case study in pushing the envelope if there ever was one. Backlash is coming. It's inevitable. Not only has the moral boundary been crossed, it has been stomped on and muddied, laughed about, and pee'd upon, figuratively, and this doesn't sit right with a lot of people. There might be some method in this madness, the jury is still out on that, but patience is wearing thin. Words are words, results speak far more, and if you think about it, there haven't been a lot of changes, have there? Lots of blustering and blather, but not a lot of change. And that's GOOD, some might say, and they'd be right. Measured change is better than revolution but the direction that this change has been flowing in hasn't been what a lot of people want to see and when that kind of thing is happening, the system is off kilter and out of balance. That's where we're at right now, I think, we're in that place where we're in an awkward stance, trying to find balance, but no way can it be achieved. We're leaning way too far in one direction and that direction is unsustainable. Danger lurks there, danger that many of us have experienced before, and we can feel it, so our prayers go out to righting this ship, because prayer is all we got left. No one at the top is listening or wants to listen to any other viewpoint and when that happens, it's reckless behavior because there's a whole 'nother side to the story, methinks a valid one, that isn't being paid attention to, because that many people can't be wrong, can they? 
     The piper is coming, the herald is going to blow his horn, and there will be consequences because nature, be it Mother or human, doesn't tolerate imbalance physically or psychically. Imbalance is an energy just as real as a brick, or a tree, or a car. Imbalance might teeter for a while, but it will totter and get stuck and cause the system to break down. The Game is best played back and forth, ying and yang, it has always been thus. There is a swing to things, because balance is perfection that is never achieved, only aimed for.
     The swing is coming, it has to come. Let's just pray that it's not a Category 5 storm, only a gentle rain marking a definite change in season.

Quan Yin

    Awhile back I woke up and decided that I needed a statue of Quan Yin. It couldn't be a picture, it had to be a statue. Preferrably, the statue would be made of marble. 
     This statue had to be a full figure of Quan Yin and not a bust. It had to be white, and it had to be in my house. Why? I don't know. 
     Well I expect you can guess that looking around my neighborhood, I didn't see a lot of marble Quan Yin statues for sale. Anywhere. 
       But, lo and behold, a couple of yard sales later, my partner brought one home and we've had it ever since. 
     My Quan Yin stands about a foot tall, is pure white, is made of porcelan, and brightens up my home wherever I put it. Right now it's in the bedroom. 
     And right off it was a perfect fit. It like it was missing and now it's back. 
     I don't need two Quan Yins, only one, and I don't need this one to be any bigger but it certainly would be less potent if it was any smaller. I think it's just right. 
     Quan Yin represents compassion, beauty, and culture, things that I have grown to appreciate over time. 

Not that big

Norman Tsui- Unsplash.com

     Beautiful objects just look good wherever you place them. They don't stand out and they never clash with the current decor. Like flowers fit in everywhere, Quan Yin does too. 
     People would say that Quan Yin was just a start and that there are more statues to come but I don't agree with that. This is the only statue in my house and there is no need for another. It fills the room, even though it is small. 

   Now I'm not implying that you should run out and get a Quan Yin statue. I 'm not saying that at all. This little statue is not meant to be everywhere. Why, I don't know. It fits where it fits and the mystery stops there. 
     Another thing that needs to be said is that I'm not normally driven towards Chinese things so this acquistion is not coming from a prior leaning. I just know that Quan Yin has to be in my house. 
     Have a nice day, Quan Yin or not.

Grammaticarly Correct

     You're not going to get that here, grammatical correctness. Sorry. Just gonna say that up front. Many words and phrases are as bland as broccoli and chicken. The way I cook 'em is I use spices, and in doing this blog, I'm pulling out all the stops on what might be termed 'correct usage'. Thus, when yesterday I inserted the assemblage 'most worstest' to describe a theoretical event, I paused. "Will the reader shy away from my future blog posts because I wrote 'most worstest'? Will astute purveyors of the English language turn up their noses at me and say "It was okay to read his stuff- until he used 'most worstest'! After that I couldn't read his offerings anymore, because he's gone off the deep end".
     Now I know that 'most worstest' is an aberration. When I typed that I paused, but thought "Ach, what the hell" and left it in there. "They'll be ok wit it 'cuz they know that's how I roll".

Says it all

Kai Oberhauser- Unsplash.com

    I'm also gonna use 'gonna', 'ain't', ''sposin'', and all the other twisted and strange vernacular I hear on the street, on commercials, in the movies, on the web, in geek speak, whatever. Those flavorful words are my spice rack. Ain't gonna be no holdback and I will be the judge as to whether I've pushed things too far because I know that what I write has to flow, be understood, and make sense. Those are my goals. I'm not deliberately trying to make my words or phrases so florid ('elaborately decorated') that they can't be understood, no, I want the opposite. I want comprehension to dawn. And to that end, words used in very particular ways can point the reader to what lies beyond words because words can only say so much. 

    Dig- (another favorite word of mine) the English language has 50,000 plus words in it, many of them archaic or little used. Might as well use them if they're in the arsenal, right? And if people don't understand a word, they can look it up. Just takes a sec. Also, punctuation has punch so I use it. Italics, bold lettering, the use of capital letters, special symbols, parenthesis, quotation marks, etc. Every key on the keyboard has a use.
    That said, there are things I can't stand and won't allow in my writing. Misspelling. This is rampant on Craigslist. It is abominable and I will not allow it! Typographical errors. These I search diligently for and are things I notice from time to time in other people's writings. Typos are easy to make and sometimes hard to spot. I might let a few slip from time to time- totally unintentionally- because I'm rushed, usually. I try not to let misspells slip but if they do, same reason.

Lern how too spel!

Ben Hershey- Unsplash.com

 
   There was a movie made not long ago, a remake actually, called 'True Grit' with Jeff Bridges in it. A character in that movie, a young girl, spoke the most archaic English. She didn't use contractions, which I use almost exclusively. Instead of saying "I don't, I can't, I won't" she would say "I do not, I can not, I will not" and it sounded so labored. Tell you what, you talk like that and you will definitely stick out from any crowd. "What are ya, a preacher?". 
     I've been writing for thirty, forty years and I STILL don't get all the intricacies of the English language. The English language has amazing artistic potential. Who wouldn't use the language to it's fullest capability? Everybody tries to, consciously or unconsciously, but sadly not many are really good at it. I guess their interests lie elsewhere. 
     Writing takes constant practice. There are words floating around in your head, yeah, everybody's got those, but transferring that ethereal material to actual written form is the difference between writing dreck and producing art. I hope to produce art (and meaning) so the path narrows where I wander. If you can go there with me, if you can follow, comprehend, and digest what is being offered, I think you'll find some tasty dishes that are sure to please.

     If that's too little for ya, there's fare like the always brilliant analysis of current events done by Richard North Patterson (how does he do it?)  or if that's too much for ya, there's always the dialogue scrolling by on your closed captioning text screens when you watch TV shows.

     There's content, and then there's filler. I can't make the choice for you, I can only offer up what I produce. Choose from the menu and see if it hits the spot!

Buddha Behind The Wheel

    My job can get pretty hectic, and Saturdays are the most busy, so over time I've dreaded coming to work on Saturdays and have actually prayed that my coworkers will show up. Least that's the way it used to be. 
     Then something happened. I previously had developed, over time, many coping strategies for handling my work situation, these strategies coming with varying degrees of success, until I hit upon the one thing that seems to work like no other technique I've tried. 
     Forget about long term goals, they don't help much in an intensive situation. What works for me, and instantly creates equanimity, is the planning of an upcoming vacation, or the proximity of vacation. 
     When that is on my mind or showing on the horizon I breathe a whole lot easier. Everything I'm faced with starts to fade from view. It's still there, but 'vaca' diminishes it, dilutes it, for I know that I will soon be free. 
     Then I get to wear the 'Oh Hey Vaca' T-shirt. 

Yes I heard you

Volc Xia- Unsplash.com

     Because vacation is what I truly need. I don't need the money that comes from working overtime. I don't need to spend some relief time working in a different department. I don't need to hear (even if they're sincere) any more customer "Thank You"s, or have my coworkers be in good moods and pulling their weight. It also doesn't help me a whole lot if the managers are on top of things or that the weather isn't so blasted hot or that I get more day shift. Those are minor, trivial, non-satisfying things. Vaca, on the other hand, is a light that shines like a mighty beacon, beckoning me towards The Promised Land, a land that I will soon enter and once therein, leave all of my troubles behind. I can feel the glow of vaca long before it arrives, I anticipate it, and in doing so "Bam!" my mental chatter slows down or actually ceases altogether. I am the Buddha. I am 'cool wit it', all of it, nothing rocks my boat and if it does I resume non-attachment status within minutes. I just can't go to where work or life agitates me. Im-possible. 
     You could put me in the most worstest of conditions- a crowded train station, babies crying all around, people unexpectedly and erratically shouting, the smell of kimchi in somebody's luggage in the air (which actually happened yesterday) and I am Zen, bro, I am above the fray. Vaca is x many hours, x many days away and I could care less about whatever is happening. I am in the bubble, in the zone, and beyond reach. My inner peace runs super deep. I'm still there, witnessing, and maybe reacting, but what you're seeing is only the outer 'me' because there has to be an outer. The inner, though, is without a ripple. It's pure, untouched, and un-sullied by the roar and din of The World. Things might happen that would startle the ordinary person not so near to vaca but to me, on the very cusp of vaca, such things are only curiosities. Mere trifles. I might turn my head to look at them, to see what all the commotion is about, but this is done almost mechanically, because everyone around expects you to react, I guess. You're there, part of the scene, you should, and I do. I meet those social expectations, then return to being the still pond. 
     I'm - where am I in this condition? I don't really know, mentally, where 'vaca' is at, it's not a 'state of mind', it's more an overall immersion into just being cool with whatever. What-ever. It's like you can't be touched. You're beyond the reach of whatever might normally affect you and that is the sort of feeling that you relish with the greatest of satisfaction.
      This must be what power feels like and why power is so juicy to some people, despite all of the karma that that approach tends to generate. Vaca Mind, though, doesn't generate any karma. It just IS.

Leave It To The Art World

     New technologies spring up all the time, and usually the inventor(s) have only a general idea of what the technology can be used for. When Steve Jobs invented the I-Pod, I think he only had portable music in mind. The world of 'podcasts' came later. When cars were first invented I don't think guys like Henry Ford and Gottlieb Daimler envisioned demolition derbies and when the first guy credited with inventing refrigeration (Oliver Evans) started tinkering I don't think he had TV dinners in mind, or any idea of how necessary an appliance refrigerators were going to become for every person on earth, except for those crazy 'Survivor' people who fly out into the wilderness somewhere to experience what life was like before I-Pods, cars, and refrigerators. 
   In that sort of vein, the guy or team that developed 3D printers probably wasn't envisoning all the uses that the technology could be used for. I'm pretty sure they weren't thinking about making 3D guns! I think the original uses envisioned for 3D printing was that the devices could create prototype machine tools and anatomical models for reconstructive surgery, but then along came some guy from the art world. "Ah" he thought, "I can make human figurines!" 

Dedicated to the glory that is me

Ewan Harvey- Unsplash.com

     So, surprise surprise. I'm taken aback a couple of days ago when, walking down the street, I see in a shop window 3D figurines of people. Not FAMOUS people, but ordinary people. These figurines weren't big, maybe varying in size from three to seven inches tall. And not only that, I KNEW one of the people. The art studio had created a 3D figurine of a local security guard. 
      I stared and stared. It was a fairly good likeness. The printer had captured the woman's white security guard shirt, her blue security guard pants, her belt, the little patches on her shirt, and even her badge. 
     OMG I could see this technology rapidly spreading..... Instead of having a picture of your family on your desk, you could have them standing there! Gramps and gramma too! Even Fluffy! 
     All you have to do is go to a place where they make these things and stand still in a booth for 3-4 seconds while an array of cameras scans you (or you holding your very still pet) from every angle. After that you can 'edit' your image (who WOULDN'T make themselves thinner?) by tweaking your clothes and your hair. Girlfriends would send boyfriends models of themselves. Imagine getting a figurine of your boss! Or models of Mom and Dad, for your desk at school! One of Reverend Ron! The salesman at the insurance company! The CEO of your company! The local little league team! A group of ALL of your cousins! The possibilities are endless. 
    Thankfully, so far this technology isn't cheap. A 7" tall replica of Aunt Millie costs about $330 and takes about 12-15 days to make, according to the website I perused. I should also mention that these figurines are in COLOR. I saw where a guy's plaid shirt was accurately represented, collar and all. So there is a lot of detail possible. But as of yet, these scanners can't reproduce eyeglasses or earrings so you have to take those off before getting scanned. Dresses have to either nearly touch the floor or be at least 12" above the ground. This is because there is a limit to the strength of the 3D material. 
        These figurines are just a little bit freaky far as I'm concerned. I don't expect to see a lifelike version of a local character anywhere, EVER. And then I spot a statue of them, on a shelf! What a "Whoa!" moment that can be.

     And then, as with all technology, the price will drop and these things will be made full size, and then even bigger than full size. If they're cheap enough, you could have statues in your backyard! Populate rooms with them! Oh man, I don't know if I like where this is going..... 
     There could be art galleries, solely composed of 3D people- modern day wax museums. People could document their kids' growing up years, and have 3D models of them at different ages. There would be 3D movie extras. 
     How about having a 3D image of yourself? Not only would that be like looking into a mirror, you could also see what you look like at any angle. That would be a great aid for me, from an artist's perspective, but it would also be disturbing because I get freaked out by dolls, and places that have rooms full of dolls or mannequins. 
    Ok, I gotta run, I've mined this topic enough. But before I go, how about 3D figurines of you and your partner on your wedding day, a precious moment captured and on display forever? 
   That's not coming, folks, it's already HERE.

In Color

     Last night I finished my opus, a very complicated drawing of a group of people taken in Jerusalem so naturally I titled it 'Jerusalem'. The drawing didn't turn out as I had hoped due to many factors. For one, the picture was taken at night, which created a lot of shadows, two, there were a lot of faces in the picture, and many of those faces were small, which is a very hard (and very critical) feature to draw accurately. A slight misplacement of shadow, or the addition of too much, can make any face unrecognizable. As well, due to the darkness and the shadows, many things blended into one another and I couldn't tell where the borders were. I still can't figure out where one guy's hair ended and the coat of another person began. Perhaps I will fix the flaws in this picture later but for now I'm moving on. I've spent enough time at this work, this piece, and have made the 'I'm done with it!" call. 
     So, whew, that's done. I'll never take on such a complicated subject again, unless I can clearly see definition. 

Color really pops

Clem Onojeghuo- Unsplash.com

     Anyway, my next picture is going to be drawn with colored pencil. I don't know if this sounds in any way exciting to the reader but to this writer/artist, it's a huge step into a brave new world. Colored pencil. WOW!
    That's gonna change EVERYTHING!
     And I don't know if it will be for the better because black and white is pretty cool but I have to give colored pencil a try. 
   My first attempt at colored pencil, I will draw a female. I don't know yet if it will be a portrait or a full figure picture, but it's going to be only one person on this 'canvas'. Drawing in color will present me with a series of different challenges. Shading I'm right off concerned about, color matching, and the overlaying of colors, is that even possible? Will the colors be too bright, too dark, make the work look too cartoonish? Lots of potential issues. 
     Should be fun though, since I have determined that I will spend far less time on any one drawing, which is something that keeps a piece in the enjoyable range. And, in doing this art thing, I've surprised myself again and again.

     You just don't know what you're capable of unless you give it a go.

The Cabin

     For about eight months I and my significant other lived in a cabin in the woods up in the Pacific Northwest, and the sole source of heat for that cabin was a wood burning stove. 
     Our stove was a custom made one, sort of like a freestanding fire box. It stood about three feet off the cabin's floor on a stone platform, was long and rectangular, and could take pieces of wood a little over two feet long. 
     Douglas fir was the best fireplace wood, and I got that from some guy in town that was known to have the best, seasoned so it would burn just right. But, mixed in with the load of wood I got were two other types of wood that were of lesser burn quality, but that's how all the local firewood sellers sold their stock. You couldn't buy just premium. 
      Both of us loved that cabin and that little wood burning stove. One load of wood was usually enough to get us through the night, any night, because the outside temperature didn't vary a whole lot, and always at night was the time we did 'the burn' because we usually left during the day and didn't want the stove active while we were gone, although that happened occasionally. By then there were only coals left, embers. 
     The wood we got was sawed in two foot lengths, but I had to split it, and to do that I got a triangular-headed splitting maul, sort of an unwieldy ax with a sturdy fiberglass handle, and got pretty good at splitting wood though I had to be careful when doing so because missing meant that the ax would careen off at an angle. Aiming for the center of the log and hitting the wood with enough force to cleave it in two in one shot took practice and focus.
      'Doug' fir split the easiest, the other two woods not as easy. One of the other woods was a lesser quality pine, which split almost as cleanly as Doug fir but didn't last as long in the stove. The other wood, I think it was called 'Alder', was a commonly found Pacific Northwest wood of the deciduous variety (leafy), with low burn quality and could, if you hit it off center, splinter and twist the ax somewhat as the wood shaving got cast off to the side. I learned to be super careful when splitting Alder. 
     Anyway, when that was done, it was time to take the night's wood into the cabin and set it near the stove. I transported the load into the cabin using a lightweight U-shaped metal sling. Atop that load was always a micro-split piece of Doug fir, little sticks that I would use, along with a piece or two of crumpled-up newspaper, to start the fire. Doug fir logs burned the longest and most evenly, those I put into the stove long after I started the fire with the other two woods and let it burn down some, to where there were glowing coals. 

Ours had a refrigerator on the porch

Joel Jasmin- Unsplash.com

     Was it work? Yeah, it was work. Was it dirty? Yeah, there was soot, dust, pieces of bark, and ashes to contend with. Was it worth it? Yes- every time! The sight of the fire, the heat that the stove produced, the sounds that the fire made (we had our TV right off to the side of the stove) as the fire burned, and then going to sleep with the fireplace burning down to embers (our 'bedroom' was part of our living room) was magical. We always dried our damp clothes off to the side of the fire box, had them hanging there on racks we had found, because in the Pacific Northwest it rains a lot. 
    Over the course of the season I split the contents of an entire storage shed full of firewood (just over a cord) and was set to get another load of wood but life happened and we moved into a different situation, one that didn't have a wood burning stove as our source of heat. 
     I miss that old stove, have missed it ever since we left. But, I found a substitute for the real thing. Netflix has fireplace videos- 'Fireplace For Your Home'- and I play them all the time, the ones without music. Virtual fireplaces. I got one playing right now, as I'm writing this. No, it doesn't have the same ambience as our cabin's stove had but I'll take it. It's relaxing to have it on the TV. 
     There are other videos out there that are said to be 'relaxing' but I find them too busy. There's one called 'Moving Art' that is strikingly beautiful, I think that is what is playing on all those super high def TV's that greet you when you walk into Costco. The problem with ambient videos like these is, I can't take my eyes off of them! I'm mesmerized by the moving schools of fish, the water cascading down the waterfalls, the slow motion helicopter/drone flyover shots.... 
     ....the jellyfish 'swimming' in the sea somewhere.....  ...the pride of lions lying languid, lit by the setting sun.... ....I have to find the willpower to break away, reach for the remote, and turn the TV off.
    At the cabin, I could take my eyes off the firebox and just listen to the sounds the fire was making, or I could open the door to the firebox and watch the fire burn. I could feel the heat that the fire put out, come closer to the fire if I needed a warmup, or step back some if the fire was putting out too much heat. Also, there was always the smell, faint, of wood smoke in the house, which is a good, sweet smell. Our firebox heating system was all natural, the way it should be. It was primal. Ancestral. Coyotes howled in the fields outside our cabin almost every night, and when that was coupled with a full moon peeking out from storm toss'd Pacific Northwest clouds, well, it just couldn't get any better.

Only Residential

      I was riding in Air Force Three Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty Two awhile back, and looking out over this great land of which I am a part. A very tiny part. Somewhere down below other little ones were living out their lives, residents, mainly, holding varying degrees of influence, and I wondered "How can there be such a one that is in charge of all this?" for I couldn't even imagine myself at the helm of so vast a territory, pushing things this way and that, making adjustments here and there, some small, some very large. 
     Upon the ground at destination in a large metropolis I was again awestruck at the complexity of things around me and I guess that's why I'm just a resident and not the president. 
     Seems to me that I'm damn near overwhelmed with the day to day tasks that make up my life and lucky enough to play a round of golf once in a while, or take an actual vacation, but the president is saddled with the job of 'running the country' on a daily basis! To him there is no such thing as a weekend. 
     But, somebody has to do it and he stepped up to do the job, though in the hiring process there might have been a little monkey business. But then again when DOESN'T that happen? Surely there were other qualified candidates, guys just like me, that weren't even on the ballot because they wanted weekends off or were assumed to be dq'ed (disqualified) because they hadn't been tested in the political arena but then, in the latter case, our present chief resident wasn't either.

Baaa....

Rich Lock- Unsplash.com

      Were I to be in his shoes there's no telling what kind of commands I would issue, because I'm changeable and so is he. One day to the next I don't think I could hold consistent policy positions on some issues because things change but- sigh- I guess you don't know until you get the reigns of power in your hands what you're REALLY doing to do, though there are indications, 'tells', and proclivities, based on your past actions. 
     My background is pretty clean, there's nothing really of interest there. I have zero experience holding political office and the press would be severely challenged, even bored, in attempting to find an issue with which either to elevate or smear me but, as with any resident, I theoretically COULD ascend to the throne. Unlikely though that is, it has happened to a non-career politician, like uh- yesterday. 
     Around me I don't know who I'd pick to run the many departments under me, I wouldn't have a clue. Is this candidate good? What about that guy? Vetting the candidates- who's got time for that AND SportsCenter?
     But once that's done, the day to day ops of 'running the country' don't seem to be THAT hard. There seems to be plenty of time for parties, dinners, and other diversions, and if I flew in Air Force One to some distant country and had a bunch of meetings scheduled I think I could do them easily because for me, if my food is prepared, my laundry is done, and the dishes are whisked away, life after that is just like being on a cruise ship! There's plenty of time, that I know. 
      Because, as an ordinary resident, I've developed and highly honed my time management skills. I am a multitasking efficiency expert. Presidents, comparatively, have all the time in the world. Oh, there might be contentious issues to make decisions on, but once you've made the call, I've observed that you can change it!
     Never wrong. I like that. 

     Then, far as rallying the base goes, that task would be easy. My fans would be the only ones in the room. It would be like preachin' to the choir. What I said would also be broadcast on my fan's TV channel(s), and the people there might fuss and argue about exactly what it was that I said, but I wouldn't care. Let them figure it out! 
     The thing I don't like about being residential is that I have to do physical work but if I were presidential, I would never have to lift a finger. There, it's all mental work. My speeches would be written for me, though. Not too much mental work. 
      But rest assured, citizens, I would always be hard at work in Deep Thought about you and your situation, whatever that may be, because that's my job. One guy should be able to do it, at least that was the thinking by our wise forefathers back in 1776. But on the other hand, if you were to give things a go by trying to get things done by committee, like Congress is supposed to be able to do, man, reaching a consensus there could take forever. So it's good that there is only one resident acting as president. 
     And if THIS resident was president, what a day to day existence my life would be! Everybody, everywhere I went, standing at attention, giving me attention, some giving crisp salutes, never having to drive my own car, planes and choppers always at the ready, ordering whatever I wanted off the menu, the lawn forever freshly mowed.... 
      ...the downside though, would be that I wouldn't have any privacy and couldn't just leave the house and walk down to Joe's Tavern where I could eat some nachos at the bar, have a coupla beers, and play some pool.
     But, my gig would only last for four years, at the most eight, and then bingo set for life I'd be. However, after I left my manse, my elation might give way to depression for awhile, because taking on any other job after holding the ultimate one would bring on a host of decompression issues. 
     Hey- who's number two? Ah- caught you! Blanked for a sec, right? Nobody cares about number two! If you ain't the president you're just a resident, taking up space, showing up at events that Number One passes off 'cuz he can't be bothered. You're the 'just in case' guy, and you might get your shot, but that doesn't happen very often. 
     Oh, I could go on and on with this, and I guess I have. Such a rich subject! Residents pay taxes so the president can take care of things, which is like you're paying part of the fare for his cruise, but it's only a small part, a miniscule fraction. Out of 300 plus million residents only one gets to live presidential. Damn, that's gotta be something, wearing the Number 1 jersey.... 
     I'll tell you what- this is the kind of stuff I think about whevever I get on a plane. I just stare out the window at that seething mass of humanity streaming by below and those visuals bring it home to me how puny residential I am, because I can't see that kind of view from my tree-lined neighborhood, all cloistered on the ground, my mind's capacity taken up by trivial concerns. Presidential, though, is like being on the bridge of the Enterprise or inside the Com Room at the CIA. 

    "Mr. President! Now Changeable has just surfaced on the grid!"
    "Hover DroneSat 12 over his location!"
    "Position acquired!"
    "Onscreen!"
    "Processing data through analytics!" 
    "Threat value? Any? Why the delay? I need a response....."      

     "Infinitesimal, SIR! No Twitter countermeasures required!"

    (Yikes! Go play a round of golf or something, willya?)

The Olde Customer Service Representative Home

     Sarah, a streetwise social worker wearing a hoodie, was my guide as I toured the facility. 
     "So THIS is where they end up" I said, as we walked down an echoey, institutional hallway. 
     "Not so loud" Sarah cautioned me. "Where we're going any sudden noise or rushed movement could startle them"
      "They've been traumatized?"
     "Severely. Some may never recover. We do our best to attempt reintegration into the outside world, but it's a step by step process"
     On our left an open door gave us a view of a group of people sitting in a circle. Here we paused. 
     "Therapy session. Part of the process for marginal cases. Here people can share stories, and receive feedback, under the tutelage of an experienced PTSD counselor"
     "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?" I gasped. "They have that? I thought that only applied to veterans and sexual abuse victims"
     "These people HAVE been severely abused" Sarah admonished my unenlightened observation. "Fortunately, their encounters with abusive customers were short term. John, leading this group, is a former CSR turned counselor. He can reach these patients and bring them back because he's been there. Let's move on to the Day Room- where those we can't bring fully back are cared for"
     "Can't bring fully back?" I queried, feeling suddenly anxious. "But I thought...."
     "You ASSUMED that counseling would be enough to bring back people traumatized by working in customer service, like everybody else. You know- go home and have a drink, feel better in the morning. That's what most people think. The ugly truth is that a small percentage of cases go into non-recovery mode, what you might call 'shock', and...." Sarah brought a finger to her lips. We had reached the Day Room entranceway. Our brisk pace turned into a measured saunter, which Sarah slowed down even further, to a barely percepible walk. 
     "....these are those people" she whispered. Entering, I looked around a cavernous, brightly lit room. There were more patients than I thought.
     Sarah pointed to a person sitting by one of the room's windows, which afforded a view of the facility's peaceful and well-kept grounds. 
    "That's Tom. He couldn't handle people being rude to him all day, so he went somewhere inside. We've tried to reach him in there but 'Tom', wherever he is, refuses to come out. All he wants to do now is look out this window"
     "Deplorable!"

John shares

Daniel Tafjord- Unsplash.com

     We moved on. "That lady over there-" Sarah pointed to an archaic-looking woman, sporting a beehive hairdo, who was knitting a ridiculously long scarf. "That's Vera. She used to be a telephone operator. She's been in here the longest"
     "How long?"
     "Twenty seven years"
    "OMG!"
    "That person over there" Sarah pointed to a man slowly swooshing back and forth in a large rocking chair, while tightly holding a stuffed animal that looked like a panda. "That's Fred. He worked in the complaints department at a major retailer. Thought he was tough- he hired on as an ex-Marine- but the whining "drove him nuts" he said, which turned out to be the last words he ever spoke"
     "Lord have mercy!" I was beginning to feel queasy. 
     "Benjamin, over there" Sarah pointed to a man who was watching a game show on the Day Room's TV and laughing at all of the non-funny moments. "He always cracks me up. Customers hounded poor old Ben with unreasonable demands that he couldn't fulfill in a timely enough manner so one day he just snapped. He started laughing at everything until his manager called us and had him hauled away from his counter and brought here"
     "His manager did that? How could he DO that? Isn't there some sort of authorization necessary?"
     "Not really. Businesses have an agreement with us but they keep that fact on the downlow. We're the casualty center that they turn to. We discreetly take their damaged goods while their reputation stays intact. Family and friends are welcome to come visit but after a few initially hopeful visits most of them accede to the fact that institutionalization is necessary. Home care is not really an option, as traumatized people can be very difficult to deal with and need levels of care that most families are unable to provide. I'm not surprised you didn't know about that, it's not exactly common knowledge nor will it ever be but the truth is....."
     "I get it. Nobody wants to take responsibility"
     "Right. Either they won't, or just can't".
     Sarah led me over to a young woman sitting in an overstuffed chair, who didn't pay any attention to us as we came near. This woman was humming softly to herself. "This is Sasha. One of our most heartbreaking cases. She arrived at her job innocent and fresh and the customers brutalized her. People at the place she worked at said that her demeanor changed radically in less than a year's time. She went from delightfully sunny to severely depressed and harbored thoughts of.... ...um- how can I say this in a nice way- 'harming herself'. But that's not where it ends. One day a particularly toxic repeat customer came in in a bad mood and dropped the F bomb on her, repeatedly, to which Sasha physically collapsed, later, while in the breakroom, where she had taken refuge"
     I looked at what appeared to be a broken woman, not yet thirty years of age.
     Sarah continued, passionately now. "My goal is to bring this one back. She's too young! The entirety of her life lies before her!" Then she looked around the Day Room. "These others are past their prime but Sasha isn't and frankly, when I look at Sasha I get pissed. How dare these people! But, I'm pragmatic and a professional. I look at the facts and fact is, businesses will continue to bring these people to us until their culture changes and I'm afraid that's not happening at very many companies right now. So I deal with it"
     A visitor arrived to the Day Room just then, leading a cadre of friendly service dogs. Sasha's face brightened. 
     "Bitsy! Keiko!" she murmured excitedly at the sight of this. She knew some of these dogs, and their handler brought the two she had called out for over to Sasha's side. Sasha immediately brought Bitsy to her lap, while larger Keiko nuzzled at an elbow. It appeared that some healing was being done. 
     "Seen enough?" Sarah asked.
     "MORE than enough" I repled. Let's get out of here"
     "Thanks for visiting" Sarah replied. "Not too many people want to come in here. It's a sad place. Are you going to write about it?"
     "Yes, I will. It won't bring me a lot of joy, but it's something that needs to be done. People have to know."
     "Try and keep it light" Sarah sighed. "Paint us too much in the light of harsh reality and you'll turn people away from what we're trying to accomplish here"
     "I agree. I'll sugarcoat it, but not too much"

     After that I made my way out of the facility, and upon reaching the open air of the parking lot, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Damn that air felt good. 

Wild Wild West

     A thought worth pursuing today is "Was the ascent of the internet a contributing factor in the (observed) corresponding decline in civility?"
     Yeah, I think it has played a major role in that. Just read any online forum. People can't even talk about CAR REPAIRS (all caps!) without getting testy on some of the posts I've read, and car repair is a vanilla subject, in the scheme of things....
     ...'cuz we've got:
     Hackers, bots, compromized sites and pages, verification codes, upgrades, updates, phishing, Zuckerberg before Congress, Twitterstorms, fake news, fake accounts, fake emails, fake followers, scams, scammers, ordinary books priced by third party sellers on Amazon at $1,900, redirection to third party sites, constant backing up of data, altered videos, cyber bullying, spam, photoshopping, public shaming, web hosting, web presence, influencers, 'signaling' on Twitter, archives, privacy settings, outsourcing, media giants, consolidation, net neutrality, censorship, deleted accounts, blocked accounts, "Hello- I'm Alexa. Let's get started!", cloud sharing, glitches, bugs, fixes, breaches, streaming, containment, feeds, threads, trends, trending, ads, ad blockers, custom content, cryptocurrency, trolls, likes, shares, banner ads.....

     ...security alerts, data mining, malware, troll farms, cookies, viruses, patches, the 'dark web', across platforms non-compatibility issues, spyware, remote access.....

              ....yowza! 

"Sheriff's comin' on the noon train!"

Xiang Gao- Unsplash.com

        The way I see it, cyberspace at present is just another rendition of pioneer/gold rush mentality. Into this new territory, let's call it 'Bytewater', internet settlers moved in and along with 'em came varmints, and without the U.S. Marshall around, or the cavalry, folks just had to take the law into their own hands sometimes, that is, until things (hopefully) got settled. Vigilante social justice became the answer to Twitter showdowns and shootouts on the streets, after which the Undertaker did brisk business with formerly robust accounts. Newcomers seemed to be always encroachin' on somebody else's claim and ain't nobody was safe. 'Least, that was the way it used to be.
     Then one early evening, things changed. Over at the Social Media Saloon they didn't see it coming because they was a busy slingin' mud while the boys in the back, the venture capitalists and angel investors, were concentratin' mightily at the poker table, all of them hidin' aces up thier sleeves. 
        At the bar Charlie was servin' up rotgut gaming apps and over in the corner women were debasing the outfits that other women were wearing in selfie shots they had posted. 
        Comments were scrolling down screens (everybody was now and again peeking, monitoring the feed on their smartphones) then every once in a while, in reaction to something or another, some hothead sitting somewhere erupted, chairs skidded out of the way and tables got overturned, this always bein' the precursor to a fistfight breaking out. Once that happened, and before cooler heads separated the factions, there was always the chance things might just escalate into a full-on barroom brawl.  
        But on this fateful afternoon the saloon doors swung open wide and in strolled John Wayne, newly appointed cyber sheriff, along with his just-deputized sidekick, Billy the Geek. Billy came in leveling a sawed-off wireless router, and everybody got real quiet. Men in the corners reached for their Twitter pistols but Billy jumped 'em and fired off a Denial Of Service warning shot that traveled at the speed of light, shutting everybody down, temporarily.
       "Bar's closed!" John Wayne shouted. "Anybody got a problem with that?"
        Muttering was heard all around. Folks in these parts weren't used to bein' reigned in. 
        "Sez who?" challenged Sam Bickerson, not wanting his business dealings halted for a nanosecond.
      "Sez ME" Wayne countered. "Billy- hit the OFF button"
     "You ain't gonna make us go dark!" gasped Millie and her girlfriends, over in gossip's corner.
     "Too late!" Wayne replied, while nodding to Billy to deny all within the Social Media Saloon access to the internet. While The Duke kept the bar riffraff at bay by keeping his ear to his phone, ready to give the command to shut off the server to the entirety of Bytewater if he had to, Billy turned his attention to 128 bit encryption for a second, rapidly entered some code, then replied eagerly "It's done!".
      "Now how're we 'sposed to do bizness?" grumbled the venture capitalists over at the poker table, their smartphone screens now dark, while the angel investors nervously scanned the room for the nearest exit.
      "Ain't gonna BE no more business!" Wayne yelled. "Now git!" To that, people started shuffling out slow but Wayne, as he is wont to do, kicked one laggard in the behind as an example to the rest to get out the door quicker. In a matter of seconds, the last patron was outside the saloon's doors and hustling down the muddy street.
      To this, you could almost hear the townspeople sighing in relief. They'd been in hiding but now out they came, after peeking out windows and through cracked doors. 
     "Safe to come out now, sherrif, is it?" one asked Wayne. 
     "It is. They won't be back. They're moving on"
     "Ain't gonna be the same without 'em" said another, in a kind of happy and sad way at the same time.
     "No it ain't" Wayne replied.
     "Heard they're headin' for Urkbeckistan!" another citizen, newly arrived on the scene, piped up. Then he gave a low whistle before exclaiming "That there's wild country!"
     "That's right" Wayne replied, watching as the last ones scattered. "And there they'll stay. They might threaten to come into town again, but I don't think they will. Law and order'll keep 'em out."
     "Sure was excitin' for a time" came a citizen's voice. 
     "Yeah, it was" Wayne drawled. "And I think it goes without sayin' that some of us are gonna miss 'em, they bein' so unpredictable creative. But regular folks can't live under saloon conditions and so we had to run 'em out. It's better for everybody that they're gone.

     'Sides, I don't think Bytewater's jail was big enough to hold 'em all".