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The Gift of a Night

The Plight of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest (if you think you'd heard it all, you haven't heard nothing yet)

January 31, 2007

In typical fashion of how my life seems to go, last night was extraordinary. I was to accompany my friend Pattie to a dinner, then was told later what that dinner was really all about. I don't read the papers and am not linked with Rice University or the Mayor's office, but I believe these three had converged to create an evening for Houston that would serve as a model for the rest of the nation.

All over the city, several hundred people went to different private homes for a dinner.

These were people of different cultures and religions and disciplines, all coming together for good food, great company and a facilitated discussion of their faith. From what I know now, the idea came from a book called The Amazing Faith of Texas, Common Ground on Higher Ground. It seems the Mayor and quite a number of people decided to use this book and its accompanying cards to bring people together over a dinner with "strangers" who would become friends.

Most of you who know me know that I am not a religious person at all. Rather, I am highly spiritual. In fact, my sister (who is a Fundamentalist Christian) told me once that I was probably more Christian in action than she was at times. Yeah, probably. Last night at our table, graciously set out by Tory and Tracy with the help of their friend Jean, we had people of so many faiths. Methodist, Catholic, Episcopalian, simply spiritual, and our facilitator (I think his name was David?  correct me if I'm wrong, kids!) had a collar so he was a man of the cloth. See?  If I knew a lick about religion I'd know what he was and wouldn't have to guess at it.

During dinner, he would ask one of us in turn to read one of the cards from the book.  On each card was a photograph and a short story of a person who had found faith through an incident in their life or through some other turn of fate, then the card would pose a question. We were to speak of how the question and the card affected us. What we all discovered was amazing. Each card, randomly selected (the facilitator even mentioned later that he had shuffled them) was ideal for the person reading it. It seemed their experience in life, at that moment in time, was begging that question. Each person shared a very personal and sometimes tragic event or situation that caused them to be able to put their card and question into the circle.

I tried to personalize the other cards, but they just didn't fit me like my card fit. Mine asked how I communicated with God. My answer was, in effect, that communicating with God was like falling off a log. I wake up in the morning and it is immediate. I try creating my own path and God (or the Universe or Fate or the divine intelligence that lives on every level of life) says otherwise. I make decisions for myself like I'm going to be a hermit and paint, and God communicates by setting up a much different situation that leads me into profound experiences like last night, experiences that may very well change my path on a moment to moment basis.

My communication back to God is simply showing up and taking those steps that are laid out in front of me.

Thank you to everyone last night who made the experience possible. I live in constant gratitude for each of those steps that are laid out in front of me, and in gratitude for everything else that has ever been gifted to me. Last night, with all those wonderful people who showed up and shared their triumphs and tragedies, was such a gift.

Sex, Lives, and Video.

January 28, 2007

I spent most of the week and weekend editing audio and video, but realized I need more and better footage. I had gone up to the country to tape Pattie's horses and the results truly are splendid. But they're not good enough. I am already a perfectionist, but I'm also very fast. I got the camera, got the subjects, I'm a perfectionist at editing and I'm fast. Four good assets. Now, if only I could get an entourage, or some employees, staff. Yes, I need STAFF (not the infection. Who would need that?)

I just read a hilarious, very clever little book Wake Up With Fleas by Carla Kienast. Its about a guy who wins a $145 million lotto, but he was robbing the convenience store while he was purchasing the ticket. The author weaves this funny tale around high technology, small business owners, exacting law, get-rich-quick dreams, all those things that make up contemporary life. With as many twists as a bag of pretzels, the story is a great page turner. I finished it in just a couple of nights. I would love to see this one at the movies. Check it out, kids.

I'm heating up my studio so I can finally get in there and work on the new paintings. I have done 3 in the series, finished them to about 80% and have two more drawn in, waiting for my brush to sweep magic across their surface. I will create a world that the viewer can step into, escape into. They are enchanting, provocative, mysterious. In one that I will work on tonight I want the experience of wind blowing. I want to convey the sound and the feel of the wind. I want the viewer to feel the warmth engulf the senses.

I heard the other day that, for every hour of painting, there are about 4 hours of actual work. This is so true and, for the assemblages, the time can be even greater. The assemblages can be easy or very, very difficult. There is a story to tell, as in all art, but there are decisions as to what can be conveyed in two dimensions and what will be three dimentional. And why isn't thought considered yet another dimension?  If time is the fourth dimension, then why isn't thought somewhere after that? Apparently, scientists have discovered up to eleven dimensions. Thought didn't seem to be one of them. Maybe I need to be buckin' for the job of Scientist. That'll be my first paper. Ya gotta write a paper to be a scientist. And a few other things, no doubt.

~~~

If you read the title of this entry and are wondering where the sex is, the suggestion of it is right here in this sentence.

~~~

Hey, if I'd let go of one of my many irons in the fire, perhaps I could finally work on MY site for a change. If I did, I would create a Word of the Week quip. I had a few comments on my word "aver" and I like the way you people think. Hell, I like the way I think when I actually do it. Let me start.....

The word for this week is: Metier.
Used in a sentence: I perform many tasks, have many interests, but for now web design is my metier.
Or betta -- Hey Man! That ain't my metier!!

I wouldn't call it "lazy"...

January 15, 2007

Because I cannot journal, email, write a book AND update my blog all at the same time without sounding trivial, I decided to put some of my emails and responses into my blog.

Get ready.


my girlfriend said: (after telling her I'd fallen off a ladder and she'd fallen and broke her toe the very next day...)

You fell, I fell...helluva good time for all of us. Are you okay now? Are you going to be one of those old ladies that does weird shit when you are home by yourself and one day I have to send an investigation team to recover your dead ass?

so I said:

Naaaaaaa, my cats will probably eat me long before you could send out a posse. That's why I keep 'em around. Save on funeral costs.

Hey, did you know that cremation carbon can now be made into beautiful gems for the survivors of loved ones to wear about their necks, ears and fingers? Neato. I'd like to come back as a cinnamon diamond.

On second thought, do send out a posse to come and claim my dead ass. Burn me good then send me to one of those diamond-making places to get yourself a NICE gem outa the deal. Its the least I can do for you saving me from my cats' digestive systems.

then I said to another girlfriend later, as I was relaying a story to her:

I'm actually serious about the cremation carbon thing. Saw it on Good Morning America. Dead peeps and diamonds (well, gems anyway, but dead peeps and diamonds has a nice ring to it.)

~~~

per an answer to a friend's email:

So please send [her] page that she has her articles on. I would greatly appreciate that. It would help a bunch. I'm surprised you hadn't done that sooner. What's wrong with you.

As for collars, I have one for every cat, but the baby doesn't wear one because she hates them. Badly. I will try putting one on her again for her own protection. Make sure [your cat] gets used to it at home before wandering out in the wild -- they are very very very very very very good at ejecting them. When they do that, you lose the rabies tag. That always sucks.

Scala is NOT up to date on her shots because she will NOT get into a cat cart. Therefore, her collar tag isn't up to date. She's the one that will probably eat a squirrel, so I need to get her updated. The vet said to put her into a pillow case.

yeah, right.

... more to come...

PS: why the hell did Elizabeth 1, Queen of England, always look like she was going thru chemo? I guess I should've watched the whole PBS program. I'll check the listings. Desperate Housewives trumped the Queen. Email me if you know these things.

They played a little divet of a song Sting did on his recent Medival Madrigal album, Songs from the Labyrinth. I have it. It is grand.

...to drink, to taste, to dine...

Oh, and the word of the week: aver. Use it in a sentence: I aver the Queen looked rode hard and put up wet.

How'my doin'??

Nectar of Life

January 12, 2007

This is something we all know, and some of us practice, but it certainly bears repeating. I am writing about this because I have found that my water intake is sadly lacking. Back in the day, when I was working out with a trainer, I think I got my quota of ounces, which is body weight multiplied by .55 -- this is how many ounces we should drink in any given day. Not tea, not juice, and your pot of coffee doesn't count.

Water. 64 +/- oz. of water every single day.

Try this little experiment: Set out 4 or 8 cups of water in the morning. If you use 4, like I do, plan on refilling them by your midday. You can also use 2 half liter bottles or 1 liter bottle of water, then drink the entire thing in a day. The best way to absorb water is to drink 4 oz every half hour, rather than gulping 6 or 8 oz at a time. I have been setting out my 4 cups of water, exactly the same size and amount (8 - 10 oz), to refill all four at about midday, right? If I drink them all by the time I go to bed, then that would be 8 "glasses" of water a day (each of these is actually about 10 oz, which means if I skip ONE, then I'm still okay.) I haven’t refilled them, but plan on it today and every other day of my life.

Well, I finish off about 4 of my water cups by the time I go to bed. And that's forcing it. Really. Some of you who are reading this LOVE water and get enough. Bravo!! It’s not that I don't like it, but I just don't think about drinking it often enough. Also, the more we drink the more we crave which is GREAT because it means we will seek it out like a divining rod.

A very, very good reason for drinking all this water is that it helps us to lose weight. Even better, it flushes out toxins while it lubricates our joints, spine, muscles, intestines, even reproductive systems. It also plumps up the skin on the face and neck, smoothing out wrinkles and “valleys” (as my nephew had referred to them on my own self before he was old enough to know better.) Yep, it is definitely a cure-all and it does work, if only we let it.

So force it I will, and I wanted to share all of that to remind you to drink more water, no matter how much you're already drinking. I’m doubling up on my intake.

Post Holiday and New Year Note: to any of you whom I haven't returned a phone call to, my apologies but there are reasons. Think about it. It will probably be very apparent.