or What I Learned on My Summer Vacationentitled Piracy! because I am pretty sure that akid has composed a blog entry, several weeks ago now, awaiting publishing because she wants to add pictures, that is entitled something like What I Learned in Orlando. It was her idea first. She's not copying me, I'm copying her. Ya' gotta jump off somewhere . . .
Anyway, back to the matter at hand . . .
These are a few of the things I have learned on my summer vacation from blogging:
1. On Crisis: I had a therapist several years ago who told me that the Chinese symbol for "crisis" includes the symbol for "danger" and "opportunity." I have heard of this marriage since that time and understand that it is a therapeutic cliche. I liked it at the time. Sounded like a good tattoo. However, I will tell you that having had a summer chock full of crisis--this feels like a crock of shit. Crisis sucks dude.
2. On Flying: I have appreciated the benefits of flying in my lifetime, acknowledging that it afforded me opportunities to do important things that changed my life--like travel to Spain to see my brother, to Nicaragua to learn about paternalism, to Kansas City, Chicago, Slt. Ste. Marie, and other myriad destinations to get a much needed fix of sanity and friendship. While I wouldn't trade these experiences and the flying that went with them, I can't say that I will ever take for granted the COST of flying. Flying sucks dude. (PS--Steer clear of AirTran.)
3. On Emptiness: I have often found myself struggling with emptiness--empty bank account, empty gas tank, empty refrigerator, empty mail box, empty womb. If you know me at all, you may know that these empties have been a real challenge for me. But I had a full house this summer, a full schedule, a full plate, and I have learned from it. Emptiness isn't as bad as it sounds.
4. On Pirates: I did see the Pirates of the Carribean (the first one) this summer. I used to make a habit of not liking Johnny Depp, I think mostly because of 21 Jump Street, but maybe also because of Edward Scissorhands. I've decided to disavow my dislike of Johnny Depp, because I was entertained by Pirates of the Carribean and I loved What's Eating Gilbert Grape, which I had seen previously but didn't give him enough in the credit column to warrant me changing my mind. It's amazing what respite from crisis (in the form of a movie) can do for an actor's reputation . . .5. On Yardwork: As envious as I am of my neighbors with green grass, it's too hot to do yardwork, so my yard is in the last stages of dying the slow death of lack of water. The green grass isn't always greener.
17 comments:
1. As you may know, many pirates are, according to W.S. Gilbert, "noblemen who have gone wrong." Thus, if they have abandoned the values of noblemen, hooray! Are pirates a natural consequence of capitalism?
2. To be outraged at one's treatment by airline personnel and policies in one particular event is certainly appropriate, but to tar the entire phenomenon of flight with that same brush may be a bit over the top? Of course, if that one event was a crash...
3. So, too Johnny Depp.
4. Yard work sucks! Drought sucks! 100 degrees suck - every one of them! To whome can I report MacDonald's for powerhosing its parking lots every morning?
5. On my summer vacation, I learned that I do not enjoy my work enough.
Former Pirate King
Oh yes, and also:
cliches only become cliches because they begin with something that works. Nevertheless, don't therapists commonly encourage their charges to de-catastrophize perceived crises (i.e. to not see them as crises) AND also to see them as opportunities (i.e. to take advantage of the motivation they offer/impose? Crisis good? Crisis bad? Crisis hurt!
FPK
And emptiness? Sucks! Likewise fullness. Not openness, opportunity, possibility, peace, quiet, free time, room to grow, a room of one's own, contentment, acceptance, grace, resources, potential, now, not yet, could be, might, energy, hope, breath, dreams, open-ended lists
Hi my unofficial adopted daughter.
Piracy? I have been admonished by school teachers too many times I guess. I'm a little leary of them unless they are my friends. I say this because once in High School I thought I'd enjoy an assignment to write a short story. Well, I did, both. Then after we turned them in and a couple of days later, my English teacher asked me to stay after class. She wanted to know where I plagerized the story! I was crushed, expecting praise and glory. I didn't know what to say, thinking only that (because my mother tortured and beat me) that I should have known that I could not trust persons of authority, especially those who are supposed to protect us. I guess that because I was naive I took it too hard and nothing I could say would satisfy her, not that I tried too hard. She said I couldn't write that short story, that she probably couldn't write that good. Being a confused teen at the time I returned to writing mediocre stuff and everyone was satified. The teacher was convinced I was a fraud and it was a lot easier for me. But, What I missed was the fun, but what I learned re-enforced my belief that I had to hide in the shadows and bend to the will of authority figures,and try to figure them out.
When I went to college, I exploded into rebellion, and sort of rowed myself out of the doldrums. I asked one professor, "What the Hell are you talking about?" He laughed and said, "hell I wish I knew, what do you think I'm talking about?" That started an exchange that others got involved in and it turned out to be a good class. Other incidents didn't end so pretty.
I suppose it is rare that a person and his true calling are married. I think you could have made the best lawyer in Dallas County. They would have trembled at the mention of your name. The key is to either persue the calling or manipulate your fate into happiness. I confess that I did neither so I conspired to try to live life w/o working. That turned out to be impossible so then I conspired ride the horse to death and retire early. That worked. During the malstorm of living I was determined that my wife would be a CPA, my oldest daughter a lawyer and my youngest a doctor. I was 2/3 successful, made them all independent and went mad in the persuits of my adventures.
So, where do you stand
in the night?
Do you stand near the fire?
There in the night,
With evil,
brutality,
corruption?
The only heat of the night.
Or in the shadows,
Grateful for the
forgotten crumbs?
Or
Do you stand on the fringes?
Too far and yet so near,
Struggling, yet desperate with fear?
Are you there where the shadows merge?
Unseen and forgotten?
Catching cruel glimpes of the alien fire?
Are you there
Beyond the shadows,
Beyond the light
In eternal night,
Where you have never
seen the light?
Where does Lisa stand in the
long dark night?
In the hopeless dark forest
of despair?
An insect of life
Cold, lost and alone?
Opps, R just informed me that I have posted this imagry before, a couple of times. I don't remember and I know how annoying that may be - but it means something to me, so try to overlook my BS. Everyone have a good day. the loco one.
Welcome back! I certainly will not take you to task over your yardwork. I hate yardwork anyway. Course, right now I don't have a yard, so...
I think I started liking Johnny Depp in Benny and Joon. I then liked him in Don Juan DeMarco and later Edward S. and have liked him ever since.
to da:
1. i get the message re: piracy, but in this instance, i can't laud myself as honorable or laudatory, as I was essentially stealing from my partner. uncool. not cool.
2. painting the entire flight experience with a tarred brush . . . i'm okay with it. i believe what I have said here is that flying sucks. not just because airtran sucks royally, but i also because i don't really like flying anyway. see another blog for my balance sheet of flying vs. other forms of travel.
3. I believe what i am saying here is that i have backed off of painting johnny depp with a tarred brush.
4. good question.
5. work may be merely a means to more desirable activities . . .
and to loco--you are not the only parent who has had fantasies of my marriage to the profession of law. this baffles me.
i do not have the ambition or fortitude (or passion and faith in the law) to jump through the flaming hoops of law school. i had a most difficult time getting my msw, the hoops of which were really quite large and easy to step through, provided on has enough time on one's hands.
to those who are able to jump through law school flaming hoops and emerge with their values and passion and faith intact . . . kudos to them. I suspect that in completing the jump most people lose something with which i don't care to part.
nevertheless, thanks for keeping me on as one of your blessed daughters. i am in great company.
and to e--
funny. i did not like him in ed scissor.
p'raps i should go back for another look.
never saw benny and joon, felt like i was living too close to it when the movie came out. also didn't see don j.
as for yardwork . .. you best not take me to task. when was the last time you did yard work on your own?
i've got nothin' but love for ya- - -
Lisa, that's why I didn't go. I want others to take that beating of law school, and there seem to be many who are ready and willing.
One of my cousins was the most famous lawyer in Central Texas. He once told Jennifer that "no matter how many lawyers are out there, there's plenty of room at the top."
My comment about you really was an analysis of your brillance. You are the only person I ever saw that could read the most boring material in the world and - remember it.
Oh, my cousin "was" - he got killed in a car wreck about a year away to retirement on his big cattle ranch.
Be happy and "I'm very proud of you."
hey gringo--
much love to you for your kind words. but reading through boring material and remembering isn't a sign of brilliance--it's a sign of an odd quirk. which in my case, by the way, doesn't translate into being able to remember the INTERESTING things that I read. I forget those almost as quickly as I read them.
Well, that is odd I guess. But I don't remember anything, which may be a blessing. What has gotten me through life is being a lucky SOB.
I am lucky, and especially lucky in love and if I had to choose, that's what I would choose.
Lucky in love? Yes, that’s good. And I am.
Speaking of which, I think Maria would say that she enjoys flying. I might have said that once. I don't anymore, especially now that I'm not going to be able to take a big drink with ice on board with me. I've sat in too many narrow seats and been annoyed by too many snippy flight attendants. I don't think it's just me. I think the airline employees are less friendly than they used to be.
I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about Johnny Depp. I thought he was fun in the first Pirates of the Caribbean (I didn't see the second). I haven't seen Edward Scissorhands or What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I really liked Cry Baby; I hated Secret Window. I never saw "21 Jump Street." I seem to remember him saying some critical things about the American political world. That I like.
Welcome back!
Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.
Stevorino, lisa, mylissa, Emerson once said that traveling is a fools paradise. He also said that you will find yourself where ever you go.
Both those statements make me a little uneasy. I like to travel and I like everyplace I've ever been.
I also like everybody unless they give me a reason not to.
Artists? Yes and they also contrive. Once in Kuwait a British journalist asked us to walk through a battle site as if we were looking for the enemy. He filmed it. Guess he had to send back some footage. Stevo, remember the little tree I stuck in a burned out tree and took a photo of it as if life was springing from death? Life? A hoot and a holler.
However, I will say that you can learn a hell of a lot from the best and to try to emulate them is better than not. Maybe
1. Johny Depp was better in Pirates 1 than 2. Maybe because the character was newer. O Bloom was wasted in his part. he interviews better (and with enthusiasm) than he has ever been filmed acting (eye candy syndrome). Depp is extremely wacky in Ed Wood - says his inspiration was a ventriloquist's puppet. Sara Jessica Parker was good in it and Bill Murray was hilariously bad as Bunny, the leader in Plan 9 From Outer Space, which the real Ed Wood conned the Baptists into funding. Wonderfully bad sci fi, very good theramin music.
2. Air flight does suck. Avoid Air France (we believe they regularly chuck out your luggage over the Atlantic to see if it will float) and Charler deGaulle airport (they tend to let bridges with ir France pasengers on them drop - used Dr. Suess as an architect). Being somewhere else and discovering they do the same things we do while enjoying different scenery is the fun of traveling.
3. Angela Landsbury played Ruth, the piratical maid of all work in Pirates of Pinzance, looking like she was having a blast doing it, too.
4. What do social workers in your household charge for advice?
5. I don not type well. (^#&$)
Mi Tia - you type perfectly fine. I am always looking forward to your comments. I've been typing for 50 years and I bet I can't type over 15 words per minute. I just hit the wall somewhere. Speed is what I want and can't achieve so I accept my limitations and love life and have as much fun as I can under the circumstances. You seem to be a whole lot like me.
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