Joan made a special trip to Danville this morning to meet the application deadline for an employment opportunity here. I’m glad she did it. Nothing may come of it, but, in my mind, she’s uniquely qualified to excel at this newly created position, and it would be a job she could enjoy—something she deserves. Actually, I just like the idea of her working only half a block away. That would be cool.
Another line in the water
May 19th, 2006Night Hag, begone
May 18th, 2006Last night before bed I read Ian’s post about his mother, and it would’ve buckled my knees if I hadn’t been sitting down. And then I had this dream where I was swimming in a pond and there was this powerful suction hole at the bottom that carried water a good ways off, and I got up the courage to swim into it and it sucked me through a tunnel and spat me out down a hill. Then someone else decided to try it (I won’t use a name), and they didn’t come out the other side. I had the horrible realization that the person had become stuck and was probably struggling and holding his breath, so I had to decide immediately whether to go in, too, with the hope of possibly dislodging him and forcing us through, but having the clear awareness that we would likely both be stuck and drown—or whether to do nothing—and I had to decide NOW. It was so frightening that I woke up and I haven’t forgotten about it yet. Sorry, I promise I won’t make a practice of recording my dreams here. Maybe all this is because I was talking to Mombo about that bad dream I had back in January.
Tales of the Graybeard Prospector XIII
May 17th, 2006• Put on a necktie this morning and spent an hour with the new leader of Boyle County’s Economic Development Partnership. Call it “chemistry” or whatever, but sometimes things just click from the outset, and the only way the meeting could’ve gone better was if he’d given me an assignment on the spot. Stay tuned.
Tales of the Graybeard Prospector XII
May 16th, 2006• This has always been a numbers game—numbers of prospects, letters, phone calls, meetings, and presentations. Build the numbers and something is bound to hit, sooner or later. That’s not what causes me to scratch my whiskers, though. No, I’m still trying to figure out how I promised to create a proposal for a service I have absolutely no idea how to provide…
heart’s zeal = uneven keel
May 15th, 2006Band Festival, Salvation Army, Bicycle Commission…
Alas, where did my Monday go?
A Happy Mombo’s Day
May 14th, 2006An evening of scrounged Chang leftovers, Godiva chocolate, and microwave popcorn… Priceless.
Double Graduation, Good Vibrations
May 13th, 2006I wasn’t able to spend last night working on my two “Photorama” collages for the Clan graduates, since we spent the evening with the Simpsons watching “Out of Africa.” It forced me to complete the gifts today, but everything worked out fine. After an eight-mile morning run, I was able to focus on my intuitive sprint to the family deadline—an ideal circumstance for creating this particular type of artwork—as well as getting to savor one of the only flawless motion pictures made in the past 25 years.
25 years… that’s Brendan’s lifetime, and includes the lifetimes of all the Clan youngsters present at our celebration for Nicholas and Caitlan. And speaking of Brendan, I got to see him in action with his new camera, an impressive piece of equipment. As I shot with my vintage Nikkormat, I felt like a geezer driving around in a dusty old coupe. Ah well, at least I didn’t say, “No, sirree-Bob, they don’t make ’em like this anymore.”
It was fun to eat good Chinese food with Nic and Josh and Marty, too. Nic was having a great day, one that will last long in the memory bank. I wish my Godson well as he prepares to begin his studies in veterinary medicine. I really didn’t get to chat with Oxford-bound Caitlan, but, actually, I really didn’t get to talk to many of the others either, including my mom, but that didn’t stop me from simply absorbing the magnitude of the good family vibes, before it was all over much too quickly.
Start the countdown
May 12th, 2006Finalizing the design and artwork for the Band Festival t-shirt took far longer than I expected. I’ve decided that if I’m going to put in this kind of effort next year, the committee needs to select me as the “Featured Artist.” Otherwise, it’ll be time to bow out. It could make for an especially busy spring, since I just found out I’ve been granted a solo show at the gallery of the Community Arts Center in May of 2007.
Tales of the Graybeard Prospector XI
May 11th, 2006• This was one of those oddball days with wall-to-wall meetings and a string of outings into the community. Naturally, I tried to make the most of continuous contact with a wide variety of people, doing my best to avoid missing any opportunity to soft-sell our valuable capability.
Blow by quiet blow, I must pursue this steady defiance, in opposition to any prevailing trend of discontinuity in my commercial affairs. Resignation—to predispositions of temperament, or inevitabilities, or thought habits, or genes, or patterns of behavior, or personal psychology, or so-called karma, or perceptions of Fate—is not an option, as long as I have the power to invite change. Nothing is fixed in a world full of grace, in a world where I am receptive to the One Source of constructive change. As one would expect, the essayist provides even more keys:
But Fate has its lord; limitation its limits; is different seen from above and from below; from within and from without. For, though Fate is immense, so is power, which is the other fact in the dual world, immense. If Fate follows and limits power, power attends and antagonizes Fate. We must respect Fate as natural history, but there is more than natural history. For who and what is this criticism that pries into the matter? Man is not order of nature…But the lightning which explodes and fashions planets, maker of planets and suns, is in him…if you please to plant yourself on the side of Fate, and say, Fate is all; then we say, a part of Fate is the freedom of man. Forever wells up the impulse of choosing and acting in the soul. Intellect annuls Fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free…it is wholesome to man to look not at Fate, but the other way: the practical view is the other. His sound relation to these facts is to use and command, not to cringe to them…They who talk much of destiny, their birth-star, &c., are in a lower dangerous plane, and invite the evils they fear.
“Once a pirate, always a pirate.”
No…
And the Old Fisherman was not the only one who misunderstood.
The Ghost of Lice was wrong…
Follow not the path of destiny, but accept the freedom to understand and transcend it.
Act to empower oneself with a force of creative conduct.
There I go again
May 10th, 2006…creating a design that I have absolutely no idea how to execute for final production. I suppose it’s how I’ve inadvertently forced myself over the years to learn much of what I know, most of which I’ll never use again.
Once we were little, now we blog
May 9th, 2006My big sis has recently returned to her daily journal.
It makes me happy…
The M:I “Saga” Series — a complete history
May 8th, 2006The Rollin Saga / ELENA / starring Martin Landau and Barbara Luna / Episode 10, Year One / First aired, 12/10/66
The Cinnamon Saga / THE SHORT TAIL SPY / starring Barbara Bain and Hans Gudegast (Eric Braeden) / Episode 14, Year One / First aired, 12/17/66
The Jim Saga / NICOLE / starring Peter Graves and Joan Collins / Episode 73, Year Three / First aired, 3/30/69
The Barney Saga / DEATH SQUAD / starring Greg Morris and Cicely Tyson / Episode 100, Year Four / First aired, 3/15/70
The Paris Saga / MY FRIEND, MY ENEMY / starring Leonard Nimoy and Jill Haworth / Episode 107, Year Five / First aired, 10/25/70
The Dana Saga / THE MISSILE / starring Lesley Ann Warren and John Beck / Episode 119, Year Five / First aired, 1/16/71
The Willy Saga / DOUBLE DEAD / starring Peter Lupus and Irene Tsu / Episode 143, Year Six / First aired, 2/12/71
The Nicholas Saga / THE ASSASSIN / starring Thaao Penghlis / M:I Revival, Episode 32 / First aired, 1/20/90
The Shannon Saga / CHURCH BELLS IN BOGOTA / starring Jane Badler / M:I Revival, Episode 34 / First aired, 2/10/90
The Ethan Saga, Part One / Mission: Impossible / starring Tom Cruise and Emmanuelle Béart / Theatrical release, 1996
The Ethan Saga, Part Two / M:I-2 / starring Tom Cruise and Thandie Newton / Theatrical release, 2000
The Ethan Saga, Part Three / M:I-3 / starring Tom Cruise and Michelle Monaghan / Theatrical release, 2006
M : I : 3
May 7th, 2006If you grew up with the original Mission: Impossible concept and sat through two substandard motion picture versions…
If you admire the best aspects of the Alias television series…
If you’re ready for some young IMF team members that Dan Briggs would have been proud to carry in his portfolio…
If you don’t dislike Tom Cruise any more than you do Jennifer Garner…
If you think Ving Rhames is cool…
If you think Lalo Schifrin is even cooler…
Then you’re ready to buy a ticket for the next installment of “The Ethan Saga.”
The Secretariat will disavow any knowledge
May 6th, 2006Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones… There’s been a lot of buzz over the past decade about the emergence of a new Super Horse and Triple Crown Winner. I watched each of those horses win the Derby, but hadn’t experienced the kind of emotion I felt today seeing Barbaro accelerate to his impressive victory. Didn’t even mind waiting another day to catch an M:I:3 matinee.
Various & Sundry, part thirty-eight
May 4th, 2006— Last night I did the 30-miler to Stanford and back and felt strong. Back in July of 2005 I did that same ride and I was burnt toast by the time I got home. This is called progress. As a result, my legs felt a bit spent in the pool today, but I almost broke my 300-yard record time anyway. If had the buckers, I’d locate a challenging summer triathlon and go for it. “My favorite thing that makes me happy is… money.” Tell that to the Graybeard Prospector.
— If you can believe Zogby, 20% of 18-24-year-olds think that Germany was our ally in the second World War, and 52% could not name the American president who fought it. OK, the only solution is to produce a new WWII movie blockbuster that drills it into their heads. Here’s the cast—Dennis Quaid as FDR, Hilary Swank as Eleanor, Ed Harris as Ike, Paul Giamatti as Truman, Tim Robbins as MacArthur, Pete Postlethwaite as Montgomery, Ethan Hawke as Ernie Pyle, and Michael Gambon as Winston Churchill. Top that! I know, I know… lots of big battle scenes and pre-deployment consummations.
— I’m starting to see indications of blogging backlash, and maybe you’ve seen the same thing or—Heavens, no!—are part of the lash. Well, if you have any doubts about how constructive blogging can be, check out the way Dr. Weston has integrated it into his teaching at Gruntled Center.
— I had my second meeting with Wilma today and it looks like my having a one-man show at Danville’s Community Arts Center in 2007 is nearly a “done deal.” Stay tuned…
— Take the “Which Superhero are you?” quiz. I am ROBIN!
— BCA got a digital camera for his birthday present. Look out—the torch has passed. I didn’t go to his party. I figured I’d be too intimidated by all the celebrities.
Commander SpaceDork, Esquire
May 3rd, 2006• Other than motorist, you can call him a lot of things, because he just might be the most multi-talented person I’ve ever known—artist, musician, actor, humorist, gamesman, advocate, designer, scientist, thinker—how does someone like that decide what to do? Well, it appears he has decided what to do and what to be called… Writer.
• He expanded my joy of uncle-hood, and has enriched my life with his many discoveries, observations, and creative acts. He jolts my imagination. He makes me ponder, stretch, laugh.
• Of course, he’s brilliant, but also understanding, understandable, considerate, generous, and fun-loving. As we all know, those qualities don’t automatically go together.
• When he was four, he said to me, “My favorite thing that makes me happy is… money.”
• Today, I suppose, his favorite things that make him happy are…
Free words—
one hundred and one at a time, to be precise.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my “NB.” I love you, forever…
New guy in town
May 2nd, 2006My day had bookends by the name of Flint.
I was there at City Hall when he made his early streetscape presentation, and he was still going strong twelve hours later when he spoke to our task force about potential cycling enhancements.
By his own admission, he doesn’t know how to slow down and relax. He’s leaving home to catch a jet at 4:30 am tomorrow morning.
I’ve only known him a few weeks, but long enough to decide I like him, long enough for me to hope he quits smoking, long enough to imagine us working on good projects together.
Sometimes you meet an individual who you know you can learn from, and who you know can learn from you, and you can’t help but wonder how the story unfolds.
Various & Sundry, part thirty-seven
May 1st, 2006— Month of April workout totals: Swim-4; Bike-6; Run-3; Lift-6; Yoga-7
— We stopped out at the park to watch some of Hayley’s varsity softball game, but she wasn’t having a very good night on the field or at the plate. Cliff and I talked about business. Dana and I needed to leave after a few innings, and Hayley’s team was winning, but it was my hope she’d have a much better j-v game.
— I had to do my utmost to tactfully resist the mushrooming of my Brass Band Festival involvement. It was necessary to remind others why donating creative time is worthwhile to our studio—an opportunity to represent our best ideas to the community. One shouldn’t need to explain that we volunteer for reasons that go beyond the goodness of our hearts, and that the mutual benefit doesn’t work if we end up executing production services for the featured artist.
— Seems like my old chum Scott V and I only touch base this time of year, during our shared birthday season, but nothing wrong with that. A life-long athlete, he’s recovering from disc surgery on his neck and is eager to be back to normal. His goal is to return to the ball diamond as soon as he can. In a month he plans to go fishing in Canada with his Dad and four of his brothers. Sounds like a great getaway—no phones, no TV, with just cold water in the cabins. Dadbo always talked about taking the Dixon brothers on a trip to the “North Woods,” but it never happened. I’m happy to learn Scott is getting to do it, although it makes me sad at the same time.
Birthday pie for breakfast
April 30th, 2006What better way to assuage the knowledge of being another year older?
Various & Sundry, part thirty-six
April 29th, 2006— It was a small group of local runners this morning, due to the Derby Festival in Louisville. I’m sure most of them were competing in the 13.1-miler, but my pals Don and Larry were doing the full Marathon. Mort and I did ten miles at a comfortable enough pace to talk the whole time, covering a range of subjects from mentorship, aging, rail trails, grassroots activism, minority politics, and the separation of church and state, which was a great way to start a birthday. After I got home, Lee stopped by to present her gift—a copy of The Emerald Book, which she found in her grandmother’s attic. It’s troubling to think it wasn’t so long ago that third and fourth graders were reading the poems of Shakespeare, Stevenson, Kipling, Tennyson, Coleridge, Hawthorne, Riley, and Emerson. It also contains reproductions of works by painters like Hals and Carpaccio, with short lessons in art appreciation. What happened to the idea of children having the imaginative freedom to be kids while they simultaneously advance on a gradient apprenticeship to adult culture? Instead, we have a glut of twenty-something adolescents attempting to understand the roots of Western Thought by watching a Brad Pitt movie, as primary schoolers learn that “fuck” can be either a verb, noun, or interjection. Does anyone know how we let this happen?
— Although we had a good turnout at our banquet Thursday evening, most of our strong Centre College supporters were absent because, unfortunately, we were competing with the appearance of Helen Thomas as part of their Press Distinguished Lecture Series. Not surprisingly, the veteran White House correspondent directed her criticism at the president, suggesting he follow the advice given to LBJ during Viet Nam and “Declare a victory and leave”. Please pay closer attention, Helen—that’s what our enemies may already be in the process of doing. Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a desperate attempt to impede the steady rise of Iraqi democracy, revealed his appearance in a recent propaganda video. In another tape, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahri pleaded impotently with Muslims to oppose our Arab allies, and he declared that militants have “broken the back” of the U.S.-led effort. In the face of such frantic attempts on the part of Al-Qaida to remain relevant in Iraq, now is not the time to abandon the fledgling coalition government.
— Terie and Marty came over for either a late lunch or an early dinner—not sure which—with berry pie and ice cream (I don’t do cake on April 29th, thank you). Marty described his new pc game, Rome: Total War, and we watched a classic M:I episode, “The System” (we used to call it “Johnny Costa” back in the 60s) while Dana and Terie finished the tuna melts, keeping an eye on the NFL draft at the same time. I’d already received my gifts of a wristwatch and set of Koh-I-Noor Nexis art pens from Dana. Terie and Marty surprised me with a Serenity DVD. Well, maybe my home is not a hotbed of high culture, but who can find fault with a full day of pleasurable cooleosity?
— Ok, it’s 54. Happy Birthday to me.
Blood and Fire
April 28th, 2006There are flaws in all events, and the time will come soon enough for our annual “post-mortem” evaluation, but overall, The Salvation Army Appreciation Dinner was a great success. I can’t describe the sense of relief and satisfaction that today brings, other than to state that those are the feelings dominating my mood. I sense perfect timing for the new cycle that arrives tomorrow—a cycle of change and new projects.
It was good to see my sister Jeanne at the dinner, representing the 10th Planet, one of the new “Business Partners in HOPE.” Cliff was torn between being there and attending Hayley’s Boyle-Danville softball matchup, and he decided to wear the Dad cap. That’s just fine—there will be more Salvation Army goings-on for the rest of our lives, but children have fleeting intervals that are quickly gone forever.
I missed my chance to personally invite Seth at Easter, but there he was with his mentor, Mr. Durham! A superb opportunity for him to learn more about the Army and solidify his sense of achievement in Liberty last Christmas season. I also heard the good news that he’ll be attending the Governor’s Scholars Program this summer.
David and Lee were there, plus all the great friends of the Army’s mission in our five-county area. Divisional Commander Major Howell was a fantastic guest speaker and his address was a tough act for me to follow, since, as Vice Chair of the Advisory Board, I was to give the closing remarks and prayer. The Spirit was right there to boost my delivery, and I did as well as I think I’ve ever done in front of a large group. I’d gone with my intuition when I developed my speech, but wasn’t entirely confident of its appropriateness until Major Howell spoke, and then I knew that everything dovetailed with precision. Divine design? Amazing…