I was sitting here not trying hard to wake up and I had some inspiration sneak up on me and I thought I would come to the blog and write some witty nothingism. But it seems I have nothing witty to ism so I will just say that I have several stories in mind to write and I will have the writing urge sometime after I work through the drawing urge I currently am working through. I've been creating some cool visual stuff and I will post some samples of that here. I've not posted visual art before, so I may have to practice a bit before I get it right, so bear with me. I've been utilizing markers (primarily Sharpie brand) and gel pens on glossy paper and the colors go down smooth and are quite vibrant. I've then been manipulating the finished art by cutting and pasting and creating wonderful mandala designs. Great fun. I am currently coloring in a print of one of my early (1970's) designs and enjoying the results as they grow.
I don't know how long I will draw rather than write, I seem to go through stages that last for a couple years or so, but I would like to get ideas down in type and I may try to wrangle some things out of my imagination while still being gnawed on by the drawing bug.
I've had several things that have poked my awareness of my mortality lately and I am wondering how much of the stuff inside me I will be able to get out before I can't any more. I had a good friend (not close, but very good) die last week, someone I knew in high school and for a bit thereafter. I hadn't seen him in about 30 years, but he was one of those people that I always knew I would get together with eventually. A wonderful, compassionate, positive individual and now he is gone. I will be turning 60 this year and that has sort of been a mental dividing line between 'was young' and 'is old' to me. I've grown a beard (since February) with the intent to shave it off on my December birthday. I've found, over the years and several beards, that facial hair makes me look older (as it seems to do with most people) and I will thus get older and look younger at the same time. Games and silly fun. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis last Fall and I am on a daily fight against pain. I'm taking a (relatively) low end drug that helps, but does not stop the pain. I am slowly altering my diet as I discover what foods set off negative reactions in my body. (I won't ever have French fries again!) These kicks-in-the-consciousness have reminded me of the fragility and limited range of personal incarnation and I do so want to produce and share as much of my creative energies as I can. So I will try to be more productive with writing... but no guarentees. I have two Zlodt Bardo ideas (Zlodt and the Invisible Ray gun and Zlodt and the Time Machine) that promise to be amusing, and I have the third installment of Withering Flatts to rewrite and expand. I have a number of Zen Nonsense (Sensho, Bishu, Yukyuk and Ho Ho) stories to post as well as lots of random thoughts to share, and I will endeavor to put some of those to keyboard upon more frequent occasions than I have been.
And now, my early morning dose of caffeine is wearing down and I want to get up to my drawing table before I start thinking of nap time. I am excited enough about the evolving drawing that I am self-energized by working on it.
Maybe I'll write something else later, but for now, here's a thought for the day:
Finicky's Wake is a great name for a boat.
