tin foil

There's a bit in the Maira Kalman book, THE PRINCIPLES OF UNCERTAINTY, about her demented aunt who tried to pay for a sandwich (I think...) with packets of sweet and low. Interestingly enough this is a common form of currency amongst the nursing home "memory unit" crowd. Which led me to start thinking about how tin foil is a common item used by psychotic people to defend themselves against the entities their delusions lead them to fear. You know, like aliens, microwave radiation, sprocketheads...(Oh forget the sprockethead reference. Everyone knows the only defense against them is a variable speed power drill, preferably cordless with a fully charged battery. )
They put tin foil on their windows, on their heads, in their pockets, anywhere the foe might seep in...
That led me to think, "what did stone age paranoids use to defend themselves? What came before tin foil?"

ambivalence

so here it is, a year and a half after the big break up... I made it through the survival phase: can I pay the bills??, what do single persons eat for breakfast?, do the rules of gravity still apply to me? . Now into the NOW WHAT? phase. I don't remember feeling like this for a long time, anxious and angst ridden, what to do with my life kind of a thing. I'm trudging along day to day rather bored and unsettled. so of course the opportunity to get myself embroiled in a heartache kind of situation comes up. or at least in MY head it comes up....20 years ago yippie skippy off i'd go, now I'm a little bit more reticent, but still worked up enough to lose sleep over thinking about the possiblility.
I made this piece to channel the energy. It involved power tools, which is always a good release, now isn't it? One side says "no way, stay out, be safe", the other is "well maybe a good jolt is just what the dr. ordered!"

excess and debauchery

the gal on the left pretty much sums up how I looked all day yesterday after being out at the blues jam on tues night, a school night.... I didn't get home until 10PM!!! and I had a second glass of wine, which turned out to be a BIG MISTAKE. and actually the gal on the left looks quite a bit better than I did yesterday now that I think about it.
the guy on the right with the guitar is Joe Kelleman, maker of fine amplifyers, aka Jo Mama. (www.jomamamusic.com)

the church of equine science

It's sunday morning and here I am coming home from my ride. There is a brisk touch to the air, and both the horse and the dog were spooky. The coyotes must have been out there somewhere although I didn't see them... When starting out I was headachey, and distracted. I think I was worrying over money, should I get new tires on the car I hate or find myself a good psychotherapist?? personal safety or getting 6 hours closer to self actualization, always a dilemma...In the midst of this pondering, Keno, the horse, stopped abruptly and puts his head in the air, the beginning of a whirl back towards dodge city...
bringing me back to NOW. So that's why I call it church. The rest of the time I'm right there riding the horse, stopping sparky from eating rotting garbage, looking for rusty junk to add to the latest art project, pulling cactus out of sparky's foot, being there. badabing badaboom I'm in the moment, the headache is gone...who needs psychotherapy, I think I'll go ahead and get the damn tires....