awesomeness

I am really lucky. My friends and family are the best that any man could want or imagine.

I do not take these relationships lightly, but sometimes distance can be rough on the closeness that I had with these amazing people. Learning that their children (I swore I saw them in diapers just yesterday) are heading off to college… finding a friend’s address that hasn’t been valid in years… or, hearing of a sad event in their lives that I would have known about if I lived closer, can all send me into a little panic. It is always sad when memories start to fade, and we are not privy to those things that originally made us companions

Thankfully, social media sites keeps me updated in ways that I might not have been years ago. But, that is small comfort for a strong friendship.

So, to hear from my awesome friends, some not seen for over ten years… with support and backing of my kickstarter campaign,  has been an eye-opening revelation. These kind people continue to support my dreams, as I hope that I can do for them one day. So, to my friends from Vermont, Phoenix, Boston, New Jersey, New York, Texas, India, and everywhere else… I love you all, and thanks for your undying friendship.

Here is a list of my latest and greatest friends and supporters:

• Emily Gallardo
• Carin Willis
• Robert and Elaine Davis
• Deborah Fehr
• Marie Klein
• Vicki Shimp
• Jane Wu
• Jon and Liz Stone
• Julia Warren
• Joan Biehl
• Kate Timmerman
• Stacy Fischer
• Shikha Poddar
• Cary Lawson
• Jennifer Roycroft Pires

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awesomeness of the day — April 19, 2013

You will have to decide if this painting is awesome or not. I completed this encaustic painting yesterday after about a six weeks of working diligently. I’m still looking at it myself. I hope you enjoy, but I know some of you will let me know.

Untitled (so far)
48 x 12 inches
encaustic and oil on wood
2013

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Yikes! I’ve become just like grandpa (or grandma).

Talking with some friends the other day, I found myself (once again) in a conversation about common surgical operations and current aches and pains. Yikes! Is this the future for me? Probably… but, only if I can throw in a conversation about the weather, bunions, and other old people subjects!

I have seen my future, and it is one filled with complaining and moaning. It is probably a ilfe of yelling at kids in the yard, complaining about my computer, and many years of conspiracy theories. Welcome to life over fifty! But really, I probably have been a curmudgeon (and who, but an old curmudgeon knows what that means!) for years now. I have decided to own up to the fact that I have skipped being my parents, and went right to being my grandparent. Here is the proof.

• While in Catholic school, we were told that gentlemen never wears a hat indoors. My mom, too, made us take our hats off when entering the house… even the girls. It was considered very rude if we didn’t remove them. So, when I see someone wearing a baseball cap, fedora, pork pie hat or (especially) a wool cap indoors, I can feel a little blood start to boil in my head. So, to be empathetic, to calm myself down, and move on with my life, I imagine everyone wearing a hat indoors has got to have really awful hair underneath. Now hat wearers… I feel your pain.

• I’m no prude, but I really get irked when I hear the f word in public places. Douchebags… you don’t have to yell it when there are children around. Or anyone, for that matter. The word is losing it’s shock value, and now it is just annoying. I miss the old days when it meant something.

• I’ve noticed for while now, that I grunt or moan when I sit in a chair. If I didn’t moan when I got up, everyone would notice that my knees crack. So, it has become a vicious cycle… I have to moan so others do not hear the other noises coming from my body. Sigh! Oh, yeah… I now sigh a lot.

• Waking up at 5 or 5:30 in the morning was a necessity after moving to Phoenix. In order to get some yard work done, go running a bit, or just have some breakfast outside before the heat arrived with a vengeance. Now, I just wake up early because I can’t sleep at night. And, I don’t take a morning run any longer because of a bad back. So, I go to bed earlier in hopes of getting a bit more sleep, and I get up earlier and earlier. Then, I am tired early in the evening. They say that is what old people do. Soon, I will be eating dinner at about 3:00 for the early bird special.

• I work at home, and often get requests to watch my neighbor’s homes when they are on vacation. I have become the unofficial designated neighborhood watch, and have keys to five or six homes on the block… just in case. So in response, Gladys Kravitz is my new hero. Always on the alert, I can often be found peering through my plantation shutters to see what the heck are those kids doing in my yard! Maybe I need to turn the sprinklers on!!!

Above: Gladys Kravitz peeking through a window.

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5 very good reasons for not writing today.

Every Friday, I try to write a little about the five things that amused, excited, or inspired me that week. I was on vacation last week, and took Friday off. Today, here are five excuses for not writing.

1. Even though I had a short week, it was freakin’ busy.
2. I am way too tired.
3. It is way too hot!
4. Does anyone really read this?
5. Did I mention that I am not in the mood.

Until next week?

Photo: Lantern over Lake Michigan. © Christopher Jagmin 2012

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