The Sky and I

Sometimes I wonder why I'm so inherently interested in the sky? Why do I feel the need to take so many photographs of the sky? I mean, generally speaking isn't it one of those, "If you've seen one, you've seen them all" things? But to my eyes and visual senses, each late afternoon sky, especially when clouds of varying shades of dark and light, the falling sun or the rising moon are integrated is a unique event and a historic occurrence that will never happen again and which I often find myself in awe of.

The sun especially ….. in ever-changing stages of brightness, dominance and brilliant distortion ….. imagine my obsession if one could safely gaze at it without interruption for more than a second or two ….. but the suns role in all this, demands my free-of-distraction attention as it flashes always evolving, divergent views with each passing moment.

The presence of birds-in-flight offers an added dimension and greater depth.

It's all kind of like when I used to play basketball and I'd get fascinated by all the evolving movements on the court between anywhere from two to ten players during a single game ….. or even more specifically a single possession of the ball. Using memory and visualization I'd replay specific sequences in my mind. And that probably sounds like something that maybe the real greats did to help make them as great as they were/are, but I did it as well ….. and I was in no remote or wildly fictional way a "great" player. But I did see every stage of movement and adjustment as unique and as something to be remembered, a progression that would never happen again in exactly the same manner. The thought of such is fascinating to me.

And I see that in the sky also!!!

Passings

Not that I enjoy writing (or thinking) about such things .....

Recently it's seemingly daily that I'm hearing or reading news about someone either from my high school class or within a year or two that has passed away. I know it's to be expected as we get older, but this seems to be happening at an accelerated pace. It makes a person more and more thankful for surviving to this point.

It wasn't that long ago that most of us were likely still thinking in terms of invincibility. That sure turned around quickly. Now you're just wishing for ten or fifteen more years ..... more would be a nice bonus.

Changes

Changes are occurring in my world. No effort is being made, it's just happening. I'm suddenly not planning my activities around televised sports. I record games when I'm away, but make no attempt to keep from hearing the score or outcome beforehand .... And the past month or two, I haven't even been watching many of the recordings. Maybe the inner voices have decided that I've missed out on too much life? I'm still interested in the final results but beyond that, win or lose, either outcome is OK. Maybe not quite to the point of being "fine" yet, but OK as in: OK it's over, let's go on to whatever's next. Not earth shaking stuff but for me, it's certainly something!

Shopping For a TV

Shopping for a new television ..... frustrating stuff. The dozens of display models all look exactly the same in the stores. Your just about ready to purchase but decide to take a last look online and read a few more reviews where someone always has a complaint. You eventually think that you're ready and get inside the store where the voices with questions and doubts take over your mind. So how the hell do you make a decision?

I want to do this once, be done and be happy. No issues, no returns and no consulting tech support. There ought to be a service where you plug in the amount of money you are willing to spend, all the human factors are analyzed (likes, dislikes, various preferences, etc) and it chooses the best set for you while tabulating the odds of satisfaction.

Strange Days

These are the times that mess me up internally until a return to normalcy occurs. A long holiday weekend. A Wednesday evening that feels like a Friday night. A Thursday (Thanksgiving) that will feel like a Sunday followed by a Friday that has no feel and then the real weekend. After a short week like this, the following Monday will feel like three days in length. My mind struggles to comprehend it all. Then just as your body gets back to its normal routines, the Christmas and New Year holidays arrive and you go through the body clock confusion all over again.

Not that I'm complaining about it all.

Decision

A lot of contemplation. A lot of fretting. Back and forth. Pros and cons. Yes and no!! I changed my mind seemingly every five minutes for the past week. I was actually growing exhausted from the conflicting voices in my head.

It came down to it's being one of the greatest albums of all-time. It's one of my personal desert island discs. Top five even!! I listened to it daily when it first came out over forty years ago. When I was young, naive and sentimental and going through several powerful emotions for the first time.

Is it important to me? Is it too extravagant of me? Do I deserve it? Will I sit down and listen to the whole thing? Will it have repeated listens?

I listened repeatedly to song samples. I loved its sad beauty. I was remembering feelings that I hadn't experienced for almost half a century. Remembering a specific person that suddenly came and went from my world back then. Visual flashbacks were happening.

I read reviews that called it an essential historical document in music. I knew that eventually, I was going to either get it or if it reached a point where it wasn't available ...... regret not getting it for the rest of my life. It was costly but this has always been my passion .... collecting music. That's my main thing!!

I made up my mind to make the purchase!!! I nervously sped through city streets on my five mile, rush hour journey to the record store, swearing at yellow and red lights along the way and at cars moving too slowly for my satisfaction. Afraid that I'd change my mind once again. Worried that someone else had beat me to it.

Bob Dylan's, "Blood On the Tracks." was the original record. I bought it on vinyl the day it was released, my Freshman year in college (early 1975 as I recall) ..... This, the recently released box set, "More Blood, More Tracks."

Freeway Blues

Scary happening today!! A pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer, just ahead of me on I-5, had a blowout at 65 miles-per-hour with rubber sent flying every direction. The driver managed to pull over onto the shoulder without too much trouble it appeared. And I managed to dodge airborne chunks of tire. Glad that I wasn't tailgating. I knew there was a sound reason that I always try to keep a good amount of distance between myself and whoever is ahead of me.

Our 60's!!!

Whoever thought, all those years ago, that we'd ever arrive in our 60's? It certainly wasn't even a notion when we were teenagers. Even while we were in our 50's, the 60's just didn't seem imaginable. It was the beginning point of old age right? But here we are ….. and sometimes it just doesn't seem real. It's like, when are we going to wake up from this dream and be young again? Or maybe we've been victims of bad math when counting our birthdays? Considering the alternative it's certainly an achievement to be proud of, more than a few never made it, but still …..

Saturday Notes

• Sign in the grocery store above the vat of soup: "Hot Salmon Chowder - Contains Seafood." Well geez I certainly hope so. I'm not wanting to purchase the salmon chowder because it contains hamburger or chicken.
• The Record Store suddenly has several titles from what appears to be obscure 1960's rock bands. The Weeds being the only one that I recall. Wish I knew more about these groups. The cover art on each looks like cool potential additions for my vinyl collection. 
• If for nothing else, I really should carry my cell phone with me wherever I go for purposes of note taking when I see something I want to check out when I get home. 
• Maybe the most beautiful mid-November afternoon locally in the history of the worlds mid-November afternoons, spent walking around taking photos. If I had had to go into work ….. well I just might have forgotten.
• "Kills more than 99.9% of germs" ..... So why not identify which germs it doesn't kill?
• So the mechanic at the car dealership had never seen a nail in a tire in that manner and location before ..... Makes me wonder how it got there? Did someone shimey under the car and stick it in sideways? Maybe someone upset with me at work? I know I'm being paranoid but I do wonder just how the hell it happened. I haven't been driving wildly through any construction sites lately.

Dreaming of Hoop Again

Had the recurring basketball dream again and this time, I came through big-time in the clutch. With the game on the line, getting hacked on a drive to the hoop and converting the lay-up for the win. Then awoke, excited and ready for more hoop!!! Seems that you never really get the love for the game, out of your blood.

Didn't shoot the "and one" free throw in the dream. Maybe the other team just walked off the court with heads bowed, knowing who's dream it was and the ultimate futility of their cause.

With dreams, a hoop junkies playing days are never really over. And in the dreams, your legs are forever young. (Apologies to Bob Dylan.)

Expectations?

Why does fifty degrees during daylight hours feel bone chilling freezing while fifty degrees when you get off work at 11:00pm feel  downright warm? I mean, I'm assuming that it has something to do with what your eyes and mind are expecting when encountering daylight and nighttime hours.

Loving The Results

Sent in one of my photos for enlargement on card stock. Afraid that it might not translate so well to enlargement. It came back in the mail today ..... And now I feel like a freaking artsy fartsy Professional Photographer!!! I love how it turned out!! I might have to sell the original paintings that I've purchased and other framed art prints and photographs and decorate my walls with my own photos!!!

Well I'm not really serious about losing those things and I don't really consider myself anywhere remotely near professional photographer status but I can't just leave this photo laying around unframed. And now I want to choose a few more photos to enlarge. I think I'm going to need another wall or two. Or a really tall ladder to go vertical. I do that, then my fear of standing on high rungs of tall ladders comes into consideration. But it might be worth a fall or two.

Hearing Things

So this afternoon I'm channel surfing and come across the Jewelry Television channel and I'm thinking, "That looks kinda nice. I wonder what the price is?" ….. but I have the volume turned down low and suddenly …..

What? Say What? Did I hear that right?

So I fast reverse the DVR, pause and play, turn up the volume on the television and ……

"These studs (a pause) …. are done in a way that only Vanna K will do a pair of studs." (I wrote it down.)

(Yep. That's just what I thought I heard.)

Oh ok. It's the Jewelry shopping channel. They're talking about earrings I suppose. Not about ….. Oh never mind.

Maybe I need to wash my mind out with soap?

Just Do It

I want to kick myself!!!

Each day for the past week, I've told myself that I'm going to ride my exercise bike. If I want to live to see seventy, then I know I need the exercise. And each time the voices in my head makes this statement, the sentence ends with: "a little later." Then "later" never arrives. Actually it arrives but is replaced with "tomorrow," used in a sentence as ….. "It's too freaking cold tonight (it's not really all that cold) and who the hell puts on their shoes and goes out to their garage at 2:00am to ride their exercise bike I'll do it tomorrow."

At least I did one thing earlier that I had also been putting off ….. I voted!! Did a drive-by ballot drop off. It had been sitting on my counter for the same week that I was procrastinating exercise.

Classic Me

Classic me …… See a fifty year old rock masterpiece (The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society) in the record store that for some unknown and incredibly unfathomable reason is not currently in my collection. (More errors of my youth.) Pass it by while telling myself that I'll do intensive research on the recording when I get home. Do the research …. (which is actually not necessary because I should have just made the purchase) …. and decide to add it to my collection, telling myself that I'll be there in the morning when they open the doors at 11:00am. The next day arrives, fart around at home all morning doing nothing productive then return to scene of sighting at 1:30pm and it's gone!! "A guy came in a little bit ago and bought it."

The Season

Figure this out. "The Season" at work ..... For another crazy and hectic (at times) season, the end is getting near. I dread its beginning each year. But then I don't want to see its conclusion. It must have something to do with the comfort of getting into a routine. Even a routine that sometimes seems endless with little time for a life away from it all.

Then there's people that I enjoy, who I likely won't see until next season comes around. Assuming we are all in this same place eight months from now. Of course there's also always a few who I will not miss daily interactions with.

Good Day

My favorite feeling these days? ….. The feeling that I get when the bills are all paid, it's a day off from work, the kitchen is clean, there's a full tank of gas in the car, no doctor appointment looming, and the record store is open. When all those factors come together at the same moment, that's one great feeling!!!