Release Valve
Sometimes, all it really takes to get your mind back where it needs to be is a few nights out with some great people. Why am I surprised that this worked?
Middle of this past week, I had hit a wall fairly hard. It was the first time since living in Chicago that I had felt worn in all departments. Mentally drained, physically just not up on my game, and low on karma for some reason. I needed a prescription for some feel good medicine, and this weekend delivered.
Enter some former students and a current colleague and their wonderful performance Friday night, attended to by yours truly with my babe-alicious wife at my side. A fantastic show with energy to spare, saw some wonderful old colleagues/acquaintances, then capped off the night with pints of the darkest ales at a place in Santa Cruz. But as the old saying goes, take two and call me in the morning...
Saturday night. Mexican food, high-class cocktails and other downtown nuttiness with my oldest friend. I stayed out past midnight two nights in a row. Curative powers? Who knows. Whatever juju was at play, it worked. I feel right again. Peace...
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Taking My Baby Soul For A Ride
Lately, I have been engrossed in a book for the first time in a long time. I can honestly say that aside from reading plays, this is the first time since reading Wonder Boys while on a ski trip with friends in late 2003 that I have found myself planning time to sit and read.
The book, Ghost Rider by Neil Peart, chronicles the aftermath of a ten month period in which he lost his daughter in a car accident and his wife to cancer. He drove, from Quebec to Alaska, down the west coast of Canada and the U.S.A., through Mexico all the way to Belize. I am about 60% through the book, so I don't know how much further he goes. But what kept striking me is his discussion of therapy. He frequently refers to his "little baby soul", likening it to an infant who when upset could benefit from the simple therapy of motion.
There is a lot going on in my life right now between the light at the end of the tunnel that is the final year of my masters, the show I am directing, my teaching responsibilities, and the usual family stuff. Thankfully, it isn't anything I can't handle. Things are quite manageable. But it still feels good to type it all out and voice it, even it just for myself. Maybe that is why I talk to myself so often. I just like to sound things out, even if they aren't "bad things".
So this is me, taking my little baby soul for a ride, figuratively speaking. In the end, that is what I think blogs are really about. So many people (especially in the real heyday of blogging back around 2002 or so) were all about how many readers they had. Hell, even I was on that train. But I think the reason I never deleted this thing in the name of anonymity or lack of use is that it still exists as a sounding board for myself.
Even if things are great, perspective is still a great thing to have. Sometimes, your brain can only get so full of whatever life may give you before you pour some of it out somehow. Peace...
Lately, I have been engrossed in a book for the first time in a long time. I can honestly say that aside from reading plays, this is the first time since reading Wonder Boys while on a ski trip with friends in late 2003 that I have found myself planning time to sit and read.
The book, Ghost Rider by Neil Peart, chronicles the aftermath of a ten month period in which he lost his daughter in a car accident and his wife to cancer. He drove, from Quebec to Alaska, down the west coast of Canada and the U.S.A., through Mexico all the way to Belize. I am about 60% through the book, so I don't know how much further he goes. But what kept striking me is his discussion of therapy. He frequently refers to his "little baby soul", likening it to an infant who when upset could benefit from the simple therapy of motion.
There is a lot going on in my life right now between the light at the end of the tunnel that is the final year of my masters, the show I am directing, my teaching responsibilities, and the usual family stuff. Thankfully, it isn't anything I can't handle. Things are quite manageable. But it still feels good to type it all out and voice it, even it just for myself. Maybe that is why I talk to myself so often. I just like to sound things out, even if they aren't "bad things".
So this is me, taking my little baby soul for a ride, figuratively speaking. In the end, that is what I think blogs are really about. So many people (especially in the real heyday of blogging back around 2002 or so) were all about how many readers they had. Hell, even I was on that train. But I think the reason I never deleted this thing in the name of anonymity or lack of use is that it still exists as a sounding board for myself.
Even if things are great, perspective is still a great thing to have. Sometimes, your brain can only get so full of whatever life may give you before you pour some of it out somehow. Peace...
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Mickey's Hands Are Blurry
Wow, its July already. I know it is cliche to say "time flies", but in this case I can't help but feel that it really does. One year ago, I was working 65 hour weeks between PYT and BevMo. Now, only the former remains and my life is far more calm and serene. Strange to think that a year has passed already. Goes to show that being back in California and being happy with life in general makes quick work of the calendar.
Other than our living arrangements (which aren't "bad", just not ideal in my opinion), life is right where I want it. Can't expect much more. My work is rewarding and steady as is Nicole's, we are in good health, we love our friends and family and the time we have been able to spend with them, and life is good.
So for this 4th of July, my toast is to our new-found freedom of our lives. I am thankful for what we have, and it feels great to have it. Not the best post ever, I know. But it sure feels good to be able to say it. Peace...
Wow, its July already. I know it is cliche to say "time flies", but in this case I can't help but feel that it really does. One year ago, I was working 65 hour weeks between PYT and BevMo. Now, only the former remains and my life is far more calm and serene. Strange to think that a year has passed already. Goes to show that being back in California and being happy with life in general makes quick work of the calendar.
Other than our living arrangements (which aren't "bad", just not ideal in my opinion), life is right where I want it. Can't expect much more. My work is rewarding and steady as is Nicole's, we are in good health, we love our friends and family and the time we have been able to spend with them, and life is good.
So for this 4th of July, my toast is to our new-found freedom of our lives. I am thankful for what we have, and it feels great to have it. Not the best post ever, I know. But it sure feels good to be able to say it. Peace...
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