Weblog 192

October 11, 2009~ 4:30am
I'm a bit late getting this up. It's usually posted by midnight or so in the wee hours of Sunday, but my wee hours of Sunday were otherwise occupied- (I'll tell you about that later) -but I did want to note here, that the seasons are truly changing. The trees are now in panoramic and colorful dressing. The nights, much colder. This is a picture I've been saving for the colder parts of the year-- but I love it so much (and since the snow flying is not that far ahead)-



- HERE IT IS: George Henry Broughton's 'A Winters Morning Walk'. Two bundled up, charming kiddoes from the 19th century, making their way through a frosty wood. Probably going to church, and the adorable young man looks so sour-- LOL!! --he makes me laugh, and warms my heart at the same time.

The reason I wasn't sitting here typing at midnight is because I was sitting in the Emergency Room with my mother, who'd fallen this evening and couldn't get up. I called her after Wayne and I had just watched our movie; right after he'd just left. It was nine o'clock at night. Mum's been having a GREAT deal of pain in her hip, her knees and her back, so getting to the phone has proven difficult for her recently, though thank God, she does use her walker now, so I left the phone ring about 12 times before she answered. All I heard was-

"Karen, you have to come over.
I fell.
I've been on the floor here for about 10 minutes, but I can't get back up."

Off I flew, hastily throwing on clothes and breaking all speed records to get there in an unheard of 10 minutes.

Someone who's almost 90, on the floor and unable to rise is an alarming thing, but I was convinced that with a bit of help from yours truly, she'd be back in bed and we'd be laughing about it in no time.

No dice. Try as I might, I could not help her up-- she was dead weight. I finally called my brother-in-law and he rushed over, and the two of us were able to get her on her feet and back in bed, but she was terribly disoriented and complaining of pain in her ribs, so Bob then called my sister Kathy and she hurried to join us, and we saw that Mum was truly in a fix. We watched how utterly impossible it was for her to negotiate the bathroom, both in sitting down and in getting up from the commode, and were concerned about what made her fall in the first place and also wondered if she'd broken anything.

After four hours in the E.R., they determined from X-rays that she'd broken her 10th rib. (Sheesh....in addition to her existing pain in getting around, she now has to contend with that- broken rib pain that's sure to make it worse.)

She's sleeping in her living room recliner tonight and Kathy is borrowing a commode chair with side bars for her for tomorrow, but yes, it's time to do something about 'Assisted Living' arrangements for her.

All we could think of is "What if it'd been winter with bad roads? How could anyone get to her in time, provided she could even reach her portable phone?" (Thank heaven I finally convinced her to carry the portable WITH her when she moves around the apartment. That thing could have just been ringing, with me hanging up, thinking she'd gone to bed.)

Old age is the pits. It's that portion of life when frailty and sickness and infirmity are hunting you down, with something awful always at your back and gaining on you.



Quite frankly, it scares the shit outta me-- much more than car accidents or disease-- even death itself. Old age is the systematic tearing down of one's life, brick by brick. If you live to see it-- I'm convinced you live to regret it.

That being said- and needing outlet for my own fears and frustrations and just 'working things through' -I've found another much-needed outlet for self-expression, so last night I put together a third blog: this one for original computer art- no words. I've no fancy program, no smart graphic capabilities like Photoshop, etc-- I use the little 'Paint' program that's loaded in all Windows software and by today's standards it's pretty primitive, but it's been SO MUCH FUN for me. It's so freeing to get away from words for a while by tickling the other, visual part of my brain.

I use freehand style and draw with MY LEFT HAND on the mouse. LOL!!!! I am right-handed by nature, but can perform a lot of tasks - using the mouse is one of them, with my south paw. Drawing this way gives the work a childlike, spontaneous quality. Each picture is a poem without words, all metaphor, but visual.



I've named the blog "NO DIRECTIONS" -(or 'no directions for this') because its the truth: I have no art training and do not think of myself as an artist...but damn, those little doodles do something when I look at them and especially as I am sliding the mouse around in shaky lines, with lots of curves and bright colors. I'd really like you to have a look.

Anything we do in life that sparks creativity or happiness or some sort of transcendence out of the mundane, that kicks us into another place where we can feel happy - ageless and closer to our cores, is OK in my book. And it's pretty damn relaxing to boot.

I love having this alternative to words alone. I write because -while it gets me out of myself, it paradoxically helps delving into myself, and now using colors can do that as well.

Hooray for choices. Anything that keeps us from feeling boxed-in is good for the human spirit, and for me, and especially now, there have been too many losses and too many changes that have happened far too quickly, and I need outlets. We all do.




October 13, 2009~ 7:40am
And because it's so important to laugh...no matter



I always appreciate a good side-buster. I once laughed out loud at an audible fart in a funeral parlor at a suicide's viewing, and I was not alone. Awful as that sounds, it's true.

I am not ashamed.

Humor is what makes me most human.




October 13, 2009~ 4:30am
With all of the excitement over the weekend, I never did take the time to tell you about the movie we rented just before all hell broke loose on Saturday evening...



"Who watches the Watchmen?" We do! And it was an especially exciting ride!
(I have to confess that I've pretty much had it with the movies featuring Batman, Superman... Spiderman (you name it)... that Hollywood has throw into the hopper in the last 2 decades or so.

They're watchable, certainly, but not movies I ever really pine to see-- but this one was an exception.

You have to suspend belief and enter an alternate reality of the 1970's: a world where President Nixon sends in a group of superheroes called the Watchmen to wrap up the mess in Vietnam, and bring the war to a close. After they'd done what they were charged to do, he promptly disbands the team and makes it illegal to wear masks.

The world is a corrupt mess (what else is new, eh?) and the movie version of this highly successful graphic novel series is a knockout.



The six main characters are The Comedian, Doctor Manhattan, The Nite Owl II, Ozymandias, Rorschach, and The Silk Spectre II. (The II's are because the group had been predated by an original gang that started up in the 1940's as crime fighters.) The actors, the script, the special effects and mood of the film are all perfect. Just look at these guys.....





(and my absolute favorite)



Rorschach!

The glowing blue guy is Doctor Manhattan. A 'mishap' with a nuclear reactor makes him the most powerful force in the universe. He's alien and scary, but he's also quietly cerebral and sad in the way a lost child is sad.

But the show-stopper has to be Rohrschach, who reminds me of the Invisible Man, and he's constantly ruminating, spitting bile at the state of the world. When he narrates, his voice is darkly chilling. He's completely insane and yet strangely, the most moral of the group. (Incidentally, he's the most psychopathological as well.)

At one point when they throw him in prison and he's facing down many of the thugs and murderers he'd helped to put away, the convicts do everything they can to intimidate him, but Rohrschach never blinks. He stares them down, takes their measure and then hisses, "I'm not locked up with you...(staring at the group of assembled sociopaths)....."you're locked up with ME!" LOL!!! --and all the while, his face is morphing into a constantly changing series of Rohrschach blots that map his emotions. His face is one of the most stunning special effects I've ever seen. If you're like me and you watch this film, you'll grow to love him.

The opening credits are phenomenal-- and the movie maintains that extraordinary fidelity to 'other places, other times' within a parallel universe throughout.

The acting is dead on. Even playing comic book characters, these actors pull it off...all of it. I know this film received less than stellar reviews, but in my book, this is one fascinating film, and I give it two thumbs up, waving like mad. Total enjoyment (but not for kids.) This is a violent film with lots of ugliness.... but thank God there are Watchmen in it who take their crazy, broken ideals and body slam the shit out of a truly nasty world.)




October 16, 2009~ 6:30am

Bar Jar

A fellow walks into a bar, notices a very large jar on the counter, and sees that it's filled to the brim with $10 bills.. He guesses there must be more than ten thousand dollars in it.. He approaches the bartender and asks, 'What's with the money in the jar?'

Well......you pay $10 and if you pass three tests, you get all the money and the keys to a brand new Lexus.'

The man certainly isn't going to pass this up, so he asks, 'What are the three tests?'

'You must pay first. Those are the rules,' says the bartender.

So, after thinking it over awhile, the man gives the bartender the $10 and the bartender drops it into the jar.

'Okay,' the bartender says, 'Here's what you need to do:

First - You have to drink a whole quart of tequila in a minute or less, and you can't make a face while doing it.

Second - There's a pit bull chained in the back with a bad tooth. You have to remove that tooth with your bare hands.

Third - There's a 90-year old lady upstairs who has never had sex. You have to take care of that problem!'

The man is stunned.

'I know I paid my $10, but I'm not an idiot!' he says. 'I won't do it! You'd have to be nuts to drink a quart of tequila, and then do all those other things.'

'Your call,' says the bartender, 'but your money stays where it is.'

As time goes on, and the man has a few more drinks, he finally says, 'Where's the damn tequila?'

He grabs the bottle with both hands and drinks it as fast as he can. Tears stream down both cheeks, but he doesn't make a face, and he does it in fifty-eight seconds!

Next, he staggers out the back door, where he sees the pit bull chained to a pole. Soon the people inside the bar hear growling , biting, and screaming sounds..... then nothing but silence!

Just when they think that the man surely must be dead, he staggers back into the bar, with his shirt ripped open and there are scratches and he's bleeding all over his body.

He says, 'Now, where's that old woman with the bad tooth?'

(Again....LAUGHTER makes all the difference....LOL!!)





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