I'm younger than that now

So, now you see what I have been up to (or down to) the past couple of weeks. If you do not understand the implements in this photograph, well, there is little more detail I am in the mood to offer. Allow me to comment that I am well on the way to recovery and should pretty much be ready to rock and roll in another month or so. I will report that, but I will not say anything specific about "the event" other than it was not the result of an accident per se. I suppose it mostly had to do with being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I love mysteries, so we shall leave this one at that .... or, if you prefer, that one at this ....

Bucky said: "Dare to be naïve"

I have asked for advice, suggestions, ideas in posts in the past, and a few people have offered them. Thank you. Now, I have another query. I probably am a bit crazy (which, I never have denied, but not so much now as when I was eighteen or nineteen) to ask this question, but I will anyway: Is anyone interested in doing a bit of travel?

My reasoning for this is quite simple. I am not attached to anyone at the moment; I do not like traveling, going out or visiting places by myself; I am curious about random chance and, on occasion, will "read the runes" to test fate. I suppose there are other reasons, too, but those are enough to begin.

I have no specific dates in mind. I think it might be fascinating to spend Christmas in another country, but do not wish to be snowbound. I do not have a specific length of time in mind -- a few weeks, a few months -- whatever. I am thinking Europe, although I have no specific destination in mind and am open to other locations, other thoughts. I would not object to returning to places I have been, but would like to experience new sights and sounds, as well.

Actually, I do travel in brief jaunts -- usually three or four or five days involving business -- more often than people realize unless they are clever enough to interpret some of the words, photographs and music I publish here. I think few, if any, have seen beyond the surface of such posts. There usually are no "critical readers" of my page, so to speak, and I prefer not to leave too many bread crumbs. Remember? I am one who likes shadows and secrecy and anonymity and privacy and mystery.

Anyway .... these brief excursions often give me a day or two for being an "accidental tourist." But, how much can a person do in a day or two? And, again, doing things alone is not nearly as enjoyable as doing things with a companion.

I am curious to discover if this idea will lead anywhere. Five years ago, a variation of this theme presented options leading in five or six directions. My selection of which path among them to follow was not the wrong one -- actually, it was a fine one -- but, unfortunately, it did not lead to a journey lasting as long as I had hoped.

We shall see what happens this time .... or not ....

P.S. I have been re-examining the work/writing of Buckminster Fuller recently (AKA "Bucky"). I spent an afternoon with him when he was very old and I was very young. (The right place at the right time, in that instance.) One of the things he wrote which I love is this: "What I am trying to do is to discover why God included humans in the Universe."
 

Here are a few more words, none of them mine, but they seem to mirror my perception of my life at the moment:

"Why was (he) reluctant? Why did he have an odd feeling in his gut? It was that the whole thing was so ghostly, somehow. It had the feeling of the remembered, or the previously glimpsed. He had already seen it, in a movie or a book or something. Very strange feeling."

Class acts are few & far between

I never have posted these songs before. (He wrote, mocking himself.) I had a difficult time deciding whose version of "Windmills of Your Mind" I wanted to post. Actually, I think I like Dusty Springfield's rendition the best (http://youtu.be/qKV9bK-CBXo), but this video with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway struck my fancy, and Neil Diamond does a nice job with the song. (Please, do not get so caught up in watching Steve and Faye that you do not listen to the lyrics .... ok?) As for old Bobby Dylan, he wrote "Forever Young," so it shall be his video shown here today. I have seen Dylan in concert more times than I have any other major musical artist, including twice in closed, barroom performances. He is unique, to say the least, and will be "back home" in November .... maybe, then, again ....

Here are some more words that are mine:

Thanks to a young lady I once knew ("baby, let me follow you down" .... to quote Dylan), I have developed sort of a habit (not a phobia, mind you) of doing some things not once, but twice .... even thrice or four times or .... well, you get my drift .... when circumstances permit and it is appropriate. Hence, we have two posts in a row which begin with a pair of songs, include no illustration/photograph and continue until their ending with a few sentences of words forming random thoughts which have been hovering near me. (No, I am not hearing voices.)

I believe I am not only walking in a circle, but thinking and talking and dreaming in a circle. (Ring any bells?)

I come from nowhere and am going nowhere. I look for a perfect life, a perfect woman, a perfect pistol, a perfect car, a perfect .... well, I will stop before I reach that point. I do not mean perfect in terms of perfection, because there is no such thing. Remember the cliché: One man's concept of perfection is another man's vision of the ordinary -- or variations to that effect. No, I merely mean perfect for me. (That might be a phobia .... hmmmm ....)

I think I have lived at least four lives during this lifetime/incarnation, and I want one or two or three or more before, in cowboy parlance, I cash in my chips. (Any bets .... any challenges .... any dares?)

P.S. I think I will be back home before very much longer; sorry, if I do not post as many photographs as some would like, but photography is work and I am lazy .... and, I am more interested in speech than in image; sorry, if I do not always allow for comments as some would prefer, but if more people would write comments more often, I might allow for leaving them more often .... anyway, this time I will leave this post open for remarks ....

No words that are not mine will appear this time around: (He wrote, with a laugh on his lips.)

All these things that don't change

I have posted these songs before. I prefer the original artists/versions, but feel closer to these renditions this evening. They have been "playing in my mind" during the past few days. Some songs are ageless, timeless, endless ....

Here are some words, none of them mine, but they run parallel to my own thoughts:

"You must know your weaknesses and strengths and maneuver accordingly. That is strategy."

"No one can protect you from Buddha's whimsy, God's will, the indifference of Shinto, or the sheer random drift of chaos in the universe. It sticks its ugly little head in at the most inopportune time .... The only thing we can't protect against is bad luck."

Here are some words that are mine:

Sunny, sandy, summer beach time has come and gone; the rip and roar and rush of drag racing has come and gone. For reasons I do not understand, I am anxious to feel wet, cold, driving snow on my face. In the meanwhile, I will be scanning the blogs again .... at least for a few days. Time flies and things do not always go as planned or follow a timetable. Whatever .... remember, life is but a dream within a dream .... but, for some of us, one dream is not enough ....

P.S. Happy anniversary, Bud and Shirley; I am on the road, "out West," in case you did not notice via my visits to your blogs; still searching and hoping to find the one who will last ....

Maybe once in a while I'll forget and I'll smile

I am back, but I am not back .... whatever that means. I guess I am saying I am in Minnnnneeeesoootaaaa, but not exactly at home. A few hours after this is post is published, I will be a bit north and a bit west away from my usual residence enjoying drag racing at Brainerd International Raceway. This is a photograph taken (not by me .... you must know I could never take a photo this good) at the raceway last summer and present here now to give you a taste of the sort of thing that goes on there and that I will be watching (and hearing) this weekend. See you next week, I think ....
 

Back in the saddle again

Has anything changed during the past few weeks while I have been absent? Oh, yes. So much. So very, very much. But, then, too, a few things never really change.

I have said I believe there is real, genuine, incontrovertible good and evil. Most of us, it seems, are born with a blend of both, a mix of each, a recipe which includes a measure of these ingredients in similar proportions. A few are born with great clarity of one or the other. This seems to deny the existence of a Supreme Being, for does it seem reasonable and logical for a deity to create a human who is bound to evil from birth until death?

Ah, the wind blows and the Earth whirls and our lives move from beginning to end without rhyme or reason.

Moving right along .... as well as swimming and sunning and gunning and thinking about paths and roads and trails to follow during the time I have been away (and, of course, messing around a bit and drinking brandy, too), I have been reading a series of novels which frighten me in the sense of bringing my own history into focus. They remind me of my own life in many ways, and bring the past into the present. It is a unique phenonmenon to me. What makes it most fascinating is that the author's personal life experiences are different from my own. He writes about fictional characters, but some of those characters could have been me and people I have known. To blend and to mix a cliché or two: What some people imagine has been reality for other people.

Another person's dreams, or imagination, or creative sense form images which were real for other people. It seems strange, but it makes me wonder if we all are characters in a story written by a Supreme Being (in a sense), and the concept of free will exists only as an illusion. You see? Arguments both against and for a Supreme Being.

What a waste of time.

By the way, while I think I have decided what my next path will be, I will stop writing now and conclude this post with "m2k" rather than "30," in the manner and style of reporters who existed before the age of computers. "Symbolic speak" was around before the era of texting, you know.

As for the song: This is what music once was and, maybe, once will be again .... but, I doubt it will be in the near future. Only a few generations produce wonderment; most generations produce trash and, so far, the 21st Century in (at least) the U.S. has been trash music; junk literature; regurgitated, failed, impudent political leadership; and inexcusable cowardice to defend, protect and guard the innocent from the evil.

My, I am sassy this evening (whoops, it actually has become morning).... am I not ?? Well, whatever. I still am laughing ....

                                            -- M2K --

Three .... two .... then there was one ....

"The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose" .... Ecclesiastes 1:5 / King James Bible

"The Sun Also Rises" .... A novel by Ernest Hemingway, 1926

I am not sure if I am thinking in the generational terms of the anonymous preacher of Ecclesiastes or in the sense of Ernest Hemingway's notion of escaping from one's self by always being on the move: ".... my life is going so fast and I'm not really living it," Hemingway said through the voice of the character Robert Cohn. I do not recall, but I do not think I was aware of the biblical phrase until I read Hemingway's novel. It was the first of his novels that I read and now, with the benefit of having since read everything of his which has been published, I think it is by far the best of his works. In other words, with the possible exception of, "The Old Man and the Sea," I think Hemingway could just as well have quit writing in 1926 and spent the rest of his life fishing, hunting, drinking liquor, chasing women and following wars. Hmmmm .... it appears my mood is cynical today. Well, I am not here to play the role of a melancholy critic right now. I simply stopped by the blogs to report that I am alive and well and sort of know what I am doing and think I am making some decisions and arriving at some conclusions and the countdown seems to be under way and I will be back here in the not too distant future. The music: This song is another from my past and is here (once again) because I think it is beautiful and so much of life is not. I need a few reminders of beauty ....