“You are the world you have created. And when you cease to exist, that world you have created will also cease to exist.”
—-El Jefe, The Counselor
You Are the World You Have Created
Tag Archives: Dallas
Left Lane Closed
“You’ve lived as a citizen in a great city. Five years or a hundred—what’s the difference? The laws make no distinction.
And to be sent away from it, not by a tyrant or a dishonest judge, but by Nature, who first invited you in—why is that so terrible?
Like the impresario ringing down the curtain on an actor:
“But I’ve only gotten through three acts . . . !”
Yes. This will be a drama in three acts, the length fixed by the power that directed your creation, and now directs your dissolution. Neither was yours to determine.
So make your exit with grace—the same grace shown to you.”
― Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
98 Bottles of Beer on the Wall
“Isn’t beer the holy libation of sincerity? The potion that dispels all hypocrisy, any charade of fine manners? The drink that does nothing worse than incite its fans to urinate in all innocence, to gain weight in all frankness?”
—-Milan Kundera
Deep Ellum, Texas
The scary thing is, looking at this list, how many of them I have tried. So little time, so many beers.
Floundering in a Mire of Spectacle
“We feared that the music which had given us sustenance was in danger of spiritual starvation. We feared it losing its sense of purpose, we feared it falling into fattened hands, we feared it floundering in a mire of spectacle, finance, and vapid technical complexity. We would call forth in our minds the image of Paul Revere, riding through the American night, petitioning the people to wake up, to take up arms. We too would take up arms, the arms of our generation, the electric guitar and the microphone.”
― Patti Smith, Just Kids
I do nothing anymore. I’m reduced to looking at things I once did and regurgitating them, slightly re-edited.
It’s not good enough, but it’s all I got.
Be the Shoe
Turtles All the Way Down
“A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
― Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time
The Trouble With Being Poor
“The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.”
― Willem De Kooning
Returning to… if not normal then what?
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart;
the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
—-William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming
I forget how long it has been since the world has gone mad. When I go out, I am astonished to see how mad it has gone.
Every year I like to go the the For the Love of Kettle competitive shopping event at The Kettle Gallery in Deep Ellum
The best way to understand this is to read my 2014 Blog entry, The Weird and Wicked World of the Singing Cowboy
I went every year, sometimes successful, sometimes not so… I didn’t write about it every year, but sometimes I did.
2019 A Competitive Shopping Event
2020 A Very Human Way of Making Life More Bearable
Last year, of course, they did not have an event. I was excited this year to go back again.
Candy looked over the paintings that were listed on the facebook page and gave me a list of four to look for – pick one. There is no guarantee.
The DART ride down there was awful. Post COVID – the trains are overrun with insanity. I used to enjoy riding public transportation, but not any more. The cars reek of weed. Every car and every stop has at least on lunatic screaming and cursing.
There is track maintenance going on so the train had to empty and one stop, load onto a shuttle bus, ride to another stop, and get back on. The trip downtown took me almost two hours.
The worst was at the Lover’s Lane station. A lunatic roared across the platform pushing a stolen shopping cart full of shit – mostly broken pieces of plywood – cursing and screaming. He stopped a few yards down the line and stood there screaming and throwing stuff onto the tracks. When the train arrived, loaded and left, it paused at a street, waiting for the bar to lower, right next to this guy. He continued to scream the most awful obscenities while beating on the driver’s window with a big hunk of plywood. The train held several families on their way to the Mavericks basketball game – I doubt they will take the train again.
I made it to the gallery about an hour before the event was to begin – later than I planned, but I still was about the tenth person in line.
I always enjoy talking to the people in line and the hour went quickly. Luckily the weather was good – only a little chilly.
We all ran in and I chose my artworks. Unfortunately, the numbers were small and black on silver, and my ancient eyes could not make them out. I had trouble finding the artworks Candy had picked out – this slowed me down and by the time I reached the counter, three-quarters of the artworks were already sold. I discovered that I had written a number down wrong, and had purchased a random artwork (this has happened to me before – my handwriting is so bad when I’m rushed).
In the end, I had a good time, though I’m not completely satisfied with the two artworks I bought. But they will go onto the wall where my choices from the past are arrayed… and will look fine alongside the others.
But I still have this frightening feeling that everything is spiraling out of control… the world is going to shit.
What I learned this week, February 11, 2022
Khao Noodle Shop is closed, for good this time
What a damn shame! A little neighborhood Laotian joint that was recognized as one of the best new restaurants in the country. At least I did get to go eat there… wrote about it here:
Bald eagles are nesting at Dallas’ White Rock Lake. Here’s how to gawk from afar
11 Mental Tricks to Stop Overthinking Everything
Stop worrying and start growing.
Ain’t We Got Enough Problems?
In our Craft Capsules series, authors reveal the personal and particular ways they approach the art of writing. This is no. 119.
The Time Hack Everyone Should Know
Much like Dorothy discovers at the end of “The Wizard of Oz,” the key to hacking time is a tool we’ve had all along: Choice.
15 Books You Won’t Regret Rereading
Years after these titles were popular, they’re still worth picking up.
Scientists Say Your “Mind” Isn’t Confined to Your Brain, or Even Your Body
Exploring how the mind extends beyond the physical self.
The Intensity of Forgetting
“The degree of slowness is directionally proportional to the intensity of memory. The degree of speed is directionally proportional to the intensity of forgetting.”
― Milan Kundera, Slowness
Bill Chance 