How Far Do You Wanna Go?

 

HOW FAR DO YOU WANNA GO? A song by the group "Gloriana."   We wanted to enter their video contest but a series of major mishaps and a learning curve caused us to be too late to enter. But we made the video anyway.  Here it is at long last!

What does it mean to Fifty Five being the New?  Okay! The dream IS coming true. Sure this video ain't perfect...but it is a milestone in our progress as a group, as videographers and as part of just being creative.

Since I was just a wee bit of a thing...alright you guys who know me, more of a wee bit of a thing....I wanted to be doing creative things...writing, drawing, acting, playing music...whatever.  For a very long time it was put on the back burner, allowed to come out once in a while but for the most part relegated to late-night writing or the occasional greeting card.  In 10th grade I was finally able to take art classes, get involved with theater and music and just generally blossom!  Chee-wow! It felt good to be alive!

I remained creative all through the many moods and moments of me; probably the thing that kept me going-along with the powers that be...and that's the truth. 
Please...people if you are raising kids and they show a creative streak, encourage it! Don't make them think they're wasting time by doing what they do best! Please! Nobody should have to put up a fight in order to pursue a career in art or music or literature or whatever.  How many computer programmers do we really need?  How many foot soldiers?  Aren't our kids worthy of more than that?

I grew up hearing the old adage "Children should be seen and not heard," to which I had the audacity to reply "Then why did you have them?" That attitude didn't sit too well with some of the folks, but hey. You gotta admit it was a fairly brainy response for a kid who was probably only about eight at the time. C'mon now! Snappy come backs are a sure sign of a creative mind....my mouth still gets me in trouble.

Anyway, so now I'm livin' the dream. It ain't easy...broke most of the time, things a little edgy bill to bill but as someone said recently, "You're living authentically."  Okay.   Poverty is pretty authentic.  So's music and all the rest.  And I'm glad and grateful to be doing it! Besides, Mac & Cheese ain't so bad if you jazz it up a little.

For today Fifty Five will be all about How Far Do You Wanna Go......because there's only one place, really...only one answer....all the way.

To love, with love from love 

The New Speed Limit

 Contemplation Ridge  by rcw

 
Fifty-Five....remember when the national speed limit on freeways/highways was turned to fifty five?  Jack reminds me it was during the Nixon administration.  A lot of things happened during that time? Our generation has borne witness to many an interesting scenario, neh?

And we're not out of the woods yet.  This time, however, there's a different feel to it. Kind of like the pendulum is in a tug of war rather than a gentle swing. Maybe it's the news stations we're subjected to; we can't afford all the channels so are forced to contend with limited content and a certain bias.

Truth does cut through now and then...down past the fog of ignorance, it penetrates-even to our edge of the thicket. Yes, we are living in interesting times. What to do? What to do?

It's easy to freak out...hell, on some levels we're all about due for a massive nervous break down. But what would it accomplish? Some theorize that it would relieve tension, like an earthquake relieves tension on the fault line.  True. But it also causes a pretty big mess and things get broken.

Nah. I'll take my chances with riding it through; like the waves at Mavericks...once you're on one, there's not a lot else you can do but make it the best ride you can.  Isn't that why you're out there in all that big water with that iddy biddy chunk of wood under your feet? Not out there to play Pinochle!

Okay, so times are crazy. We've been through this before!  Don't tell me it wasn't intense when Kent State happened. I know; lots of folks packed up their revolutionary toys and went into hiding behind leisure suits-horrified at what happened on that college campus. For months, lots of folks went around paranoid that the FBI or CIA  were after them because of their activism.

There's something to be said for paranoia...John Lennon's FBI file stands as just one of many shining examples of our government gone haywire.

I don't know where to put what's going on these days...everything is so bloody political. A person can't even fart without someone trying to analyze it for politically correct content.

I am dumbfounded at our nation's Attorney General making comment about a law he hadn't even read. This does not bode well for an administration that promised a change to business as usual in Washington D.C.  But I am equally dumbfounded at the behavior of our political parties.

Thomas Jefferson warned against a two party system. He also recommended total change every 20 years so that the government would remain vibrant and timely. The school books being recommended by the Texas Board of Education downplays folks like Jefferson.  Why?  Because he's an advocate of progress.  Progress is not a dirty word. Stagnation, however, is.

For today, Fifty Five is the new Speed Limit....because we have to slow down, make sure we know what we're talking about, and learn to live life rather than watch it from the sidelines.  C'mon! Let's go catch us a wave!

T.V. Time

Night....early enough so the t.v.'s still on, late enough to not begin a new project.  So I'm just kicking back with Jack; like a ka-zillion other people for tonight.  Boob Tube Junkies.....just for now.

Tomorrow we'll be back at it; refreshed from a small break.

So for now, Fifty Five Is The New T.V. Time....once in a while it's okay to just veg.

People Catnip

Wylie's been chasing a toy up and down the hallway for several minutes.  It's really fun, watching him scamper about.  He's not a small, delicate kitty....quite the contrary!  Our boy sounds like a dog, galloping after the ball of paper I made for him earlier.

The fact that I put some catnip makes Wylie especially happy.

Hmmmm....if cats have catnip, I'm sure other animals have things that make them get a little "high" too. It only stands to reason.  I mean, the scent of a flower must send bees into some sort of trance, and maybe even a little inebriated.   I'm sure there are other examples of this phenomena.

So the obvious question should be something like:
If inebriation is so common in nature, than what's wrong with people finding a little catnip of their own once in a while?

So for today, Fifty Five Is The New People Catnip....purrr, purrr, purrr.