The Sunday Before

This is an update with some gratitude, some Tarot and a bunch of exclamation points.

3 Short Stories: Weird Fictional Deaths

 Here are three parts of a slowly ongoing writing exercise: "7 Weird, Stupid Ways to Die". More to come!

About This Dream I Had (Garofalo)

Soon after waking, I texted a friend with what I remembered:

 While on vacation, Janeane Garofalo and I had poor comedic taste.
This dream occurred on Friday, August 2, 2019 and I misplaced my notes about it until recently.
I apologize.

About This Dream (Briefly in a Speeding Car)

In this post, I talk about not only my dream, but I spend a paragraph on the pandemic and give a life update. Spoiler: There is absolutely no plan to make sourdough bread.
I mean...just no.

Husbands of Joe Exotic and the Importance of Personal Growth

 

I sat through the docu-series Tiger King, you guys, and I wanna talk about it.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness presents people who are the antithesis of the freedom for which I aim. Get a bunch of deeply hurt children into adulthood and they might devote their lives to the pursuit of control, which of course creates dark drama, then add big cats and poor financial choices, you’ve got Tiger King, so I was reluctant to even click ‘play’.

The Uncensored Library

           I'd like you to know that we have The Uncensored Library at our collective global (sanitized, socially distant) fingertips. I think that's so frickin' cool. Mind you, to access it, I personally would have to get my little godson to let me onto his Minecraft account, since the library's only available on that game, and simply having the bare bones version gives you access, but the fact that I’m still fairly young and already choose to be technologically out of touch is not as alarming as censorship and not as exciting as this resource! You see here, whippersnapper, this be impor’ant!

Puttin’ yourself on lockdown during a pandemic makes life more stressful, for damn sure. That said, a survival mindset typically means that you believe you're always lacking, whatever that lack means to you. It stems from an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, maybe even more adrenaline, which of course means more selfishness, anxiety, fear and greed. The more one might hoard toilet paper or baby formula or price gauge hand sanitizer, the more they are defeating their purpose of empowerment. They're giving their power away to stress. A more productive, less stressful way of managing hardship and a sense of isolation is to focus on a sense of community and of family, as well as personal growth.

           Recently on an episode of her "Better Together" podcast, Maria Menounos chatted with the fantastic psychic medium John Edward and said, “What do people do in prison? They work out, they read, get their Master’s degrees, they do all these things!”, which I think is an appropriate analogy.

Inner Child, Part Two

           I appear in the pink-painted bedroom with a pop sound just as a girl is closing up her jewelry Caboodle and pushing it away.

As expected, we lock gazes, allowing me to see very familiar features – eyes that seem to be a combination of blue, green and grey with a thin ring of yellow around the pupils, framed by long lashes. I’ve always thought of that nose as cute, too.

Within minutes, the crayons and colored pencils are out and we’re storytelling together, drawing scenes, trading ideas and dialogue, coloring in the details. One thing I’ve always been is a storyteller. My right knee aches suddenly, briefly, and, as is my current habit, I unfold my legs.

“Okay,” I say to the little girl. “Where am I? Do I take notes on the meeting?”

“No, you’re helping, we’re talking.”

I chuckle in surprised amusement. “You got it.”