Day 3474

OK. I hear you. You guys like positive thoughts and accomplishments more than cynicism and despair. That's normal. You seem to appreciate a little emotion as well. Hey, if you keep reading long enough I'm sure you'll find both, but sometimes there are long dry spells. That's life. Truthfully, the only times you'll see any real emotion from me is when a dog dies or something life changing happens. Mostly life is about the little things. I go grocery shopping. I pay bills. I cope with the weather. And I wonder why the White Pelican got lost at our lake. It's all good. Little things matter. That being said, I do appreciate your approval when something big happens. I'm glad so many of you recognized that yesterday was a big day.

Today was a bit more subdued. There were no strawberries when I did my weekend grocery shopping and I had to stand in the checkout line again because the convenient little app on my phone doesn't seems to recognize that I'm old enough to buy beer. I picked up some toiletries at CVS and when the woman at the register asked if I had a rewards card I said no. "Why didn't I get my discount," I asked. "You need a reward card to get the discounts," the woman said. OK. I lied. I actually do have a rewards card but I always say no because I don't like getting that mile long CVS receipt. I gave her my number and she rang up my purchase again, tearing off the long roll of useless coupons on the receipt and throwing them in the trash.

I wonder when the city is going to haul away the debris from the wind storm. I see the trucks in other parts of town, but not ours. All the grass in our front yard is going to die because it has been covered up with brush for so long. I still need to get the tree guy to come back and remove what is left of the big Elm tree too. I haven't even begun to get estimates for replacing the green house. I have a feeling that I'll still be thinking about some of these tasks this Fall.

The only thing I've been doing consistently this Summer is walking. I've been walking at least five miles a day even on very hot days like today. One of these days I need to weigh myself before and after one of these walks. I feel like I'm sweating away about a pound of water every time I go outside. At least I'm always wearing a hat now. I discovered today that if I soak the hat in water before I leave, I'm a lot cooler.

The weather is so weird at this time of year. The sky was blue and full of puffy clouds when I began my evening walk. It looked like a nice Summer day. By the time I returned I was hearing thunder and there were ominous dark clouds everywhere. We were under a severe weather alert for a while, but didn't actually get much rain. I'm glad that the worst of the storm passed to the east of us. I'm not ready to go up on the roof again.

It's been two weeks since I've been to the gym. What I was doing last Sunday was certainly a lot more exciting than shooting hoops on the basketball court. I need to start planning a new trip. Maybe a dark sky trip to McDonald Observatory is next.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1645

I've got to come up with a new game plan. Much of what I do these days doesn't even matter. I still like to think that I'm clever and essential, but I've become much more of a convenience than a necessity. If I didn't get out of bed tomorrow, few people would even notice. This bothers me. Shouldn't I be following my dream? I don't know. Following dreams has become a tricky business in a world where dreams and passions have become synonymous. I am a dispassionate person. I like to do useful things. Appealing to your emotions? Not so much. Unfortunately, advertising is all about appealing to your emotions. I probably should have been a physicist or a mathematician instead. Years ago, I used to be a good documentary filmmaker. I didn't have an agenda. I just took pictures of what I saw. Documentaries have changed like everything else though. Most current documentaries are all about emotion. The filmmaker wants to win you over to a certain point of view. Even street photography has an agenda now. I find the only thing that's safe to photograph these days are flowers. Ironically, people seem to like these photographs because they evoke some sort of emotion in them.

So here I am. By rejecting the world of emotional persuasion, I am left with some pretty boring tasks. I don't have to do these things, but I like to stay busy. When I'm busy, I don't have time to think about the nature of existence. I hate questions like "Why am I here" and "What was I meant to do." Maybe that's why Andy Warhol was one of the heroes of my youth. Andy wanted to be a machine. He approached things very mechanically, yet he managed to have a rich and interesting life in the process.

If you have read this far, you already know that I wasn't busy enough today. I didn't question my existence though. I went to the gym. I still can't figure out why the gym is so much busier on weekdays than on weekends. It is counterintuitive. The weights and machines I like were still open though, so I had a good workout. On the way home, I went to the grocery store instead of the guitar store as I had planned. That's where my head is at these days. I can't think much further than dinner.

Dash goes back to the cancer center for a monthly checkup tomorrow. He's just getting some routine blood tests and possibly a chest x-ray, but I'm worried about his tail. Dash got his bloody tail at the cancer center in the first place. He is so happy to see the other dogs that he wags his tail constantly in the doggie day care area where he stays until the staff is ready for him. Since the area is relatively small, he is always banging the tail against a wall or a door.  Now that I'm finally getting his "happy tail" injury to heal, I'd hate to start all over again. Hopefully, he'll be a bit calmer when we drop him off for his exam tomorow.

I could probably go to the gym every day this week if I wanted. That's how slow it has been.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day