December 26 (Boxing Day), 2021: With The Webb Telescope Finally And Safely Off The Ground And Headed

92 Random Questions

Especially for @soulreserve

THE LAST:

1. Drink: Diet Coke.

2. Phone call: Last night with my daughter in New Orleans.

3. Text message: With my friend about a Twentysomething sex term she didn't know and was hesitant to lookup online for herself.

4. Song you listened to: "Drive It Like You Stole It" (from "Sing Street" soundtrack.).

5. Time you cried: I was seriously depressed.

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: Yes.

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: No

8. Been cheated on: No.

9. Lost someone special: Yes.

10. Been depressed: On and off most of my adult life.

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: Yes. More than once.

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12. Green. *** 13. Saffron. *** 14. Rose.

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Not in person.

16. Fallen out of love: No.

17. Laughed until you cried: Had some hearty laughs, but nothing _that_ hearty.

18. Found out someone was talking about you: Yes, but it was idle chatter during downtime at work--my "monster hours" at my desk--and exaggerated.

19. Met someone who changed you: Beginning more like 16 months ago, and we're still at it.

20. Found out who your friends are: Not new news, but they're still with me.

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Yes. My wife.

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Almost all of them--mostly it's family and friends.

23. Do you have any pets: Yes. An elderly beagle and the purrfect cat.

24. Do you want to change your name: No. But I sure wish there were fewer guys in the world with the same name as me.

25. What did you do for your last birthday: Celebratory dinner at our favorite local Asian restaurant with our closest local friends, in the tatami room.

26. What time did you wake up: 6 AM (on Saturday morning!!). The cat wanted his breakfast.

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Sleeping.

28. Name something you can’t wait for: The next US solar eclipse in April 2024.

29. When was the last time you saw your mom: More than 25 years ago.

30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: The endless commentary in my mind expressing trivial dissatisfactions.

31. What are you listening right now: The tick-tick of the living room clock, rain on the street, and my tinnitus.

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yes. One of them was a long-ago workmate from Martha's Vineyard. He was a good guy.

33. Something that is getting on your nerves: The mess verging on disaster area that fills the room at home where my desk is.

34. Most visited website(s): Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, NY Times, in approximately that order.

LOST QUESTIONS. I JUST PUT IN RANDOM INFO ABOUT ME:

35. Mole/s: None. Some freckles.

36. Mark/s: Scars from a boisterous boyhood--face, belly, legs.

37. Childhood dream: To be a great scientist or an astronaut.

38. Hair color: Gray. Used to be mousy brown.

39. Long or short hair: Short. But it get longish and scraggly between haircuts.

40. Do you have a crush on someone: Yes. There's always someone, but secret, minor, and evanescent.

41. What do you like about yourself: Those all-too-rare flashes of creativity when everything just flows

42. Piercings: None.

43. Blood type: A+

44. Nickname: Some of my colleagues at work occasionally call me "Doc."

45. Relationship status: Married nearly 36 years.

46. Zodiac: Taurus in the cusp of Aries.

47. Pronouns: He, him.

48. Favourite TV Show: Working my way through the seven seasons of the current reboot of Hawaii Five-O. It's decent trashy TV. Started watching Friday Night Lights recently, and like it.

49. Tattoos: None. Am puzzled by their profusion among younger people. I always thought they were a bit déclassé. But times change.

50. Right or left hand: Right.

51. Surgery: Most recently left wrist after a fall. Long ago--tonsillectomy and hernia surgery.

52. Hair dyed in different colour: Never.

53. Sport: To watch: baseball, hands down. (Go O's!) To play: Bocce with friends on summer evenings.

55. Vacation: To North Carolina for a family eclipse viewing get together. Our group got rained out. Other members of the party were luckier.

56. Pair of trainers: Nearly every day since childhood.

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: Dim sum.

58. Drinking: Calvados.

59. I’m about to: Feed the cat, feed the neighbor's cats, make supper, wash dishes, order toilet parts online. The life of a householder.

[60. Supply your own--> Last Can of Soup: Chicken noodle.]

61. Waiting for: The clear, cool skies of early fall.

62. Want: Self acceptance.

63. Get married: Been for 36 years and still at it.

64. Career: Archaeologist and historic preservation consultant.

65. Hugs or kisses: That's not an either/or. Both, for sure

66. Lips or eyes: Eyes.

67. Shorter or taller: Just right.

68. Older or younger: My generation and younger.

70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Stomach.

71. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive. Occasionally loud, but only in brief bursts.

72. Hook up or relationship: Relationship, hands down.

73. Troublemaker or hesitant: A bit of both.

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a stranger: Don't recall; maybe.

75. Drank hard liquor: Yes.

76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: Misplaced? You bet. Lost? No.

77. Turned someone down: Yes.

78. Sex on the first date: No.

79. Broken someone’s heart: Yes.

80. Had your heart broken: Yes. First serious girlfriend, long ago. But we're Facebook friends now, and I am happy we're in touch again.

81. Been arrested: No.

82. Cried when someone died: Yes.

83. Fallen for a friend: Yes.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: Sometimes. Not always.

85. Miracles: Wish for them; don't expect them.

86. Love at first sight: Yes.

87. Santa Claus: No. But in my scraggly periods, strangers sometimes mistake me for him.

88. Kiss on the first date: Depends on what came before the date.

89. Angels: No. OTHER:

90. Current best friends names: Celeste. Rob.

91. Eye colour: My drivers license says blue. I'd call them gray, like the goddess Athena.

92. Favourite movies: Rom-coms first: Practical Magic (my go-to movie when I feel pushed around by the world); Bossa Nova; Love Actually; Groundhog Day... All the others: Monsoon Wedding; Ghostbusters (the original); Argo; K-19 the Widowmaker; Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; Hero; Kagemusha; and the list could on for quite awhile longer... 2Sept2017-6PM

Red onion skin

line/feather (New Orleans, 5/20/2017)

Fabulous book art!

Rembrandt Book Bracelet wins the 2015 Rijksmuseum Studio Award. 

I can see that the whole life could be on your wrist.

By Lyske Gais and Lia Duinker.

Although @soulreserve has given me a bit of credit for this work, I regard myself as nothing more than her first audience. She captures Pilbara in my mind's eye most beautifully.

Songs of the Red Earth Elders

hear the voices rise in unison, even as the parched red earth sings, its dust shimmers on passing travellers;

the sun wildfire-like breaks into dawn, here are trees drawn, crowded along the banks of the sole muddy river, that crawls, cacophonous with the notes these men serenade;

striking wood: the gold of the prospectors ships of intruders visions of the future eroding peace, these frantic beating drums and ancient rhythms, encapsulate meaning into story story into lore lore into pure sensation;

the unbroken blue skies of the Pilbara, an umbrella under which salt is made, sweat is broken and blood is dyed, these textures are found embellished in summer hearts, that hum and console, a promise to the rugged land spread far beyond the eye.

© SoulReserve 2017 & © SeaLaneHill  (9/4/2017)

[Writing this poem was an experience for two reasons: One, that I recently heard the ‘tjaabi’, or song-making and singing of dream visions by the traditional custodians of the Pilbara land. The Aboriginal Elder who narrated the story behind the songs ensured that we were all transported to a time and place, and that we felt the red earth, the sole muddy river, the crowded trees and the blazing sun upon our skins. The exploitation of the aboriginal people, although not a prominent theme, is felt too through the songs and I have tried to incorporate some aspects. Two, I collaborated with @sealanehill who inspired me to delve deeper into the words, strengthen the constructs of this poem and build something that to me is of lasting value. He titled the poem - ‘Soulsongs of the Red Earth Elders’. But, since I believe I overuse the word - soul, I took the liberty to omit it, (sorry Chris!) and keep the title 'Songs of the Red Earth Elders’. I share the credits for this piece with him, of course.]

This map fascinates me. I would love to understand the algorithms by which it is constructed.

France if its 14 regions had about the same population.

Dawn soon: star, half moon

Pebbledash dew glazes parked cars

First dog walk, new day.

7/14/2017, but appropriate this cool and dew-touched morning, 9/8/2017, as well.

 In the solace of mist

Rhine full of  emaciated ghosts , clear faces with manic hatchets ,  disappointed trunks , floating flowers , agonizing masks , rustling dreams , palpitating empty baskets , plodding branches  &   thoughts of blithe martyrs

Like all the rivers