2007 - and so it goes

And I'm glad 2007 is going away. I've had better years. One reason I've not been a regular blogger is cuz I don't want this blog to dwell on negativity and send that out to the cyber world. The gold is that I've found out who I can count on and who will not be there for me when I need support.

2008 is two days away. And I'll start it with a fun tradition. Every year... I watch the Rose Parade. I'm super-excited. The floats are always outstanding, beautiful, and awesomely creative. Very inspiring.

Happy New Year to anyone who reads this.

....

One More Week...

Tis the season

I love December.

The first week begins with my birthday. So far I'm liking being forty-two.

The whole month is full of sappy, tear jerking, laughable holiday commercials. My favorite hands down is the one with the little boy catching Dad eating all of Santa's cookies. "HE'S GONNA LEAVE!"

The weekend of Thanksgiving - I start decorating for the holidays. And so for ALL of December (and a bit of January, too), I've got color and sparkle and twinkle and Santas and Angels and Snowmen... oh my.

And the month ends with a year ending... and parties... and the morning after December is over... a parade.

December's great.

Except for ice and snow and rain and fogged up windows in the car with an unreliable defrost setting.

But December's great.

(I'm 42.)
(My Christmas tree is pretty)
(I found the perfect gift for my sister)

The one and only, the big... FORTY-TWO

My birthday is in a couple of days. And I will be forty-two.

42.

The big 42.

Yup.... my 42nd birthday is around the corner. Just a couple days.

FORTY-TWO.

Strange. Usually, my birthday excites me long before this. But I'm excited now... that's what counts.

42.

Yup. I'll be 42.

First sign of the holidays for me...

For me...

One of the first signs that the holiday season is here...

Hazelnuts in the grocery store.

These are my favorite nuts and have been since ... forever. I think cuz they are easier for me to crack open than other nuts.

So... last week... I found them. Bought two pounds. And they are almost gone already.

Cash Register Royalty...

Earlier this week, I found out a nice cashier at a nearby Walgreen's passed away. His name was Alfred, and although he was one of the slowest cashiers I ever had... he was always friendly, smiling, and his accent contributed to enjoying his presence. And when I found out he died, I found out something else... he was royalty. He was a chief in Nigeria. There was even an article about him in the local paper.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070420/LOCAL/704200442/1196/LOCAL12

And if that link doesn't work... I found it by googling "walgreen's royalty".

So... a fascinating man... and I knew him briefly.

Interesting Saturday Stuff

A NEST...

There's a robin... building a nest... on the outside of a portion of drain from the eaves. This portion kinda angles under the overhang of the roof. I've seen a robin on this drain a couple of times during rain. If it's the same robin, it must have recognized how nice a spot it is for a nest.

SPRING SHREDDING...

I went shredding crazy yesterday as well. A couple days ago I started going through my files. And yesterday, I shredded all my old useless statements from phone and electric bills. These were all 5 to 10 years old. Don't need them anymore.

EVENING IN BURBS

Went to a restaurant called Kabob Korner. Just a little diner style place. But good food. I had a lamb kabob. I haven't had lamb in ages. I love it in gyro sandwiches (from Greece). After dinner, my partner and I went to a big giant electronics store called Fry's. And this place has everything under the sun. I have to admit... I couldn't think of one thing I wanted or needed. It was weird. A store with everything under the sun and I couldn't find anything... until I decided to stop at Fry's cafe... yeah... it has a cafe. I found a chocolate chip cookie. YUUUUM. I've had a craving for chocolate chip cookies for a week. An electronic store with a cafe. The joy of suburbia.

A MUSEUM I MUST SEE...

And now... the most fabulous piece of Saturday stuff from yesterday...

I was paging through a weekly free newspaper and came across an article about.... A SUPER-HERO MUSEUM right here in Indianapolis where I live.
http://www.nuvo.net/articles/the_american_super_heroes_museum/

The address in the article is incorrect. Here's the museum's website with the correct website..
http://www.heroesmuseum.com/index.htm

This is cool. I plan to go soon... Maybe next weekend. Maybe today.

It's Sunday morning and after yesterday's interesting stuff... I'm looking forward to today.

A video to melt hearts and bring tears

I just saw a video on the Today show that melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes...

Go to this link... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12065856/
and scroll down to "This Week's Highlights"...
Click on the video that's listed as "Daddy! Tearful surprise homecoming"...

WARNING!!! This is NOT a video to watch without kleenix... unless using your sleeve to wipe tears and snot is something you prefer.

That little boy's face... so much emotion. He missed his Daddy so much.

Spring is here... and already...

There are little purple flowers blooming like crazy in the front yard. Rain over the past week has turned the back yard into a swampland. But that rain has that nice spring smell to it. Weather has been warm enough to go without a coat... in fact it's colder in the house than outside... so a coat or sweatshirt inside is nice. The grass is a bit greener than before and soon there will be yellow daffodils all over the yard. This morning... before the sun rose, I could hear the birds... chirping away... if they were singing they need to find a better choral director though. Yup. Spring is here and I like it.

This morning, I've been watching "Breakfast with the Arts" on A & E. My favorite episode covering the South Pacific... with lots of island dancing. It's awesome to see - espeically as in the cultures shown, drumming and dancing are ways to tell stories. And I like stories. (And next on the travel channel is "Passport to Europe" - and it looks like this episode is about my favorite European city... Athens, Greece.

Oh, it's starting. With the Acropolis!!!! I remember my visit to the Acropolis. Standing in front of the Parthenon. In awe. And an annoying professor saying "Jeffrey, come back and listen to me, I'm telling you about the Parthenon". Not taking my eyes off the immense and ancient structure, I walked backward toward the sound of his annoying voice... thinking... "I'm standing in front of the oldest building I ever saw and he wants me to listen to his lecture... yeah right."

An update on what's no longer missing in my studio space

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how my studio space was missing a place for current projects or works in progress.

It is really cool to have that in my studio. I've been doing stuff. Just a few minutes ago, I put together a collage of a bunch of paper money & coins I saved from my 1990 trip to Italy & Greece. I'd been wanting to do it for ages.

Over the weekend, I finished a project I started at Christmas. I took some clear flat marble like "stones" from a hobby store... and glued Christmas pictures on the back. The glue dries clear and voila... a neat bunch of Christmas "stones". (Okay... I've got to get a camera to show you all what I did).

I also fixed a yarn doll I made that had started coming undone.

I wet the back of a watercolor I painted 2 years ago to flatten it out. When I initially did it... I forgot to wet the back, so it ended up curling lengthwise. Now... it lays flat.

I'm happy to be creating things again. The "Works in progress" zone is really helping.

Did you hear about Captain America?

He was killed off this month. It made national news - actually spoiling things for fans as the comic book stores hadn't opened yet to sell the current issue of Captain America.

Google it and see the news reports... Or click this link (hope it works)
More about Cap can be found at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America
And here's a statement that Marvel Comics put out... on Newsarama.

I don't read Marvel Comics much beyond an occassional X-Men trade paperback or graphic novel. Still... as a comic book super-hero fan... this is pretty big. DC Comics killed Superman in 1993 and brought him back to life in 1994. So... super-hero deaths... not entirely permanent. It will be interesting to see what develops. Especially since there's a rumor of a Captain America movie to join Marvel super-hero movies like X-Men, Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four.

What was missing from my studio space

A couple of weeks ago, it hit me. My art studio/office space was missing something very important. I had artwork on display, sacred mementos on display, plenty of storage for supplies, and a good table (an old computer desk) to do projects on in the center of the room so I could walk all the way around it. But a couple of weeks ago, I realized I didn't have any place to put works in progress such as projects I was working on or that needed finishing. So, I went through everything, moved stuff around, finding several unfinished projects in the process. And now... I have it. A space for unfinished projects or works in progress. Now I can see what I have to work on. As I finish each project and empty that space out ... I also get a visual message of completion.

Instants

In the news today and yesterday... the tornadoes in the south - one struck a school full of teens, killing several. A bus crash in Atlanta, killing 4 college students and 2 adults. Two separate incidents... and in an instant... life changes for many parents... many families.

News like that always takes me back to my "instants". One of those was on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000. I was preparing to leave for a night class. I checked my e-mail. One from my brother. Our mother had a stroke and was in the hospital. She did not survive. In an instant... my life changed.

My heart goes out to the families and friends. These kinds of instants are impossible to prepare for let alone predict. Even expected things can be difficult to prepare for like a loved one dying of cancer (my father).

Out of my comfort zone

Today... I was definitely out of my comfort zone. I got the call... Not an inner call from soul though. This was a call for jury duty. And I had to go downtown and sit through jury selection process for a civil court case. I wasn't selected... but it was an experience. I was impressed by the court employees efforts to make it a more or less pleasant experience. I was even impressed by the judge who made an effort to connect with the jurors during the questioning part of the selection process. The lawyers for the plaintiff and defendant... KISS UPS.

The most interesting piece is this - the defendant was Coca Cola. I was shocked. I love coke. I have many coca cola memorabilia. Even Coca Cola Christmas ornaments (I kept wondering if I should mention that). It was so surreal. The odds of me being considered for jury duty for a case involving my favorite soft-drink.... they have to be incredibly slim.

At any rate, the prospective jurors were asked a wide array of questions. Mine included... what I thought about lawsuits and what kind of art do I make. Cuz I put "Artist" for occupation. The lawsuit question was one I stumbled on. The way the lawyer asked me what I thought of lawsuits... it was so strange I didn't understand what he was asking. The third question I was asked was how I make my decisions. Which is mostly by intuition, and the times I took more analytic approaches didn't work for me. And it's over. I wasn't selected for the jury. I guess an unemployed artist who never bought a house or a car and follows his gut isn't a fit for a lawsuit. I was sent home and thanked for my service.

On the drive home the "Low Coolant" light lit up on the dashboard. That on top of a flashing "Service Engine Soon" light. Which means... a trip to the mechanic is around the corner. Specifically, I'm calling them in the morning with the hope of being able to drop it off tomorrow before they close so they can work on it on Wednesday. Another day of out of my routine... though not as dramatic as a civil court case involving my favorite soft-drink.

In awe of the Acropolis

(Photo by Jeffrey Fillion, January, 1990 Acropolis, Athens, Greece)

I went to Italy & Greece during the month of January, 1990. I saw soooo many incredible things I'd only read about or never thought about. Lately, I watch the Travel Channel... and there was a recent episode about Athens, Greece.

I remember going to the Acropolis. Standing in front of the Parthenon. My mouth open in awe. The two professors who were leading the college group I was part of... calling me to come back and listen to their lecture. Yeah. Right. I'm in front of a building thousands of years old... and they want me to listen to them flap their lips. I never took my eyes off the Parthenon as I backed away and toward the professors.

I don't have a photo scanned of the Acropolis. I did take photos... just didn't scan them. I did scan this photo. A broken statue of a male that I saw in piles of ruins around the Parthenon. If you look you can also see a horse's head on the left side.

So, the Acropolis... I'd say that it definitely ranks as one of the top ten of my own personal list of wonders of the world that I've seen.

Added a couple things to the side

Over on the right, you can see two lists I added. One is a list of my favorite comics that I currently read with links to Wikipedia articles about those comics. The other list is of books I recently read.

Just a bit more for you to know about the extraordinary fAiRy CaT...

Frightful, delightful... SNOWWWWW DAY.

Tis snowing. Tis Freezing Raining. Tis Snow Emergency.

Several inches of snow/freezing rain has fallen and continues here in Indianapolis. Schools, libraries, universities, businesses... closed. News shows few cars on the roads. Good. That makes it easier for plows and emergency vehicles. The city even retro-fitted garbage trucks with plows to keep streets clear. That makes sense since garbage pick-up would be more difficult.

I was out shoveling earlier and it was soooo quiet and serene. Just the sound of the shovel and crunch of snow/ice under my feet. It's still coming down, so more shoveling later today. But it's heavy stuff, so better to do part now and part later.

I was walking by the front living room window and something caught my eye. A squirrel's tail sticking out of the snow. Then a squirrel's head popped up, looked around... kinda like it was taking a breath before diving. Then down goes the head. Few seconds go by with just the tail... and out pops the head again. With a nut in its paws. Amazing sight. The squirrel didn't seem fazed by the snow. But it was still amazing to see. Seemed like it was perfectly natural for the squirrel... dive into the snow and come up with a nut.

My other blog...

I've added a couple posts on my other blog called Organizing Tidbits. Check it out.

Coming out... as a die-hard, anal-retentive fan of the Legion of Super-Heroes

Yup. I'm a Legion lover. It's a love affair that started way back in 1975 with this Superboy comic.

Superboy #212, October 1975.

I have managed to get virtually every comic the Legion of Super-Heroes appeared. Which is a lot. Since they've been on the comic stands in the comic stores for almost 50 years. They first appeared in the Superboy story of Adventure Comics #247, April 1958 which makes 2008 the 50th anniversary.... YIPPEE.



And now... the 10 year old boy in me who discovered the Legion back in 1975 is sooooo happy because there is a SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON starring the Legion of Super-Heroes. It started in Fall of 2006... had a few episodes followed by weeks and weeks of repeating those few episodes... AND today... less than 40 minutes from now... FINALLY... a new episode.

I woke up with a bad headache... but now... after finding out there's a new episode... life is damn sweet.

February

It's February 2, 2007. And most of the time, when a new month starts... it takes me by surprise just a bit (and often more than a bit). But... not... this... time. For some reason... this year, the end of January did not surprise me. And that... is nice.

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A

For about an hour anyway.

Last week... I went to the YMCA and got a membership and tour. Membership is part of the domestic partner health benefits I am enrolled in through my partner's employer.

Today, I went for the first time and walked on a treadmill for 40 minutes. It was oddly Zen-like... "I am one with the treadmill". It did not feel like 40 minutes, but there was a timer on the treadmill that said it was 40 minutes. I just lost track of time, though.

All in all... the experience wasn't bad. I'm just not used to the surroundings and being in a locker room felt very uncomfortable. Just not used to being around so many men in various stages of dress from fully clothed in street clothes or workout attire to completely naked walking around without even a towel on. I expect I'll get used to it.

With the membership comes options for using pool, exercise equipment, lockers, and the locker room has a whirlpool and steam room. Which I skipped this time as I went kinda late in the morning so by the time I finished with the treadmill... the lunch crowd was arriving and it was getting crowded.

Will I go back? Yeah. I want to be healthier and exercise is part of being healthier.

(The image above is a clipart I found on the web somewhere... no idea where... but it is NOT something I created.)

And suddenly... a shot rang out, the maid screamed, and a pirate ship appeared on the horizon

Somewhere I've got a Snoopy book of cartoons where he writes a novel called "It was a dark and stormy night"... and it goes something like the subject line above. And it's got nothing to do with anything. I just typed it.

So... my domestic partnership health benefit package includes membership in a fitness center. Tomorrow I'm going to visit one of the eligible fitness centers... this one is a YMCA... and it has exercise equipment and a pool. I'm nervous. I'm taking ownership of BE-ing healthy. And the fact that the most recent recollection of stepping into a fitness center is the 80s when I attended the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

I re-arranged furniture in my cave (also called office and studio). Flow is much better. I can sit at my art table and look out the window. There's balance in one area that had none. And imbalance needing to be fixed in another that was originally balanced. I've got more of my artwork on display and I've done a few creative things. That's the whole point... to be creative... in this case it's creating a workspace that inspires and flows full of great energy and makes me smile.

Tonight's video night for my partner and I. Catch-up on the various VCR'd television shows we both like to watch... like Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Dr. Who, Bones. He just got home and is taking a bit to check his e-mail. So I'm finishing this post up before popping in a microwave Hormel beef roast (they are actually quite good). Maybe canned corn as a vegetable.

All in all... a good day. No shots, screaming maids or pirate ships to speak of.

Wow. Pretty.

Wow. Pretty. Indianapolis has had its first snowfall in the year 2007. It's like 7:16 in the morning and I just looked outside to see a blanket of white on the ground. And since it's so early AND overcast, the sky looks like a blanket of white in the air. It's very surreal and I half expected a wizard like Merlin or Gandalf to ride down the street on a magnificent white horse.

UN-Decking Adventures

I love Christmas decorations. I love MY Christmas decorations. They used to be my late mother's. So, having them out feels like she's around. Now they are mine and I can do with them what I want. And I do.

My mother's tendency to collect... makes doing themes easy and fun. Like this year, I did a display of all the angel decorations in the front entry. And lit it up with tree lights making it look really pretty. Last year, I had all the critter decorations (like deer, bears, mice, cats, dogs... and other animals) spread out on a long table with branches and lights making a "Forest of Creatures Stirring" (from the "not a creature was stirring" line).

So, last Tuesday (Jan. 9), I started un-decking the halls. Usually, 3 days it's all done. But once I got the tree down... that was it. The tree was packed up (artificial tree)... and put away. But everything else, the lights, the ornaments, the big giant Mr. & Mrs. Santa, the angels, the Santas, the Snowmen, and all the rest of the decorations... spread out on every table and sofa in the living room. Waiting to be boxed up and stored away with the tree in the garage.

First, I sorted them... but not how I usually sort - by the "collections" that Ma did... Angels in one box, Santas in another box, Snowmen, Cat decorations, ... each of her collections got a box.

No, something in my gut had me sort out all the home-made ones that my sister, mother, grandmother made. Then the ones that REALLY tugged at my heart. This is something I've never done. And it's thrown me for a loop. I'm sure there's a reason for me to sort this "different" way. "Gut something's" usually are on the mark. (OK... I've never had a gut feeling that wasn't on the mark in some way).

So... Adventures in Un-decking the halls continues. But I am proud to say... I got all the Christmas tree lights boxed up and the Christmas village boxed up. That's two boxes ready for storage.

Forgot the mustard

The cable news channels are regularly "reporting" on what is being called "miracle" rescue of two teenage boys in Missouri from a kidnapper. One boy, age 13, missing for 4 or 5 days. The other boy, age 15, missing for over FOUR YEARS. It's an astounding story that is grabbing my heart strings.

And I am counting my blessings. I could've been on a milk carton. When I was in 7th or 8th grade (like nearly 30 years ago?), I was in a shopping mall's parking ramp when I was grabbed around the neck by an adult male, told to give him my wallet or he'd hurt me. My wallet, was actually a fake leather coin purse I made at camp. But I gave it to him. He let me go, and I ran to a family friend's apartment about two blocks away. Oddly, as I was running there, I found my coin purse in my coat pocket... it must not have been what the mugger was expecting (and I'm like... mug a kid... what the hell does one expect... $100????)

It could've been so much worse. But it wasn't. It sure as hell was scary, but I recovered and hardly ever think about it. But watching the news about the boys in Missouri, I suddenly realized how close I came to being on a milk carton. Though I'm not sure they did the milk carton pictures of missing kids back then.

Recently, I read something... about changes in life. Major changes usually are sudden, unexpected, often sad. Death of a loved one. Disaster like a fire or flood. A child disappearing. Listening to the father of the boy missing for 4 years... his family's lives changed with one phone call that told him his son was found and alive.

I went to the store this morning. I forgot to get mustard. That's okay. If things had been different almost 30 years ago in a mall parking ramp... I wouldn't have been able to write this.

Walking and the circle of life

I went for a walk about an hour ago. And it was a neat walk I went on. I was nearing the end of it and was confronted by an amazing sight.

A hawk. Feeding on a dead squirrel. In the middle of the road. I didn't even notice it until I was passed by a pick-up and then saw an animal in the road. Took me a couple seconds to realize what it was I was seeing. A hawk... feeding on a dead squirrel.

I stood there in the road watching nature happen... in the middle of a road. Musta watched it about 10 minutes before continuing on my walk.

Circle of life stuff. Nature happening. And a pick-up didn't disturb it.

An all-year Christmas tradition

Every year, my sister makes me an ornament. Actually, she makes many ornaments for her family & friends. Usually, it's a quilted ornament as she is a quilter. One year, she didn't finish the ornament in time to mail it to me with the rest of the gifts she was sending me for the holidays. I got it at some point after I had taken down and packed up the Christmas decorations. So, I left it out. Hanging on a shelf above my desk... ALL YEAR LONG. And thus... my "all-year Christmas tradition" was established. Whatever ornament she makes me... I put it on display on my desk... all-year-long.

And another thing.... about those who don't listen to me...

They are MISSING OUT on experiencing the GREAT PERSON who is me.

AND sooner or later, the less they listen, the less I'll be present in their lives. Because if they don't act like I matter, instead of just "say" I matter... who needs that kind of fake integrity. NOT ME.

I'm a very patient man... but even I have limits.

To be heard and paid attention to

I was a mental health counselor for a year while in graduate school. And the most common piece of gratitude I got from clients... "thank you for listening".

I really believe being heard is important to emotional and mental health. Really important. And when a person doesn't get really good listening from family and friends... it negatively impacts their self-worth.

I've got a friend who shows me how much he values what I have to say. If I'm interrupted by someone, he will come back to me and go "So, you were saying...". That shows me he values what I have to say. And when that happens, the wave of "I matter to someone" washes over me. I feel like he wants to be part of my life... the experience and existence of Jeffrey.

Being paid attention to... being heard... it validates my existence. And I believe that is very important to one's self-worth. I want more people in my life who validate my existence by paying attention to me. I'm not looking for therapists or counselors or people to solve my problems. And I'm not looking for people who point out what's wrong with me by telling me to get exercise or talk to someone else or whatever. I have enough of that already.

I want people who pay attention to me simply because they want to know who I am and be part of my life and have me be part of theirs. That's what I believe when someone pays attention to me. That the people who pay attention want to be part of my life and that those who don't pay attention - don't care enough.

Odds & Ends on the 3rd day of 2007

I've had chills and fever this afternoon.

This morning I was in grumbling mode because I didn't sleep well. And so... I was complaining to God about the people in my life.

About 2 weeks before Christmas... I got a great e-mail that explained the secret to being patient or finding patience. I can't find it now, but I remember the gist. The secret to patience is to complain to God... a lot. And I realized... I say the serenity prayer a lot (I call it "serenitizing")... And that almost always helps keep me calm, accept people even when I don't like the way they behave. But when I know they aren't behaving with malice toward me... I can accept their behavior and let go of the hurt feelings I might have.

AND hey!!! The 8 wishes blogger posted a comment for me in response to my December 19 post where I mentioned his blog. How cool is that. He's so busy, but he had time to read my short plug about his blog. And he likes the pink. That's cool too. Thanks for commenting, Paul. I visit his blog every day. What I really like is that this guy has a mission and he's going for it. That's just awesome.

So... til next time the universe blows me into blog mode...

fAiRy CaT