11.21.11

Although the last two shows, Del Mar and Hillsborough, were both pretty lousy for me from the monetary standpoint, I have to say that it has been a good week,  The psychic rewards have been great. We'll take whatever we can get these days.

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I will try to describe the man the best I can. He was one of those characters that existed on the periphery of the frame, always appearing a bit glum and emotionless. The antique business is a tertiary hierarchal affair and I suppose that I always viewed him as a Steatocranus Casuarius while I am one of the larger pelagics or something.

The guy was a dealer with a fairly good eye but a definite lack of people skills. I never saw him interacting with anyone on a personal level. And then one day he disappeared.

I saw him resurface last week after a couple years of being out of sight. You know how people are suddenly gone from the landscape and you don't really know if they have died or not, they are just not there anymore? And since they were merely bit players in life's movie you don't give it much of a second thought. Although we never talked beyond me getting a price from him on one of the small objects he specialized in, I walked over and greeted him and asked him where he had been?

He looked at me and told me that he had been ill for two years. Nosily, I asked him the nature of his malady and he unhesitatingly told me that he had been diagnosed as bipolar. He had been hospitalized and the doctors had sorted out his chemistry with some drugs. It was at that point that I saw a little gleam in his eye that I had never perceived before. I smiled at him and it was returned! This nameless fellow had climbed out of years in a dark solitary cave like Rip Van Winkle and he was experiencing joy for possibly the first time in his life.

We talked for a few minutes and the innocent smile on his face was so fantastic, the one I had never seen before. I made sure to greet him every chance I could the rest of the show. Definitely the greatest gift that I had this week.

*

There is a certain dealer who called my wife a very unflattering name in a parking lot dispute several years ago. Resisting the urge to pummel him, I have frozen him out with death stares for the last couple years. Eased up on him, was even pleasant, a visible weight off both of our shoulders.

*

It was a cathartic week. I had worked with a very successful couple in my business a number of years ago and wrote for their magazine on occasion. I had done a bunch of an appraisal work on an estate that they were tangentially involved in and a third party informed me that they had, well, screwed me on a deal. I was very pissed, abused and felt exploited and have never spoken to them since. I summoned the courage to open up to them about my ruffled feathers and feelings the other day and it turns out that the third party had manipulated the whole thing and that they had nothing to do with the situation. I am glad that it is all healed now after being brought out into the open.

*

I know that coincidences have to occur in an infinite, random universe but sometimes the confluences are so incredible that I definitely feel that they are somehow directed. I will leave by who or what to the theologians.

I had no sooner walked into the show on wednesday when I ran into my friend Rich, an ex private investigator and twenty year Los Angeles vice cop who now deals in modern silver. "You ever hear of a guy named B--------?," he asked. "Why yes," I responded. "I had dinner with the ex CEO last night."

Rich had gotten into an estate sale and found honorariums for the late founder of the company, a major world player who had lived to the age of 102. Diplomas and plaudits from Salk, Cal Tech, and many other major institutions. I called my recent dinner companions. The CEO's wife's father had worked for the man starting in the thirties, both of their lives had been inextricably woven into the firm. Now I had been chosen to act as a conduit to replace items that never should have been disseminated back to their rightful place. I called my friends and they quickly arrived to pay for the documents, which I passed on without profit.

My friend is South American. One of my other friend's was in the room whose husband is from the same country, Chile.  I introduced them. Then somebody gave me object from the small country mere minutes later. The syncronicities kept occurring throughout the week. I met a friend of a friend the next morning I hadn't seen in some time. Unbeknownst to me he had a house in Region 7 of Chile and had just returned.
Leslie and I have been talking about visiting Patagonia for several years. Maybe we are being called? The whole thing was just an amazing experience, with all the people in their proper places and perfect timing on everyone's part.

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Loaded out in a fierce rainstorm. Hope that all my prints are all right. I am a bit afraid to check.