Catching Up

Well, I am still alive and I don't have covid.  Two tests, including a ridiculous gauntlet run at Walgreens. Serious cold and bronchitis but hopefully the z-pac will work soon and I am back on the mend. I have not been writing, brain has not been functioning quite right, bit of a fog. A lot of thoughts and things that I would normally note and discuss have now officially met their due date and have free spooled into space, never to return. Sleep and soup, you know the drill.

I packed my van for the next show today. I am feeling very optimistic about my prospects which means it will probably suck and I will fall flat on my face but I suppose that the possibility of "killing it" or doing very well also exists. Last show was great and things are lining up well.

I got a haircut on my way home, from the new hispanic barber shop around the corner, Traskilo. It is my second time there and I think the place is muy bueno.

My barber is a Guatemalan, Mario. You don't just get a haircut there. 

You get an expert straight razor cut, eyebrow trim, hot towel, back massage, the whole bit, for around twenty bucks.

And the guys take their time and do a really nice job. I remember my first haircuts in Juarez as a kid. 

We would cross the border and get them for a nickel, I think and get a piece of chicle at the end for good measure. Mexican barbers are cool.

I liked my old hair cutter but these guys are tops. I think the owner's name is Chuy. Give them a shot. Yo soy muy guapo.

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Shawn sent a lovely shot from Thailand, These might be his Swiss clients in the kayak.

He also sends a very cool Zatoichi video.

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Really smart toaster from 1949.

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The writer Ann Patchett wrote a thoughtful piece about poisoning herself with magic mushrooms while trying to assist a dying friend. I sympathize. While I suppose that psychedelics can be recreational, I always knew that trips could also get very heavy and god knows that I have had my share of the super intense ones. 

A friend of mine once took acid in my presence and it was her first time and her stepfather's past sexual abuse of her came tumbling out of her completely suppressed subconscious in a very painful way. Changed her life dramatically and that included a stint in an institution and a divorce. Rattled her foundations fundamentally. Was probably not a good idea to trip. Some things go to the big closet for a reason.

Nothing to trifle with and not for everybody, that is for damn sure. Ask Mike Tyson, who experienced a mythical death on toad venom. 

And check out this weird guy from the seventies with the windowpane gel on his tongue somebody sent me recently. Anybody recognize the strange fellow? Kids...

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Idiots thought a covid party was a good idea. Now they are on respirators.

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Fallbrook mom takes great trip with kids. Great mom, I know the dad, who is also cool.

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Best inbounds pass ever.

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The reopening last week of the "path of the gods" connecting Luxor to Karnak in Egypt is truly amazing and beautiful. Only took 3400 years. Make sure you see the video.

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I have both covid vaccinations and am going to get my booster as soon as I feel better. But even I was not ready for how strident they are about wearing masks in Santa Barbara. If you are vaccinated in San Diego you can wear them voluntarily if you choose. Not up there. You can not enter a public building or restaurant without a mask, vaccinated or not. I walked out of a coffee shop after absorbing a twisted grimace from a worker for not having one on. Interesting.

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Elisabeth Achelis had an idea for a better calendar.

Achelis endorsed a calendar of twelve months made up of four equal quarters of thirteen weeks, or ninety-one days. “Each year begins on Sunday, January 1,” she explained; every quarter begins on a Sunday, and ends on a Saturday. “Every year is comparable to every other year; and what is of utmost importance, days and dates always agree.” If you were born on a Friday, your birthday would always fall on a Friday. In deliberations at the League of Nations, the World Calendar beat out many rivals, including a proposal for a year of four thirty-five-day months plus eight twenty-eight-day months, and proposals for a five-, six-, and ten-day week.

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I have only watched an hour or so of the Beatles movie. The push pull between Paul and George was like the dark vortex dance in a bad divorce. I feel for both of them. 

Michael Hogg comes off like a complete buffoon. I look forward to finishing the film when I have time. 

I love George, he was always my favorite Beatle but I have sympathy for Paul because everything he tried was met with suspicion from the oversensitive guitarist. 

John comes off as very self absorbed and patronizing towards George. No wonder Harrison was done.

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I might play hooky Tuesday and go bird watching, take a day off while I can get it. Enjoy the week and what is left of your Sunday. Hannukah is early this year. Happy holiday to my hebrew friends.