Summertime

Well, I am out of school and am fighting a sinus infection. I guess it's my annual crash after the year. Teaching 6th grade is pretty demanding in the way that one must always be "on." You can't let your guard down, you have to stay one step ahead, thinking of what might happen as well as dealing with what is happening. You have to keep all the plates spinning because if you're not making it happen - they will make something happen. You have to keep the fences mended, immediately repair any chinks in your armor and never let them see your weaknesses. So, when I get a break, I usually crash. And I crashed pretty hard this year. It was a hard year.

As soon as school was out I jumped head first into wedding planning mode. We already felt pretty rushed since the wedding is going to be at the end of October, but when we saw a schedule of what should be done and when, well, we got really rushed.

However, my sinus infection and Katie's visit to Texas for a few days has given me a chance (or rather forced me) to slow down for a minute. For the past two days I've been laying on the sofa reading Patti Smith's book, Just Kids.

It's about the relationship that she had with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe during the 60's and 70's. I never knew of Patti but saw a late night interview with her months ago and couldn't shake her. Later I read a Vanity Fair article about Johnny Depp, found the writing style interesting and was suprised to find that Patti had written it. So, when I saw the book at Urban Outfitters I felt that it was destiny and had to get it.

It was pretty depressing and at times disgusting with the sex, drugs, rock and roll, lice and sexually transmitted diseases. It was intriguing in how much they sacrificed for their art. It took guts and a lot of arrogance to believe in yourself that much. I'm am thankful that she romanticized their lives because if she had been more realistic I don't think I could have read it. So, thanks Patti for the "prettied-up" version.

Plowing through their dirty NY apartments did have its rewards, though. She rubbed elbows with many great artists of the 60's such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Sam Shepherd and Andy Warhol.  I came away feeling slightly grossed out and slightly inspired. It was refreshing in a way to delve into a world where the most important thing in life was creating art. I can't live there but it was a nice mental vacation.

I've pulled out my concert DVD's, ordered a couple of new ones and am throwing myself a "Summer Concert Series." I watched "The Eagles" last week and Imogen Heap came and watched her this week. She is one of the most creative and innovative musicians I have ever seen or heard. If you don't know her, check her out.

I just got a Jack Johnson DVD yesterday and I can't wait to watch that.

I had a bit of a scare recently. I lost all the files on my computer. Thankfully Jerry and Steave found them. They were hiding. I was worried because I thought I had lost the novel that I wrote for Katie when she was in Toccoa. Of any of my stories, that would be the one I might dare to try to have published. I found it and it lies there, resting until I have the energy to go back and clean it up.

However,  I have been able to write a couple of chapters of another novel that's in the works. Over the past several years I've written 2 versions of it and threw them both out. Maybe I'll be happy with #3.

I'm feeling the pull to take pictures! I think I want to get "Photoshop for Dummies" and learn a little about the "modern darkroom."

And amongst all my grand plans and schemes I hope to be blogging more. It is the summer after all!