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A new show, finally, at the local art gallery. Long overdue, these shows occupy the mind for maybe half an hour - tops, then hang around town another 3-4 months afterwards.
We need a quicker turn-around.
Anyways, I'd tried to go on Friday night, the shows opening, possibly of interest to me as the artist made mention of "local geology" which, as you might expect, got me going.
But Friday night it's packed, to the gills, and moving through the the hoi polloi, all of whom are too busy hob-nobbing to make way or for easy passage through the gallery. It's impossible.
So I return Saturday, when the gallery's empty, and ....
Well, it's discouragingly "modern", by which the artist is simply using words like "geology" to drag me in, there's very few rocks, and the rocks she's used are boring, and instead of being lovingly sculpted she's simply added shapes to them with modelling clay (I'd had the same idea, but imagined it carved from the living rock...). A few curtains dusted with mica, a few map-type thingies which are hardly art, this is bollocks.
The other gallery opening is tomorrow, and I'm not sure I want to invest any hope in this...
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The past week, two even, low and lowering clouds, rain and more rain, and now, with daylight savings time, 8 hours (roughly) of daylight obscured by fog & rain, the tones of grey diminishing and then advancing throughout the day, 8 AM until 4 PM.
And then it's dark.
All this made worse by the fact that I have a flu, or the Covid, I'm not sure which, or if it matters, a low level headache, cold, from time to time coughing up white frogs and spawn that stick in the sink...
Going to swill them down with boiling water and they cook up like eggs, whites fluttering from around and under the drain.
Try and sleep, to no avail, try and get up, to as well no avail, read books, drink, coffee, tea, soda, whatever...
Cook, food, don't forget to eat, the same pasta with sausage day after day, breakfast a hard-boiled egg, some cheese & cranberry, yogurt and blueberries, some seeds, sunflower, pumpkin, flax, days pass and the flu/Covid hangs in there, not so sick that I want to be inside all day, not so nice out that I want to be outside all day, and nowhere's social can you be in the land of the un-vaxxed unless you'd inspire suspicion and paranoia...
Anyways, it must be reaching the end of it's run, almost 2 weeks in, a slow slide in, and gradual climb out, rubbing tiger balm on my chest, lying on my industrial back massager, gonna shake the phlegm out of my lungs...
I'm in need of some joy, and if I can recover enough there's an event next weekend...
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Still on Facebook, far too often, checking Marketplace for a very few pieces of furniture that will complete my apartment.
And I end up on their videos. Treasure videos, because sometimes I look at the ones where they're looking for gold in the outback or digging up giant quartz crystals in the Mt. Blanc, Alabama and Mohawk Valley.
There's a lot of good stuff to be found.
The problem, I'm guessing, is there's just not enough of this going on, and so a whole pile of Tik-Tokkers have gotten in on the trend, making increasingly outlandish videos, some of which I watch, because, well, I just have to...
This girl is great, Asian, I'm guessing somewhere in China, she wades into the stream, looking for clams, when she finds one opening it to find no end to preposterous treasures. The happy face tattooed on her middle finger suggests some cultural alliances...
Of course the green heart shaped diamonds weren't enough, other clams gave were filled with pink heart shaped diamonds, brilliant blue diamonds, green pearls, blue marbles or bath beads, I mean, if you ever wondered where Dollorama got it's craft supplies I think I've figured it out...
These can become addictive, with the mental consequences somewhat akin to the physical consequences of a diet of only McDonalds.
I mean, there are metal detectorists that have no idea how to use a metal detector, people hauling up - what if were real - 1000lb gold bricks and vases with one hand, there are the "Cross-Cultural" vocalizations like "Wow" and "Oh My God" and "200 Kilograms" (as he's lifting it out with the claw of a hammer), the heavy breathing, the breaking open of a 200 lb gold nugget only to find that it's in fact a giant sapphire, giant clams filled with colored pearls that have already had the holes drilled...
And given the dispersal of the videos, there are content farms from Russia to Asia and Africa, and, given the numbers of views (some in the millions) these are clearly where the real treasures are.
I find this curious, my own tastes, there are perfectly real videos of people digging up Smokey Quartz points on Mount Blanc, gwindels, as well as on Pikes Peak and in Alabama, but they have the merest fraction of views, the real treasure lies in the generating of mindless content, monetizing it, dragging out the length of the video for "maximum engagement", not a "get to the point mentality", or "this is how / where we do it and what we find", it's appealing to an innate deep seated desire to find treasure and become rich beyond our wildest dreams.
Anyways, I had to share, my tastes are seriously being dumbed down by the internet and I'm greatly not getting out and digging up more treasures this summer. Although, looking around the apartment at all the rocks and I'm realizing I've dug up quit enough...for the moment at least.
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Coffee, the usual at John Ward. A girl comes into the café, nondescript in every aspect, clothes, face, mid-30's I'd guess, if I had to. She coughs and begins:
"Can I have you're attention please? My name is ...... and I'm here to tell you that there is going to be a nuclear armageddon in the next few days, and the world is going to be made anew...
On November 28th all those who've repented and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal saviour will ascend directly to heaven. It will be painless and there's nothing to fear.
I thank you for your time."
And then she's off, out the door, doubtless spreading the word to all the other cafe's and restaurants on Baker.
The café, a few eyebrows, otherwise nothing. Kind of her to give fair warning, but I didn't get the feeling anyone was taking her too seriously.
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Was I out last year? I don't remember.
This year, there are a hundred diversions and parties around town. It's make a choice. I settle on a Dosed Party for Friday Night, Saturday night to recover.
Take your meds, head out.
The evening, fantastic, a giant sub-basement, 2 DJ's, stilt-walkers with nothing on, "light spinners" (flames being forbidden indoors), naked girls writhing on beds, in cages on the dancefloor, they're investment in this is spectacular, meet people, chat...
The crowd, well, the theme is "Circus Freaks" but nobody got the memo, I got the memo but have no costume or inspiration and so merely put on a waistcoat and trousers, I'll be a "suit", this terrifies the men and draws in the girls...
One woman, older, full BDSM regalia, leather corset, mask, boots, stocking, she's spread in a chair, surveying the crowd...
It's a good look. There are lots of good looks here. And the mask, a smart touch, keep your party persona separate from your public persona, it is a small town.
The younger girls, a few touching on the same theme, unmasked, they don't care if they're recognized, it's good advertising.
I'm old school, from the age of discretion. I should have a mask.
Meet people, Jeanine, Jess, Akacia, I don't know why I'm getting names as I'll never put them to faces, the faces, they're all melting with the mushrooms anyways...
The night passes. It's an extraordinary party, but this town, it's got that going on once a month at least and the problem becomes rationing one's indulgences.
Saturday, recover, it takes a full bottle of Vodka to bring me down. And while out getting the second half on Saturday evening there are again revelers out, the streets are full, the bars are packed, and how can anyone do this two nights in a row? Probably easier without the Vodka. But it get's expensive, this.
Tuesday, a screening of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show", I go, no desire to see it (again!!!), but I'm curious as to the crowd.
Of course they don't disappoint. They've a contest for all they people who dressed up, in character, and they've pulled them onto the stage. There's one, a bit younger than me perhaps, he's kind of sheepish, he's been dragged up and is winning the applause, his costume - it is presumed - is that of "Brad", only - I've seen him around, this is how he dresses every day of the week, probably he's never seen this movie, and now, he's on stage, the audience is going wild with the voting, they've cottoned on to the joke, and he's growing more and more sheepish, in the end he wins second prize.
Now, time to recover and get back at my projects...
Subcategories
Dating
OK. I've been on a few internet dates. I confess this with the same reluctance I would admitting to masturbating, adultery, or excessive drinking and drug use.
This is a list of some of my best -- AND WORST -- dates ever. Note that you gotta go on a lotta dates to get this kinda list, this kinda discouraged. And my online dating thing has been sporadic - an every few years kind of thing at best. Some of these dates go back 10 years, others are a little more recent. And to answer any people who might argue "It beats hooking up at the bar", well, you don't have to hook up at the bar, and at the bar you can see what your getting...
Anyways - apologies to the countless normal, decent dates that I went on but just didn't hit it off with. Memory is selective, it tends towards the extreme, and in this you will find the extremes...
Dear Osama
In which I write everyone's favorite advice columnist.
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