Busy Work

Click on Pic

Today I wanted to embed this nifty art slideshow from Picasa on two of my blogs so I did that awhile. I put it on the footer area of my Thinck Tank blog and the Think-A-Holic Lounge blog here at Blogger. Then I poured another mug of coffee and added another page to michaelcasher.com called Art Slideshow.

The blog footers have an 800-pixel-wide show and michaelcasher.com has a 600-pixel-wide show (the 800-wide won't fit there). My digital paintings look best on a dark background. So they do.

When I think about writing yet another book that will just sit in another box on the floor I start to pitch and reel. Then I sit down at the PC instead of at the Canon word processor. They're at two different desks in my tiny writing room.

Then I just drink coffee and hide. While I'm hiding, I like to fool around with art and keep busy. It sure beats the pants off running naked through the back yard and screaming, "Why me? Why me?" So it does.

Sun Shower

It doesn't happen when you're looking for it and that's the beauty of a sun shower. The sun shining through a rain shower, or a rain shower passing through a sunny day. No matter how you look at it, it's always a gift, one that opens itself. And if there's a rainbow up above, that's the bow on the package. If you do happen to catch a rainbow there's no need to look for a pot of gold at the end of it because you'll never find one. The real treasure is what you see.

Teaming Up for Battle

I've never considered having an "alter-ego-ectomy" although having a dynamic alter ego can be a bit trying at times. Especially when said alter ego vacillates between your polar opposite and a near-perfect reflection of you. Backwards, of course, at all times, just like a real looking-glass image.

Therefore, it came as no surprise to me when I got pulled in both directions again after writing and publishing my ninth book, The Truth Is a Lone Assassin. What the worldly and otherworldly forces don't seem to accept is the fact that Jonco Bugos and I are inseparable. Plus the almost proven inevitability that every time we get pulled in opposite directions, one of us invariably spits out another book.   

My Great Big Secret Message From Earth

How's that for persistence? That's right, four years ago today I stopped drinking alcoholic beverages. Do I feel any better? Not really. I'm 61, look 71 and feel 81 and that has nothing to do with alcohol. Is that personal enough for you? Am I sharing or what?

As a matter of fact, not drinking alcohol for four years showed me just how unimportant alcohol is. What alcohol does best is give you a false sense of whatever it is you thought you weren't getting. Happiness, euphoria, importance, love, affection, glory, warmth, success. Who needs a false sense of something when you can have the real thing by working for it or towards it? 

They say alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions. Well, a lot of inhibitions are kept at bay for very good reasons and if alcohol brings them out then my advice to you is to leave alcohol alone altogether. My experience has shown that when you imbibe alcohol you become somebody you're not and that's almost opposite from what the drinking world tells you. Why wouldn't they tell you a lie? They sell you your alcohol.

The real you is who you are when you are alone with just your thoughts. And you certainly don't need alcohol, or any other drug, to take you there. If being yourself is who you really are, without having your thoughts altered by substances or adjusted by others, then you've already arrived at your destination. Nurture that personality and watch it grow.

What The Gods Considered Fair Game

Eye Candy

I did 30 "digital paintings" in the past 26 days. Maybe I'd better quit while I'm ahead. On the other hand, when life hands you lemons and you turn them into lemonade — or a great big lemon drop — it sure beats the pants off writing books that just sit in boxes on the floor.

Once Upon a Time in the East...

...it was great to be alive.