Sailor Mercury

Nigel

The McKayla Lisa

This Is What Miss America Looks Like

DO WANT: Wine Dispenser

A Serious Post About Art, Invention and Creativity

I belong to a fantastic art network online called Le Refuse.  We have a little over 100 members and growing all the time.  We are all from different disciplines but I have never found a more generous, supportive, dedicated, talented group of artists.  Occasionally, they give me warm fuzzies by exhibiting these characteristics and it makes me post little happy word farts all over our page.  This one seemed to apply in general to all of us who make something from nothing and I wanted to share it with all eight of my readers.  (For whom I am eternally grateful.) 

Awaaaaay, we go:

Today two different people posed the corporate shill job vs. creating what I love question to me about their own situations. They are both talented bright decent people who would benefit greatly, I think, from chasing their dreams. Their hesitation made me appreciate my, and your, choice to carve our own niches that much more. Whether you create a little whenever you can or you've made it your entire life, you are making room for greatness when you conquer your fear and take on the awesome responsibility that is channeling the divine.

 We look fear in the face DAILY, you guys. Sometimes we might not be sure if the next stroke/click/line/note/choice is the right one. Sometimes we doubt ourselves and overthink our work until it is muddy mush. 

BUT we wake up and try again. We make conscious choices and take note of the reactions of the world to our existence. We ask questions and are keenly aware of what our next improvements will be.These lessons can't be bought or cajoled. These lessons are what everyone tries to teach their kids.

I am so proud of us in our journeys wherever we might be in them. I encourage you to take those leaps and kick fear in the nuts. I am in awe of how strong and resilient and loving you all are. 

If you're feeling even a little down or defeated or stuck or afraid, just remember that you've inspired ME. And I can't wait to see what you create next.  



And for consistency with the rest of my posting style, here's the latest in Wedding News:

Panorama Photo of a Man That Went Horribly Right

Prison Flowers

Nana Weiner

You currently have all these things in your pocket right now

Mammy Cannons, FIRE!!

Mine actually have this capability.

I had no idea Tom Hardy was such a babe

Buncha Savages

I Milked My Sister's Cat

I have nipples, Greg.  Could you milk me?

Good-Crazy v. Bad-Crazy

In case you're not clear on the difference, this shit right here is BAD-CRAZY.

DO WANT: Forest bramble ceiling lamp

Octonana

When Someone Says "Calm Your Tits"

MURICA

The last one who finishes has to eat it

Barbie Girl meets Anime Girl

Yes, they are real women.  But I'm using the term loosely.

Asshole

A little guy just dinka-dinking away

"You're NEXT, missy!"

You Ain't Right

I Can't Stop Laughing

My Day Today

Just trippy, man

The Essential Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)

When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you're not here, I can't go to sleep.

Praise God for these two insomnias!
And the difference between them.

The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.

We are the mirror as well as the face in it.
We are tasting the taste this minute
of eternity. We are pain
and what cures pain, both. We are
the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.

I want to hold you close like a lute, so we can cry out with loving.

You would rather throw stones at a mirror?
I am your mirror, and here are the stones.

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are square in your moon.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed down from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving, to hide it, fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true yourself;
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the moon in God’s presence.

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know, or how you came here.

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in empty moments.

Jazzing Up Your Morning Coffee Certainly Jazzed Up Mine

You once posted a photo of your new lip ring.

Some days it's the only thing that gets me through.

Reasons Why You Can

I have absolute confidence in you.

There is no doubt in my mind that you will overcome this too.  You are courageous and strong and deserve nothing but the finest.  Your words are brilliant and will pave the way to the new horizon you've been aiming at for years. 

This storm will not swallow you because I am your lighthouse.

But I am also your siren.  Listen to my song.  I will sing to you about written dreams and treble clefs and corporate slumber and your soul’s purpose and carpe diem.   There is only one life.  Time is short.  Do it now.  What are you waiting for?

It is scary to be your own net.  I know that fear.  I know it daily and it has carved me from obsidian.  It is nothing you can’t handle.

You have all the tools you need.  You have me in your corner.  You have the love and support of your village.  You have the skill, talent and experience.  You have the confidence to pull it off.  Maybe not today but I’ll be sure for the both of us for a little while until you can join me.

I believe in you.  Make it happen and tell me how to help.