I Want to be David Bowie

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I want to be David Bowie. Seriously, who doesn’t? The man is from another planet, another world, across the universe and turn left at the old oak tree. He holds the universe in his head. He can see the past, present and future as he creates it.

I imagine he has his own gravitational pull. It’s enormous, and as he passes you on the street you feel the fluctuation in the Earth’s gravity as the planets and stars and moons in his universe orbit and collide and die and are born. Sidewalks buckle under the weight of his universe, oceans part. Glass bends and time is relative and rippling. No wonder he doesn’t like to fly.

What must it be like to have this vast cosmos ever circling and changing inside his head. What is it like to know the future and to move the past. As an avid fan and listener and believer and worshiper for the past twenty years or so; I feel as though he has been telling us all along.

For me, it started with The Labyrinth. I was only two when it came out, but I remember watching it young and throughout my preteen years I was obsessed with Jareth – and who the hell was this Sarah idiot to deny the Goblin King? Are you kidding me? Who saves a baby over a chance at eternity with the incomparable Mr B?

Then I became Ziggy Stardust.

No I really was Zig.

Just like anyone else who has ever taken in that album as I did – we have all been Zig. An alien rock n’ roller here to change the world but can’t take the pressure of it, we can’t bear the pain of the whole wide world but we have to carry on. For years I was wearing chandelier earrings to high school and college classes on the daily. Daydreaming about rock n’ roll suicide and wanting the palm tree platforms so badly I was ready to carve them myself. I didn’t – but still – someday…

As I have faced the inevitability of aging, maturing (I really kind of hate that word), learning and expanding my mind (cosmically and existentially – not chemically) – I have grown to love the many different Bowies. I have always loved his big hits from his crazy discography. I embraced the 60s pop hits of Davy Jones, the shark suited hits of the 80s and sh*t, I am still f*cking afraid of Americans; but I could never love anything as much as the 70s albums (of which there are eleven).

Now I get it – I just wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t ready to let Mr B open my mind and show me the future. He has been telling us all what it is all about for decades now. We just haven’t been ready to listen. We each carry his crazy universe of black holes violently tearing apart and consuming anything and everything around them, of stars being born and exploding with nuclear energy and planets and moons and matter and anti-matter.

I want to be David Bowie dammit.

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Sometimes life figures you out first.

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So it has been a red letter day. We got up, did some errands, spent some money (what felt like a lot) on staples for the house and cat. Then got a super exciting Hario V60 drip coffee kit and 20% off open box/display Bonavita electric kettle for free from Williams-Sonoma with AmEx points and we still have $16 left over. Then spent a fairly productive day working on stuff for the cafe, talking to Steve about readjusting plans for the project board, playing with our new coffee geek goods, making stew and getting quite a start on the business plan. Then after dinner I started to kind of freak out, regretting the shitty (but good paying) jobs we’ve given up for the security they offered (gross), regretting the two months and thousands of dollars spent traveling this year to figure our shit out away from people (f-cking stupid and ungrateful), just asking all the what ifs until they became a swirling vortex of black tar negative thoughts…What if we suck at this? What if we hate it? What if we know nothing about coffee? What if we get burned out woking too hard and too long? All questions that have reasonably simple answers. We won’t suck – we know this. We won’t because we will be working together to build our future like we’ve wanted to forever – and if we hate it, then at least we tried. We do know a lot about coffee already, and we can learn more. We will hire some additional help. But the biggest one and scariest one and the one I really hate f-cking asking because I feel like a f-cking coward doing it and I don’t like that a question can get the better of me…is…what if we fail? And still, at the end of the day, so what. So we fail at opening a business, at least we tried. At least we still have family to help us out for a couple months to get back on our feet. At least we have never felt hunger or thirst or needed a bed at night. We are lucky. And just when I was starting to feel better, more positive and not so negative nervous – just more cautiously optimistically anxious…I get an email for a possible egg donation match. It would be my fourth. First was in June 2012, second August 2012, third May 2013…I have always thought of the extra money as fantastic and helpful and great. It helped me to quit Allstate which was a quagmire of misery. It helped me to figure out some shit and face some fears and learn a whole lot about me, yoga and others by getting RYT200 certified. It helped fund these past two months – even as it has gotten dangerously low. Mostly I have felt that it was some sort of dream karma. Helping people fulfill a dream that I do not share for myself and my family (that being my Love and Me and a future for our existing family and friends but to never add to the number personally) – but in some messed up cosmic way – to maybe gain some karma assistance in fulfilling our dreams for our family and our future. So for this email to have come today…I have to believe that things sometimes do happen for a reason.

Day Forty Seven

m83hubmle

Not sure about today. It was a good day in general, no complaints, no real worries, just a run of the mill Tuesday. Still not sure of it though. I guess I give today the kind of look Larry David delivers whenever he is skeptical or suspicious on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Today I experienced a lethal dose of super angry mom, she exploded at me, I reacted kind of like an as-hole but it felt like full on defensive as-hole & she went silent on me for the rest of the evening. Full on 4-yr old temper tantrum silent. Only it lasted a lot longer then a 4-yr old tantrum does, but it was carried out in much the same way. Some pouting, some huffing, some louder-than-necessary movements and I didn’t cave. For the first time, I think ever, I didn’t feel guilty enough to cave and apologize or ask if she was ok or try and placate her by agreeing to buy her that toy she wanted (kidding – she would be totally fine with some candy or ice cream). I don’t even think I remember feeling anything more then a glimmer of guilt. That is crazy talk for me. And like I have promised myself, I cannot be held for the way other people handle situations. I can only be responsible for how I handle myself and how I respond. I am no longer going to take responsibility for loved one’s behaviors, attitudes or opinions. I’ve had it! I am not Solange Knowles, I have never violently attacked anyone in any way and I don’t plan to. That said, I am taking the Jay-Z approach, defensive but only to a point. I will not allow anyone to get the better of me and I will not allow myself to sink to a level I do not wish to exist on.

 

be humble for you are made of earth

be noble for you are made of stars

Day Forty Five

claws

Today…sh-t got real. I was guilted into changing some of the plans I had for my birthday and I was immediately unhappy about said guilt-driven-changes. I was so pissed off, at my family, at myself. After a few hours of wallowing in self-misery I decided to alter my plans back. I don’t want to dread my 30th. I don’t want to worry about anyone saying something to hurt me, or anyone being in a crabby mood and taking it out on me.

That already happened all day today.

We had planned a nice relaxing Mom’s Day for everyone, and it all turned to sh-t. First thing in the morning I was attacked for selling a few cheap frames at the garage sale that apparently were über-important (even though I have never once heard of their apparent irreplaceable appeal). From there a lot of tension clouded the day. We had a delicious brunch at PJ’s Lager House in Corktown and headed to Ikea for some afternoon shopping, but the day was tainted.

I am so tired of talking about the same old sh-t; so for the first time – today I decided what was going to be best for me and said no to anything less. It is liberating and guilt-inducing at the same time. But I guess I am ok with that. I don’t want to lose the instinct to say yes all the time, and to want to please other people. I just want to say no more often when saying yes causes so much unhappiness and stress.

I also cannot wait to turn 30 all of the sudden…it’s weird and I cannot explain it but I feel like it has to be better then this sh-t.

I would also like to add that I am not such a self-absorbed person as I surely come off on this blog. It’s terrifying how opening up and trying to journal via blogging has made me feel/sound so whiney. I typically don’t even tell my love what I am really thinking and feeling on a daily basis. I certainly never tell friends or family – hence the trust issues. This is all a part of the journey I suppose; but please believe when I say that I can’t stand listening to myself whine all over the place either.

Day Forty One

tj

Today we gathered our garage sale goods ready for the sale tomorrow. I am so flipping tired and so crazy excited to see all of this getting out of our house and hopefully making us some ca-sheesh. For the first time – I am finally making a deal with myself to take people at face value. I realized this morning how utterly ridiculous I am (this was brought on by reflections on what happened to me last night and most times I drink) – and I genuinely don’t know if I have ever really truly and whole heartedly have believed my husband when he tells me he loves me no matter what. I am an a$$hole. I never said I wasn’t. I am fully resolved now to not dwell on what others think of me or what they might be thinking – I am taking them for what they say to me, and how they outwardly & obviously act towards me. If someone can’t tell me what they really think of me, what they really want to say, if they can’t be honest – then honestly, they aren’t worth it.

honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom – thomas jefferson

Day Thirty Eight

candles

Happy Star Wars Day! How did you celebrate? I had yoga training all day but I just finished Episode IV with my love and a couple of cocktails. The perfect end to a long day.

I am quickly closing in on 30. It has been a long few weeks, a lot of introspection, acceptance, moving on. There is still a long way to go.

Today was the first day that I allowed myself to get really excited about finishing yoga. I mean I have been excited but it has always felt more like – it’s going to be over with and then I can move on. Today that changed. I really felt like I could see the conclusion, I am excited about it, I am nervous about it, but mostly I am super proud of the progress I have made and super excited to finally realize this accomplishment. It feels like it will mean a lot more to me then just a piece of paper saying I am certified. This has been a gigantic stumbling block for me this past year. It has always lingered at the back of my mind, hanging over my head, holding me down and making me feel ridiculously guilty (for the cost, the not finishing it last year like I planned and wanted to, the fact that I hadn’t just stuck it out – I can always find ways to turn anything into a failure and then use it against myself). I am even looking forward to putting together my very own yin yoga flow, teaching part of it next week and being filmed, and the big final in a few weeks. In one month I should be certified.

May the Fourth Be With You indeed!

Day Twenty Eight

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Totally just watched Wayne’s World with a couple of tall boys and my love. Seriously – can we talk for a minute about how f#%&ing awesome this movie is? The Ed O’Neill, the ever gorgeous and eternally young Rob Lowe, the shwings, the Alice Cooper and obviously all of the glorious early 90s jokes that I honestly don’t think kids today would ever understand nor appreciate. That is why I will never understand nor appreciate kids today. Except my two nieces – they’re perfect and cute and awesome – all the rest I just can’t get with. Especially since they all wear the cute tiny flower print skirts and jumpers circa 1992 – wtf. Do they get how important the transition form metal to grunge really was? What it did to the music industry? To the world? I digress; it’s such a classic movie from my younger days. I mean how many of us out there know all the lyrics to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody (and have exhibited such in our cars when we thought no one was watching) because of Wayne’s World? And it’s twenty-two years old. 

Speaking of the 90s; I made a pretty big decision today. I am going back to platinum blonde and I am going to try it myself using Manic Panic. Hahahahahaha. This will occur before my 30th and I hope it goes well. I haven’t dyed my hair in years – the cheap vegan in me – and the first time I will have bought Manic Panic since 1996 – so I was twelve – going on thirteen. And here I am twenty nine going on thirty. Awesome. 

No…Benjamin is no one’s friend; if Benjamin were an ice cream flavor, he’d be pralines and dick.

Day Twenty Seven

jareth

With our upcoming move – we have decided to start selling our things. This has been under discussion for some time now – the amount of stuff we have is not hoarders crazy, but enough that it feels like a heavy weight on our shoulders – holding us back. We’ve had some serious dialogues about selling everything over the past few months – but today,, for the first time, it really hit me. I hate our stuff. I mean don’t get me wrong, I love how our home looks, I love a lot of the individual pieces of furniture, I love a lot of the books, cds and movies we’ve kept after several downsizings, it’s just that I hate how tied to our current location all the stuff makes me feel. It really is a weight holding us to this plot of the earth.

I want to be many people by the end of my life. I want to live many places. Sometimes I feel like that creepy garbage lady in Labyrinth – you know when Sarah ends up in what she thinks is her room after the ballroom/party hallucination? It’s like I’ve always been collecting it & carrying it on my back. God I love that movie. David Bowie….mmmm….Our stuff needs to go.

Day Twenty Six

stars worth writing about

So I just spent about twenty minutes watching old Nickelodeon videos of all the shows I watched growing up. I am so effing old. Salute Your Shorts, Doug, Hey Arnold, Pete & Pete, Rocko’s Modern Life, The Secret World of Alex Mack and of course the vast collection of Marc Summers gems. Seriously – what is up with kids programming today – that stuff was solid gold. Watch any of those shows and I guarantee you will be a happier person for it.

Now for the real content of today’s post. Today I have decided that this experiment in blogging, writing, whatever this is – will continue. I am actually really excited about it. I want to expand to fashion posts, food posts – and not just gross & poorly edited photos of food – but really delicious recipes, entertainment reviews and so on. For the first time – I have said it out loud and in the open. I want to continue blogging for the foreseeable future. I want to write and that is definitely a first. I want to improve, get more comfortable, write honestly, keep it funny (because I am – not that the past 25 days has shown it) and write something worth reading. I mean – this isn’t Salinger or anything. In fact it’s probably a little closer to Twilight level – as in mediocre amateur – but it feels great so f#%& it. I’m going to keep at it. I have not deluded myself into thinking many will read it – but if I can create something worth reading to even a few – then that will mean something to me.

 

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down to a typewriter and bleed. -Ernest Hemingway