It has been a while.

I haven't even been over to this realm for a while, even though my website has the big button coaxing any (dear readers) here. But I need to write more, to unwind my late night mind with better things. So much has changed since I was last tilting and out of sorts. It's a cyclical thing with me, and I'm currently there of course, but always I hope it's a tilt a whirl of progress.

I promise myself to write and show more here. Hope I listen to my own promise.

Meanwhile here's my latest painting, going up for a silent auction on October 7th at the Texas Freedom Network's annual celebration. So I give you: Toxic Political Landscape...

Tilting

I've been a bit out of sorts, I guess it's just one of those weeks, one of those weeks that fits into a lifetime of doubt. That business, the doubt business, it goes with you wherever you are, that's just a fact. But some places are better at helping you to overcome it.

So sayeth chai wallah.

VDay

Because it's fun, and things are better, I thought I'd revisit last year's Valentine's Day, one of the most memorable ones on record, but of course not for the right reasons.

I had been in LA since the beginning of November. At some point there, and unbeknownst to me, a wisdom tooth had decided it was time to decay. I think it was later in December that I noticed a pain, nagging but not sharp. Advil every once in a while made it go away. But by February, I was in single dose, every prescribed period of time, Advil taking mode most of the day. Eventually it was getting worse, I realized it had to be a problem without self resolution despite my resolute self, so I made the decision to drive back to Midland and see what was up. I drove back to be around family, in case I needed a ride and such, as unfortunately Benny, great friend that he was (I miss that guy!) couldn't drive me around, or make soup for me.

Anyhow, long drive back to Midland and a dentist appointment later...one look in my mouth "oh that wisdom tooth is decaying, you'll have to have it extracted, but you'll have to see an oral surgeon." Yay, my exact diagnosis, I'm good! The receptionist offered to make an appointment for me with some group or oral surgeouns, but when she called me back later, this collective of oral health surgeons couldn't see me until March. Never mind that I needed to get back to LA so I could finalize the deposit to get my name on the John Baldessari house rental agreement. (Never mind also that the fates were then in motion to have all our monies almost tied up whilst John B., or his people, or both, decided it was time for them to take the house back, which was the final straw allowing me to admit how much I despised Los Angeles as a place to live.)

Continuing...never mind also that I was in pain, and it wasn't going to improve magically until March. So Mom told me to call some other places, and I found a Dr. Cummings who could see me that Thursday, which was Valentine's Day. In the schema of the universe, I guess it was actually a pretty good way to spend the day, given that it lead to a relief from pain.

Of course, from then it wouldn't be too long until I had moved back to Midland, and had the remaining wisdom teefies removed on or very close to my birthday.

Fun stuff.

Have I said how much I adore Austin, Texas?

Spring Cleaning?

With the days we've been having, it doth seem like Spring is just around the corner, and I suppose in a way it is. Yesterday we went to have a late lunch (I had already lunched, though, so had tea) before heading out to see Duncan Sheik. For that lunch we sat outside at Shady Grove, basking in the sun.

Oft stated, but I can't wait until the same (basking) happens with everything bursting into green and bloom.

Meanwhile the blog is still so dusty, since I don't come here often enough.

Ill...try to do better?

So behind!

No New Year's reminiscing post, no Inaugural post, no recent things to do and see in Austin post. I just have to admit I'm really behind on the blogging business. I don't even have a proper excuse, and writing this is hardly ameliorating the circumstance, because I'm not even going to write much more.

To sum:

New Year: good
New President: good
recent things to do and see in Austin: good

It's all good!

Obligatory Christmas Posting

Let's face it, if you are not that X marks the mas centered, today is just a little odd. I feel a bit confined. I don't really know what's open or closed, and I just assume almost everything is closed. Except the dreaded Walmart perhaps, though maybe even they close for Jesus' birthday, at least for a while. So I feel like a prisoner of the holiday, as I don't really care that much for it this year, and elected to stay in Austin for the day rather than fly or drive home, which wouldn't have worked out so well anyhow, as my sister and the kiddos went to Tennessee to visit Jr's grandmother for good reason, but that's too complicated to explain here.

Here I am, then, having a lazy day. I opened a few presents my family had sent, but otherwise there's not a lot of Christmasness going on. I have fired up the music, my rather large collection of iTunes and other Christmas/Winter gems. That started a couple of years ago when I forced through an unhappy October/November combo with my Hard Candy Christmas self, and it worked. Seems like it was another lifetime, and since it also seems like I've had about five or so different lifetimes so far, I guess I can reflect.

Last year...yikes. Last Christmas...click that link and have a look see! I had just gotten over strep throat, which had been inflicted on me in Los Angeles, where I knew of not a single doctor and very few people, so I had to face that one mostly alone, isolated in the damn garage where the cold wind would blow and the heater worked only if I faced the interior wall. Sometimes I feel like such an idiot for trying to stay there in that room, afraid of offending someone by leaving (like it didn't happen anyhow) and afraid of leaving for a different room because that would have forced me to commit to a longer time frame. Things worked out for the best, though. I was alone last year as this year, but, then, I felt alone.

This year I don't feel alone, and overall there's a base of happiness I'm using as a foundation, as opposed to a sense of desolation. I'll admit the past week hasn't had me doing cartwheels, with the cold and worse cloudy weather, without much rain, and no sun. At least here it's more expected, though apparently it's not that usual in Austin for the bitter cold to hang about so much. But I'm working on thawing my inner bitter cold, and it's a lot easier to do here. So that makes me happy.

Even if I do feel like a prisoner of the holiday today, well, it's just one day, and a better excuse to be lazy than I've had lately. I'm just going to go with it, watch a few movies, unwrap myself from the last strains of Christmas music, and look forward to the New Year. After all, unlike last year, when the one I wanted to spend New Year's with was not available and indeed that lack of availability was a small but not insignificant part of the reason I left LA, well, this year I've already made plans.

Living the Gabriel Style

That title sounds a little bolder, or perhaps more pretentious, than it really is. (So, why don't I go back and change it? I don't know. I'm an enigma unto myself even.)

I thought since things on the apartment front are progressing well, I'd post some pictures, at least of my bedroom and my living room. Both are incomplete, but past the halfway point, lacking mostly new paintings for wall space (which I am to provide, and need to get cracking) and a few details here or there. My office is probably past the halfway point as well, but lacks curtains, an essential element, and I'm close to solving the curtain question (posed to me by myself) so then I'll post some pics.

Until that time, and until I've finished it all, here's a glimpse of my living spaces for now:

The living room, fairly self explanatory.




My bedroom is inspired by the films of Wong Kar Wai, specifically but not limited to In the Mood for Love. The color scheme, use of patterns and textures, and the whimsy, were all the original ideal for my loft room (that is, garage) in Venice, Los Angeles.

Originally I had also planned to throw in a number of industrial elements, taking a cue from the Mood for Love/2046 combo, as that meshed with the whole notion of a garage door being part of a room. For my current apartment's style, and also since the original IKEA bed I planned wasn't available, I left out the industrial elements, so here there is a softer Wong Kar Wai feel, especially in person.

What's interesting is that, taking these pictures without the flash, the room looks very much like a set for one of his films. My good friend Deborah, who knows the films I'm talking about, immediately picked up the vibe, so I was very happy. She's been the best test of what I was hoping to portray. The wall color is less green, more of a blue/green, dusty, but more in the blue than green realm. The way it photographs here, playing against the oranges and pinks, is fun though.


That's all for now, as I've said, as soon as I get the curtain puzzle for my office solved, I'll post pictures of it.