FAST, FAST, FAST RELIEF

10-17-09

Remember that 1950s Anacin commercial with that animation of a skull suffering from headache, neuritis and neuralgia?  I  have that headache now.  Sergio woke me up from dreaming to tell me he was waiting on line to get into the Showbiz Expo.  I wanted to go just to pick up some swag but he knew the Expo as a big hardware show.  I hate being awakened from a dream.  It takes a day and a night to recover.  Anyway he called me back two more times and finally told me not to even bother.  No swag and the show was all for actors.

So now I have no choice but to do homework.  Makes me want to crawl back into bed.  I attempted a nap but no way. Not a chance for this insomniac.  So, assignment one, due on Monday, the blog it is.  What about a mission statement?  No idea.  Who do I want to reach?  People like me and people who appreciate people like me.  Middle-aged, full of regrets, trying hard to live this next stage of life putting a positive spin on everything.  Half airy-fairy and half just wanting to move on without dragging along that baggage of pessimism, trepidation, fear and misery.  So my teachers are Rabbis Stan and Laura,  former disc jockey and drug addict Shadoe Stevens,  the Gratefulness Word for the Day email blast and my more practiced friends and acquaintance who just know how it’s done.  It is a choice, after all.  Shit keeps on happening and all you can do is react.   Will it go any better if you’re terrified of the outcome than if you expect it to all work out well in the end? 

My mom was a practitioner of the grit your teeth and hold on tight school of imaginary control of things that are out of your control.  Not as empowering as it sounds.   So I really envy people who were raised to see the sunny side or to believe the Eye in the sky cares and protects.  Me, not so much.  So gotta keep making that choice over and over all day long.

And by the way, thank you Gratefulness Word for the Day from leftist historian Howard Zinn who it turns out is not the cynic you might expect.

An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, sappy whistler in the dark. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. If we remember those times and places where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us energy to act and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.