Well…another birthday has come and gone – where do they all get to?
As I sojourn in Germany and contemplate getting dual citizenship – I also contemplate those great ex-patriates…Hemingway et al. (I don’t think Polanski qualifies). I know a pretty cool story about a buddy of Hemingway’s – but I’ll leave that for another day.
Right now I’m thinking of another giant of a man (can we ever support giants, again? Or, are we now programmed to tear them down as quickly as we create them??) –- namely Dr. Walter Waring – English Chairman at Kalamazoo College, back-in-the-day. Allegedly Walter had 3 Ph.D.s: in Chemistry, English and Physics –- and was allegedly America’s foremost authority on Shakespeare back in the 70s. Another Walter legend was that he flew reconnaisance over Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped – and that is why he would go to “The Whistestop“ for 3 hours every Friday – until his wife would pick him up and lead him home. I remember him –staring into space –that fugue state that I have seen on many-a war vet.
Son Nick said that he wanted to make a contribution to the world before settling into a 9-to-5 grind. Well, I don’t ever see him settling into that 9-to-5 grind – but if he stays healthy – he’s got plenty of time to make that contribution. I’m still at it – with my music and this here essay site. I can’t really call this a blog – because I rarely (if ever) respond to anyone who e-mails me through this site – my apologies to anyone I may have pleased (or irritated) – but I’m quite saturated in my life – I barely get from A-to-B any more. And thank God for HG and Carter, without the-2-of-them believing that I still have some music in me – I probably would have dried up on that front: but some of the stuff we’re laying down really touches my soul.
So, I’m not sure if I’ve made my contribution to-the-world…that will ever make-a-giant-of-me (like ol’ Walt Waring) though I do enjoy revisiting the many chapters of my rather interesting life (whether it be here with readers), or in my private thoughts (and I wonder how private my thoughts are, these days). Not only does Girlfriend Giti show a proclivity for reading my thoughts – but much of my planned vampire novel (which I began writing over-20-years-ago) seems replete in “Moonlight,“ “Twilight“ and “True Blood.“ Was Carl Jung correct – is there truly a collective unconscious?
And, ever since I hit the age of 50, I had a peculiar sense that I had begun to live my life backwards – that everything that I am experiencing now I have already experienced, and that’s OK by me. Something akin to T.H. White’s, Merlin, but quite dissimilar to Brad Pitt’s, Benjamin Button.
Another unnerving observation I am making is that the tone of my voice, or perhaps a combination of pitch, cadence and register causes people to stop what it is they are doing and search out the origination point of the vocal utterance. People who have heard me speak have questioned whether I am very stoned, or, if I am on the verge of death, or, if I do cartoon character voice-overs (which I would very much like to do). I tell them “No. It’s surfer speech.“ HG merely suggests that I have found “my voice.“ I was actually a rather Alpha personality with rapid speech for much of my life – but I eventually learned (circa 21) that this pace of being brought with it cyclical, crippling migraines. So slowing myself down was a very conscious and forced effort at curing myself of these migraines. It worked.
So here’s another year to me and the fondest hopes to pull another 40-or-so-more.