Are you averse to adventure? Are you allergic to yourself? Mike Ragsdale, one of my inspirations in the hyperlocal media realm, thinks you are. We’ve become averse to adventure and allergic to ourselves. ~ Mike Ragsdale Sadly, I think he's onto something. [pullquote]Adventure is my affliction, my addiction, my muse, my Holy Grail...[/pullquote]The context for his observation — lamenting Land ...
Midlife Doodles
Doodling in middle age, doodling in the digital age... Daily. Digitally and not so digitally. Sometimes almost not digitally at all. Welcome to my midlife doodles.
I doodle old school back-of-the-napkin doodles with borrowed pens and pencils. Or a straw dipped in tea. I doodle in meetings, and I doodle in bed. I doodle at the beach. On the beach. In the wet sand by the water's edge where I sometimes re-doodle when the waves wash over my works of whimsy. I doodle on my phone. I doodle on the not-so-fancy paper placemat with my spilled coffee. Or red wine. I noodle-doodle on my plate, and sky doodle with my flashlight. I doodle in the margins of my books, and doodle on the backs of envelopes when paying bills. My friend even doodles on pristine white airsickness bags and then slips them back into the kangaroo pouch in the seat in front of him for somebody to discover later. Dogs doodle in the snow and we call it marking their territory...
Do You Doodle?
Maybe you should try marking some of your territory with doodles? Or maybe doodle a morning message on your misted mirror instead. Doodle-dawdle to decompress, and doodle-bomb get even or make a point or just to experience [almost] what it's like to graffiti. Doodle because teachers and parents told you not to. Doodle because it's risky. Doodle because it's safe. Mostly — and most important of all — doodle because you can and it's fun!
Experiment
My bride laughs at the way I pronounce "experiment". Apparently I say /ikˈspirˌmənt/ or something not too far from that. Vestiges of a southern father? No clue. And given the way I pepper my language and life with references to this word, I afford my loving-but-laughing partner plenty of chuckling. It's made me a bit self-conscious when I say the word, but doing it is another thing altogether. My ...
Wo/ander
Today I am a velo flâneur. [pullquote]A bicycle flâneur yielding to the siren call of knotted byways. Wonderful. Wanderful.[/pullquote] Instead of hustling up a mountain on two wheels, one of my favorite exercise routines in Santa Fe, I decide to wo/ander. To wonder about the spiderweb of (mostly dirt and gravel) roads near my home, unfamiliar roads, many of which I've never walked or ridden or ...
Limitless
"To define yourself is to limit yourself. Without labels you remain the infinite being." ~ Deepak Chopra ...
Alive Now
"I don't want a never ending life I just want to be alive while I'm here" (Source: "Spirits" by THE STRUMBELLAS) ...
Nothing is Impossible
"You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible." ~ Deepak Chopra Good morning, friend. I write to you from the downhill side of an amazing week. I'm not coasting, exactly, but it's fair to say that I'm drafting, pulled forward euphorically and almost effortlessly by an achievement that I'm eager to share and celebrate. An achievement that originally felt daunting; an ...