Minimalism

I find myself increasingly fascinated by simple things. Like how drinking a certain liquid will slowly but surely get you intoxicated. It's amazing. And how plants would take over the world again if only we'd stop pouring so much fucking pavement and cement.

This is probably caused by working too much and excessive stress in trying to clean up after myself. By that I mean the obvious things like housecleaning, but also mistakes. Business mistakes.

I have a lot to do in the next 10 days or so as I promised myself I was going to wrap up all loose ends with my advertising agency I started in 2004 which is now kaput. It's a motherlode of trouble and problems. There are piles of tax forms and invoices from tv stations on the file cabinets. There are past due credit card statements which cannot be paid because there are no funds. And there's other accounting issues to confront.

I need to make an appointment with a lawyer. All of this needs to be dealt with before the end of May if I am to keep the promise I made to myself. And I keep making more promises to myself. Get rid of clutter. Cancel things such as subscriptions I don't need. Organize my crap. Throw some shit out. (Too many David Sanborn CDs collecting dust.)

Simplify.

Yep, it's gonna be a busy week, and I still want to maintain the blog and do some cooking and other things I enjoy. It's not going to be easy but I can smell victory from here. And I have a 3-day weekend to help me succeed. Just give me some time and tequila and I'll get it done.

Meanwhile, I am going to start a new series of blog posts called Bookworms. I don't read books these days. I haven't in years. We have quite a collection of books in this house -- some have been read and some haven't. One of my new resolutions is that once I simplify my life, I'm going to start reading again. Not blogs, not e-books, but a real book printed on paper.

Once in awhile when I'm restless and pacing, or cleaning the house, I'll glance over at a book and pick it up. I'll open it and read a paragraph or two. And the I wonder why I don't sit down and read the WHOLE book again. Hence, my idea for Bookworms.

I used to be a real minimalist kind of guy. I need to get back to it.

A painting by konagod circa 1985. Funny. I've never photographed it. When viewing it, this appears to be an all-black painting with subtle nuances in the black squares. When photographed with a flash, the colors pop out. I've never seen this before now.