-0-

No entry today.
Not well.

DB
************

Give Up

If you're trying to invent something new,
you're going to reach a lot of discouraging points
and most people give up.

Steve Lacy
***********************************
It's okay to give up. Giving up is fine. Giving up is good. I give up several times a day. When the pen falls on the floor and disappears into the black hole, I give up looking for it. I gave up trying to get my scanner to work so I could post some pictures in my journal. I gave up trying to get my computer started. I gave up trying to finish the painting .Everything I have and I've done I gave up on.

What giving up does is to relieve the growing emotions like frustration, desperation and rage. It enables one to let go of the trash that's gathering at the front door of one's thinking. It then enables one to open the door and let fresh air into the mind. It thumbs its nose at failure and disappointment. It justifies tears.

But if you don't take yourself too seriously, it also enables you to go back and start over. The air is cleared, the bonds have been removed and the fog has drifted away. It's a splendid emotional cleaning. It can help to turn misery into joy.

This afternoon I watched a friend accidentally drop a small piece of her telephone as she was trying to assemble it. It fell to the floor and disappeared. She was angry and frustrated because she couldn't find it. Groping around on the floor in the only places it could be just made her more upset. Finally she gave up. We had a chat, shared a few laughs and she went and sat down. From her chair she could see under a cabinet and there was the piece she had been looking for. Not where it should logically be.

Years ago I was doing a play down south. It was a terrible experience. I didn't like the theatre, the director, the other actors or the town. I was miserable. I finally made up my mind to leave. I quit the show, left the theatre and went home. It was a long bus ride to get from there back to New York. And all the way I kept asking myself what I thought I was doing. I was walking away from a job, from my career. I had never done anything like that in my life. But there was a quiet voice inside me which kept saying "You're doing the right thing." I wouldn't have paid any attention to it if it had happened only once. But the voice kept repeating over and over again "You're doing the right thing."

When I finally got home I relaxed and went to sleep. When I woke up the next day I started processing what I had done and I realized that I had accepted that job for the wrong reasons. It was a money choice, not an artistic choice. There was nothing wrong with the play itself. It was the production that made me unhappy.

A week or so later I received a call from another theatre asking me to come and play the very same role I had walked away from. A bigger theatre, a better director and a nicer group of people all around; it was a very happy experience. Obviously I had done the right thing.

I spent my life working as a performing artist. Now I'm retired with physical problems. I've given up acting and quit show business. Will I ever work again? I don't know. But I've given it up so often, I could give it up a few more times.

DB - The Vagabond
Never give up
***************************

SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

7 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
************************

Vagabondism 86

Vagabondism #86 "It is dangerous to speak the truth. It is more dangerous not to."
dbdacoba@aol.com

It's Fitting

If a thing is old it is a sign that it was fit to live.

Eddie Rickenbacker
***********************
A thing doesn't have to be old just because it looks old. Think of an old book, like my Shakespeare (which I never seem to stop talking about) that still gets opened and read even though the cover may be falling apart and the pages getting brittle. I was poking around in mine just yesterday.

Think about an old house that has seen decades of life move in and out of it and still provides shelter and comfort to those inside.

Think of an old song that still brings warmth to your heart and a lively smile to you face.

Think of a pair of old shoes. You probably won't wear them to the dinner party, the dance or to church but when you come home and wiggle your toes into them it's a great feeling, like being with an old friend.

And speaking of old friends, do they seem old and fit for nothing? Not likely. It's the long standing friendships that offer us some of the best things of life.

Now it's true that people die off, the old book gets forgotten about or tossed out, someone discards the old shoes and the houses are torn down to make room for the new. What a shame.

But at 72 when i look at myself in the mirror I think, Well DB you must be fit for something. You're still alive.

Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
*****************************
SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

7 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
************************

Vagabondism 85

Vagabondism #85 "Concentrate on the things that grow in the garden of your mind, and don’t play with imaginary toads." http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

For Laughing Out Loud

Contents:
For Laughing Out Loud
Summer Question
Weekend Puzzle Answers
-------------------------------

Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth.

Shakespeare
*****************
One of the most difficult things for an actor to do on the stage is to laugh. It is easier to cry than to laugh, we all have sorrows and injustices to weep about and it's fairly easy to make a connection with them. But laughing is another matter. People have fake laughs, polite laughs, obligatory laughs, laughs that indicate something is supposed to be funny but you aren't really laughing at it. Some characters have those kinds of laughs also. But at the moment in the play when the character is genuinely amused to the point of laughter the laugh has to be genuine. And that's hard, particularly when you've heard the amusing remark a hundred times or more.

The best on stage laugher I ever worked with was an actor named Rob Gomes. I did five performances with him n a Pintauro play. At one moment something strikes his character funny and every night Rob was literally overcome with mirth. It was a pleasure to watch.

Other actors will just rely on a fake laugh, and I worked with a woman, whose name I forget, who had a laugh that was so genuine sounding that it had me fooled for a few days. Most fake laughs are transparently false, sadly.

Some actors will simply walk away from it and not laugh at all because they know they can't do it. They may get by with a broad smile. But with some you won't even see that. I was doing an O'Neill play with an actor, whose name I also forget. At one moment he is supposed to laugh. My next line was "What are you laughing at? I suppose you thin it's funny." The first night he laughed. The second night he didn't. I waited. No laugh. I went on "I suppose you think it's funny." which made no sense. Fortunately I didn't say "What are you laughing at?" The third night there was no laugh. He was just staring at the floor. I said "What are you staring at? I suppose you think it's funny." which also made no sense. On subsequent nights I just cut the short scene altogether and got on with the play. When confronted about it the actor said he was so moved by my performance he couldn't laugh. Sure.

There's another kind of on stage laughter and it's when something is funny and it isn't supposed to be. Every actor has been on stage when someone made a slip up of some kind, usually in a line of dialogue. It hits the funny bone with an unexpected shock and it takes a great effort not to laugh. And it usually happens at a very dramatic moment with a lot of people on the stage or waiting in the wings.

In a performance of "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller a character has a line referring to the devil which goes "death driven into her forked and hoofed."
One night the actress said "driven into her horked and foofed." The rest of us were biting out tongues and cheeks and staring down so we wouldn't make eye contact with each other which would have been disastrous.

I was in a production of Shakespeare's "Othello" when another such slip up accored with almost everyone in the play standing by. Othello is describing Desdemona before he kills her.

"Yet I'll not shed her blood;
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster."

One night he said "and smooth as alumental momblebaster." More tongue biting and teeth grinding.

Theatre people also like to do things to break each other up on the stage. I was in a production of "Greetings" when one night, and every night after that, a fake eye ball showed up somewhere on the set. The first night it was in the ice bucket, the next night in the desert bowl, then under the Christmas tree. We never knew who planted the eye ball or where it was going to be, but every performance one of us would come across it somewhere and try not to get the giggles.

The great thing about all these events is that we can get together and tell theatre stories to each other. Did you hear about the night so and so slipped during the big dance and fell into the orchestra pit. Or how about the night what's her name's costume almost fell off and the guy playing the cop had to hold it up from the back. Remember when Alice entered in the black out for her big dramatic scene and sat in the bowl of water?

Life is serious business, so get all the laughs you can out of it,

and
Never give up.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
*******************************
SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

7 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
************************

WEEKEND PUZZLE ANSWERS

You were asked what the following names have in common?
And for extra points, to identify them.
********************
The answer is they are all non human characters in film and television.

Beethoven - the movie dog

Champion - Gene Autry had a number of horses and they were all named
Champion

C3PO - the tall skinny robot from Star Wars

Ed - Mr. Ed the TV talking horse

Hal - the devious 2001 computer

Lassie - everyone's favorite movie collie

Louie - Donald Duck's nephew

Ollie - From Kukla Fran and Ollie, TV

Scout - Tonto's horse

Toto - Dorothy's little dog from The Wizard of Oz
******************
First prize of a bunny costume goes to Geo of the Blogspot Tigers who got most of them correct.

Thank You

DB
********************

Vagabondism 84

Vagabondism #84 "The beauties that we know: an amazing sunset, the taste of ripe fruit, the warm breeze of a spring day, a painting by Van Gogh, the music of Mozart; these things are not complete. They are merely hints of the real beauty that is."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

Home Of The Brave

Live simply and deliberately.

Unknown
**********************
While the humble worm goes about it's business preparing the dirt to grow crops the small flower lifts it's face to the sun from the patch of dirt next to the telephone pole down the street.

This is who I am, and this is what I do, and I do it proudly and deliberately.

I want to write today about bravery. I know courage and bravery are synonyms, but they have different meanings to me.

Next to where I used to live in New York City they were constructing an apartment building of about 40 stories. One day, while it was still under construction, a fire broke out on the top. Pieces of burning wood were being blown off down to the street below. The builders had reached to about the 25th floor. The only way the fire fighters could get to the fire was by the construction elevator on the side of the building. That elevator went two or three stories above the fire. I watched as the fire fighters jumped one by one directly down into the fire, not knowing what they were going to land on if anything. That's courage. There were no injuries and the fire was quickly put out.

Bravery to me means not knowing if one will ever face that sort of danger but deciding to become a fire fighter in the first place. Bravery, to me, is being willing to stand up to whatever comes. Courage is standing up to it.

My life is fairly simple today. I don't have any poorly written scripts, prima donnas, difficult directors or hostile audiences to put up with. I like it. I like the simple life. I wish it were simpler.

I think bravery is also a matter of hope, trust, faith. The worm goes about it's business trusting that it's not going to be dug up and speared on some fish hook. The flower goes on trusting that it won't be stomped on my some careless boot wearing pedestrian. This is who I am, this is what I do and I do it proudly and deliberately.

I was just talking with my friend Marty about how important it is to know who we are, to accept who we are and to be who we are without anxiety, shame or regret. I think to simplify one's life to the important things is the answer to a happy life, even if some of those things might be dangerous. The trivial things are always there to be done but if I can wake up in the morning knowing that what I'm really going to do today is what I want to do more than anything else then nothing else matters.

I can recall several times in my life when I came off the stage after a successful and satisfying performance saying "I love this. I love this more than life itself."

To save lives, to put the fires out, to capture the hill from the enemy takes courage. To live up to the best expectations and standards of who we are, doing what we do with faith, trust, hope and deliberation, that takes bravery.
------------------------
Never give up.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
*****************************

SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

7 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
************************

WEEKEND PUZZLE
(It's easy.)

What do the following names have in common?
For extra points, identify them.
********************
Beethoven
Champion
C3PO
Ed
Hal
Lassie
Louie
Ollie
Scout
Toto
******************
dbdacoba@aol.com

Good luck.
DB
********************
,

Vagabondism 83

Vagabondism #83 "The unworldly are unaware of the crimes hidden by the bright light’s glare, and so they should remain."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/

Take The Risk

CONTENTS:
Take The Risk
Summer Question
Weekend Puzzle
--------------------------------
You must pray that the way be long, full of adventures and experiences.

Constantine Cavafy
***********************
"How did I get into this?" Why did I ever decide to do this?" "What am I doing?" These are the remarks of a person who has taken on an adventure that looks too big for them. I've said something similar myself on occasion.

The other day I was explaining to a young person who Charles Lindbergh was. In this day of almost daily space travel it doesn't seem such a big deal to a young person, I suppose, that someone flew solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. But on May 20, 1927 Lindburgh took off and 33 1/2 hours later landed in Paris. He was the first person ever to do it. I wonder when he turned East and left all sight of land if he said "How did I get into this?"

When Charles Blondin, the tight rope walker, first stepped out on the 1100 foot rope 160 feet over the abyss of Niagara Falls did he say to himself "Why did I ever decide to do this?"

On April 12, 1961 when Yuri Gagarin blasted off to become the first human in space did he ask himself "What am I doing?"

The answer to those questions is probably "yes" or some variation. Few of us ever have the opportunity or the madness to have such experiences, but the adventurous spirit of the human being is evident in many lesser dramatic ways.

People who accomplish amazing things are initially called foolish risk takers. Pioneers who tame the wilderness and grow crops that feed people, Others who have found a route of commerce across endless dessert, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest way back in 1953 to prove it could be done. Now climbing Everest is an industry.

Fortunately one doesn't have to risk one's life to be a hero. Other things can be risked: safety, security, reputation, money, health, self respect, just to name a few. It's a calculation. It's an adventure. It's an experience. Is it worth the risk? Everything and anything is worth the risk for a more fulfilling and interesting life.

I rue the hours I spent doing nothing but watching inane television, arguing with people over unimportant things, wandering through the streets with no purpose or design.

The long road of one's life is worth living with adventure, purpose and, above all, enthusiasm. The prayer of the truly alive should be "Please let me not be bored."
------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

7 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
************************

WEEKEND PUZZLE
(It's easy.)

What do the following names have in common?
For extra points, identify them.
********************
Beethoven
Champion
C3PO
Ed
Hal
Lassie
Louie
Ollie
Scout
Toto
******************
dbdacoba@aol.com

Vagabondism 82

Vagabondism #82 "I think the anguish of realizing our own vanity is the purgation for restoring our innocence."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

Hear The Moon

CONTENTS:
Hear The Moon
Summer Question
Weekend Puzzle
----------------------------
Listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.

James Carroll
*********************
I think there is only one universal spirit and an infinite number of ways that spirit expresses itself, an infinite number of windows to look through and doors to open.

How many different sounds does the brook make as it moves along? How many sounds are there in the ocean wave as it splashes on the beach? More than we think. How many colors are there on the tree? Our receptive senses can take in much more than we are aware of.

But did you know you can taste the brook, smell the aromas of the splashing waves and hear the tree as it grows? Much more of life can be gained and enjoyed by opening up our awareness to the world around us. And that increased awareness is the doorway to understanding the invisible, inaudible images of the world, of all creation.

Everything in nature has a language, it's own language. And it tells of more than it's vocal, brazen, obvious appearance, the dressing up of itself that fools and confuses us. The rose may sing about it's redness, but it is legerdemain, mere magic. It is an invitation to take the rose for granted and to settle for it's beauty. But to learn to see through it's outward costume, to read it's promises and learn it's lessons takes time and effort.

Listen also to the clouds. They speak a profound message. The weeds that plague the farmer and the gardener are grumbling with innocent knowledge. Observe the wind. Observe the sound of the flute and organ pipes. Take in the aromas of the sun. Listen to the moon and the tea in your cup. All things are telling us of a reality too rare to be merely seen without supreme, dedicated and disciplined awareness. They speak of another world where the dimensional melds into the non dimensional, where personality becomes person, bits and pieces fit into a whole, and where the one spirit of all is alive and always with us, everywhere.

Never give up.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
****************************
SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

5 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
************************

WEEKEND PUZZLE
(It's easy.)

What do the following names have in common?
For extra points, identify them.
********************
Beethoven
Champion
C3PO
Ed
Hal
Lassie
Louie
Ollie
Scout
Toto
******************
dbdacoba@aol.com

Good luck.
DB
********************

Vagabondism 81

Vagabondism #81 "Don’t let any one tell you that it doesn’t matter what you think. Of course it matters. Above all else thinking matters the most."
dbdacoba@aol.com

My Diary

The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another.

James M. Barrie
**************************
Spring fever has come late to me this year. I can't remember the last time I didn't want to write anything. I stare at the blank screen and have no words to put on it.

I don't feel like recounting the history of theatre, or urging people to be creative, use their imaginations and seek enlightenment. I don't want to reprise an old journal entry. I don't even feel like telling you what my birds are doing. The sink is full of dishes, the vacuum cleaner is on the floor, plugged in, but otherwise inert, the laundry bag is full of clothes. It's just too damn hot to do anything.

I never kept a diary, never recorded the life I wanted for myself. I just kept going along and whatever appeared at the next finger post or mile stone was what I did. A vagabond's journey. The day comes, and with it another chance at life.

I've known great joy and great pain, loved more women than I had any right to, frequently made a living doing things I wasn't qualified to do, performed on more stages and in front of more cameras and microphones than I can remember, never had a permanent home, never a real family, never traveled to a foreign country, am neither rich nor famous.

I wish I had a six pack of cold beer. But I don't, so apple juice on the rocks is my evening cocktail

I am not writing my life story. What's to write? Besides it isn't over yet.

DB - The Vagabond
Never giver up.
**************************
SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

1 answer so far

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
************************

Summer Question

SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
************************

Vagabondism 80

Vagabondism #80 "Don’t give up on people – every road goes somewhere."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/

What Is Art?

A concept is stronger than a fact.

Charlotte Gilman
*********************
I'm an artist who reads philosophy. Thus I'm faced with a complex dilemma, a group of questions that spray out and point in several directions like an open hand.

There is a branch of philosophy called Aesthetics, the study of Art in all its functions. I wouldn't want to see a philosopher or any thinker forced into the position of having to define Art. What is Art? That question is harder to answer, perhaps, than What is Science? Although there are similarities. To observe nature, make discoveries and articulate what you find could just as easily describe a poet as a scientist. The concept is the difference. That's all.

A fact is a simple thing, a goad to push us to discover more facts. A concept it a carrot dangling temptingly in front of us. It's a scientific theory, an artistic dream, an unanswered question, the source and fuel of all creative thinking.

So philosophers address themselves to questions such as, When is it art and when is it not art? or What is the proper process for observing and enjoying a work of art and how does that relate to the overall human experience? or How well does the work of art convey it's message? or How well has the artist conceived and articulated his ideas? This last question inevitably causes the philosopher to slip on the unseen banana peel and fall into the nasty world of criticism.

There are art critics, music critics, dance critics, restaurant critics, drama critics, even architecture critics and, of course, literary critics. That last is the only legitimate form of criticism is my opinion. A person who doesn't dance has no business being a dance critic. In my own experience I have had to groan through drama reviews written by critics who had no idea what they were writing about. Every respectable philosopher does well to stay out of the pit of criticism. Most philosophers tend to spend a lot of time criticizing each other, which is fine. That's exactly where they should be. It is in the statement, rebuttal and exchange of ideas that the vigor of philosophy exists.

The purpose of philosophy is to pursue and discover the truth, as it is with art and science, and should be but, alas, is not with other important human endeavors. Socrates considered philosophy to be the greatest of the arts. From that perspective then isn't the study of philosophy the same as the artistic experience, which brings me back to the beginning? Isn't Aesthetics truthfully the process of philosophy defining, describing and criticizing itself?

It is. And that's what makes it so interesting to me.

DB - The Vagabond
(Never give up.)
**************************
It's Summer. Time to give over the answers to the SPRING QUESTION.


SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
---------------------------------------------
12 diverse and interesting answers.
-----------------------------------------
Do I think that NASA should send a two person mission to Mars. Absolutely not. It would serve no useful purpose and it would put the lives of those two people in unnecessary jeopardy.

I would think that a mission like this would cost many millions of dollars and at a time when many states are going broke, there are deep cuts to infrastructure, education, health, and community programs. The taxpayers are already on the hook to the tune of about 250 million dollars a day to fund the war in Iraq. All of that money has been siphoned away from funds that might have been available to create jobs, house and feed the homeless, stabilize towns and cities across America and provide a better future for both young and old.

We are not good stewards of our own earth and we have caused more problems here than we have fixed. There is absolutely no need to be spending money we don’t have in order to be exploring other planets. We need to get our priorities back in order.


-------------------------------

When it comes to Mars, I think that it is innate for man to explore and want to extend his reach. I am all in favor of the project and they could get the money by stopping the useless wars and invest in NASA.

-------------------------------------------------------

Good question! Since a year on Mars is nearly twice ours --and
elliptical-- the two planets get within 7-month's journey only every 2
Earth-years. So our astronauts would have to stay a year longer on
Mars. On top of this protraction, they would run out of food and have
to eat each other up, which would probably strain their relationship
afterward. I don't think they should do it.
--------------------------------------------


An unpopular view I'm sure.
Trip to Mars is wrong on so many levels, even, perhaps immoral.
We need the expertise, money, dedication, time, here on Earth. Fix things here, make Earth a better place. Don't go chasing waterfalls.
------------------------------------
Sure! Why not?
The travel time will reek havoc in their lives but the six months there will give them a ton of information to share..and perhaps experiments can be performed! :)
I have heard that people accomplish a lot in scientific experiments out in space!thanks! Interesting topic DB!
-------------------------------------
I think man has screwed up earth enough that he should leave the other planets alone and use the time and money spent going to Mars fixing all the damage he's done here on earth.
------------------------------------
Yes, because the highest mountain in the solar system is THERE.
---------------------------------------------
why go to mars when you can grow squash in your back yard, or at least
some chives in a window pot. All you can plant on mars is a flag.
Unless to go from Mars to `=7,./[]}#2 where all will be virgin


---------------------------------------------------
The human race, if it wants to continue to exist, has to solve its housing problem. In several million years our sun will go supernova and incinerate, during its expansion, the planet Earth. Then, when it cools down to a grey dwarf, what was planet Earth will be a cold rock of ice. Not a good place to live or vacation. We have to start flying around the Universe a la Star Trek and find other inhabitable planets if we wish to continue our future existence as a race. They better find a better propulsion system and more sophisticated means to harness energy, hopefully without hardware and make use of Warp Space (which are only time tunnels or Worms) for getting around more easily. It’s all in Star Trek, we’re just catching up.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Spring Question: Yes. Our greatest advances have come from pure science and discovery missions. We need to keep the ball rolling.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to respond to this purely from a "seems right" standpoint; that is, I know nothing more about the situation than what you've told me.


Anyway, I suppose traveling to Mars could be an utter waste of resources--time, money and energy that could be channeled toward solving some of our own planets problems instead of involving another. But, to be honest, even if we relocated the time, money and energy it may take to send two men to Mars, I can't bring myself to believe that it would certainly go to something like, for example, improving hospitals in Dhaka. So with all of that aside, every part of my being is screaming, "Why the hell not?! Go to Mars!"


But none of that is what I've really wanted to say to you. What truthfully came to mind when I read your question was this whole concept of mystery and wonderment, and all of these cliche ideas that still make me feel brave and strange and beautiful, regardless of their tendency to be overused in cheap literary settings. Visiting a different planet entirely, a place that authors and dreamers and children have fantasized about; a place that's so unknown, sometimes I feel as though its mass is more daydream than it is anything else.


Given not only the ability but the willingness and eagerness to explore, it would be a grand opportunity to waste. And not just for the intellectual gain either, which is, of course, very important... but for the experiences of the astronauts, the engineers and the planners, the people tracking the progress the whole year and a half it's happening, and for the people who tune in right at the end. These could be the kind of experiences, I think, that lead to understanding, empathy, introspection and perspective... not that experiences like that are necessarily farther away than the backyard garden, but they're valuable nonetheless, and, I think, are well worth a trip to Mars.


The potential there, the possibility, all of it reminds me quite a bit of how I felt when I finished reading A Wrinkle In Time in third grade. Childishly excited, maybe, but sincerely so.
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Thank you all. Take a breath. SUMMER QUESTION is coming.
DB
******************

Spring Question Answers

It's Summer. Time to give over the answers to the SPRING QUESTION.


SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
---------------------------------------------
12 diverse and interesting answers.
-----------------------------------------
Do I think that NASA should send a two person mission to Mars. Absolutely not. It would serve no useful purpose and it would put the lives of those two people in unnecessary jeopardy.

I would think that a mission like this would cost many millions of dollars and at a time when many states are going broke, there are deep cuts to infrastructure, education, health, and community programs. The taxpayers are already on the hook to the tune of about 250 million dollars a day to fund the war in Iraq. All of that money has been siphoned away from funds that might have been available to create jobs, house and feed the homeless, stabilize towns and cities across America and provide a better future for both young and old.

We are not good stewards of our own earth and we have caused more problems here than we have fixed. There is absolutely no need to be spending money we don’t have in order to be exploring other planets. We need to get our priorities back in order.


-------------------------------

When it comes to Mars, I think that it is innate for man to explore and want to extend his reach. I am all in favor of the project and they could get the money by stopping the useless wars and invest in NASA.

-------------------------------------------------------

Good question! Since a year on Mars is nearly twice ours --and
elliptical-- the two planets get within 7-month's journey only every 2
Earth-years. So our astronauts would have to stay a year longer on
Mars. On top of this protraction, they would run out of food and have
to eat each other up, which would probably strain their relationship
afterward. I don't think they should do it.
--------------------------------------------


An unpopular view I'm sure.
Trip to Mars is wrong on so many levels, even, perhaps immoral.
We need the expertise, money, dedication, time, here on Earth. Fix things here, make Earth a better place. Don't go chasing waterfalls.
------------------------------------
Sure! Why not?
The travel time will reek havoc in their lives but the six months there will give them a ton of information to share..and perhaps experiments can be performed! :)
I have heard that people accomplish a lot in scientific experiments out in space!thanks! Interesting topic DB!
-------------------------------------
I think man has screwed up earth enough that he should leave the other planets alone and use the time and money spent going to Mars fixing all the damage he's done here on earth.
------------------------------------
Yes, because the highest mountain in the solar system is THERE.
---------------------------------------------
why go to mars when you can grow squash in your back yard, or at least
some chives in a window pot. All you can plant on mars is a flag.
Unless to go from Mars to `=7,./[]}#2 where all will be virgin


---------------------------------------------------
The human race, if it wants to continue to exist, has to solve its housing problem. In several million years our sun will go supernova and incinerate, during its expansion, the planet Earth. Then, when it cools down to a grey dwarf, what was planet Earth will be a cold rock of ice. Not a good place to live or vacation. We have to start flying around the Universe a la Star Trek and find other inhabitable planets if we wish to continue our future existence as a race. They better find a better propulsion system and more sophisticated means to harness energy, hopefully without hardware and make use of Warp Space (which are only time tunnels or Worms) for getting around more easily. It’s all in Star Trek, we’re just catching up.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Spring Question: Yes. Our greatest advances have come from pure science and discovery missions. We need to keep the ball rolling.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to respond to this purely from a "seems right" standpoint; that is, I know nothing more about the situation than what you've told me.


Anyway, I suppose traveling to Mars could be an utter waste of resources--time, money and energy that could be channeled toward solving some of our own planets problems instead of involving another. But, to be honest, even if we relocated the time, money and energy it may take to send two men to Mars, I can't bring myself to believe that it would certainly go to something like, for example, improving hospitals in Dhaka. So with all of that aside, every part of my being is screaming, "Why the hell not?! Go to Mars!"


But none of that is what I've really wanted to say to you. What truthfully came to mind when I read your question was this whole concept of mystery and wonderment, and all of these cliche ideas that still make me feel brave and strange and beautiful, regardless of their tendency to be overused in cheap literary settings. Visiting a different planet entirely, a place that authors and dreamers and children have fantasized about; a place that's so unknown, sometimes I feel as though its mass is more daydream than it is anything else.


Given not only the ability but the willingness and eagerness to explore, it would be a grand opportunity to waste. And not just for the intellectual gain either, which is, of course, very important... but for the experiences of the astronauts, the engineers and the planners, the people tracking the progress the whole year and a half it's happening, and for the people who tune in right at the end. These could be the kind of experiences, I think, that lead to understanding, empathy, introspection and perspective... not that experiences like that are necessarily farther away than the backyard garden, but they're valuable nonetheless, and, I think, are well worth a trip to Mars.


The potential there, the possibility, all of it reminds me quite a bit of how I felt when I finished reading A Wrinkle In Time in third grade. Childishly excited, maybe, but sincerely so.
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Thank you all. Take a breath. SUMMER QUESTION is coming.
DB
******************

Vagabondism 79

Vagabondism #79 "When you finally lose a bad habit or two you begin to see how many more bad habits you have."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

Don't Follow Me

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old, seek what they sought.

Matsuo Basho
**************************
From hand to hand the greeting flows,
From eye to eye the signals run,
From heart to heart the bright hope glows;
The seekers of the light are one.
(Longfellow)

Did the prophet Nahum, who wrote somewhere around 615 BCE, know that he was writing for Jews and others of the 21st Century CE? Did Nahum, whose name means "comfort," even know there would be a 21st Century? Did Nahum, who wrote "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him," even think about it? Doubtful. And yet there he is with his three chapters in the modern Bible to be read and considered by enquiring minds.

When read literally it prophesies the destruction of the Assyrian city of Nineveh. But an enlightened reader who can set aside the literal meaning and know Nineveh as only a metaphor will find a richly poetic prophesy of the destruction of evil in all its colorful forms and the eventual salvation of the human race from it.

I love to read. The better the writer the greater the pleasure. I enjoy it even more now since I write every day. And I'm learning an important lesson.

I have two books on the care and feeding of birds. They are both filled with interesting and useful information. One is well written, the other is not. What's wrong with it is that the author writes like me. I winced at the page I read yesterday and when I looked back over some of the journal entries I made in '08 and '09 I winced again. Now I'm timorous about rereading what I wrote last week or two days ago.

Great writers, many of whose books are piled up in the next room, are a source of inspiration and enlightenment but I doubt that any of them, or any good author who manages to get published is really thinking about what effect their words are going to have centuries down the line.

I'm learning a lesson I learned years ago as an actor. You don't go on the stage to impress the audience with your looks, voice, stage presence, charisma or acting ability. You go on the stage to tell a story. It's the story, the metaphor of the drama that affects people, or should, if it's done right.

Good actors watch other good actors for the same reason good writers read great literature. Not to copy but to take up the torch and pass it on just as Nahum did, just as Longfellow did.

So I promise myself, and I promise you, if I find myself not telling the story but trying to impress a reader with my vocabulary, diction, syntax or shrewd and splashy turn of phrase I will smack myself across the knuckles soundly with something that doesn't do much damage.

Thank you for reading my journal.

DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
****************************
It's Summer. Time to give over the answers to the SPRING QUESTION.


SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
---------------------------------------------
12 diverse and interesting answers.
-----------------------------------------
Do I think that NASA should send a two person mission to Mars. Absolutely not. It would serve no useful purpose and it would put the lives of those two people in unnecessary jeopardy.

I would think that a mission like this would cost many millions of dollars and at a time when many states are going broke, there are deep cuts to infrastructure, education, health, and community programs. The taxpayers are already on the hook to the tune of about 250 million dollars a day to fund the war in Iraq. All of that money has been siphoned away from funds that might have been available to create jobs, house and feed the homeless, stabilize towns and cities across America and provide a better future for both young and old.

We are not good stewards of our own earth and we have caused more problems here than we have fixed. There is absolutely no need to be spending money we don’t have in order to be exploring other planets. We need to get our priorities back in order.


-------------------------------

When it comes to Mars, I think that it is innate for man to explore and want to extend his reach. I am all in favor of the project and they could get the money by stopping the useless wars and invest in NASA.

-------------------------------------------------------

Good question! Since a year on Mars is nearly twice ours --and
elliptical-- the two planets get within 7-month's journey only every 2
Earth-years. So our astronauts would have to stay a year longer on
Mars. On top of this protraction, they would run out of food and have
to eat each other up, which would probably strain their relationship
afterward. I don't think they should do it.
--------------------------------------------


An unpopular view I'm sure.
Trip to Mars is wrong on so many levels, even, perhaps immoral.
We need the expertise, money, dedication, time, here on Earth. Fix things here, make Earth a better place. Don't go chasing waterfalls.
------------------------------------
Sure! Why not?
The travel time will reek havoc in their lives but the six months there will give them a ton of information to share..and perhaps experiments can be performed! :)
I have heard that people accomplish a lot in scientific experiments out in space!thanks! Interesting topic DB!
-------------------------------------
I think man has screwed up earth enough that he should leave the other planets alone and use the time and money spent going to Mars fixing all the damage he's done here on earth.
------------------------------------
Yes, because the highest mountain in the solar system is THERE.
---------------------------------------------
why go to mars when you can grow squash in your back yard, or at least
some chives in a window pot. All you can plant on mars is a flag.
Unless to go from Mars to `=7,./[]}#2 where all will be virgin


---------------------------------------------------
The human race, if it wants to continue to exist, has to solve its housing problem. In several million years our sun will go supernova and incinerate, during its expansion, the planet Earth. Then, when it cools down to a grey dwarf, what was planet Earth will be a cold rock of ice. Not a good place to live or vacation. We have to start flying around the Universe a la Star Trek and find other inhabitable planets if we wish to continue our future existence as a race. They better find a better propulsion system and more sophisticated means to harness energy, hopefully without hardware and make use of Warp Space (which are only time tunnels or Worms) for getting around more easily. It’s all in Star Trek, we’re just catching up.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Spring Question: Yes. Our greatest advances have come from pure science and discovery missions. We need to keep the ball rolling.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to respond to this purely from a "seems right" standpoint; that is, I know nothing more about the situation than what you've told me.


Anyway, I suppose traveling to Mars could be an utter waste of resources--time, money and energy that could be channeled toward solving some of our own planets problems instead of involving another. But, to be honest, even if we relocated the time, money and energy it may take to send two men to Mars, I can't bring myself to believe that it would certainly go to something like, for example, improving hospitals in Dhaka. So with all of that aside, every part of my being is screaming, "Why the hell not?! Go to Mars!"


But none of that is what I've really wanted to say to you. What truthfully came to mind when I read your question was this whole concept of mystery and wonderment, and all of these cliche ideas that still make me feel brave and strange and beautiful, regardless of their tendency to be overused in cheap literary settings. Visiting a different planet entirely, a place that authors and dreamers and children have fantasized about; a place that's so unknown, sometimes I feel as though its mass is more daydream than it is anything else.


Given not only the ability but the willingness and eagerness to explore, it would be a grand opportunity to waste. And not just for the intellectual gain either, which is, of course, very important... but for the experiences of the astronauts, the engineers and the planners, the people tracking the progress the whole year and a half it's happening, and for the people who tune in right at the end. These could be the kind of experiences, I think, that lead to understanding, empathy, introspection and perspective... not that experiences like that are necessarily farther away than the backyard garden, but they're valuable nonetheless, and, I think, are well worth a trip to Mars.


The potential there, the possibility, all of it reminds me quite a bit of how I felt when I finished reading A Wrinkle In Time in third grade. Childishly excited, maybe, but sincerely so.
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Thank you all. Take a breath. SUMMER QUESTION is coming.
DB
******************

Vagabondism 78

Vagabondism #78 "Imagination is like a horse. You can hitch it up and make it work for you, or you can jump in the saddle, give it a spur and go where it takes you."
dbdacoba@aol.com

Minds Wide Open

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

Henry Miller
*********************
Geology and drawing are two of the most important and most memorable courses of study of my experience, because they both taught me not only to observe but also to think.

Intuition is a valuable tool in those two disciplines as it is in any instruction of value. Intuition is one of the thruways to imagination. Observation is the starting place of all learning, doing and creating, the first step toward the silent world which is only symbolized by such things as rocks and drawings.
Immanuel Kant wrote "Sense is the faculty of intuition in the presence of an object. Imagination is intuition without the presence of the object."

Some rocks are very beautiful (lapidists deal in them) while others are very ordinary looking, just a rock. But all of them have stories to tell. It is interesting to examine a rock to determine it's age and chemical, cellular composition. But whenever I hold a rock in my hand I realize I am holding millions of years of history.

A mystic I used to know once gave me a rock she had pick up off the side of Mount Olympus in Greece, the mountain of the ancient gods. She put it in her purse and carried it all the way back specifically to give to me. I kept that rock for many years until someone found it and threw it out. It was just a rock, after all, it didn't belong in the house. So somewhere on the ground in Westchester County, New York is a bit of Mount Olympus.

One day I discovered an outcropping of stratified rock sticking up from the ground at an angle and pointing at the sky. I knew it was stratified, which meant it was made of layers of sediment, probably laid down by centuries of rain, baked in the hot sun, hardened into solid rock, then covered over by other layers, twisted into an arc by volcanic action of the earth and then eroded by rain and wind to it's current state. As I looked at it I tried to imagine what it must have looked like when it first covered the surrounding earth, and what it was like as a mammoth spectacle after the earth had buckled it. I also imagined the real possibility that somewhere, near or far, one could find the other end of that rainbow, a chunk of stratified rock jutting out of the ground and pointing in the opposite direction back to itself.

In upper Manhattan, around 200th Street, there's a boulder. It's surrounded very closely by houses and it's a prime piece of real estate. But ti's protected from developers because it's a natural wonder. It was set down there centuries ago during the ice age by a gigantic glacier that traveled through.

There is another boulder of comparable size along the Boulder Loop Trail in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. That one is surrounded by trees and is also protected because of the National Forest it's in. I wonder if the two boulders are related. They were both probably set down by the same glacier.

Michael Chekhov (1891 - 1955) was the nephew of Anton Chekhov, the great Russian playwright. He was an actor who also taught and wrote on acting. One of his theories was called the PG, which stands for Psychological Gesture. It's not the kind of gesture such as pointing a finger or shrugging of shoulders but a full body gesture. With it an actor can convey the inner life of a character even though presenting a false face to the other characters on the stage. The way a person stands or sits can tell a lot about how that person feels or thinks.

I studied life drawing at various locations around New York City. When I first began I struggled with getting the proportions right of the human figure, then learning how to articulate the bones and muscles in different poses. After a few years I began to observe something else. The models weren't actors, most of them, but whenever they would drape themselves into a pose for a period of time they would strike a psychological gesture. Each figure, each pose had a story to tell. Though unconscious, perhaps, on the part of the model it was a clear statement of some inner life. My imagination began to provide histories of these people, current events in their lives, their fears and dreams. My drawings took on a more interesting quality and were more enjoyable to do and to see.

On the stage when a character enters the scene he is coming from somewhere. The actor is coming from the wings, but the character is coming from a specific place not seen on the stage. The actor has to know where his character is coming from, and he does know because he decides, through observation and imagination.

Imagination is creative intuition. By careful observation of all the things we come across in the world, from boulders to blades of grass, and by intelligent thinking about them, the mysteries of life unfold themselves on every level, in every place.

DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*************************
I recommend that you read "Voracious Details" at http://shatteredprose.blogspot.com/
****************************************
****************************************
LAST DAY OF SPRING !!!
Get in under the wire, before the door closes and you're left out in the heat.

SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 12 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabond 77

Vagabondism #77 "All of us are misunderstood sometimes. Most of us are misunderstood most of the time. Some of us are always misunderstood. That’s what makes life a walk through the thorn bushes."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/

Wing Flapping

If I had to live my life again I'd make the same mistakes only sooner.

Tallulah Bankhead
**********************
Yesterday afternoon I heard a rattling sound coming from the other room. I went in and found one of the finches on the window sill trying to get out. It had come in through the open door to look around and then taken the wrong way out. It could see the outdoors but couldn't get to it through the closed window. I finally managed to pick it up, felt it's little heart pounding with a panic, carried it to the open door which wasn't far away and let it go. Of course it took off like a bullet.

Wouldn't it be great if there was some benevolent giant who would pick us up and put us down in the right place when we stray from the path and get lost?

Sure, we learn from our mistakes. So it's not a bad idea to get them all over and done with as early in life as we can. But there is no point in believing that since you are older and wiser there are no more mistakes to be made and from now on you can live a flawless life free of erroneous behavior.

There are always mistakes to be made, and the influences to make those mistakes sit, wait and watch like gargoyles on the edges of our minds. Looking for the opportunity, when we have an important choice to make, they fly down and flutter about until we are confused and end up making the wrong move.

The easiest thing to do in life is to make a mistake. There is only one right answer, there are a hundred wrong ones. When all the figures are added up correctly there is only one right balance on the books. There is only one bulls eye on the target.

So what's the solution to the problem? I don't think there is one, except being careful, reasoning things through and getting good advice, if possible. If I knew how to avoid mistakes I would be one of those perfect, errorless humans I can only fantasize myself being. In truth I am flapping my wings against my own wrong choices, like everybody else.

DB - The Vagabond
***********************
Summer Is A Comin' In
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 12 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 76

Vagabondism #76 "Every act of terrorism is an act of revenge. What we really need, if we are to survive, is a War On Vengeance."
dbdacoba@aol.com

The Four Letter Word

When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.

Bernard Bailey
**********************
How many prima donnas does it take to change a light bulb?
None. She just holds up the bulb and the world revolves around her.

In the English language one of the most important, nastiest, most dangerous. most helpful, most misused and misunderstood is the little word "self"

There's selfishness, self righteousness, self justification, self importance, self satisfaction. self promotion, self awareness, self delusion, even self immolation. The list seems endless. It's not surprising since the self is the only human being we are always with 24/7/12. One day I saw a woman on the subway wearing a button that read SELF. I wanted to ask her what the significance of the button was but concluded that she probably didn't wish to speak with anyone but herself.

How to relate this self that we are so familiar with to the other selves in the rest of the world? That's an intriguing problem. It requires empathy, sympathy, compassion and understanding. Qualities many people seem incapable of. And it must begin with a desire to relate ourselves to others not out of obligation but through a sense of community, society, civilizatin.

A question was once posed to me to which I had to give a lot of thinking. If I was required to take care of another human being, another bundle of adult flesh, bones and organs with the same constant care I did with my own bundle could I do it. It isn't even a questing of wanting to but of possibility, of ability. After all we don't feel another's pain, hunger, fear or joy. How can we possibly treat all of it as if it was our own?

Just about every actor who has ever worked has to deal at one time or another with a prima donna, a so called perfectionist. Prima donnas are those who believe they are the ones the audience has come to see and they make sure that no one speaks, moves or gets in front of them when they are speaking. They are not part of the production, they are the production. It revolves around them.

There are prima donnas in all walks. Though they are deferred to by many people in many ways, my reaction is to pity them. It must be very lonely being the center of the universe. It takes a lot of sacrifice of a lot of unhealthy things to become part of the universe. It takes truly recognizing the right to life, the right to speciality and even maybe the right to superiority of the people around one. It means relinquishing the throne of perfectionism and picking up the hoe of realism to break up the grounds of delusion and pull up the weeds of selfishness. It does not mean giving up the self. It means gazing down, around and up at the universe and being joyful that one is a part of it.

DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
------------------------
Another blogger friend came back today. That makes six.
****************************
Summer Is A Comin' In
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 12 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 75

Vagabondism 375 "Listen to Beethoven. He had the courage to be simple. He risked being trite and never was."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

For Now

If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours, if they don't, they never were.

Richard Bach
**********************
I'm pleased that four of my blogger buddies returned and set up a correspondence with me: Ally, Geo, Ken and Mark. The ever friendly Arlene is writing also. So, now I have four blogs to read and some emails to answer.

Setting people free is a double action. The initial thrust was to free myself from a heavy burden of obligation, the duty of reading and responding to blogs of people who rarely write or have written only once. I accomplished that, allowing for anyone who wanted to from that group to get back in touch with me. The other action was to free those who don't care that much to be read by me or to get comments from me. That action seems to have been accomplished with grand strides as my blogger list has gone from 89 to 4.

Over the years, since 2008, when I first established Vagabond Journeys, I've felt very close to some people on a friendship basis. It's a sad thing if I have to lose some of those friendships. But life turns and people change. Love never comes with guarantees.

I can't name the names of people I miss today, there are too many of them. To say I wish them all well is also a nameless wish therefore. To issue a blanket "fare thee well" to everyone who has ever been in my life may satisfy some selfish itch but does little for the real welfare of those people. But to hold them in my thoughts as ones who affected me in positive ways, to hold the momentos of our friendly relationships as sacred artifacts in my life and to never forget them is the best wish I can give to people.

To the gone but not forgotten I say "Stop by again some day. You are always welcome."

DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
Summer Is A Comin' In
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 74

Vagabondism #74 "Maybe there is a priceless ore deep down below the surface of the earth that spreads out all over the globe and unites every continent and all people."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/

Clear The Stage

It is always in season for old men to learn.

Aeschylus
**************************
The boards have stories to tell. Great humor and great tragedy have been told on the bare boards of the stages in the world. Those boards have supported the feet of some of the greatest players on earth and some of the worst. Those boards have heard it all. If only those boards could talk.

After the show closes the properties are gathered up, the lights are taken down and the scenery is struck. Nothing is left but the boards, cleared, ready and waiting for the next production to be mounted on them. There's an old saying in show business,"Give me a bare board and a passion." It is a description of the actor's life in it's simplest and most fundamental form.

One thing this old man has learned is the importance of reducing life itself to it's fundamental forms. Most of our lives is lived by obligations. "I gotta do this, I gotta get there, I gotta do that."

"Duty, duty must be done
The rule applies to everyone,
And painful though the duty be
To shirk the task were fiddle dee dee."
(W. S. Gilbert)

We fill our lives with duties and obligations because that's what we're used to. We've been programmed to find things we have to do, deadlines we must meet and tasks that can't wait. And that is accompanied by the horrifying thought that if we didn't fill up our days with things we "gotta do" what would happen to us. It's a void we don't want to face.

The specifications for a healthy, contented life are so much less than the rigors we force ourselves through, the unnecessary knots we tie around our freedoms, freedom to live and to think.

I like being busy. I didn't retire to sit around and do nothing. The freedom of retirement is that I can sit around and do nothing if I want to. But it is also the freedom to busy myself with things that matter to me. When the alarm clock in my mind went off the other day I awoke to two fundamentally important things to do. One, clear the stage. Two, prepare for the next show. To relinquish all the obligations and duties I am not required to perform and to make room for joy.

DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*************************
SUMMER IS COMING !!!!!

SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

**********************
SUMMER IS COMING !!!!

SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 73

Vagabondism #73 "Illusions are great. So is real life. Which do you choose?"
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

I Tried

True wisdom lies in gathering the precious things out of each day as it passes by.

B. S. Bouton
*********************
Well, I tried. I set aside the day to read and respond to all the blogs on my list. I started in the morning, by late afternoon I had quit the scene. It's an utter useless waste of time, a futility.

In almost every case after I've written a comment I have to log in to Google and then do it again. If the comment is accepted by Google I'm lucky. In most cases it was not accepted and I had to go to an email address, if I had one, which I usually didn't, to leave the comment. I wrote a very nice comment to the essay by Thought Bubble Ten and Google simply deleted it. The frustration level has gone beyond the acceptable point.

What happened? It used to be so simple and enjoyable keeping in touch with people. I didn't mind if I read about their gardens or their grandchildren or their pets. Google has made it impossible. I never even got close to the blogs of people I hear from all the time, my regular friends.

Everything began to fall apart when Jland went down. Now we have Facebook with it's one liners, Twitter with it's limited abilities. And I have to log in to those whenever I open one of them up to read or write. And if I leave an entry on Facebook I have to decipher their stupid code words first.

It's as if these systems are designed to discourage me and cut me out. Does anyone else feel that way?

So here's what I'm going to do, my defense. I'm going to delete my entire list of blog users, all 89 of them, and from now on include on my list only those people who write to me. And if I have emails, and if Google won't let me leave comments on your blog, you'll hear from me by mail. This won't affect my regular email buddies.

What a blessed relief it will be. It's all part of spring cleaning, I guess.

DB
__________________
Never give up.
*********************

SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 72

Vagabondism #72 "Reason is a great tool for solving your problems and increasing your strength of character."
dbdacoba@aol.com

Love Is Found

Nothing in life is more beautiful than nature, and it should be the object of constant observation.

Constantine Stanislavski
**************************
The stars shine in the sky at night and glow worms answer them.
The rose whispers to the beam of sunlight.
The patter of rain on the window is echoed in the baby's laughter.
Brave hearts march with the waves of high tide on the beach.
An artist's brush pushes the clouds gently through the sky.
And love is found.

Hurricanes scream of uncontrolled passions.
Tornados crash cruel rage upon the earth.
Wild fires spread hatred through the land.
Nests are made and caves dug for homeless ones.
Galaxies converge and lives are repaired.
And love is found.

Bird song fiddles on the player's strings.
The cathedral mirrors the snow flake on it's steeple.
The photographer records the cliff carved out by time.
There is a flash of light in the northern sky.
Along the city sidewalk two strangers meet.
And love is found.

Curious goats tread the sides of tired mountains.
Tireless worms weave the soil of future crops.
The sailor lights his pipe in the blazing sunset.
The morning rooster awakens the gods.
The baby boy reaches up to touch his father's beard.
And love is found.

The moon watches the world with owl's eyes.
Gentle waterfalls cause the butterflies to dance.
A poet hears his phrases in the wind.
A distant sun stares back at the astronomer
A girl sees her kitten meet itself in a mirror.
And love is found.

Somewhere in the universe a child is born.
And love is found.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
******************************
At night I pried the bridge out of my jaw. It was painful but not as bad as when I needed to pull two of my own teeth years ago. I call it, Do-it-yourself-dentistry. Fortunately there was no exposed nerve underneath so the jaw is quiet now, no pain. Next step will be another denture. In the meantime I'm just as glad to not have all that hardware in my mouth.
____________________
Never give up.
*************************
Spring is coming to a close, folks. Where are you?

SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 71

Vagabondism #71 "Don’t be rigid. Be flexible in your discipline and disciplined in your flexibility." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/

Leave Them Laughing

The one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous.

Salvador Dali
********************
There's an old saying in Show Business, when you are doing a comedy or a comic sketch "Always leave them laughing."

My readership is so low these days that I thought I would indulge myself a bit and once more write about my grandmother. Those of you who often join me as travelers on the vagabond's journey may remember and enjoy it. I hope so.

Her name was Charlotte Cole. That was her married name and her professional name. She was born in the 19th Century, as were her three children, two boys and a girl, my mother. Charlotte was trained as a youngster to sing, dance and play the piano, she was also given acting lessons..

She married a man who wanted to be a pioneer. So the two of them set off for Nebraska where he built a sod house and was a farmer and rancher. Charlotte gave birth to all of her children in that sod house.

One day she told me about getting supplies from the village. While her husband was working in the fields she would drive an ox cart into town. When the cart was filled there was no room for her so she road back sitting on the ox.

When her husband died her boys were grown and her daughter was a teenager. They moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where my mother finished school. Charlotte taught my mother to sing and dance, and a day came when they joined a traveling theatre company as a variety act. My grandmother was always very young looking so they became the Cole Sisters, a song and dance duo. She had amazing stories to tell about those years.

They played in some very rough places, some of them weren't states yet. Men would come to the theatre with their rifles. The theatres were often very primitive, with little or no sanitary facilities for the actors. There was no such thing as privacy.

One of the skits that was performed involved a Native American being shot and killed by the villain of the piece. Wherever the company went they would hire a local Indian to play the part. In one location he arrived for the show with his whole family and when the villain fired his pistol, once, the entire family fell down.

She told about another time when the entire company got diarrhea during the performance. The only way out was through the back door which was covered by a piece of scenery. As soon as the first act was over and the curtain closed there was a mad dash to the out houses which immediate filled up leaving every one else to use the forest out behind the theatre.

They eventually got to New York City. In those days the motion picture business was located in New York, before Hollywood was born. So Charlotte became an actress in silent films.

She taught me things and encouraged me to go into show business. She was the only one in my family who did.

One of the most remarkable things about my grandmother was her sense of humor. When something struck her funny she would laugh in such a way that everyone around her was infected by it and would laugh along with her even if they didn't know what was funny. One day we were driving somewhere and the wind blew her hat off, right out the window. My brother went chasing after it and each time he leaned over to pick it up the wind would blow it again. After a couple of times watching that she started to laugh. Even though it was her hat she couldn't resist the humor of it and neither could the rest of us. My poor brother eventually saved the hat but didn't appreciate being laughed at.

Another time she was visiting me, my mother and my sister. She decided to take a bath. When she was finished she couldn't get up. My mother and sister tried to get her up but were unable to, she was a bit overweight by this time. So they called me. Charlotte held a towel in front of her, I grabbed her under the arm pits and hoisted her up, then went about my business. Charlotte was unfazed by the whole thing.

The most memorable story about her and her sense of humor happened a few days before she died. She was very independent. She had lived for many years by herself in a residential hotel in New York. One day she called my mother and said to come and get her because she was passing on. We were living in a New York suburb at that time. So we drove into town and picked her up.

This was in the 40's. In those days you didn't enter an upscale New York hotel without being properly dressed. So I wore a tie and jacket. I was 14 years old. Not only that but Charlotte never went out without being immaculately dressed, which meant a nice outfit, her fox fur stole, gloves and a hat with a veil.

When we reached our apartment, which was on the second floor, Charlotte took one look at the stairs and declared that she would not be able to climb them. So I got a chair. We put Charlotte in the chair. Mother got in front, I got behind, and we lifted her step by step up the staircase. Except that every time I leaned over to grab the back of her chair my tie fell in front of her face and she had to blow it away. Well, about half way up the stairs it struck her funny and she started to laugh. Within moments she, mother, I and the two people from the first floor who came out to see if they could do anything, were helpless with laughter.

We finally got her upstairs and into a bed. Two days later she went to the hospital and made her exit. She was 88.

I'll never forget that day. There she was an old lady knowing that she was going off to die and yet she found something humorous about her own passing. I vowed to be like her. If I have to go, that's the way I want to go. Leave them laughing.

Dana Bate
The Vagabond
**********************
My lower bridge came loose this morning. It's painful, very painful to chew, impossible to bite. No money for a dentist, no insurance.
********************
Never give up.
*********************************

Vagabondism 70

Vagabondism #70 "The purpose of philosophy is to understand who we are, what we are capable of and how to achieve it."
dbdacoba@aol.com

Good Choice

History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.

Konrad Adenauer
***********************
Life is just a catalogue of results. We live mainly with the consequences of the choices we made or the choices that were made for us one way or another. When we start out we have no choices of our own, they are made for us. We didn't choose to be born. We're given a name before we are consulted about it. We didn't choose our parents or where we live. The best we can do is to make demands by means of loud noises. By the time we reach the age when someone finally asks us what we want we are so unused to making choices that we probably don't know. Then we may make a choice we regret.

The choosing process usually doesn't take long but the results of our choices can last a while, maybe even the rest of our lives. Some people claim our destiny is written in the stars or our DNA. I claim it is more likely written in our choices. In so many of the simple, so called trivial moments of our lives we are likely to make choices that have far reaching results. You make a simple choice to go one way and not the other and your entire future has changed even though you don't know it yet.

Why is the world in such a mess? Because over the many years of our human existence choices were made, some good, some not so good and some dreadful. So many of the rocky, thorn bush lined paths we've trod as citizens of the earth could have been avoided if only someone had made a better choice way back.

Along with the bundle of results we have to live with as a result of our decisions is the nasty crop of regrets. A wiser person may say "Don't do that. You'll regret it." Do we listen and heed? Maybe. If we're smart we do. But maybe not and then we have our own personal regret to live with. Regrets are negative crops, the weeds that grow up along side the wheat. They should be rooted up and discarded. What's the point of regretting? It's a Herculean waste of time and effort. "The past is prologue" Shakespeare wrote. The future is what is important, and since you've learned now to make better choices (haven't you?) you can look forward to better results.

Some wise person once said "You always get what you want. So be very careful about what you want."

DB - The Vagabond
--------------------------
Never give up.
**************************

SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 69

Vagabondism #69 "Love is not a target sport."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

Helping Hand

SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************
Being young is a fault which improves daily.

Swedish proverb
*********************
Yesterday I was lamenting to two people I know that a man like me, who has some years on him, financial and physical limitations, who no longer has a car or a drivers license and who lives in a small bedroom community where everything is spread around has a difficult time being able to do things for people. I have a continual urge to help people who need and can use my help, whatever it may be. It's a question of find a way and a place to "invest my humanity" as Schweitzer put it. But I feel so hampered by things in my life that I'm frustrated.

The artists group, of which I am member, just raised a little money to send to the Red Cross in Japan, and I'm glad to have been a part of that. However, appeals come in to my mail box almost every day from organizations that really are doing good things in the world. But all my extra funds go to paying off the debts imposed on me by plundering banks who do almost nothing to aid the world's needy.

I'm only 72. My goals are still outward and forward. I'm still a progressive thinker, I hope. It is not my desire to lie back, be taken care of and entertained, which is why I didn't and couldn't sign myself over to that assisted living/nursing home last year.

I could give people advice about some of life's lessons, but no one asks me for it. Besides most of the people I know are about my age and the best we could do is sit around shaking our heads and saying "Yes, yes. That's the way it is."

I've never been an ivory tower dweller, never had that advantage. I'm a vagabond, which means I may move on, but as long as I'm alive I'm a thinking, caring member of the human race and I recognize that we all have an obligation to take care of each other in whatever ways we can.

As an artist I know how important it is to maintain a child's heart, to never let go of curiosity and wonder about life, to allow myself to be surprised and to make room for joy. The advantages of being older is to have gained a greater understanding of things we took for granted when we were young or hadn't developed a sensitivity to, and compassion for the courage and ingenuity of our fellow beings.

As Pope Paul VI put it "The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune."

DB - Vagabond Journeys
-------------------------------
Never give up.

Vagabondism 68

Vagabondism #68 "For me, reading philosophy is like reading a great work of fiction. I love to follow a path of ideas to the ultimate and pleasurable surprise."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/

Powder Your Nose

Beauty isn't worth thinking about, what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty dollar haircut on a fifty cent head.

Garrison Keiller
**********************
Among some of the other noises I have encountered in this suburban life was the cleaning of the building across the stree. One day a crew of men showed up with ladders and other equipment and set about cleaning the bricks and repairing the mortar between them. It took them a few days.

In my naivete I assumed they would move on to the next side of the building and do the same. I was wrong. They packed up and left. When I asked why they didn't continue it was answered that there was no need to since no one could see the other sides of the building. So that's it. It was a cosmetic job only. The poor building. Three quarters of it has to remain dirty while it got just a face lift.

Now there is certainly nothing wrong with looking your best. People like you better when you present yourself as close to Prince Charming and Snow White as possible. But if behind the facade you're really Simon Legree and the Wicked Witch of the West all the hair dos, the make up and the fancy clothes, plus $2, will get you a ride on the subway. A fresh new paint job on the outside of the house is fine. But it's what goes on inside the house that matters.

I am amazed and amused at the constant advertisements for all the different varieties of soap, paint and gadgets to make our lives better and ensure success in business and love. Losing 20 pounds may change your attitude about yourself, and that is unmistakably a good thing, if it changes for the better. But your opinion of yourself shouldn't be related to your weight or shape. Some men who lose their hair wear hair pieces or grow a big thick beard to prove they have hair. But does that make them better men? Vanity is a trickster in the game of appearance and self respect.

Don't get me wrong. If a person wants to lose weight, or gain weight, if a bald man wants to grow a beard and if a woman wants to paint her fac, it's alright with me, but it should come from the inside and not pasted on to cover up what's there or not there.

I don't know of any barber who gives a fifty cent hair cut, but if there is one, and I have a fifty cent head, I would gladly let him do it.

DB - The Vagabond
--------------------------
Never give up.
**********************

SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 67

Vagabondism #67 "We never really overcome a bad habit until we overcome self-righteousness about it."
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

Pathway

The future will be different if we make the present different.

Peter Maurin
******************
There's a story that someone once asked Robert E. Lee what the secret of his long life was and he replied that he was always wanting something.

Tennessee Williams wrote "Desire is the opposite of death."

I don't suppose anyone's life is completely they way they want it. An oyster may be perfectly content being an oyster and not desire anything until that grain of sand creeps into his shell and annoys him so that he surrounds it with a pearl.

I have basically invented my life. I did more than my share of stuffing envelopes, mopping floors, stocking shelves and carrying heavy burdens. But I've done many things I wasn't qualified to do. I never took an acting lesson and yet I stepped on the stage at the Charles Playhouse in Boston and began a career as an entertainer that lasted over 45 years. I never learned to sing or dance but I've done musicals. With no prior experience as a radio announcer I went on the air at a 50,000 watt AM, FM radio station in a major market where I worked for several years. I never took a piano lesson yet I sat at a baby grand and accompanied dance classes and even wrote music for them. Without a college degree I've taught performing art on the college level. I could list other such impostures. And I did all of it just to make a buck, because poverty was always staring me in the face. Some people I know would be appalled at these confessions.

A friend recently asked me what I think about death. My answer was that I don't think about it. It's not on my schedule. The future is what I think about. and that mean the present. I am right now inventing my future.

Now I sit in an uncomfortable chair, at an uncertain and unpredictable computer system that shuts down without a warning once a day, and, because there are annoying grains of sand under my shell, I write. I'm a terrible typist. I never took a class in creative writing. And I don't make pearls, I make journal entries and stories.

Understanding and defining oneself is a complicated business, but it comes along with a life lived as a duty to oneself. Financial problems still stare at me but I've gotten hardened to them and now my desires are more ethereal than they have ever been. I look forward to the discovery of worlds of being I know are there.

No matter how many decades you've logged on your time card, the best way to live is to look forward to the future and to make the present your own pathway to it.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
****************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************

Vagabondism 66

Vagabondism #66 "What is the meaning of life? Make it up as you go along."
dbdacoba@aol.com

Places. Please.

Sometimes the best helping hand you can get is a good firm push.

Joann Thomas
**********************
"Half Hour!"

"Oh, no, not another theatre story." Well I spent over 45 years in the professional theatre, I have stories.

Half Hour! That's a phrase that strikes fear or excitement or both into the hearts of most theatre people. After a play has been rehearsed fully and is ready to open it is handed over to the Stage Manager. From then on nothing happens unless he or she says so. The Stage Manager may have assistants, Assistant Stage Managers, ASMs, and altogether they are known as the Stage Management. (Isn't that clever?)

It is traditional in the professional theatre that someone from Stage Management gives four calls before a performance. (Those of you who know all this can talk among yourselves or go out for a smoke.) The first call is "Half Hour" which means you better be there, signed in and getting ready. The next call is "15 Minutes" which means in approximately 15 minutes the performance will begin, give or take any unexpected problems. Then there's the "5 Minutes" call. The cast and crew of a production absolutely depend on these countdowns, these calls. Stage Management may say "5 Minutes And Holding." A sudden costume repair, or scenery fix, or maybe a late arriving audience because of bad weather, slow service at the local chop house or a peaceful demonstration across the street. Then comes the most hallowed call of all, which we all wait for and expect and which generates a sudden burst of physical, psychological, emotional and nervous energy. "Places." We are ready to start and if you are in the big dance number at the beginning you better get where you belong, pronto.

In a few moments the show starts and proceeds along under the careful ear and eye of the Stage Manager until 2 to 3 hours later the final curtain comes down, the curtain calls are done, the house lights go on, the audience shuffles around putting on their coats and leaving. The rest of us go out to eat and drink, or just drink.

I have known some great stage managers in my career: Adam, Barry, Bruce, Liz, Margie, Maria and some whose names I can't remember dating back as far as the 60's. But I have also known some bad ones.

I was doing a play in Washington. There were 4 actors. It was a chaotic production, but we eventually got ready to open it. On opening night the Stage Manager, whose name I mercifully forget, called Half Hour, didn't call 15 Minutes, but called 5 Minutes. I sat in the dressing room, with one of the other actors, waiting for Places. I wasn't on at the beginning of the play, fortunately, but I heard it start. So I rushed upstairs to the wings in time to make my entrance.

At Intermission I told him that he forgot to call Places. He said "Oh I never call Places. I expect you to be professional enough not to miss your entrance." We divided him into 4 parts, chewed him up and spit him out on to the sidewalk.

We didn't really, of course, but what we did was a little more than a good firm push. The next night, and every night after that, he called "Places."

DB - The Vagabond
---------------------------------
Never Give Up
***********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
******************