[MD] frankly xacto painting

[John Carl]

Frankly my dear, I do give a damn.

That's what I call "caring" and that's at the heart of what I learned from
those two books you said you've read more than a couple of times.  Caring is
good.  Good is caring.  They both mean love and love has many levels.  Four
to be exact.

That's all I know.

Ain't it enough?  It is is for me.

Of course, I'm sorta easy to please.  I live in a little podunk town that my
wife and kids long to be away from all the time (tho they do also like to
always come back) but the way  I figure it, Han Shan was way more developed
than me and he was content with nuthin but a hut on a cold mountain.  I got
DSL!  If he was happy there, I certainly oughta be here.  And I am.

When you say "rules" my head automatically goes to a certain place.  A
muttering, rebellious space.  One of my rules, I guess, is to hate rulers.
 Or enjoy 'em, but not by obeying them.  Oh no.  They give my life
contextual meaning with all their "rules".  Rules are to keep everybody
following predictable patterns so that I*I* can have my own way.

For instance, they have this rule that you're supposed to wear a seat belt
whenever you're in a car.   I often forget, mainly because I just zip around
town and the town has a population of less than two hundred, most of whom I
recognize and know their driving habits, etc.  So the rule doesn't really
help me much and would impede me a lot.  However, all over the radio - which
I listen to at work - a lot - was the announcement that CHP was going to go
into heavy enforcement mode with seat belt enforcement.  AND the fine had
recently tripled.

Can you say, "revenue stream"?

So I did put my seat belt on to get home, about two miles down HWY 49.

Now, it being a friday and all, I stopped at the local store/gas station for
my hard cider equivalent of the week, (I wish - actually a crude malt liquor
but hey, I'm a plebian these days)  and since I was just going basically a
few hundred yards down the road, didn't even think about putting on my seat
belt, and sure enough, I'm dawdling past the Brass Rail (North San Juan's
long-standing biker bar) and here comes a black and white in the other
direction.  At this point, I realize I'm not wearing a seat belt and this
guy is probably chortling with glee in his head because sure enough, he
swivels to give me that predatory stare as I pass and my heart goes racing
as his brake lights flash and he whips around to get behind me.

Dang!  This don't look too good, with my pipe on the seat, my beer between
my legs and probably about sixteen vehicular misdemeanors scattered aboust
me, what with missing turn signals, headlamps, etc.

However, did I mention that we're in MY town?  My briar patch?  I whipped a
hard right up San Francisco street, Left at the top of town and then dove
down into the diggins, which most people don't even realize is there, but
the whole town of North San Juan sits at the edge of the old hydraulic
mining that basically founded the town.  My house teetering precariously
over the edge, just on the outskirts of "town".

When the chippy swiveled his shaved head, I saw right off he was a young
guy, probably up from Sacramento on assignment.  No way was he catching me
once I'm down in the diggins.  Not that he'd wanna take his nice shiny squad
car down there anyway.  It's rutted and brushy you need at least front wheel
drive to keep from getting stuck.  I parked in a gully and walked home, a
song of victory in my heart, adrenaline pumping through my veins, and
gratitude to rules for making life interesting.

>
> We follow the "rules" because it is in our nature. It is what one ( or some
> thing ) does without thinking or choosing.
>
>
"Doing without thinking" is a choice also, Frank.  Some sort of decision has
to be made along the line somewhere.  It's just the way Reality is.
 Everything that IS, is because caring made it so.
-----------
Sad song, you quote here Frank..  What's been running through my head is an
old fave:
---------

Psychic spies from China

Try to steal your mind's elation
Little girls from Sweden
Dream of silver screen quotations
And if you want these kind of dreams


It's Californication

It's the edge of the world
And all of western civilization


The sun may rise in the East
At least it settles in the final location


It's understood that Hollywood
sells Californication

Pay your surgeon very well
To break the spell of aging


Celebrity skin is this your chin
Or is that war your waging
*
*
Marry me girl be my fairy to the world
Be my very own constellation


A teenage bride with a baby inside
Getting high on information


And buy me a star on the boulevard
It's Californication

Space may be the final frontier
But it's made in a Hollywood basement

Cobain can you hear the spheres

Singing songs off station to station

And Alderon's not far away
It's Californication

Born and raised by those who praise
Control of population

everybody's been there
and
I don't mean on vacation


Destruction leads to a very rough road
But it also breeds creation


And earthquakes are to a girl's guitar
They're just another good vibration


And tidal waves couldn't save the world
>From Californication

Pay your surgeon very well
To break the spell of aging


Sicker than the rest
There is no test
But this is what you're craving
Californication
----
Take Care, Frank

John


> Your baby doesn't love you any more
> Golden days before they end
> Whisper secrets to the wind
> Your baby won't be near you any more
>
> Tender nights before they fly
> Send falling stars that seem to cry
> Your baby doesn't want you any more
> It's over
>
> It breaks your heart in two, To know she's been untrue
> But oh what will you do? When she says to you
> There's someone new We're through We're through
> It's over It's over It's over
>
> All the rainbows in the sky
> Start to weep, then say goodbye
> You won't be seeing rainbows any more
> Setting suns before they fall, Echo to you that's all that's all
> But you'll see lonely sunsets after all
>
> It's over It's over It's over It's over
>
>