REELIN' IN THE YEARS

Some know I've enjoyed Steely Dan for many years.  Not because I understand all they say, but because they clearly have had a talent for understanding what a popular message through tune can mean thru the generations.

Just the other day, Walter Becker, co-Founder, guitarist and vocalist for this band passed away at 67...   an age on which I have a firm  grasp.  All the music they've made will stay with me, though there will never REALLY be any more of it.  And so... this one perhaps is the most popular (in songs played) of their work.  I list it here, purely for fun and to perturb at least one whom I know not to be a fan.   I think the band won't mind.

REELIN' IN THE YEARS

Your everlasting summer 
You can see it fading fast
So you grab a piece of something
That you think is gonna last
You wouldn't know a diamond
If you held it in your hand
The things you think are precious
I can't understand

CHORUS:
Are you reelin' in the years
Stowin' away the time
Are you gatherin' up the tears
Have you had enough of mine

You been tellin' me you're a genius
Since you were seventeen
In all the time I've known you
I still don't know what you mean
The weekend at the college
Didn't turn out like you planned
The things that pass for knowledge
I can't understand

CHORUS

I spend a lot of money
And I spent a lot of time
The trip we made in Hollywood
Is etched upon my mind
After all the things we've done and seen
You find another man
The things you think are useless
I can't understand 

Authentic Me; Authentic You

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to live an ‘authentic life’. Books have been written, classes taught,authority claimed... and yet it’s elusive, unless of course you speak the language of authenticity. Yeah that’s right… authentic speak;it's a 'thing'. It's language widely spoken and globally misunderstood. Oh sure, we nod our heads and pretend the speaker is so wise…’I mean listen to what he/she just said? Didn’t that just blow your mind?’

Well I’m not getting it. Why? Because I like the on/off;the black/white; the right/wrong of life. It’s because of that I think that I just don’t get authentic speak. I like my life in scientific terms... there are truths we know, truths we haven’t uncovered. answers too; even truths we haven’t noticed as unknown yet. But there IS an answer to everything under the sun. Not knowing what the answer (or even the question) isn’t proof that there isn’t one correct answer for any given universe.

Don’t get me wrong; I LIKE the ‘touchy/feely’ world. But I recognize it’s not actually authentic. Hell it isn’t even real. It does feel good tho.

So. How to live authentically in a world that is 80%+ theory and 10%- validated? Step by step. Inch by inch. Day by day. Do what feels good, avoid what feels wrong. Endeavor not to harm others and ask for forgiveness unashamedly if/when you do. And smile. Smile every chance you get. You are the lucky one.

Giant Step II

"Remember the feeling as a child
When you woke up and morning smiled
It's time its time, its time you felt like that again"


Spring.  Time for renewal.  Just set your load down for a second and breath deeply out and in a few times.
There.  That didn't hurt, right?

The Earth renews itself each new Spring, doesn't it?  Why shouldn't we?  Oh, we should...  we should, definitely.

Whether we go to our physical happy place or close our eyes and go there in our mind, there IS a pace for renewal.  Even the most unfortunate of us has a moment (or many) that they can reflect on that made them feel "I'm glad to be alive!".  

Go. Go there.  Go there now.  Go there often.  For who's to stop you?

I know, I know. It's serious....

"Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know - it's serious
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know - it's really serious"

The Smith's.  Yeah I never really listened to 'em.  A friend did.  And just now I found this clip in my ringtones.   How did I get there?  Search me.  No really, go ahead and search me.  Not a body cavity tho, mind ya.  Just a pat down.