.
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To town. Later, as I suspected, in the afternoon. Taxes, and registration first. Then on to the DMV for a renewal. Now you have to have a birth certificate or passport! Even for a renewal? Oh well. They issued me a temporary license, good for six months. When I bring that in, and my social security card, they will issue me a permanent(*) card. Well, that does buy some time. DMV is messed up. Not that, I don't mind that, save for it is going to mean a lot of paperwork and writing, calling, talking, and spending. I should have a birth certificate, so that isn't so bad. The six month time-table is what is troubling. I'll... get right on that.
After that, I did make it to the hardware store. I had no idea where a lint cleaning tool might reside so had to ask. While I was at it, I... looked at belt sanders and shop wet/dry vacs. I just... wasn't sure with the sanders. However, they had the shop vacs I had reviewed, and approved, and at a reasonable price, so I got one of those. Many of my tools, and tools I would like to purchase, have systems to hook right into a shop vac. Most also have little bags, but those really are a nuisance. Plus, a wet/dry vac is almost a must for any homeowner. From a waterheater failure to a leak or overrunning sink, plus the shop use, it is invaluable.
I called my friend before heading out. He is okay, his phone was just acting up yesterday. What a relief. Last night, while I didn't mention it, I had a dream in which I met the most important of my dead. Father, grandfather, woman, brothers, and even some I put in the grave. It was a hard thing. I met them and they wanted me with them, and for it all to be... as it was, or better as it is for those who I met. Even former enemies... there was no animus... only a new understanding. It was a hard dream, so wonderful, and yet... here I am and there they are. It is a new place I am told, though this I knew. I fear knowing others... the neighbor and family, a woman in the making, and some others... cause me great trepidation. I hate to lose. And while I can't seem to lose, almost everyone else I love seems to not be able to win. I don't need my friend to add to the list.
Never mind. I got him out for a dinner, on me this time. And then did a bit more shopping on top of it. Oddities, but needed. Shampoo, cat litter and food, and some other odds and ends. I like having several months of cat food and litter on hand. I usually nearly run out, so it's not without reason. I just can't, recently, guarantee that I can shop. I wish I could stock for about a year at a time, then revise every six months. I'm not in that kind of order, not quite yet. maybe never. But... I am doing much better. Even when down, I keep something in the larder for when I can eat, something for the girls, and keep them tended. All else goes to hell in a handbasket off a cliff into fire, but...
Well... on to a bit of gaming to cool off. Probably good night.
Wait! Hold on here! What led you to Leonard Cohen? Major synchronicity happening here!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Leonard Cohen before this evening, and before I browsed to your site. Been obsessing on some of his repertoire, and...boom! Here you're posting one of his songs.
Seriously? I play him here quite often. You completely tune out my music and... there you go. It's not all metal, or goth, you know. Although... It all has that... vibe... darkness... Too bad, so sad! *laughs*
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to Cohen for... a very long time now. And probably played him here, for the first time... five years ago? He is good, but hard to take at times.
Suzanna, this one, Hallelujah, Famous Blue Raincoat (a song of some shame for me, but...), Everybody Knows, Who by Fire, The Partisan, and several others have all seen at least a couple of plays here, in various groupings or individually. Damn... asleep at teh weehlz! *poking much fun*
Ok, yeah, caught out completely. I listen to some, but not all of your song videos.
ReplyDeleteMajor boner to miss this one. Or (more likely) prior to this morning, I was not ready to appreciate.
I suppose I should explain a bit...coming to terms from being an ancient in the midst of the young...
ReplyDeleteHe has done a masterful job of aging gracefully.
I don't know about aging gracefully. He's sort of the Johnny Cash of his set. Been through it all, even going so far as to become a Buddhist monk, and run one of their operations for a while. If there is trouble, he has found it, rolled through it, and... Well... I hope he has found some comfort in life, finally. But... if he is like some of us, he can't. He's just grown a bit too slow to catch up to the trouble he feels he ought to be in. :)
ReplyDeleteNo arguments, really. I hope, if I live to that age, that will be good enough for me then. Actually, I'm stuck with that already, sort of. The difference is I am still looking for trouble. Hmm, then again, maybe, as I suggested, so is he. Perhaps similar. He just sings a hellckofalot better.
Hellckofalot, by the way, is the Doom word of the day. It tries to be civil, but pisses on that notion before it's out the gates!
Oh, and by the way... don't mind my backsass. You have a full life, a wife, who knows... what all else, a job, and more active projects than I can even think up. So, if you miss most of my tunes... I can certainly grant forgiveness. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteGo, play. Don't sit around listening to music. Go make it, or watch women dance to it, or... live. It's what I've got, so...
Leonard Cohen's long been a favorite of mine. I particularly recommend "First We Take Manhattan".
ReplyDeletePerhaps his best known composition is "Suzanne". Cohen's rendition of it is naturally classic, but I would also recommend Peter Gabriel's cover version.
I haven't even heard that one, that I remember, Michael. I'll have to give it a listen, same with Gabriel's take. I can be finicky, even with Cohen. He is a dick lib, or was, so... Wealth, fame, drugs, and access above one's natural station tends to corrupt almost completely.
ReplyDeletePerhaps "aging gracefully" is not the phrase, or at least not as most might mean it.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the impression he ever stopped being a man. He is not an "old man", as in, sliding into neutered decripitude from fifty onward. He is a man who has grown old.
I am struggling mightily against becoming and "old man". I *Hate* the notion, and in my present company I am all too aware. It makes me cringe.
However I am going to have to embrace (yes embrace) in some respects, my age. Have to, because cringing at the Uncle Fester/Gollum image that presents itself in the mirror to me in the morning, seeps its way into my interactions with others. I cannot have that. I cannot feel apologetic for being the "old man" in their midst. I have to, somehow, embrace my patriarchy without embodying "old man".
I see things in Leonard Cohen that I may find useful.
The how and what, I'm working on. This is staring-in-the-mirror-at-my-eyes-having-deep-conversation stuff. (Weird trick, but can be tremendously insight-inspiring.)
@Desert Cat --- oh I LOVE being an Old Man. If it wasn't for the arthritis I'd be having the time of my life. I would've dyed my hair gray a long time ago if I'd known occasionally being a crotchety old bastard could be so much fun.
ReplyDeleteDesert Cat,
ReplyDeleteAh, okay. No, that is absolutely solid. The trick, through all of our life, is being more without being less. I love that you are working the notion, and that you have found a mentor. I don't think you could go wrong with him. His politics aside, he is solid, perhaps finally, or maybe again.
I think your plan is good. If you are nimble with the notions, you can just avoid the judgment gavel, and more if you become... adept.
Michael, he has chosen to run with a... hmm... young crowd. He is almost living a new youth. It's a remarkable thing.
As to your notions? I wear whichever hat suits me on a day. Young, old, and depending upon present company. One of my friends is in his seventies, and we enjoy our grumpy old man days and moments, but both, to a degree, and be middling, even slightly ornery, "damned kids" sometimes. He's not as grumpy an old man as I can be, oddly. But he is better at the standard middling. I like growing older as well. Mostly.
I've loved the Cohen's music since I was twelve ...
ReplyDeleteI dream of the dead people in my life a lot, actually.
I do listen to a fair amount of your music, although I don't comment on most.
Hope you are well!
Foam,
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't surprise me that you have listened to Cohen for so long. Certain women just... find things in the world. Secret clubs included. I knew you listened to much of my music. I am curious, though, in general, what you sense from the music I play... other than the common themes.
I don't usually dream of visiting with the dead, as dead. Living back then, sure... going over their deaths too. But this was different. I wasn't ready for it. A beautiful pain, but... pain no doubt.
And, I am doing quite well. A little rest this weekend, after two days out and a bit of work that has been ongoing. Quite well indeed, and sleeping had a bit of success. Plus, it's raining. Pitter-pat on my tin roof... and the cool. Love them both.