Relocation in Pictures

September arrival in Ann Arbor

My wanderings take me both North and South these are visual evidence of my recent meanderings.

October - Fall makes an appearance

Early November - still quite fall-like

November 11th - Oops!

December - back to global warming

January 15, 2020 - departure day

January 17th

Travelin' Man

Are you a Bob Seger or a Ricky Nelson fan? They both have lyrics about a travelin' man. Not coincidentally, they both focus on women they had known and left. I have traveled a lot, lived many places, some more than once. But my wandering had a lot more to do with periodically changing my life than it did with running to or from various women. Some might disagree.

Here is a laundry list of where I have done my laundry over the decades.

1948 Detroit, MI.
1949-65 Dexter, MI.
1965-69 Kalamazoo, MI.
1970-71 Somerville, MA.
1971-72 Ann Arbor, MI.
1973-75 Hell, MI.
1975-78 Hermosa Beach, CA.
1979-80 Palos Verdes, CA.
1981-82 Redondo Beach, CA.
1983-1990 Hermosa Beach, CA.
1991-1999 San Francisco, CA.
2000-2005 Ann Arbor, MI.
2005-2009 Las Vegas, NV.
2010-2015 Berkeley, CA
2016-2020 The Villages, FL. & Ann Arbor, MI. (semi-snowbirding)

Starting in the late 90s, there were several periods of undomiciled living where I gave up my condo, house or apartment and traveled to and from friends and family. Since 2015, undomiciled has been my permanent condition. Everything I own fits into my car with room to spare. After all what does a writer need except a laptop and some place to be or to be leaving.

I have even written a book about my meandering ways - Undomiciled: How to be the Perfect Long-Term Houseguest. Seeking a publisher.

Colours from Sunset Road

August Arrival Green

Late October Russet

December Departure White

Happy Election 2016 America

Manichean Worldview

This is an encore post from 2010. It has always been one of my personal favorites and the time seems right to consider dualism again.

Manichean (man-i-KEE-uhn)
1. pertaining to a strongly dualistic worldview.
2. An adherent of the dualistic religious system of Manes, a combination of gnostic Christianity, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and various other elements, with a basic doctrine of a conflict between light and dark.

I am by nature opposed to dualism. I don't believe in light versus dark or good versus evil. Yet, many of the world's great religions are founded on such beliefs, not to mention many more secular philosophies, dozens of national constitutions and nearly all wars.

On one hand I believe any thoughtful person will concede that nearly nothing can be framed in a purely good versus evil dichotomy. Even in the darkest of evils and the brightest of perfections there are elements of the other. But more importantly the human minds that are observing these clashes of opposites almost never agree on which side is light or evil or dark or good. Grey is the color of the day, all day, every day, until the final day.

Standing on the far side of the battlefield we invariably find other humans who feel as strongly about their position in the light of good and truth and right as those on our side. Yes, yes I know you want to bring up Hitler and the Nazis right about now. I concede there are historical aberrations to contradict any position. However....

As fairly evolved sentient beings we are or should be capable of using our ability to perceive subtle nuances to inform our worldview. We should be able to discount the jingoistic speeches of political leaders and make measured judgments about our side (light) and the other side (dark), because there are equally intelligent, evolved individuals on the other side who would reverse those dark & light flags.

Part of the problem is one position cannot grow to be better, more light or inherently correct unless the opposing philosophy becomes more dark, more evil and inherently wrong. Such dramatic opposition leads to conflict, battle and war. Where does it all end? I would suggest the more productive question is to ask: Where did it all begin?

Conflict usually begins when there exists one or more dualistic views. If you strongly believe your position to be right, then others must be wrong. Wrong equals opposition to your position, which is by self-definition -- right. I encourage examining where your beliefs are dualistic or oppositional to another and then perhaps -- listening to the other. Start small. Begin with a minor disagreement. Leave terrorism, abortion and whaling for later.

Ever wonder why the dominate color of this blog is grey.

Vaccines - Did You Know?

Ever looked closely at an issue even though you were absolutely sure of your position? 

As a practice, I do this a couple of times a year, despite having to look at some fairly bizarre, conspiracy websites. My most recent exploration was into the vaccination controversy. Having no children, nor grandchildren, I do not have a close personal stake in the argument. But I would tend to go with the science. However, my last investigation was into GMO crops and I found the science wanting on that topic. So . . .

Just a couple of troubling facts. The Center for Disease Control recommends 25 vaccinations for infants between birth and eighteen months of age. Some of these are multiple cocktails (measles, mumps, rubella), so the even the number 25 is misleading.

My immediate question was: Do we have good clinical evidence of what interactions these chemicals may have inside of tiny little bodies. The answer I was able to locate after much searching was -- No!

There isn't sufficient data because so many of the vaccinations have been added in the past few years and the "patients" are still children.

Should I mention the schedule from 18 months to 18 years includes another 13 additional vaccinations plus an annual flu shot. Another 30 doses of widely divergent cocktails.

And as most adults know, our physicians push influenza, pertussis, shingles and a few other vaccinations at us because we are over 50 or 60 years of age.

Now, I am not an anti-vaxxer, by any stretch, but I am concerned that science is racing ahead of good clinical data. Ever wondered why you see so many attorney ads on television for dangerous/lethal reactions to drugs already approved by the FDA as safe and effective?

Just food for thought. Constructive debate only takes place in a free and open environment.

___________________________

Math Follow-Up: There are some questions about how to total up the vaccinations. Should it be the number of pokes a child receives or perhaps how many diseases are being vaccinated for. Some shots are multiple cocktails. Or perhaps how many individual vaccination components are injected. Here are the numbers as I have discerned them.

Number of times a needle is stuck into a child's body (0-18 months): 25
Number of different cocktail combinations dispensed: 11
Number of diseases being vaccinated against: 42

More Thoughts on Writing

The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bug.  - Mark Twain

I have been reading the draft of a friend's novel. I find it most interesting that his writing issues are so very different than mine. He struggles to find a voice his audience will hear or maybe it's a voice that will adhere. I, on the other hand, know my audience and write directly to them.

He sometimes overthinks his prose and uses the BIG word when the little one works better. Which is not to say I am an advocate of the Keep It Simple theory of writing. No, I'm a big word guy myself but there are times when it feels like showing off, which can really annoy the reader.

Another major difference we have is that my friend writes the story as it pours out of him. He doesn't know where it's going. I have dabbled with this ultra free form adventure writing but find I am more comfortable knowing the end of the story before I begin. 

Did you know J.K. Rowling wrote the final scene of the seventh and last Harry Potter book before she wrote word one of book one?

As I write this, a little voice reminded me that the end of my novel (Grey Angel) did not have a satisfactory resolution until I was a third of the way into it. So maybe my friend and I are not all that different after all.

Oh, and my apologies to regular readers. I know you have become accustomed to one post a week on Friday, but I just couldn't help myself last Monday. Sometimes you just have to say it outloud.

Playing the Cards You're Dealt

"We play the cards we're dealt."

"Just play the cards you're dealt."

"You can only play the cards you're dealt."

Interesting, yes I get the intent of the aphorism. No, not a metaphor, a simile or an analogy. Can you tell I've been immersed in editing the last few weeks?

Anyway, the meaning is simple. We get certain plusses and minuses in life and we make the best or the worst of them. Usually somewhere in between for most of us. But that's not how card games work. 

A single hand is not a lifetime, it's a moment, an opportunity, a chance. You play or not. Folding your hand is always an option. It isn't like life, you don't commit everything to a single deal of the cards, unless you choose to. 

In any card room or casino, these words are always spoken: 

"There's another hand just around the corner, 

you don't have to play this one."

That feels more like real life to me. We are presented with circumstances, sometimes of our own making, other times not. Free Will intervenes and allows us to play or pass. Yes, I know sometimes you feel like your choices are limited or non-existent, but so many of those situations are of our own making.

Most of the time, as adults, we have options. In this First World society, we have gobs and gobs of options. Sure, some things are fixed, even immutable but others not so much. Take your health for example. Can't change your DNA or not eat all those years of burgers and ice cream. But you can intervene now.

You may be holding a poor five card hand but the rules of this game allows you to discard and draw new cards. Your choice, play the hand you're dealt or step up and change the content of your hand and perhaps your life.

Voldemort Death Card image first found on Deviant Art

It's Just Wrong

I've let this simmer for over two months now. I tried to let it go, I really did.

Back in July, The Secret Life of Pets was released. There was a two week blitz of commercials prior to the release date, gotta hype up those Ritalin kids. You might have missed this animated blockbuster. I mean the story was compelling.

Max is a spoiled terrier who enjoys a comfortable life in a New York building until his owner adopts Duke, a giant and unruly canine. During their walk outside, they encounter a group of serious alley cats and wind up in a truck that's bound for the pound. Luckily, a rebellious rabbit named Snowball swoops in to save the doggy duo from its captors. In exchange, Snowball demands that Max and Duke join his gang of abandoned pets on a mission against the human who've done them wrong.

I have nothing against "G" and "PG" movies, they have a viable audience, which I do not associate with ever. But to each munchkin, their parents, grandparents and guardians; I hope the experience was epic.

Here is my issue. One of the aforementioned commercials was of "Max" strutting his stuff to the Rolling Stones song: Sympathy for the Devil.

Where do I begin.

The Stones??? They really needed more royalties???

The Devil??? This is a animated film aimed at children???

Is nothing sacred? Is nothing holy?

Think I'm kidding, read the lyrics.

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long years
Stole many a man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the Blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made

I shouted out,
"Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all
It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down

Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!

Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame

Some Thoughts on Writing

The dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he's given the freedom to starve anywhere.  

- S. J. Perleman

I've be laboring on my most recent book for a solid three months now. I can see the light at the end of the editing tunnel and think this one will make it to the agent this fall. In addition to the book, I keep this blog alive, though on a now greatly reduced weekly basis and I write for a couple of websites that actually send me money for my words.

I like the mix of genres I have arranged for myself to ruminate and speculate on. Something about jumping between worlds, fictional and semi-real. It is my hope, plan, promise to return later this fall to my novel, which cries out for completion. Soon, my lovely Grey Angel, soon.

Caricatures

I stumbled upon a caricature the other day which got me thinking about well, caricatures. A few minutes of surfing the net got me these representations. Enjoy, there's nothing more to this than just some images that caught my eye.

- don't blame me for the gender imbalance, female caricatures are either cute, cartoonish or wildly sexist.

Where Are We Now - Ann Arbor

My undomiciled wanderings have taken me to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Home to the University of Michigan and just a stones throw from where I grew up. I expect to be hanging around this part of the Midwest until the snow flies.

Old friends and fall colors. Some nostalgia plus more new memories.

Traveling With Meteors to Minnesota

"This year, instead of seeing about 80 Perseids per hour, 

the rate could top 150 and even approach 200 meteors per hour," 

NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke.

Last Friday we went out into the local park and watched the sky streaked with Perseids. During the week as I traveled to Shakopee, Minnesota I saw more meteors nearly ever night. Even had one motel room with a near perfect view to the NorthEast.

Now I am in Minnesota for a short stopover (and a little poker) before I finish my wander to my fall destination in Michigan.

Where Are We Now - Oakland

I am now fully committed to my undomiciled lifestyle. Though I have briefly stayed here in Oakland once in the past, it was less than a week, just passing through. Now 'South Oakland near the Zoo' is a geographic description I give to friends and family.

My future plans are listed over there at the top of the right-hand column. That's my plan for the next twelve months, most likely there will be a few adjustments but the die is cast.

I'm working hard on my book: "Undomiciled: How to be the Perfect Long-Term Houseguest." Hopefully, by the time this year of wandering is complete, so shall the book be.

In the meantime, I would be interested in any tips or insights you may have on experiences as a home-interloper or host of same. You will remain anonymous if quoted in the book.

Happy Cooking Travels!

photo credit: Dennis Past

Undomiciled

What hath I wrought?

I am now officially without a home. I have no address by which the postal service can locate me. No friends shall be knocking at my door. For all practical purposes I can no longer be found.

But this is of my own choosing and not without (p)residence. I've launched myself into the void before. However, this time there is no storage locker of stuff, no place I will eventually reoccupy. Not exactly sofa-surfing, more the "do you have a spare bedroom?"

Right now, old familiar haunts in Northern California. By the end of the month I will be back in the SF Bay Area for some time before hitting the road for parts East, then further East before turning South to Florida. 

Then . . . 

Hello Life, Goodbye Berkeley

Today is my final day in the Berkeley apartment where I have lain my head the past five or so years. Time to move on (again).

For the immediate future, a bit of West Coast travel. Portland for a conference. Weed for a cat-sitting stint. Las Vegas for a poker boyz sojourn. Then the South Oakland hills for a couple of months, the first stop of my new permanent, impermanent state of being undomiciled.

I will be staying with friends and family who for a variety of reasons are looking forward to a tall, bald, middle-aged man in their guest room

Why the lifestyle? Some of you have asked.

I would point out that I have a fairly well-worn reset button as far as my place of residence. I've been doing this for a very long time, only now am I declaring it a lifestyle and, of course, writing a book about it.

For the remainder of this year the fuzzy travel itinerary goes like this: Oakland, Weed, Shakopee, Ann Arbor, potentially Boston and Washington DC, before ending the year in Florida.

Come 2017 . . . watch here for hints of whatever emerges from my personal intentional fog.

Golden Nostalgia

I took this photograph of the setting sun behind the Golden Gate Bridge two years ago this week.

The sun is progressing on its northward path, setting behind the bridge for several days this week.

Fortunately for our drought conditions this week has been overcast and wet. However, no opportunities for a Bridge + Sunset snapshot, the evening overcast blotted out the bridge view.

My time here at the Berkeley Townhouse, with the beautiful panorama, is coming to an end after five years. Time to move on. Regrets I'll have a few, including not being able to lift my head from this screen and see San Francisco Bay in a kaleidoscope of weather, light and color.

Here are a few more shots from my window on the Bay.

Where Am I? Where Have I Been?

I began the week in Austin and today I am once again gazing out at the San Francisco Bay from what has been my domicile for the last five years. I got a little road weary at the end of my five month wander. But with a few days of recovery and local cuisine, I'll be back to the task of divesting and preparing for the next chapter in life and on paper.

Where I hath layeth my head:
Sunday January 17th -- Austin, Texas
Monday January 18th -- Fort Stockton, Texas
Tuesday January 19th -- Benson, Arizona
Wednesday January 20th -- Palm Springs, CA.
Thursday January 21st -- Berkeley, CA.
Friday January 22nd -- not in a car for any reason

Austin, Texas

something, something, something; yadda, yadda, yadda; here, there and everywhere.

Yes, a bit unsettled, marginally clouded with a chance of artichokes.

But . . . you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, 

so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. 

To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. 

To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over 

the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.

Henry David Thoreau

My 2016 and Beyond

As some but not all of you know, I have a tendency to shake-up my life on a semi-regular basis. I have changed professions several times, okay perhaps more than several. I also relocate often. I've been in Berkeley with my spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay for five years now.

It's time to move on and try something different.

Different this time around will involve going Undomiciled. I am giving up the Berkeley apartment and not replacing it with another homestead. Thank-you to my treasured friend Mira for allowing me to stay so long.

I am working on a book: Undomiciled: How to be the Perfect Long-Term Houseguest.

So my next move is really just research. I will be splitting my time between friends here in the Bay Area, long-longtime friends up in Mt. Shasta, plus extended stays in Michigan and back at The Villages in Florida, where I have been the last several months. Minnesota, Massachusetts, Virginia and several other incursions are also possible.

As of right now, I am in Biloxi, Mississippi with several of my poker buddies. After a long weekend of Texas Hold'em and camaraderie, I will be making several visits in Texas followed by a meandering drive that will take me to Los Angeles before returning to Berkeley. Thence to pack and further divest myself of accumulated stuff, before venturing off into an Undomiciled lifestyle.

Wish me luck, safe travels and please no more veiled questions about my sanity or lack thereof.