Happiness Pie

Mmm mmm mmm delicious. Finally caught up again, you know how it is. With the pictures. The camera keeps grabbin'em, and somehow they have to get up onto the interweb whether you think they go there or not. This particular run of 'em covers last week here in town. Over the week a lot of different things were going on, across the board. I believe there were some politics occurring in the world, why just this morning i saw that a bunch of bombs went off at a mall or something in Baghdad, looked like some smoky bombs. Whoever was shooting for AP on that one was right up in the shit. Some great photos man. Dead children, bright orange flames, lots of black black smoke. I tell you, these cameras today. They are really astounding. It's not even about the photographer anymore, i mean, sure, he frames the shot, but exposure and all that? these cameras are just delivering the goods. It's amazing. So there's that going on. And even though i'm not involved in politics anymore, i mean, sure. The news happens, but i don't follow it. (I also don't like to capitalize the letter "I" for some reason, I feel like, it's a pain in the ass, kind of slows me down when i'm typing, but i always wish i had done it later. It's just so much effort for just one letter.) So even though i don't follow the news, the thing is, it trickles through. At least here in NYC it does. You're constantly being smacked in the face with a wet mop of news.

There's newspapers everywhere you look. They're cramming them in your face on the street, in the train, the fucking street folk are wearing them as blankets, they're blowing up and down the avenues, it's on the sides of buses and up and down the walls inside the trains, it never ends, and so what i've noticed in the glimpses i've had jammed in my face is, it seems like there's a lot going on out there. Like this whole president thing is turning funny, Obama and Hilary, this whole skooter libby thing seems to be in the news again, something about condy rice, i mean, it's all the same players, oh, and I saw that they were going to do some new coins, Dollar Coins. Well god bless 'em. That's a good idea. I always wonder about the money. Like, Hamilton, and them other dudes, how do they rate? How did they get onto the bill and when did they do it? And i think, well. I could look it up, but you know, that's politics. I don't do politics, but i wonder if maybe it's time they just revamped the bills and put on some people that everyone knew. Like, why not put Anna Nicole on a bill. Michael Jackson. Fuckit, put Eminem on one. HA, how about this, since they're always going on about how much money it costs to print money, how about if you're rich enough, you can pay some money, and just have your name on the bill. Your picture and your name here: for you know, "X dollars". Or do it like the back of the 2 dollar bill. you know, but some bing bang rapper posse on the back. Ha. and everyone could dress like they do now. Do away with the tights and the powder wigs.

Maybe we could have like WAR SERIES bills, and they have like bombers and tanks and shit on them. Turn money into something collectible, and i don't mean like people that collect coins and stuff, i mean, something BIG. Like the 1 dollar bill becomes the next Beanie Baby, or the next Cabbage Patch Kid, or the next Tickle Me Elmo, or the next PT Cruiser. HA. what a pile. the PT. Cruizer.

So, but yea. there's been much going on. As you know, i've left the studio where i was working, i've relinquished my cellphone, and as of just yesterday i've become single again. Now it's just a matter of selling the yacht and getting my house out onto the market. It's just not practical to have such a big place any more. I mean, the kids are grown, my hip's not getting any younger, and I haven't got time for the upkeep of the boat down at the mooring.

Ah. Retirement. Who knew? It just comes up so fast, I can't believe it sometimes, how quickly the years have all flown by. I try to think of my new york experience in terms of: "how many cigarettes was that?" or "how many slices of cheese, sprinkled with oregano, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, parmesan, and black pepper, folded in half and shoved into the front of my head was that?" or whatever. You get a sense of it. The point is, i'm asking myself, "HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH?!" I don't feel like i've been beaten into the ground. New York worked out. Sure. I lived in the nice places, I lived in the rough places, i hung out with the artists and the suits, the good and the bad of it. I learned about how it's good times; as good as any, and it's hard times, as hard as they can get.

Hell. there's this one guy in today's scroll, you can see him, he's on the 6 train, heading downtown. Black hood, Black bag with an aquafina bottle sticking out of the top. That fucking guy. Jesus christ did he smell bad. I can't even tell you. You have to live here in the city to know what i'm talking about. He was one of those guys that can clear out a whole train car with his smell. And after he's gone, folks just don't sit there for at least another hour. Well. I was trying to get the hell out of the train car myself, that's how i wound up so close to the guy. I mean, it's a smell that's crossed between feces with the flu, and stale urine, but cranked on up to like 20. It's one thing to smell piss, but this is something else. this is piss that smells YOU. from across the room. HOW do they do it i don't understand. I mean, even in a horse stall where the piss in the hay turns into ammonia, it doesn't waft through an entire train car with the intensity of this man. Overwhelming. So i had to take a picture. It made me think of how happy i was when Misha and I went hiking up in them foothills, outside of pasadena right? i'm like in tears over how happy I am just to be there, and here i am on the six train in tears because it feels like i've been sprayed in the eyes. So i'm wearing my headphones, and there's a couple pair of 'em on, so i can't hear a god damned thing except for whatever was playing, and probably it was nothing exciting, because i can't remember what it was. I mean, i'll tell you what's on my shuffle if you want to know but the point of the story is, i was in a bubble. And i'm pointing my camera at him, and he looks up at me, because he hears the door opening between cars, and i can't help it, i say out loud, "my goodness you smell good. gracious me, how do you do it?" obviously i'm not looking for an answer, i just went to the next car. But it was in there that i came to realize that I believe i've had enough. It was fun, but why wait until I just can't take it for a second longer? why not just retire from it while you still kind of like it?

Let's see how this week pans out. As most of you know, Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday of the year. Not the "Hallmark-ness" of it, just the principal of it. I love that there's a whole day just dedicated to the person you love the most. A day where you're okay to be in love with your girlfriend, and everyone is out to crank up the romance in their little worlds. And new york is really good at it. Even the Empire State Building looks his best. (I obsessed about that for a second, naturally you would say, the building looked her best, but the building is masculine, even with the red lights on, and well, so i just want you to know i thought about it) New York becomes the city you remember from the movies on the night of Valentine's. Couples are walking arm in arm, restaurants are packed with lovers holding hands, and everything is just nice that way. After dark i mean. In the day time, it can be a little contrasty, with the cold white light of the sun and all that red and them paper hearts, but this year? I'll be on the bench. Watching from the sidelines. If you've got a love, hold them tight, nuzzle and smile and play nice with each other.

Good Times,

dTown | listening to Billie Holiday | 38˚ and pretty