TMi

  W elpy-welp. I’ve officially arrived at the ass end of the snake year. The boulevard outside my door was soaked in pooling sewer filth from the 27th of December to about January 20th. The snake has incontinence in it’s old age. Or it is terrified of the coming hooves of the next year. I remember once being at a picnic with my family on some bright New England day. I don't know who spotted it, but we– us kids got excited about finding a snake nearby. I believe I was the quickest one and was able to catch the garter snake with my hands. I did not keep hold of it for very long. It was terrified of being snatched up out of the grass by a child and it wet me in defense. And it 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓀 . I remember the talk turn immediately to best practices for nullifying strong animal odors, skunk smells especially. Tomato juice seemed to be top of the list. We did not have that available– and perhaps orange juice was used instead? I have trouble remembering if it was me who actually caught a wild...

Spending a couple of weeks in historic Lexington VA was supposed to be like an art residency. I went with the idea that   I would help paint a mural in a university gallery, and perhaps focus on making some art of my own. None of this happened.   In a tiny town where there is nothing much to do, my person chose to prioritize healing. My body had been quietly collapsing into itself the whole during my sickness so while I had this time, I wrestled with my joints and bones; fought the muscles, tendons, and that blasted thing called fascia. My back hurt often, but I know I am even stronger for the effort. I do stand up straighter. (My kyphosis laughs as I type that.) I could not focus enough to really create anything. My mind was also busy doing its own messy, inexplicable healing just for being in the rural east again- almost like being home. Some crying happened.   I saw a lot of deer and met some lovely human people. I reunited with my brother Mike....

What is the hottest thing in Mexico City anyway, huh? Well, you will disagree with me instantly I'm sure, but I am going to go out on a weird wire and say that power lines top my list for hot things in DF. They are... art. Full stop. Looking up at all the copious cables in orderly albeit often disconcerting lines only to then have your eye land hard and disbelieving on wrapped, looped, tangled masses... It does something for me in a way that is impossible to explain. It is terribly engaging, in an awfully absurd way. I wonder if the 'grid guys' have the same feelings... Certainly they can't just hate it, right? Otherwise they would be running wires in a different way, right?  What ever the logic or illogic involved, I bless them for their particular contribution to the aesthetic of the city.  I joked that I would eventually make a calendar of the sexiest power lines. Would anyone want this? Or am I the only human with such unusual tastes- and humor?

I'm really doing it. I'm really nothing-ing about. More or less just burning daylight.   Slacking off . Like a proper Dudeist priest ought to.  Now, in Mexico City of all places.  Even before I slipped off to D.F., I just sort of stopped doing- the things on my daily to-do list that I came up with to prove to myself that I am doing things.  Because- nothing matters.. but in that positive way, you know? At least not for me right now. I'm not even journal writing five hundred words a day.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I am writing- certainly I am, but it is in concert with a-  a game I am playing-  with a chat bot. It's a word word salad, choose your own adventure, role-play, text game. It's like the most amusing magic eight ball ever. You watch the three "currently typing" dots with such anticipation. You never know what the bot will come up with next or if it will even make sense in the context of the story you are building.  So that is my d...

I went off to and came back from Mexico City without much of any fanfare.  You didn't notice, did you? I thought I could just tag along on for a music event . Just slip away for a bit. Because what urgent things rest on my aching neck? More than I thought...  It was supposed to be a little vacation for me; a little time away. But when I came back from wandering through the green and previously earthquake shaken streets of Mexico City, I was hit with a suddenly urgent to-do list. After a month of suspended animation I was called into all this action. So the supposed rest and relaxation I accrued went straight out the window.  Between the things I am trying to do for myself, preparation for a big show coming up, and actual paying work- oh and my health issues, I am no blissful, carefree specimen over here. Yeah so, my health remains questionable. I after all I have been through, I developed a 'silent' tooth infection. There was no pain because I had had...

The results of wearing the most un comfortable bra I own. July!  The month were the house starts to kill me in the manner of a slow cook oven. My space is constantly stuffy. Even with the windows open and the fans going. Heat rashes adorn my hand and feet like awful henna designs. It's been hard to sleep.  It's been hard to not get depressed. It's been hard to concentrate.  Fortunately, I won't be stuck in here for the whole  summer! At the end of this month there is a trip to Mexico City lined up. It's part work related, part mental health booster. Because I am losing my mind, thanks for asking.  I am happy to get out.  I would be thrilled to get out except there is as yet a pandemic drifting through the air.  Still drifting through the air.  Mutating as it goes. Sure, sure I got my vaccine, but there is a little fact that keeps slipping people's minds: VACCINES ARE NOT A CURE ALL. I can still get sick even if I have been vaccinated. My CHANC...

Ask me what I did in 2017.  I can tell you that I got a big raise. I can say I was on international TV. I  took trips to New Orleans and Montreal, Canada. I spent some time in L.A.  I performed on stages. I made stop motion videos shown in an art gallery...  I can also say that my body was artistic all on it's own. It   grew a tumor. This thing appeared overnight in February. It itched occasionally. It was something I could actually feel change inside my skin. For a little while I even thought it might be a parasite.  Since It was located on my chest I, naturally, went to have it checked out at a 'boob clinic.'  The woman who 'saw' me went on to make backhanded insinuations that I was overreacting. I guess, to her,  I was just behaving like so many hysterical women who come running into the clinic and waste time fussing with every little thing. Because they read too much on the Internet.  Yeah. This super...

A simple bus ride north of the capital city can be a dangerous thing in Mexico. Not because of bandits, but bad drivers. On the way to our destination, we witnessed a flipped car and a person pinned beneath it- perhaps dead. How did the car flip? We could barely guess. Probable death notwithstanding, we arrived at  Teotihuacan  without problem. It is still a working archeological dig site. Real Indiana Joneses in sombreros sift dirt under tarp shades as the tourists mill around trying to avoid the aggressive trinket sellers. The whole site echos with the sounds of the flute doodlings and jaguar calls to entice people to buy. Bright red summer tanagers eyed us like little guards on duty, and seemed to give us their leave to come and go. Ants, not aliens may have build everything. A puppy certainly rules the city now. No sprained foot, no burning sunshine was going to keep me from BEING there. The light is relentless even on a hazy day and I did not complain a...

{warming up before the race - tm} My first trip to De Jefe - Mexico City happened this month. It was a business trip for my Human's gallery Luis de Jesus and I was there as an eager and helpful gallery intern/volunteer. There were a couple of free days to explore but for the majority of the time we were are the Banamex Center for the Zona Maco art fair. That event was an experience unto itself! apart from the actual staying in Mexico City. Nubes as we all were, we discovered ( after  arriving there) that the center was, in part, a horse race track. Aaaaaand guess where I was on a Sunday afternoon! Fed up, at one point, with the endless flow of people gawking, giggling, and snubbing going on up stairs I went down and got a view of a short race- some quarter track action. With my camera it was impossible to take good shots.  Everything was happening on the far ends from where I was. As usual. Much of the Mexico City  crème de la ching  showed up. This art (a...