MJS Creative Landing

11pm is when I went to bed. I woke up at 1am. This is common since I stopped taking a sleep aid. I get back to sleep and dream that a fat rat is running from my rear laundry area into my kitchen. I want to take a bow and arrow and pierce it in the gut. I don't have a bow and arrow, though. Of course dreams with fat rats are not common for me, so I am on the spiritual look out. Who wants to be bother with a rat. I know I don't. But in life there will be rats who enter. It is inconvenient. It is a headache. It is a pain in the rear. But it happens. At least I got a warning. Hopefully I am not back writing in a few days or a few weeks about the rat encounter in the physical realm. I am hopeful it was the turkey chili and cheese with corn chips I ate at 10:45pm that conjured this dream up.

Had to put on some Queen of Soul yesterday. I was eager to hear "I Say A Little Prayer." I have only this CD on the rack. I know I could just go to youtube and play whatever and whenever, but I wanted the CD. It is a pity I do not have the album. Hearing the clicks and cracks of the start of vinyl would been a triggering jolt of good dopamine. See, the only man that could ever reach me was a... "Son of a Preacher man!"  My cousin in Virginia just finished her comedy school. She performed in front of 150 people. She looked like she was having fun. I went on my sister's facebook account to see a photo posted of her on stage just smiling and playing to the audience. I am thrilled for her. Regarding her future, "I Say A Little Prayer." I hope this is the last day of painting. It is for me anyway. It has been nice helping out my dad. I even got to see my brother yesterday while on the work site. He was on his way to strip a car down at the local pick and pu...

I never considered myself a "list" person. However, as I look over my life and even around my house today, I have lists everywhere. I write things down because I do not want to forget stuff. I write things down because my memory is not as great as it use to be. I write things down because I want things done. Rearranging the living room is today's task. It's on the list. Culling though the paperwork that is scattered in two rooms is today's task. Getting to those tiles on hands and knees is today's task. Going to the credit union for my sister to make a deposit is today's task. Making a duplicate key for the mail box is today's task. These are on the list. Praying without ceasing is today's task. Looking for the surprises that the Lord has in store for me is today's task. Being kind and sharing smiles is today's task. Picking up items from around town is today's task. Receiving good energy and great vibes is the task for the day. Giving ...

Daily Commitments are easy and hard. They are easy in that what is asked is not typically difficult to accomplish. If you just show up to the day and the task, it is most likely that something will come of it. It is hard because there is something within mankind that is hell bent on rebellion.  Rebellion is: T he action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention. Resisting is: T rying   to prevent by action or argument. Process is: A  series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. But what exactly, or better yet who exactly, are these authorities? What is this control? Where are these conventions and who is hosting them? Is resistance futile? Is resistance fertile? Why is resistance not obsolete? Can we understand that resistance cuts both ways? Resistance is as necessary as our inhale is to our exhale... How do we get to the point where we are the  surreptitious  orchestrators  of our own killing, stealing and destroy...

Fear Shame and Anger. These are the three types or classes that make up the Enneagram. 8, 9, and 1 land in Anger. 2, 3, and 4 are Shame. This leaves 5, 6, and 7 being Fear. 2, 3, and 4 types operate through heart and self image. 5, 6, and 7 types operate through their head. 8, 9, and 1, types are Body and Gut oriented. There is not a doubt in my mind that I am 8 with dashes of 9 or what they call wing 9. Also, I am a lot of 5 because I am rationale, logical, detailed and information oriented. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, my earliest memories are cemented in my head. I can remember the first time when the outside world of peoplehood and authority intruded on me. And what was my God given natural response? It was ANGER. I am surprised that my bottom lip doesn't hang 4 inches off my face because of the anger I had raging in me. Squinty eyed, Poked out lip, folded arms or clinched fist, muttering under my breath, huff and puffing and dug in heels were my mode of operandi...

  All during my sleep these 8 hours passed I could think of nothing but Vegetable Ice Cream. Don't ask me why. It just was recurring. I dreamed that I was in this shop that was off the side of the road. It was a shop attached to another shop. They were both old school made of wood. They looked like rehabbed shacks. I grabbed a giant frozen kale leaf with blue kale green kale hints. I was munching on it and looking around. I asked the young black man sitting behind a counter how much was the kale I had? He said 60.00. I didn't spit the kale out in shock to that ridiculous price. Though, I wanted to, I just kept crunching on it. There where containers of other frozen sheets of all sorts of vegetables. The people I went in with were friends of mine and my sister. They lived in Houston. It was Tim, Jackie (they are married), me and my sister. We are all looking around. Then it hit me! Where is the vegetable ice cream. Since this store was full of sheet slices of vegetables in conta...

Finding new gadgets to use for weary backs is a joy. I picked this shoehorn up from IKEA a few years back. Just recently I have began to use it when I put on my running or yard work shoes. It is one of the best things since sliced bread. My foot glides down the tool and floats into my shoe. When the job is accomplished, I always have a sense of joy. It is often the little things. Don't overlook the little things.

July 5, 2019 was the last day I held a full-time job. It came with a bi-weekly paycheck. It was a 30k a year job. It had awful managers' of people. It had shady business practices. It served seniors with too much money, too much vanity and not enough sense. You know when you are in a place where everyone is too smart for their own good. This place is hell for a progressive, moral compassed, soul seeking person to serve and who is unashamed of justice and calm. So in 5 more months it will have been 2 years of basically very little employment income. How have I done it? Well, I drove Uber for a few months in 2019. I fled to Virginia and ended up there during the onset of the pandemic. My cousin generously gave me a few thousand dollars. I withdrew 7,000.00 from Edward Jones Retirement in January 2020 before Covid-19 hit. I did three weeks of part-time temp work for a preschool in Virginia Beach, March 2020. I got back to Texas late April 2020 and applied for unemployment. Thankfully ...

It is a rare sight to see this much ice and snow in Central Texas. Soon it will be near 4 degrees with a high in the upper teens. This is the sort of weather I saw in the midwest while living in Iowa. That was some 30 years ago. Time sure does fly. It will be 16 years come April that I have been back in Texas. Moved back here from Brea, California. I miss California. I miss the fruit trees. I miss the pedestrians. I miss the sunshine everyday with the exception of the few rainy days. The folks there would think it was a downpour. But knowing better I called it what it was mist or sprinkles or drizzle. Those Californians were funny. Texas folks are not funny to me,- at least not Central Texas folks. I pity them really. I pity myself for being around them so long. What the hell happened to my free will.