mushy ground

"with feelings so strong, how can it be safe? "

Waking Life.

On being a dreamer :

Hey.
Hey.
You a dreamer?
Yeah.
Haven’t seen too many around lately. Things have been tough lately for dreamers. They say dreaming’s dead, that no one does it anymore. It’s not dead, it’s just been forgotten. Removed from our language. No one teaches it so no one knows it exists. The dreamer is banished to obscurity. Well I’m trying to change all that, and I hope you are too. By dreaming every day. Dreaming with our hands and dreaming with our minds. Our planet is facing the greatest problems it’s ever faced. Ever. So whatever you do, don’t be bored. This is absolutely the most exciting time we could have possibly hoped to be alive. And things are just starting.

On Time & The Paradox of Aging :
Time just dissolves into quick-moving particles that are swirling away. Either I’m moving fast or time is. Never both simultaneously.It’s such a strange paradox. I mean, while, technically, I’m closer to the end of my life than I’ve ever been, I actually feel more than ever that I have all the time in the world. When I was younger, there was a desperation, a desire for certainty, like there was an end to the path, and I had to get there.I know what you mean, because I can remember thinking, "Oh, someday, like in my mid-thirties maybe, everything’s going to just somehow gel and settle, just end." It was like there was this plateau, and it was waiting for me, and I was climbing up it, and when I got to the top, all growth and change would stop. Even exhilaration. But that hasn’t happened like that, thank goodness. I think that what we don’t take into account when we’re young is our endless curiosity. That’s what’s so great about being human.

On Individualism :
I feel like my transport should be an extension of my personality. Voila. And this? This is like my little window to the world, and every minute it’s a different show. Now, I may not understand it. I may not even necessarily agree with it. But I’ll tell you what, I accept it and just sort of glide along. You want to keep things on an even keel I guess is what I’m saying. You want to go with the flow. The sea refuses no river. The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving. Saves on introductions and good-byes. The ride does not require an explanation. Just occupants. That’s where you guys come in. It’s like you come onto this planet with a crayon box. Now, you may get the 8-pack, you may get the 16-pack. But it’s all in what you do with the crayons, the colors that you’re given. And don’t worry about drawing within the lines or coloring outside the lines. I say color outside the lines. You know what I mean? Color right off the page. Don’t box me in. We’re in motion to the ocean. We are not landlocked, I’ll tell ya that. So where do you want out?


Co-authors of Life

"On this bridge," Lorca warns, "life is not a dream. Beware. And beware. And beware." And so many think because Then happened, Now isn’t. But didn’t I mention the ongoing "wow" is happening right now? We are all co-authors of this dancing exuberance where even our inabilities are having a roast. We are the authors of ourselves, co-authoring a gigantic Dostoevsky novel, starring clowns. This entire thing we’re involved with called the world, is an opportunity to exhibit how exciting alienation can be. Life is a matter of a miracle that is collected over time by moments, flabbergasted to be in each other’s presence. The world is an exam to see if we can rise into direct experience. Our eyesight is here as a test to see if we can see beyond it. Matter is here as a test for our curiosity. Doubt is here as an exam for our vitality. Thomas Mann wrote that he would rather participate in life than write 100 stories. Giacometti was once run down by a car, and he recalled falling into a lucid faint, a sudden exhilaration, as he realized that at last something was happening to him. An assumption develops that you cannot understand life and live life simultaneously. I do not agree entirely. Which is to say I do not exactly disagree. I would say that life understood is life lived. But the paradoxes bug me, and I can learn to love and make love to the paradoxes that bug me. And on really romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion.


I don't want to be an ant

- Excuse me. - Excuse me. Hey. Could we do that again? I know we haven't met, but I don't want to be an ant. You know? I mean, it's like we go through life... with our antennas bouncing off one other, continuously on ant autopilot, with nothing really human required of us. Stop. Go. Walk here. Drive there. All action basically for survival. All communication simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along... in an efficient, polite manner. " Here's your change." " Paper or plastic?" "Credit or debit?" "You want ketchup with that?" I don't want a straw. I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don't want to give that up. I don't want to be an ant, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I know. I don't want to be an ant, either. Yeah, thanks for kind of, like, jostling me there. I've been kind of on zombie autopilot lately. I don't feel like an ant in my head, but I guess I probably look like one. It's kind of like D.H. Lawrence had this idea of two people meeting on a road... And instead of just passing and glancing away, they decided to accept what he calls "the confrontation between their souls." It's like, um-- like freeing the brave reckless gods within us all. Then it's like we have met.

On writing..

If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing.
~ Kingsley Amis

One of the most feared expressions in modern times is "The computer is down."
~ Norman Augustine

All words are pegs to hang ideas on.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.
~ Robert Benchley

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.
~ Robert Cromier

I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.
~ Peter De Vries

Writing is turning one's worst moments into money.

~ J. P. Donleavy

Yes, I suppose some editors are failed writers - but so are most writers.
~ T.S. Eliot

Why do people always expect authors to answer questions? I am an author because I want to ASK questions. If I had answers I'd be a politician.- Eugene Ionesco

The artist, like the God of creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.
~ James Joyce

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” - John Jakes

“Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...” - Lawrence Clark Powell

“I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.” - Oscar Wilde

"Write without pay until somebody offers to pay"-mark twain-

" If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." -Isaac Asimov

"Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs." - Jack Lynch