A Productive Day of Painting

Taken today, by my girl, who is an artist in her own right.



"After the Feast of the Castaways," almost finished.




"American Oasis," the billboard will have some wording, and I need to retouch the blue sky.

February

Yours Truly with Friends at the Local Dive Bar, the G and G Tavern, taken January 30 2008.

For me, the month of February represents endings and beginnings...the conclusion of a year of life (this year, the completion of an entire decade), the beginning of a new year, Valentine's Day, Aquarian magic, cold winter nights...cliche cliche cliche!

Today is Langston Hughes's birthday. Tomorrow is Ayn Rand and James Joyce. The day after that, Gertrude Stein.

On February 6 is Ronald Reagan, Babe Ruth and Axl Rose.

On February 9, William Henry Harrison.

On February 12, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.

On my birthday, Sir Thomas Moore, Charles Dickens, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Gay Talese, and Sinclair Lewis, authors, respectfully of "Utopia," "Great Expectations," "Little House on the Prairie," "Thy Neighbor's Wife," and "It Can't Happen Here."

Sadly, it can happen here.

Sketch on a Bar Napkin

In my organizational behavior class last week, I used the passengers and crew of the SS Minnow as an example of an organization for a group exercise.

Last night, while pondering what to paint for my new office cubicle, I came up with this.






















I only have two issues to resolve:

- should there by five plates or six, and

- should I make some sort of allusion to whom the missing person is, or just let the viewer imagine it?

The piece will be titled, "Feast of the Castaways."

One Long Year

So, it has been a year since my wife and I agreed that it was time to cut our losses and end the marriage.

One long year.

No papers signed yet, no agreements formally made, but a framework is developing, and a new relationship is emerging.

Yet today, I cannot feel anything but the remorse and the sense of failure at not being able to overcome the issues that split us up.

Last night, I recalled how drunk I got at the Ginger Man. I recall how ashen faced and dour I must have seemed walking in, asking for a beer and bourbon and my friend the bartender knowing...knowing that something was in fact wrong.

But my future ex-wife and I promised each other we would do things right...we have a daughter, after all, and her feelings are more important than our own, and I would not do what my parents did...I would not make her an emotional pawn in my own psychodrama.

Last Full Week in My Thirties

This is my last full week in my 30's...actually, starting Thursday.

Wow! A whole decade gone by.

Time to reflect; what have I accomplished in my 30's:

1. I got married to a beautiful, smart and talented woman. A love of my life. She will always be a love of my life.

2. I became the proud father of a beautiful, smart and talented daughter, now 6 years old. She is both her father and her mother's daughter, but most importantly, she is her own person.

3. I ran for office, got killed, but learned some things about myself...one, i don't necessarily like doing door-to-door canvassing; two, campaigning brings out a sexuality in me which is not always evident.

4. I met some really great women!

5. I got my Masters Degree. Public Administration. That's going to really help me in my next career as a teamster.

6. My marriage ended, and I realized that I really am not meant for monogamy.

7. I am a very different person was than when I started the decade.

Onward to 40...then onward to 50!

Obama Blows Clinton Out of the Water!

While I am not much interested in local politics anymore, presidential politics always intrigue me, and what happened last night - which no one expected - was the repudiation in the south of the type of racial politics that have tarnished this country for a long time. The coded language, the references to his middle name, no clear repudiation by the opposition of the e-mails linking Obama to Islam...all of it blown out of the water by the final numbers: 55 percent Obama, 27 percent Clinton.

I woke up, read these numbers on line and said, "wow." Now he has won handily in a mostly white state, and then in a state where more than half the Democratic primary voters are black, came in third, but nearly tied Mrs. Clinton for the white vote, only lost the white demographic on baby boomers and senior citizens. And he won the vote of those invested in religion in South Carolina.

I support Obama's nomination for the Democrats for the very reason I support McCain's for the Republicans: this is a man who can lift this country out of the gutter, who can run a good race against his Republican opponent, even when being challenged on the issues, and who seems, for all I can tell, to be the real thing.

So, good luck on February 5 to Obama, and good luck Tuesday to John McCain. With both of them as their parties nominees, perhaps this country's political process can be redeemed.

Correction: "Ford" in Hawaiian

On an earlier post, I mistakenly took information from a website that led me to believe that "Ford," was Poluku in Hawaiian.

Then someone corrected this by providing the definition of "Poluku," which has no ford in it.

From what I can see from another dictionary (the Andrews Dictionary online), Ford is "he wai papau."

So, I stand corrected, and in the interest of intellectual honesty, post that correction here.

Scenes from a Cocktail Party

Last night, I had a few folk over for some cocktails and conversation and to view my paintings. Above is a photo of yours truly and my uncle and godfather in front of my "drinking canvas," which I have up for those moments I might want to paint but have a buzz-on and don't want to mess up any "serious" work. Both of us figured it was appropriate to stand in front of this canvas, a painting of the Anchor Steam bottle.

The McLains - Scots to the core - are no lightweights.