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nature unplugged

Finished up a big job. It feels so good. A day off… body is spent, mind is vacant, the best recipe for a good night's sleep. A long overdue alternative to my late-to-bed-early-to-rise modus operandi.

(photos by Ernie)

My lottery ticket

So close...

Sunday morning

I was going to go see The Nutcracker with a friend this morning but the opportunity un-manifested itself so I decided to come online and wish everyone an early Merry Christmas instead. 

Merry Christmas.

Hope all is well --

Agnes

 

Deadline

This last minute job kept me house bound all weekend. The strange image on my screen is an unfolded paper box, part of a cosmetic packaging design I was recently hired to create. Pretty exciting stuff if you ask me!

It's just a rough draft at this stage, needs a lot more work...    ... I see an all-nighter in my immediate future! 

Until next time.

Agnes

 

Words are flying out like endless rain into a paper cup

It's been raining here endlessly indeed, with little breaks in between, sometimes long enough to get in my car fairly dry, only getting wet from the knees on down from walking through several inches of rain puddles. 

In a way it reminds me of the little town I once lived in, in Hungary, back in my teens, by the river, my friends and I killing our hours sitting on the river rocks, shoes off, with our legs knee deep in the river. If there was anyone around who played the guitar we'd sing, sometimes we had beer, other times we just sat there without doing anything in particular. Sometimes we would talk about our crushes or movies we wanted to make and books we were going to write. It could seem like times were simpler back then but those days were everything but simple, heart aches were heart aches and happiness was happiness -- and I couldn't wait to get out of that small town and travel the world. 

{TITLE CREDIT THE BEATLES ACROSS THE UNIVERSE}

Give me your heart make it real or else forget about it

 

Back in my wild teens I briefly dated this guy who was a musician. He played the guitar, was a singer and he also did some acting. He was good looking and confident, yet I found nothing whatsoever attractive about his personality and never in a million years did I think I'd go out with him. But then I heard him play and I heard him sing. I felt connected and drawn to him right away. Needless to say it didn't work out, but I will say that every time I saw him perform I knew exactly why I was with him and why I was keeping up with his otherwise unbearable personality. Like many artists, he was awkward in real life but his work and talent just swept you off your feet and he connected to you and comforted you through his music. Also, through his music, he could tell you what he was unable to tell you otherwise.

I sometimes wonder if there are people around me, who indistinctly blend into the crowd to the point of complete invisibility -- people whose lives seem so boring to me, and people with whom I'd have nothing to talk about. I wonder, if they are great writers, writing the most magnetic blogs, or stay up all night to play the piano when no one's listening or take the most spellbinding photographs of the same stuff you and I look at every day but never notice.  

TITLE CREDIT: MATCHBOX 20 & SANTANA: SMOOTH

Karma Or Something Like It

(Last minute changes, we're not leaving for Atlanta till next week.)

I want to tell you about this girl back in elementary school named Betty who was a total outcast.

All my friends were scared of her, because not only did Betty have dark skin, she also had not one but two lazy eyes and rumor had it that her father was a hard core criminal.

I am not gonna lie to you, I was as scared of Betty as the next person. Rumors surfaced that Betty's family had a pig chained to their living room floor, bats hanging from the ceiling and that her father would drink bat blood every night. Rumor also had it that Betty was bathed in the pig's blood every Friday. I am telling you, never underestimate the creative imagination of a group of 8-year olds.

Betty's life in school wasn't fun. No one ever played with her, no one ever sat next to her in class and she sat alone at lunch too.

On this one day, it was an ordinary day, Betty passed me in the corridor at break time and I swear I have no idea where the voice in my throat came from, I said "Hey Betty, wanna play?". 

I couldn't believe I had just asked her if she wanted to play. I had not premeditated it, I did not want to play with her and I wasn't an unselfish kid by any stretch of the imagination.

Long story short, I did play with her, and though we didn't have much to talk about, I kind of enjoyed not being afraid of her and I enjoyed the feeling of having taken matters into my own hands and having come outside my safety zone.

I never played with her after that because she was kicked out of school for stealing a headset from the language lab.

I had long forgotten all about Betty when the following happened and if you choose not to believe that it happened I will understand your decision. But it did happen.

It happened a few years later that I decided to wander into an abandoned construction site for some peace and quiet. Not something I'd ever done before. Within minutes, out of the blue I found myself surrounded by 10-12 gang-looking kids, menace written all over their faces as they were staring at me flipping their pocket knives open.

Ironically, it wasn't my life flashing in front of my eyes that troubled me the most, it wasn't my heart pounding in my throat, it was that I couldn't figure out if they were planning on raping me, killing me or just hurting me. At that moment, staring at me in utter disbelief, Betty with her two lazy eyes stepped forth, and without ever taking her attention off of me she put her right hand up in the air and said to the gang in a voice of command: "Wait. I know her. Let her go."

I heard nothing of Betty after that which is probably for the best as I am not sure how many "get out of jail free" cards I earned for playing with her just the one time. She is probably in jail or a drug smuggler covered in gang tattoos or a terrorist or a happy housewife killing her hours on Facebook -- I just don't know.

Thanks for reading.

Bye for now;

Agnes