300th Post

I know, I can’t believe it either.  I’ve cranked out 300 posts since starting this Blog in November 2010.  How the time flies.  Seems like it was just two hundred ninety nine posts ago that I slapped my first drawing on the Internet, and wrote a bunch of rambling nonsense with no socially redeeming value whatsoever.  There’s nothing better than a little short term memory loss to keep things fresh and ever new (and improving).

Some may be asking, “Wow Hansi, how’d ya do it?”  Well, there’s nothing like obsessive/compulsive behavior, to make one stick with something that is well past it’s prime, and has more than run it’s course.  And…you can’t forget the importance of being properly medicated!  Like I told my bi-polar (manic-depressive) clients when I had a “mental health” caseload in Probation-land, “You’re only as good as your medication.”  So, when they thought everything was just fine (due to being properly medicated) and concluded, “I don’t need my meds no more”, and concurrently decided, “Hey, I’m gonna have a snort of methamphetamine again, but just this once.”  Is it any wonder that everything henceforth went right down the tubes and turned to shit?  It was then, that I told them (while being handcuffed), “You’re using the wrong medication!”

Well that was a long time ago, when I was a warrior on the front-lines of the War on Drugs.  I wonder when that war will end?  I surrendered a long time ago.  Looks like drugs are winning hands down.

I sure hope you’re enjoying blogging as much as I am.  For me, it’s the perfect vehicle for some obsessive/compulsive behavior.  Thanks for stopping by for a hallucination.  I’ve got to go now,  get properly medicated and get to work on my 301st post.

LOVE

I don’t know why I’m writing about Love.  Perhaps it’s because I’m listening  to Love: a 60’s psychedelic folk-rock band from L A.  I don’t wanna write anything real sappy about “Love”, nor get real nostalgic for a 60’s trip.  Although, come to think of it,  this planet would be a  lot better place to live on if there was a ‘whole lotta love’ going on.  A little more outward concern for the well-being of others, a spirit of giving instead of getting.  Jesus, that would sure be a change from what’s going on today.

There’s sure a lot of angry people in the world. From burning down Embassy’s, to folks hanging (lynching) empty chairs in their front yards, seems like people are just pissed off.  [I didn’t get the empty chair thing, cause I didn’t watch the Republican National Convention or see Clint Eastwood rant against an empty chair.  But I understand, The Wife curses at me  when I leave the toilet seat up.]  Guess there’s a lot of dumb fuckers out there too.

I’m not a big Christian (but once was), but if people were to  try and follow some of the simple precepts of Jesus and the Buddha, damn, life would be a lot more pleasant.  I’m finding that if I practice a little more compassion and tolerance (the Buddha), and a whole lot more love (Jesus and Led Zeppelin), life goes oh so much more smoothly for me.

This whole upcoming presidential election is making me sick.  Everyone wants it their way, and their way only, and to hell with the other guy.  The negative ad slime-fest has yet to begin in earnest.  But it’s coming, along with a big dose of paranoia and fear tactics.  Guess you can tell that I lean more to the Communist Pinko Socialist Bleeding Heart Liberal side of the equation than to anything on the Right.  Funny thing is: while I’m  fairly liberal socially (legalize everything), financially, I’m very conservative (money don’t grow on trees).

Pretty trippy, don’t cha think?.  Maybe a little more balance in the world would work wonders?

Dancing With The Stars

Oh boy!   My favorite TV show has just started it’s new season:  Dancing With The Stars.  A real thriller for those of us in the Social Security scene.  And this season, it’s an “All-Star” cast of Stars (no comets or meteors).  Bristol Palin is back, (hey what else can she do?), along with Kristie Alley in her new fine body (unless she’s gotten fat again).   Don’t get much better than that.

Rant:  There’s so many goddamned reality competition shows on TV, these days, that it seems like all we do all day is lay around and watch people compete against each other in cooking, dancing, singing, fashion designing and everything else.  And they’re all based upon the same premise!  One winner and a handful of losers competing for the big prize; just like in real life.  Sad.

But somehow Dancing With The Stars is a little different.  Sure there’s gonna be winners and losers, but all the “Stars”, most of whom I’ve either never heard of, or are totally washed-up has-bins, do improve, and somehow have to overcome personal handicaps.  Two left feet being the most common ailment.

Any-who, I just can’t wait till everybody starts Jitterbugging and doing that dirty Paso Doble.  I’ve included some of the dance steps I’m looking forward to seeing this season.

It’s Starting

Yep…The kitchen remodel is under full swing.  What was once our kitchen, is but a shell of it’s former self.  Construction started the 17th. What a total blow mind.  This is what our 1955 galley kitchen looked like.  Metal cabinets, red Formica counter-tops and all:

Now this is what it looked like after the first day of “demo”.  I think they ‘demoed’  it pretty good.

You might be thinkin’: “Hey, I thought this was already done with all the talkin’ about it you’ve been doing.  Well, yes.  But Hell No.  That was all the preparation, the deciding, the choosing, the making of plans…the paying of money part.  That was just the start.  Now we’re getting down to business; some serious business.

Lot of stress with a major construction project happening, right in your own house.  At one point, I thought  instead of ending up with a new kitchen, The Wife and I’d end up in Divorce Court.  But not so.  Actually it’s been a real growth experience, and we’ve actually grown closer, with all the mutual decisions we’ve made and un-made.  Kinda like our decision to start a family, except the only prep-work there, was getting naked.  Of course, The Wife has final say .  Wouldn’t want it any other way.  I don’t wanna spend my golden years being the cheap A-hole who didn’t wanna pop an extra $100 to a heating vent moved over a foot so it would look nicer.  No Sir, I’ve been on the ‘Shit List’ too many times to make that mistake again.

We’ve endured the fist week, and survived.  Maybe even thrived (surviving thrice?).  But I’ll tell ya, there’s nothing better than mellowing-out in the garden with a nice glass of wine when the day is over.

Driving Under The Influence

Well I’ll be dipped in shit.  There are certain themes that run through my drawings.  I wonder if working part-time in Probation-land on a drunk driving caseload is having any impact on me.  Probably not.  Cause the folks driving in these drawings, while they may be under the influence of something, sure as hell ain’t drunk.

These guys look more like they are having a visionary experience with a Super Hero.  And are probably under the influence of  Truth, Justice, and the American way.  Thing is ( and this is the retired probation officer in me comin’ out), T J & A is a pretty potent drug these days, and ya gotta be real careful how ya use it.  Some folks get a bad batch (probably mixed up in some trailer-park bathtub) and they go nuts and only watch Fox News.  They think the bunk T J & A they’re imbibing is the real deal, instead of some bogus shit that just bums ya out.

Oh well, we’ll find out which batch the public likes come November.  I personally like the home grown stuff, more than what Corporate America is trying to sell me.

Sitting at Desks

Going through my Archives looking for random drawings to post, I came across these gems, and started thinking, “You know, certain themes seem to run through my work.”   And one of those less obvious themes is sitting at desks.  Maybe cause that’s what I do a lot of the time.

When I blog, I sit at a desk. When I go to the House of Pain, where I work part-time; I sit at a desk.  So on a day when I both blog, and go to work for four grueling hours, I’m sitting at a desk for up to six hours in a single day.  That’s almost as much time as I spend sleeping (not counting naps).

The problem with sitting at desks, is that usually, nothing of any importance or substance gets accomplished.  Everybody knows blogging is a total waste of time, and when I work at the House of Pain, I’m not really accomplishing anything, just pushing papers from one place to another, in an endless flow that never stops.  Good thing work is rather a mindless endeavor that requires little emotional involvement on my part.  Frees me up for blogging.

Eygptians

Okay…here’s some more carefully selected random drawings from my Archives.  A little over two years ago, I was trying to improve my drawing skills by copying photos taken from the Cairo Museum.  The cool thing about drawing from photos is: they don’t move.  And when those photos are of statues, well, it don’t get much better that that.

I started thinking though; boy, were those Egyptians fairly progressive in their views.  Not only did they enjoy wearing funny hats, but the guy in my drawing sure didn’t mind his wife posing topless for their portrait (even though he didn’t want her nipples to show).  And when ya consider that they had no I-Phones in them days, posing took a long time, especially if you was gonna be carved in stone.  Either that, or it’s really hot in Egypt and ya don’t wanna be wearing a lot of clothes, let alone braziers brassieres, when it’s over 1oo degrees. in the shade.

Stranger yet, they really loved their pets; and not only were they mummified, but also sculpted onto their portraits.  Sometimes they even wore big bird masks over their heads.  This guy Chephren (kinda sounds like something you’d take for a cold) had his favorite bird Horus (a male bird) pictured with him.  Probably had a lot of bird poop running down his back.  Birds are really foul animals.  All they do is eat and shit all over the place.  But maybe Egyptian birds were trained not to  poop on their masters backs.

All I know is I’m sure glad I’m a drawer, and not a sculptor in Ancient Egypt.  If I  were to ask ol’ Cephren how much of him he wanted to be portrayed.  And he replied, “Just my upper body, but don’t leave out my cock.”  His statue sure would a looked a lot different.

Back To Blue

Some fast sketches in an attempt to loosen-up a bit, and crash head first back into drawing.   See…It’s been a while.  And I find at times when ‘it’s been a while’, I kinda get used to not having any on a regular basis.  And when it’s not on a regular basis, well, I find I can live without it just fine.

That may sound a lot like bouncing back and forth between two extremes, but I think that when it comes to ‘it being a while’, there’s no middle ground.  Being in the center of something just doesn’t cut it for me.  Too much like intermittent reinforcement, and that’s what makes people go nuts.  The problem is, if there’s only an occaisional sporadic pay-off, ya never know which behavior is workin’ for ya.  So you’re not sure if you should pursue a certain course of action or not.  I guess I’m the kinda guy that functions best if food pellets are dropped down on me every-time I do something right.  Not just occasionally.

So, not having done Blue in a while, or at least not on a regular basis, I’m thinking, maybe it wasn’t so good after all.  Maybe this post should have been titled, “Through With Blue”.  I can live without it.  But once in a while is still nice 🙂

Back To Color

I started this first one as one of my blue ink drawings [as opposed to one of my black ink drawings].    But soon got tired of it.  Guess the novelty wore off.  So, having had a brief fling with Blue, I thought I’d go back to what’s familiar;  aka: the same old stuff.  The thing about the ‘same old stuff’ is, if ya haven’t had any in a while,  then it’s no longer the same old stuff,  but something new.  So the recent infatuation with  new stuff, has magically turned into the same old stuff, while the older same old stuff  has mysteriously (with the help of little short term memory loss) turned into the new  stuff.   Funny how that happens.

Wow, this is starting to sound more like a tryst, than a fling.  Guess that’s what happens when ya love who what you are doing.  However, since we’re not really talking about extra-marital affairs, but drawing, I thought I’d take this opportunity to blur the line between the two, and write about my affair with drawing.

I love the term “extra marital affair”.  It”s kind of a dry, clinical description of some thing hot, indicating that if you’re having an affair, well one might not be quite enough, and you may need an extra one.   Now that’s considerate, sorta like helping someone out in a time of need.  But it’s not for me!  No Sir!  The Wife and I are going through a “marital affair’ re-modeling our kitchen. And right now, the last thing old Hansi’s ass needs is an extra “affair” going on, and having two women jumping in my shit all day long.

So, getting back to my affair with art.  Drawing is my special time when I get to check-out for a while, go into my own little world (actually the right side of my brain) and just hang out with whatever comes up.  If drawing  was really an affair for me, I’d be doing it in the nude.  Sadly though, it’s more like the guy in the first picture, standing around in his underwear holding up a huge pair of monogrammed, polka-dot underpants.  Maybe that’s why I like drawing so much, it’s all pretend.

I wonder how the guy in my picture will ever figure out how to get them ‘drawers’ on.  Yellow in front,  brown in the rear  always works for me.  🙂

Dis-jointed

Dis-jointed?  Who me?  Not really.  Actually things are going quite well.  Got a major home improvement project going on, and it’s coming together.  If you were looking for a “Watch someone self-destruct in front of you” blog, well you’re in the wrong place.

There is nothing better than having a feeling of well-being. [Euphoria is better, but rarely attained].  The sense that all is good; all is Okay. [I’m Okay, You’re Okay.  Didn’t ya just love all the Pop Psychology that came out in the 70’s and 80’s?  If I was to write one, I’d call it “I’m Okay, but She’s from Venus”].  Thing is, there’s sure a lot of shit going on to hinder such pleasant mind-states:  the news, politics, the economy.  People going berserk all around us, shooting everyone in sight.  Damn, that’s happening almost everyday now.

Wouldn’t it be nice if nobody had any guns?  D R E A M I N G.  Can’t have that; might infringe upon someones right to be armed to the teeth.  Anyway, that would require trust in our Institutions and our fellow citizens.  But ya can’t do that cause everybody knows there’s two types of citizens: liberals and conservatives, with each group having it’s own secret agenda they want to foist upon the other.

Then there’s the Haves and Have-Nots.  The Have-Nots have grown in number, but the Haves still wanna stay in control.  They are the only ones who can fix the economy they ruined.  But I think they just wanna stay Haves and not Nots.  Maybe the “Trickle-down Economy” is really about the fear of  Having less and trickling down to Having naught.

When I don’t think about all that stuff, everything seems good.  Dis-jointed, I don’t know.  Hope you’re enduring enjoying all this madness.

Working In Blue

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Blue Ink

I usually don’t do ink drawings in blue, because ink is supposed to be black.  Not blue!  But being a bit of an anarchist, and having had tendencies towards delinquency as a youth, I decided, “What the heck”, I’m gonna draw something new.  Not that drawing in blue ink has never been done before; probably has, but not by me.  So I grabbed a blue pen and Voila.

Going for blue wasn’t really a deliberate choice with which to break new ground.  Basically, it was the only pen handy, while listening to a lengthy blues guitar solo that I didn’t want to miss.  Frankly, I didn’t want to get off my ass, and out of my recliner to fetch a black pen like I usually do; except while in the mist of a guitar laden blues song.  See, here’s a little secret: the key to all my success (don’t laugh) is getting comfy (sounds girlie) in my Lazy Boy (that’s me) recliner.  Putting on my 30 year old Radio Shack earphones (none of this ear-bud crap) and listening to some sleazy, greasy low down dirty blues.

The rest comes easy.  Oh yeah.  Being properly medicated sure helps a lot too.  Cause from my experience in working with the mentally ill, I know that everybody functions at the best when properly medicated.

Anyway, that’s how I do it.  Pretty simple and straight forward.  Kinda like the Missionary Position of blogging.  Although sometimes I do like it when the keyboard’s on top.

How do you do it?