da blogs da thang

of what it’s all about. Yeah, it’s a day early… just to make up for missing last week.

… that I can actually do something about.

I got one this morning in fact. Fingers B needed some software help. I checked and had exactly what he needed. Within half an hour the challenge ceased to be an issue.

It does make me feel good… and useful in circumstances such as these. So, short as it is… that is what I’m counting this week.

A strange and quirky count? Perhaps.

Over the last few weeks during the “Great Purge of 2010″ I came across it again. All dusty and the hook that attached the legs to the rest of it had snapped off. I seriously considered putting it up for grabs during several of the yard sales that the lovely Joy and I had organized. Or even tossing it. ::gasp:: But I relented and decided to keep it. Something in the back of my mind told me to hold on to it. (Go ahead… click play on the video.)

So for the past few weeks it has been sitting in my room… just laying there in it’s battered state. Well, last week I finally decided to get some superglue to put it back together. It also struck me that the actual clock stopped working many years ago. I figured I’d start with the contact points… and move on from there. That indeed was the cause. Once cleaned off from the rust, I popped in a battery and it worked!

I hung it up and once again derived delight that as the second clicked away his legs swung from side to side simulating the iconic hip swivel. (Tis true… I am easily amused.) But there was more to this.

You see, it struck me this silly little clock was present during the periods when I was most prolific as a playwright. (My most prolific year was when I cranked out 9 plays in one year.) I am not prone to overt sentimentality but I do subscribe to the notion that objects absorb energy from our actions. Let me put it this way… just in the time it has been sitting in my room… I now have about 5 projects waiting to be created. My challenge now is to figure out the order with which to crank them out.

Am I saying my Elvis clock holds some kind of mystical power? I will choose to say nothing… lest a band of crazed writers suffering from writers block decide to nick it.

But, this week I am counting being reunited with a touchstone from a period when my creative output was at an optimum… and one that puts a silly grin on my face whenever I look at it.

To find out more about Da Count… click the flashing sign above.

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This video for instance. Perhaps because I know Baba who has performed at the Rogue on several occasions and am glad that he is getting this level of national media exposure. Perhaps the show that the song is from received its North American Premier at the Rogue in 2009. It’s all good. Enjoy.

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Part and parcel of living “in the present” (at least for me) is keeping connected with the past. Especially with those things that were once sources of delight. Mine are mainly food based. LOL. As such, I cook (dishes I love) not to remind me of what was but more as a continuum. This hardly detracts me from experiencing the new… in fact, it only enhances it.

It has everything to do with the culture we grew up with. No matter where you come from our culture-centric upbringing does shape and provide us with our unique make up. Values, taste and perception are shaped in our formative years only to be expanded upon as we saunter on this path of life.

Last Summer I came across coconut juice in a can from the local 99 cent store (incidentally one of my favorite places to shop) that I decided to take a chance on. Over the years I have come across coconut juice at various Asian stores. Some were better than others but the price was always a factor. This particular find was actually good and priced right.

Let me say there is still nothing that compares to drinking it fresh out of the nut on a hot day. Still this is the next best thing. Yes, when I drink it, I do recall sitting on a beach in Malaysia under the shade of a tree soaking in the delight of just being there. But I also fully take in the delight of soaking in my present… and the fact that I can enjoy the moments that I am currently living.

Sometimes those things that trigger what was, is essential to appreciating how far we have come. So, in a funny way having this little treat now is not so much about reminiscing about what was, but celebrating the availability of a delight I was introduced to at a young age… now. And now is where it is at. Part of that delight is introducing something as simple as a taste that may be foreign to some of my friends and watching their delight of the first time… and in so creating new moments in the present.

So, this is my count this week. Enjoying what is from a familiar past and savoring the present. Now to head to the store and restock on more cans.

Cheers and have a wonderful weekend.

Over the last few months it has been the gentle nudge of friends that have helped me in so many ways with my current bounce back. (Though I so much prefer thinking of it as a bounce forward.) This involves many aspects of life… not the least of which is steering me back to doing what I do… and love. The post below is but one illustration. So, this week I’m counting all those who have nudged lovingly. I know I can be a stubborn bastard at times but please know that I appreciate the effort. And sometimes it does work.

Yeah, I did.

Yesterday… from the neighbor’s vege plot. Fingers B and I snuck in the back gate and helped ourselves. With the glee of naughtiness we pulled out what we needed then snuck out with a glint of satisfaction in our eyes.. He was worried that some witch would come and put a curse on us. This was our bounty.

OK… before you go running to the cops to report our vegetable rustling escapade… my neighbor actually offered these to me several weeks ago. (Sort of takes the fun out of rustling, doesn’t it?) It was a Winter crop that he had tried out and wasn’t going to use. So now I am the beneficiary of this largess. Mind you there is more to be had. After our rustling, this is what was left.

This is my count this week… neighbors who share their bounty with me and friends who I can rustle with.

Cheers!

Over the years I have learned to pay careful attention to how a car drives. Does it drive sluggish? What is that sound? Well both those things occurred over the last few weeks with the Blue Devil.

Mako, upon hearing about this offered to help. After getting the symptoms from me and making a diagnostic of his own has spent the last 2 weekends over here in an attempt to fix it.

This week as I drive around we’ll be able to tell if the fixes took. So I’m counting friends who offer and who take the time to keep me running… in more ways than one.