This is the way for me to live. If every day could be like this one, I’d move through life so smoothly that I’d never leave a wake.
When I woke up, it was almost dark! What on earth could be the matter? And then I groggily perceived that it was raining, which it almost never does, much less in a steady downpour over several hours. I got up and couldn’t see any mountains. The outside temperature was maybe 50°. Well, I’ll be… If Nature was going to break the rules, so would I. Besides, there’s just something about the sound of rain through an open screen door that naturally leads to weirdness in the terrible high desert.
The first thing I did was take care of a few items of work for a client. The next thing I did was get into all kinds of trouble on Twitter and Facebook with my “loudmouthed idiot” persona. What some must think of me, I can hardly imagine. The good part is that today, I just didn’t care, which saved a lot of energy I might have wasted on apologies. After staying up past 4:00 a.m. last night, I needed all the help I could get.
After lunch, I started the weekend early. With no one around, I had a couple of drinks and cranked up the Twin Reverb [above]. In doing so, I made a wonderful discovery: the hours of practicing I’d put in practicing for the surf band gigs had built up the muscles in my left hand and arm to where I could play my own stuff (improvised high-distortion repetitive riffs) much better than I ever have before. In fact, I was really good. There wasn’t the usual self-critical inner dialogue, I just played for myself. I also haven’t tried to play like that on my Gibson ES-335 12-string for more than 10 years, at least. Acoustic, sure, but that demands a different style.
All this happened while the rain eventually stopped and let the sun come out. Suddenly you could see the mountains again, and the temperature gradually rose up into the 60s. I had to sit outside for a while, because the air was totally intoxicating: cool, breezy, and heavily perfumed with the smell of wet sagebrush and juniper. I saw a dragonfly, hummingbirds, swallows, a Stellar’s jay, a woodpecker, bluebirds, grosbeaks, ravens, magpies, and doves.
My wife and I ate dinner outside with our plates in our laps the way we almost always do, unless it’s too cold or windy. (The light, the air…)
That we can do these things puts the lie to so much bullshit. What a terrible life. After a nap, we did something else that was better than it’s ever been. Afrerwards, my wife turned in early, and I pigged out on leftover birthday cake. No, not even someone going all Buddhist commando on my ass would bug me now.
I’ve been up for 21 of the last 24 hours, though. [thud!] See you in the morning!
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