--I'M A LOT LIKE YOU


…There are just about 9,000 homeless people in Seattle. The city has just 2,500 shelter beds. That means, each night, 6,500 people sleep on the street or under bridges or anywhere they can find.
How many homeless are in your city?

…Have you ever done this: watched five hours of television straight?
My son and I did yesterday. It was actually "Dexter" we watched. The last five episodes of Season 2.
"Dexter," like "The Sopranos" doesn't feel like television. For a lot or reasons, it doesn't: there are no commercials, there's sex and vivid violence and lots of swearing.
Season 2 of "Dexter" was remarkable. I was kneading my hands and pinching myself on the stomach the whole time. It's a very, very clever show.

…I go to Palm Springs in six days. From there, I drive with a friend to Las Vegas where we will meet more friends and drink alcohol, gamble, laugh a lot, loose some money, swim, watch football, eat very tasty food, and then laugh some more. I'm quite looking forward to it.

…I've been in a big Dylan phase. Bob Dylan. "Blonde on Blonde." "Blood on the Tracks."
There are gems after gems in those albums.
"…She was working at a topless place
when I stopped in for a beer.
I just kept looking at the side of her face
in a spot light so clear.
And later as the crowd poured out
I's just about to do the same
but she was standing there
at the back of my chair
said, "Tell me don't I know your name."
I muttered something under my breath.
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
when she bent down to tie the lace on my shoe.
Tangled up in blue."
The man is a genius. Truly. Those two albums, written in his early twenties, "Blood" being a thematic one about his breakup, are masterpieces. Give 'em a listen. You'll agree, I just know it.

…Day before yesterday three beavers were wrestling on the dock outside my window.
They're the size of very large cats. It's quite a sight to see them out of the water. Like a scene from "National Geographic."
Usually I see one of them swimming the length of the lake in the morning, then the other length at night.
That day I also saw the eagle swoop down and grab a fish.
Plus I saw the two ostriches a fellow down the road has.
Yeah, so it was a getting in touch with nature kind of day.

…I have blueberry bushes in my yard. They’ve been weighted down with fruit, and collectively I’ve spent over 24 hours picking berries.
Did you know that if you eat blue berries, salmon and almonds every day you’ll live to be 250 years old.

…Yesterday I went to a charity function where Richard Dreyfuss spoke. The scene in "Mr. Holland’s Opus" where Richard's character is packing up his office due to the music program being eliminated after 30 years, Richard finding a gym full of people waiting for him, claiming to be his "Opus" ("There isn't a person in here who hasn't been impacted by you.")--that's one of my favorite film scenes ever.
But other than that, I don't really like Richard as an actor. He's cloying and annoying, as if he's trying too hard as an actor.
Yesterday Richard was the key note speaker.
He talked for 50 minutes. It felt like 500 minutes.
It was a rant about the ruin of our country because "we no longer teach civics." Really, that's what he said. He said it dozens of times actually.
Looking around the ballroom at The Westin you could see everyone thinking the same thing: "Should I just kill myself already?"
Needless to say, I am even less a Richard Dreyfuss fan than ever before.

Here are few things to ruminate on:

"Patience is passion tamed." Lyman Abbott

‎''Bats have no bankers and they do not drink
and cannot be arrested and pay no tax
and, in general, bats have it made.'' John Berryman

"The body doesn't lie." Judith Guest, "Ordinary People"

"Sometimes the truth speaks from a peaceful place." "Dexter"