It’s the time of year for resolutions and future hopes but I don’t know how to do those; all I know to do is keep going. I’m not joining a gym or changing my diet or setting a goal of reading X number of books. I’ve never had many thoughts about the future at all. If I have any super power, it’s to stay firmly rooted in the present.
All that said, there are a couple things I’m fairly certain will come to pass. I’ll write some short essays to go in a book surveying my painting and drawing the past thirty-plus years. Odds are no publisher will step forward, so I’ll find a printer and put out the thing myself.
Next week I start teaching a portrait drawing class at a suburban university Wednesday afternoons.
In June I’ll have another show at the bar. It will likely be a mix of painting and collage. I assume I’ll still be bartending there Sundays.
A few weeks ago a regular from the Skylark came in and said he’s opening a bar not far from where I live. He asked me to work there. So maybe that will happen.
I’m not looking forward to the escalation of election coverage. I do naively keep wishing that the monster plaguing this country will be destroyed but have no idea how that will happen. Actuarial tables say his time will be up soon but there may be supernatural forces at work.
I look forward to shelving many more books at the bookstore. When I’m doing that all worldly cares disappear. In 2016 I had a similarly immersive task of organizing a hoarder’s horse stable full of crap. When I went in there and closed the door, nothing but the task at hand remained.
Many people I know will be searching for any available means of escape, I’d wager.
I don’t know what use it is to have hopes or prayers for the future. I just keep trying to put one foot in front of the other.
I wish the same for you. That you can keep doing whatever you’re doing.
Made a map.