Why I Don't Want to Go for a Ride

Almost every time I talk to Whinsey she asks if I want to go for a ride. I always say no. I feel that I should explain.

At our family reunion one summer, I got up on my cousin's horse and fell right off the other side. I was so embarrassed that I acted like I was hurt just so I could go into my Aunt Susie's bedroom and hide.

My cousin finally talked me into coming back outside, and ten minutes later I fell into the fish pond (above).

That's me sitting by my grandfather, who looked exactly like Eugene Levy. I don't remember who the giant frog is between Mom and Aggles.

Tom's New Friend

Ornamental Hairpiece

© Linda Davick

Today was so hard that I decided take my camera for a late walk. A rundown:

1. Wake up too early. Help Tom make PDF's and then JPG's and then proofread. Then collate. Then pull staples out and re-collate. Then proofread and pull staples out again and re-collate.

2. Refinancing documents arrive FedEx. I'm terror-stricken, knowing I'll have to handle the closing myself (without Tom) over the phone.

3. Eat leftover black bean tofu standing up. Pam from Dr. Ziegler's office calls. There are no older x-rays to compare to Mom's latest two. Would I like to make an appointment with a pulmonary specialist?

4. Help Tom carry rolls and rolls and rolls of drawings to the car.

5. Try to read and comprehend 80-90 pages of financial documents before 2:30.

6. Mom calls. She's locked inside her apartment and can't get out.

7. Close on our refinancing. Check to make sure it's OK to get the papers notarized tomorrow, as Tom won't be back for hours. No! Not OK at all. The papers are dated June 28 and must be notarized today. I search for a notary who'll be working late. After talking to a few, one says she can do it, but she has to catch the number 5 bus by 5:50 in order to get home. I volunteer to take her home if we can make it over by 6:00; she says she lives in Sausalito. Then I ask how much it will cost for 6 signatures. She says "$60." She then asks what kind of document. I say, "Closing." She says, "That will be an extra $100, for a total of $160." I keep looking.

8. Patting myself on the back for handling the closing without crying, I remember that I've forgotten to ask what our monthly payment will be. Our loan officer is long gone. Maybe Tom won't remember to ask me.

9. Was I supposed to do any work today? Tom calls as he turns up our street. I run out and meet him with the papers, a list of possible notaries, and an ice cream sandwich for nourishment. Gunvant Patel, Notary Extraordinaire (UPS Store on West Portal) stays until 6:30. We sign and he stamps and seals the deal for us. We drive straight to Louis'. I have a fried egg sandwich and an Anchor Steam.

10. I hit the beach. I'm shooting Ornamental Hairpiece when a creature emerges from the sea. He's half man (top) and half black seal (bottom).

Surfer Boy: That's beautiful.
Me: Yeah.
Surfer Boy: I mean it.
Me: Thank you.
Surfer Boy: You're an artist. Don't let anyone ever tell you you're not.
I felt like Sally C. must have felt when Whit Smith called her from an airport. Like Sally G. must have felt when Jerry Seinfeld responded to the cotton ball.
...Sort of like I had met Shane Rebenshied in person.

Letters and Numbers

Sally Cruikshank's counting piece reminded me of the alphabet book above. While searching for the book, I came across more numbers:

Ten Things I Have Learned
Milton Glaser

1
YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.

2
IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
One night I was sitting in my car outside Columbia University where my wife Shirley was studying Anthropology. While I was waiting I was listening to the radio and heard an interviewer ask ‘Now that you have reached 75 have you any advice for our audience about how to prepare for your old age?’ An irritated voice said ‘Why is everyone asking me about old age these days?’ I recognised the voice as John Cage. I am sure that many of you know who he was – the composer and philosopher who influenced people like Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham as well as the music world in general. I knew him slightly and admired his contribution to our times. ‘You know, I do know how to prepare for old age’ he said. ‘Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of 12. I wake up in the morning and I try to figure out how am I going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am exceedingly well prepared for my old age’ he said.
Note to Katy: The John Cage CD's arrived!

3
SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the ‘whole’ before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.

Go here to read the rest.

Gary & Me

Oh boy! Three boxes of books came today. As we all know, Gary Baseman did the four major characters for Cranium. What a thrill to be given a dvd full of Data Heads and Word Worms to work with. I designed the inside pages of this new book and drew the spot art. Do you have a 4- or 5-year-old? If so, let me know, and I'll leave a book for you out on my front porch.

¿Está esto al pato o un perro?

© Linda Davick

Find out here.
Hint: Ceci n'est pas une pipe.

Favorite Place

One of my favorite places is the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Japantown.

Not Funny!

My Book

I got my first bound copy of Kindergarten Countdown today. It comes out on July 10. Anna Jane Hays wrote it and I drew the pictures. The story takes place over seven days. The most fun part for me was being the interior designer for Lucy's house. Also dressing Lucy every day in seven outfits of my own creation, including seven different pairs of shoes.

Treasure

Good walking weather this evening. Yesterday I had to wear a hooded down jacket and gloves. This evening was downright balmy: I got away with wearing only a long-sleeved shirt, a zip-up thermaLETE top, and a hooded sweatshirt.

Fathers Day

This is a photo I took of my dad while desperately trying to earn my camera badge in Girl Scouts.

Dad loved taking photos so much that he built a darkroom that took up half the space in his and Mom's bedroom.

He made backwards movies that Aggles and I starred in. He filmed us jumping off the tops of swing sets. He filmed us stuffing waffles in our mouths. Things like shuffling cards and throwing them up in the air. Then he would run the movie backwards and it would look like we were flying up to the top of the swing set, vomiting the waffle back out to its picture perfect state, etc.

I drew all over everything. Dad ended up painting one whole wall of my bedroom with dark green paint so I could use the whole wall as a blackboard. Here's my favorite memory about the big drawing space:








One night Dad drew a man's face in profile on the wall for me.
Me: But where's the other eye?
Dad: What?
Me: Where's the other eye? A face has two eyes.
Dad: Well yes, but look! (He turned sideways to show me how when someone is in profile, you see only one eye.) How many eyes do you see?
Me: TWO!

I knew that a face had 2 eyes and at that age I saw two eyes. I love remembering this episode because it's such a clear example of how what you see is so connected to what you think.

Dad died when he was 48 and I was 12.

Linda Davick, Dream Detective

Tom and I saw Paprika, an animated movie that takes place in the near future. In it, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment has been invented. Through a device called the DC Mini, one can become a dream detective and view other people's dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts.

Since I don't have a DC Mini yet, I have to find other ways to explore Tom's unconscious thoughts. I try to be subtle, but sometimes I have to prompt him.

Me: Did you have any dreams last night?
Tom: ... Um ... I think so ... Let's see ...
Me: Was I the star?
Tom: ... I think you were in this dream ...
Me: Did I do something really smart? or brave?
Tom: No. You stayed in character.

Code

I emailed Larry's web site to Sally in order for her to figure out the code. She worked magic and was back in a flash with questions. But even her questions seemed like code to me. I fled to the beach.

Everywhere I looked I saw code. In the writing on rocks, in the writing on the wall.

After a mile or two, I started seeing faces in the rocks again and knew I was going to be OK.

p.s. Sally? Can you help me with the code on the rock and the code on the wall? What does it mean?

Windy Day

Bird

© Linda Davick

Contest Winners

runner-up award
Why? has always been my favorite question. An exquisite prize awaits the person who posts the best answer.

The contest ended last night at midnight. The entries are:

1. because we like you!
2. to get to the other side of the road
3. because I said so!
4. why not?
5. Because that rock looks like Martian poop.
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9v-VMeGW3k&mode=related&search=
7. Because it's your destiny. And the fate of all our kind is depending on it.
8. To Why or Not to Why? That rock looks like the skull in Hamlet:)
9. Follow State Route 85 or 86, and you’ll find it in Pima County, Arizona.
10. because not to is like giving up
11. because others depend on you
12. because choosing not to isn't really living
13. because there may be a wild flower blooming under the rock
14. because life throws curve balls but you just hav'ta keep going
15. because you love
16. because in spite of everything you believe, it DOES make a difference
17. because simply crying doesn't change anything
18. because your mother said so
19. because it may even bring you laughter
20. It will all make sense when you're older.

sample pages from poop writing tablet runner-up award
The runner-up is #5: Because that rock looks like Martian poop.

Why did Marie win the runner-up prize? Because she did not hesitate. Her answer splurted out unfettered from her keypad.

The grand prize winner is #15: because you love

Why did Dee win the grand prize?
Because her reply reminds me of the poem about being only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal without love.
the grand prize (below): a klog (book log)
Personal note to Dee: If this prize isn't as exquisite as you expected,
you can choose to have a bottle of Method dish detergent instead.

Birthday Detergent

Has anyone ever given you dish washing detergent for your birthday? Today I got a birthday present from Barbara & Larry. Inside were two of my favorite things: two of the old bowling pin-type bottles of Method dish detergent. They aren't easy to find these days. In fact, these were special ordered just for me, and came wrapped up like they were some kind of Royal Bayreuth Tapestry Vases. Aren't they lovely? I cannot stress how one of these bottles can transform any kitchen.

(Also included in the package: a Chewing Gum Kit, a pound of Baby's Coffee, a corkscrew, an Inspector Van Veeteren mystery, a martini shaker that you can sip from, a green monkey keychain, well ... the list goes on and on, as you can see.)

Red Head

Linda Davick

Contest

© Linda Davick
Why? has always been my favorite question. An exquisite prize awaits the person who posts the best answer. Contest ends midnight Wednesday, June 6, 2007. Must be 2 years of age or older to participate.

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Linda Davick