Summer Begins

By Restless [Originally on goofyblog 6.21.07]

Today is the first day of Summer. For the past few weeks I’ve been working long hours and fielding auditions and freelance deal. Today I read 39 Ways to Live, not Merely Exist at dumb little man. Some excerpts:

• Love. Perhaps the most important. Fall in love, if you aren’t already.
• Get outside. Don’t let yourself be shut indoors. Pay close attention to nature.
• Take chances. We often live our lives too cautiously, worried about what might go wrong. Be bold, risk it all.
• Follow excitement. Try to find the things in life that excite you, and then go after them. Make life one exciting adventure after another.
• Turn off the TV. How many hours will we waste away in front of the boob tube? How many hours do we have to live? Do the math, then unplug the TV.
• Pull away from Internet. You cannot get these minutes back. Unplug the Internet, then get out of your office or house. Right now! And go and do something.
• Travel. Sure, you want to travel some day. When you have vacation time, or when you’re older. Well, what are you waiting for?
• Rediscover what’s important. Take an hour and make a list of everything that’s important to you. Add to it everything that you want to do in life. Now cut that list down to 4-5 things. Just the most important things in your life. This is your core list. This is what matters. Focus your life on these things. Make time for them.
• Eliminate everything else.
• Exercise. Get off the couch and go for a walk. Or do some push ups and crunches. Whatever you do, get active, and you’ll love it. And life will be more alive.
• and more.

Reading items like stop watching news (#33) and stop reading magazines (#31) got me to thinking: why not take a vacation — from everything as I know it.

A break from all those great John Pilger documentaries I had to download because they aren’t distributed in rental form in this country. Starting with his doc on the Cambodian genocide in the early 70s, on through his entertaining film on Coca Cola and Pepsi, their roots in the US and the world, on up to his latest, The War on Democracy, a history of US intervention in Latin America over the past 50 years, it’s been an interesting and educational journey. (Download the torrents in 4 iso’s at onebigtorrent).

And a break from my daily dose of democracynow, which just hosted Michael Moore for an outstanding interview on his new film about health care in the United States, “Sicko.” Going on hiatus as well from the great vid clips that come out on the net daily, like Hilary and Bill Clinton’s teaser replicating the final scene of “The Sopranos.”

It’s time to re-think, enjoy the outdoors and the heat, fall in love with New York, take chances. The photos below are my Madison Avenue - late Spring series.

I’ll see you this Fall.