IT'S NOT THE YEARS IN YOUR LIFE THAT COUNT, BUT THE LIFE IN YOUR YEARS.
Abraham Lincoln
I suppose it's a good thing that Lincoln felt this way, what with being murdered at 56 and all. And odd that this quote would come up on my random list on the day honoring Martin Luther King, dead at 39. Thirty-nine! He would have been 80 this year.
I worry about not having enough life in my years. You see, I spend a lot of time and energy striving in my work and that can make me alternatively anxious and depressed about how it's going. Then I get anxious that I'm not enjoying my life enough. Then I get depressed that I haven't.
So then I do something to make me feel alive in my life. Today's obsession is the notion that Obama is not actually the first African-American president. Apparently, there are five other presidents who may have had black ancestry: Calvin Coolidge, Warren Harding, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson.
Which led me down an internet rabbit hole to explore the supposed hidden homosexuality of two other presidents, as well as Abraham Lincoln.
Which makes me wonder why I care. I know it sounds salacious and unnecessary, but I'm really fascinated with knowing the truth, particularly if it was hidden.
But that makes me worry that I'm wasting my time thinking about whether dead presidents were black or gay. Or both. Because part of having life in my years is my work. And I already wasted enough time this morning when I forgot where I parked and had to wander three different garages until I finally found my car.
So back to work.
Monday, January 19, 2009
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5 comments:
Stop procrastinating and get back to work - I want to read "Jazz Hands of God".
It doesn't seem like much was done to cover up Presidents Buchanan's homosexuality. I might not have learned about it in HS History class, but Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk seemed to be in the know.
It's those rabbit holes of information about stuff that we personally find fascinating that also leads to ideas, twists and turns, in the story. So take them, as often as you like. You'll be refreshed and inspired as your get back to work on your story.
Marc,
You’ve been awarded the coveted Premios Dardo award by Culture Shock(www.cultureshockpdx.blogspot.com)
because you author one of our favorite blog sites. We got ours from Art Scatter. You don’t have to accept the award. There are just a few simple rules:
1) Accept the award. Post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.
3) Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
Congratulations and thanks for giving us something to do with all of our excess time during the day.
Three garages! You are thinking too much.
I believe I've already recommended Philip K. Dick's books to you, but in case you haven't gotten around to it, I'd recommend "The Man In The High Castle," "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" (love that title!) or "Ubik." Great sci-fi writer obsessed with attempting to uncover the hidden truth in our mundance "reality."
Wow, I meant "mundane" but I've invented a new word instead. "Hey honey, wanna go to the club? It's a marvelous night for a mundance."
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