So...I've been searching for Morel mushrooms for a while. Did I really just start this with *that* sentence? Well, I have, and let me tell you, they are illusive. You just don't find them anywhere...they grow in special places, and those special places were apparently no where in my immediate vacinity. Not on the acreage up on the mountain. Not at Sugar Hollow. And not at my house in the city, right? Wrong. Where did I find three (yes, three) of them yesterday - after years of looking for them? In my own stinkin' front yard, right here in town. Now, the capitalist in me knows that these things are lucrative - valuable, even - and I like the thought that something that grows wildly at my house can produce income. Which makes me think that other things that can grow at my house could do that. Its a nice thought in case there's that "magnetic shift" thing, or a massive EMP that would render my computer useless. And they were right here, all the time.
That, my friends, is the lesson of this particular blog post. Sometimes what you're searching for is right in front of you. You spend a lot of time trying to find it, or trying to find it again, or searching for inspiration to make "it" again...and you can't see the forest for the trees.
THE SCREENPLAY
...is almost done. I'm handwriting it. I know, I know...but its my process, and I'm doing it. And, like the mushrooms, most of the inspiration for it is right in front of me. I spent a long time saying "Someday, I'm going to see something and write about it". As soon as I stopped looking for it, resigning myself to my everyday, blammo - and I hashed out the entire thing in my head over the course of, say, about 20 minutes. And its good. If I can find the time to transcribe it into appropriate software, and find time to tweak it, then I can unleash it on the world. Again - right there in front of me the whole time. "Inspired" by something I pretty much listened to and made presence of in my life on a weekly basis...
THE DRAWING
...is from 1995 or so. I used to be creative without computer generated help. Proof! I found this in a box that I had seen pretty much every day since, oh, about 10 or so years ago. I thought I had lost it. It was pretty symbolic of an amazing time in my life, where I had the most amazing friendships - so amazing that superhero drawings were about the only way to express our joy of just sitting on a couch together. I've been thinking, since I turned 40, that perhaps I had lost a little of what used to make me interesting. It was nice to find it in a box on the front porch.
THE RESIN PROJECT
...I'm still a little dubious about. My thought was - "Stress sucks. Why don't I teach myself how to make some stuff?" I am not crafty in this sense, really. But I had a few good ideas, and $100 investment later, something I can hold in my hand. Now, a much nicer use for the thousands of Matchbox and Hotwheels cars laying around the house! College fund? Probably...there are that many...but really just a way to spend a sunny afternoon on the deck, and massive wasp sting on the back of my right knee aside, successful. The endless ponytail holders that Riley forces me to buy each and every time I go to Target or Walgreens? Useful once more!! Again - all just lying around the whole time.
All these things have the big fat capitalist in me buzzing. I suppose its a fine lesson for the kids: actually listen to the songs in Mom's iPod, repurpose your toys when you're over them, see what's growing around you and imagine it differently...all worth the moment of discovery for the inspiration.
Guitar lessons start in May...
