I'm A Dreamer

“Whether you have a proper teacher or not depends upon what you want to learn.”--Dan Millman, WAY OF THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR,A Book That Changes Lives
I was moving forward with my Graphic Design classes.  I was looking forward to the end of it.  They are suggesting we pay for another period of Computer Graphic Design training but I do not intend to go that route.  I’ve learned what I want to learn thus far.  I am not so sure I want to be a Graphic Artist now.  I love being an artist and there are aspects I like but there are portions of it that are not appealing.  I’d rather be artful based on what I choose to create.   Time will tell.  It’s not going to hurt me to have this experience.
Mom sent me a sweet Christmas Card.  It was definitely her kind of card with an image of the poinsettia that she adores.   She likes to decorate her house with poinsettia for the holidays.   She knew INTER/MEDIA was paying for me to fly to Kansas City, Missouri and she mentioned it in the card.   Mom wrote:
December 1990Dear Son,Wishing you happiness for the holidays and through the New Year.Hope you had a good time on your trip to Kansas City. Love, Mom
Brrrrr…my teeth chattered while standing outside of the Kansas City, Missouri Airport.  It was so cold that I was happy I lived in California.   The trip included an early flight, a meeting and then a flight back to Los Angeles; whereby, I didn’t see much of Kansas City.   It’s just as well.  I would’ve frozen my buns off.
Barbara Reynolds sent another card to me but this was actually her Christmas card.   She wrote in response the HOLIDAY party I had planned.   It was just as well that she received the invitation late because I ended up cancelling the party.   It was better that way.   Barbara wrote:

Wishing you all the JOYS of the season…Thanks for the invitation—got it too late.  It was delivered to my neighbor in error (and he was in Arizona for three weeks).  I know it was a great party.   At least now I have your number…Great.Happy Solstice,Love, Barbara
Alan and I ventured out to see a new film directed by Laverne (of Laverne and Shirley fame), Penny Marshall.  It was starring Robert de Niro and Robin Williams called AWAKENINGS.   The premise was based on a 1973 book written by Oliver Sacks.   It was a DRAMA about the victims of an encephalitis epidemic from many years ago.   The victims have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them back into normal human-beings.    We loved it.
Dorothy was early with a New Year’s Day card, dated December 24th.   She wrote:
12-24-90Michael,Have a WONDERFUL 1991!…and what better way to enjoy it than to have the financial security to allow you to do what you really enjoy.  Let’s hope these are the lucky numbers:
5 MAY9 MY BIRTHDAY17 Days Later26 Your Birthday31 Your age42 and my ageIn my Christmas card I said I’d have to think of something to cheer you up.   Are you smiling?  Let’s hope these numbers are lucky enough to bring a real glow to that smile.I know what you’ll have time to do with your winnings…but what would I do with mine?  Hmmm….Again, Happy, Happy New Year, Love, Dorothy She did make me smile to include a lottery ticket for me.   And more smiles were ahead for Alan and me when we went to see another movie.   We love a good story.   This time we saw BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES.   It was supposedly a COMEDY but we both felt it was anything but that…based on a book by Tom Wolfe.   It was about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City.   It was starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis (not my favorite) and Melanie Griffith.   We chalked-up another good night of entertainment.
Another second HOLIDAY card arrived from Steven Antol.   He probably felt a need to write me back since I replied to his last correspondence.   He wrote but didn’t write much of anything:
December 1990Dear Michael,Hi there buddie!  Hey, it’s getting to be a long time since I last saw you.  We’re going to have to get together soon.I’m in HONG KONG today as I write this card.   That’s a pretty fascinating place.  I really like it.
I hope that ALL IS WELL with you, Michael.   I’m doing pretty well.   Enjoying LIFE and flying to three Asian countries…it’s still fun.I hope that you have a wonderful, happy Holiday Season.  Please stay in touch.  I always enjoy hearing from you.  Love, Steven
I didn’t know what to make of this letter/card from Steven.   I didn’t feel a need to reply to it.  I shrugged it off.  I needed my sleep.   I tried counting backwards from one-hundred and I think I actually fell asleep before I got to number one.   It doesn’t always work out that way.   I got lucky.  I’m a dreamer.
“If you want to go to sleep at night, YOU MUST NOT THINK, as people tell you, of a long row of sheep or camels passing through a gate, for they go in one direction, and your thoughts will go along with them.   YOU SHOULD THINK instead of a deep well.   In the bottom of that well, just in the middle of it, there comes up a spring of water, which rungs out in little streamlets to all possible sides, like the rays of a star.  If you can make your thoughts run out with that water, not in one direction, but equally to all sides, you will fall asleep.”-Isak Dinesen,
Seven Gothic Tales:  THE DREAMERS