Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Standing in the Shadows



Well I have been quietly standing in the shade
All of my days
Watch the sky breaking on the promise that we made
All of this rain
And I’ve been trying to find
What’s been in my mind
As the days keep turning into night


Alexi Murdoch, All of My Days

It was very cold on the walk in today. Looking at my iphone it said it was 6 F. Over the weekend I bought a new jacket and it is relatively warm. This coat replaces an older deerskin brown one that my wife said (only after I was wearing the new one) made me look like a homeless guy. Being happy for new jacket to fight the cold was rendered kind of irrelevant when I found out it made my wife think I no longer looked like a hobo.

Anyway as I walked in I was listening to a play list I created a few months ago called “Accessible”. The tunes are all ones that I heard snippets of on TV shows that used music for dramatic impact, things like Eli Stone, Joan of Arcadia, Moonlight, etc. (Hmmh, every show on there is cancelled maybe dramatic use of music is a death knell for an hour long drama). The songs tend to be poppy with an edge to them. Bands like 8mm and West Indian Girl predominate.

Anyway the song that came on was All of My Days. Each and every time I hear this song I think the musician/writer must be the bastard son of Nick Drake. The lyric that struck me was the one about standing in the shadows. I haven’t been writing and that is my equivalent of standing in the shadows. I mean I haven’t been e-mailing and I haven’t been staying in touch. This state of affairs is not a good one. If I am not doing these things I am not in connection with other people and I am lost. Standing in the shadows leaves me on unsure footing emotionally.

Last night I did spend a little time on Facebook but that is a form of masturbation. It is a game without rules and which when played has no end reward. My time is spent more wisely by stumbling, that is using a service called Stumble which takes me to websites that are in line with my interests or in communicating with friends. Facebook strips conversation down to grunts and shout outs. Last night I was checking out a very cool site on Dante’s Inferno and some philosophy sites. I always hope I will find something that sparks my jotting off a note to someone.

5 comments:

John and Vicki Boyd said...

OK. If Facebook really is a "form of masturbation", then you're doing one or the other incorrectly.....

Glad you got a new coat.

It's 70 on the lanai (sp), here in FL. Just wish my 401k would bounce back like the temp.

Lisa said...

Wish I could locate where you walk and catch you off guard as a laugh. Instead I just invited you to my face book page.

Unknown said...

That would be interesting, since Jay's rarely caught off guard.......

ONEWORLD said...

I like stumble. thanks

Rueben Drones said...

I hate to think you are masturbating on Facebook using my page and image as "inspiration", understandable though that may be.

If you would like, I could supply you with a (long)list of websites more suited to the, shall we say, task at hand.

For best results however, I reccomend a waterproof laptap. One that you can take into the shower with you if you get my drift and I think you do. Also.