Focus on the positive
Sounds like a very theetie-weetie viewpoint to have in life, doesn't it? It completely contradicts the average person's logic and way of thinking. We are constantly bombarded with bad news, murder, thievery, crimes, stupidity, etc etc in our daily news reports and even in our daily lives. We feel that we MUST keep ourselves informed of current events that are taking place on Urth. We think we MUST get involved, take responsibility, handle this or that dilemma...and the list continues on and on ad nauseum.
Work harder, faster, and get MORE involved people tell us at every hand. "You aren't doing enough to make this a better planet on which to live". The bad guys are winning, the good guys are losing, things are worse now than they ever have been before in the entire history of man.
SHUT UP already!!! I've been hearing these sad laments since I was a child at my grandmother's kitchen table. Day in and day out, our attention was focused for us onto "the world's going to hell in a hand-basket" or "back in the good old days", or "there hasn't been a good president since Lincoln". What the hell makes those good old days so great? We had one World War after another and if that wasn't enough, we had wars in little obscure places to boot, and we were fighting communism, we had a Great Depression, and no air conditioning at all anywhere.
I was out on the streets marching or yelling for world peace, an end to Nuclear Power, impeach Richard Nixon, legalize pot, stop the war in Vietnam, and allow same sex marriages in Boulder, Colorado. I don't regret the things that I did, nor do I feel regret for some of the ideas that I felt so passionate about 30+ years ago. I felt as if I was doing SOMETHING...even though I was usually high on drugs when I was doing it.
Not so long ago, I was wondering what happened to the passion that the younger folks of my generation had. Not only for we ourselves, but this current younger generation. Today, I am undergoing another change in my life and I am working to change the life experience. Sounds deep, doesn't it?
Instead of ranting and raving and lecturing anyone that comes within earshot of me, I am learning how to control my thoughts and shift them towards a new and positive approach to life. Rather than focus only on the Out-points, I am looking for the Plus Points and putting attention on those things more than ever before. This sounds like a very stupid thing to do and what the heck could it ever accomplish?
I scoffed until I actually DID it. There was a decided change in my own universe. Small and fleeting, perhaps, but I have continued to practice doing this nearly every day for the past few weeks. It's not as easy as it sounds, trust me. I have so many things in my life to be grateful for, that it is ridiculous for me to waste time and energy complaining.
One of my favorite rants used to be 'drivers on the road' and looking back thru my blog archives, you will find several long-winded rants about this subject. I can now report that MOST days (not all) I can actually drive down the street and enjoy the ride. I'm not cursing and swearing at every single moronic move that another driver makes out there. This is an eensy little improvement, but it only proves to me that one CAN change his own life and be responsible for creating it the way that he wants it to be.
No one else is responsible for us. We can't continue to blame, blame, blame and be victims of others and our environments any longer. That is just another passe, lazy way of living life. Each of us thinks the thoughts that create our existences. We CAN change those thought patterns and eventually they will become reality.
We have heard stories all of our lives of the individuals who overcame enormous odds and handicaps to develop into heroes and admirable characters. Why were they able to do this when other people had MANY more opportunities and advantages, yet these other people failed miserably and shoved the blame elsewhere? How did those heroes become heroes?
There are thousands of factors at play here, but in my way of thinking, it all boils down to thoughts and making one's own reality. We don't need to agree with anyone or anything around us. Our failures in life, usually stem from agreeing with the wrong things or people.
Drugs or no drugs???????
The latest news from the Tour de France camp presents a very unsettling debate which may or may not be resolved in the near future. Did Floyd Landis take drugs on that 17th stage of the race....the very day that he did the most monumental performance that has been seen in 50 years?
The entire world is now aware of the fact that his testosterone levels were 8 times the normal that day. Being the winner of that stage, he was tested in the usual manner. The results of this day's test were only released a few days ago. There is a 'b' backup test that is going to be done as a double check, but if this, too, shows a positive....Landis will lose his Tour crown and be canned from the Phonak racing team as well as banned from racing for the next 2 years.
Landis continues to contend that he did NOT take drugs to enhance his performance and that he was tested a total of 6 times during this year's Tour. None of those other times showed any abnormalities in his testosterone levels. Nor has this been an issue in the prior races he has performed throughout his career. For 3 years of the Tour, he was a Lance Armstrong teammate and drugs was never an issue for Landis then, either.
Quite frankly, I am baffled. If this were indeed his own bodies' ability to create such a high level of testosterone without outside influence, why hasn't it shown up before? If these testosterone levels are the criteria for proving doping, then why should they apply to other racers (the ones that were denied this year's Tour) and not to Landis?
My gut instinct is that something is fishy. I'm truly disappointed in my hero. I want to believe him, I really do, but this isn't looking plausible. I simply don't think there is some 'conspiracy' involved because he is an American and the French wouldn't want him to win. I could be mistaken on all counts, and in this case, I really hope that I am.
Hard habit to break
Upon arising early this morning, my first inclination was to turn on the tv so as to watch the opening of Le Tour on OLN...whoopsie! That ended yesterday. hmmmnnn.
This tv habit has been as difficult for me (at times) as quitting smoking. I was raised in a home that had a tv on ALL the time. In the latter years of their lives, my parents had their individual tv sets on 24 hours a day. Whether they were home or not, those machines were running.
One of my brothers had the same habit. Even when he left for work at 6:00 am, he would walk out of his home with the tv set still playing. And when he was home after work, he was in front of it unless he was fishing, golfing, bowling or whatever. Another brother was nearly as addicted and if he was home, the tv was on.
My own personal addiction finally got under my control about 10 years back when I had no tv in my living space. And I continued that way for about 8 years total. Most people could not believe that I didn't own a tv set, but I took up reading, being online and artwork instead and managed to fill those quiet hours more constructively.
Unfortunately, whenever I get near a tv set, I become nearly mesmerized by it and must see what is 'on'...so that whenever I have been traveling and staying in motels or hotels....that tv is on if I am in the room. A year ago, I moved into a rental unit that was completely furnished and this included tv. Oh no! So long as I don't turn the dang thing on, I am fine. But once those sounds and pictures hit my sensory perceptions....I am a goner.
So today is all about doing a withdrawal not only from Le Tour, but also from the tv. 'Step away from the tv.' Of course, my good old substitute is my computer and with or without tv....that particular addiction is even harder to break. If my cable happens to go down or we are having a lightning storm...I think I am going to have an uncontrollable fit and flail around on the floor.
How I even manage to make time to create artwork is a feat in itself. I have an overwhelming compulsion to check my emails and various discussion groups several times each day. So how does an insomniac tv and internet addicted artist live her life? Why, reading, of course! Did I happen to mention that I am also addicted to reading? Those 8 years that I didn't have a tv...I would read 2-3 books per week. Mysteries, of course. Life with a tv set isn't like that, though.
It is painfully clear to me that I need to break some habits and create more.
Oui, Oui!
Floyd Landis will be wearing the yellow jersey again tomorrow in the final stage of this year's Tour de France. He rode a great race today in the individual time trial and even thought he didn't win the stage today, he still made up enough time over the Spanish racers Periero and Sastre to be in first place by a full minute.
Sastre lost his podium placement today when he rode a mediocre race and I hated to see him fall out like that after the incredible race that he has done this year. This has been one of the wildest and most unpredictable Tours that I have ever seen. Or any bicycle race I have ever seen, for that matter. I think there have been 9 different race leaders this year and for a 3 week race....that is a lot of shuffling.
Who would have thought it would work out this way 3 weeks back when it first began? I remember how shocked and disappointed I was that Jan Ulrich got eliminated from the race before it started due to failing his drug test. He was joined by 8 other racers and the whole bicycling community was reeling from that news. I was all set to cheer Jan on this year because I admire his physical skill and I wanted to see him have a chance to win the race for a change now that Lance Armstrong had retired.
But it wasn't meant to be. And I really had no other racers in mind that I would be supporting, so I was able to enjoy the race a lot more because I didn't have a heavy emotional attachment to the proceedings. I could simply enjoy the sport for what it is. And then I got attached. Prior to this race, I had NO idea who Floyd Landis even was. I had not paid him any attention before.
And in the earlier stages of the race I knew he was getting lots of show time and even had the lead in the race off and on. I was actually hoping the Levi Leipheimer was going to be a contender....only because my sister told me that he lives in Montana. It's never anything really big that causes people to support one particular person, at least not in my case.
So Floyd grew on me over a period of time. I was hoping he would do well, but I personally thought he was racing way too conservatively to warrant being the top dog overall at the end. When he and the rest of the racing crew allowed Pereiro to gain 30+ minutes in one race day during a flat stage...all I could do was shake my head. The race commentators were critical of this, too, but they really never took Pereiro very seriously and his name rarely got mentioned. I couldn't believe that this guy had come from nowhere and was in first place and no one even recognized his presence!
By then, I was already in the Landis camp, though, and I couldn't easily extract myself from there since I thought it would be so super cool to have yet another American win this bloody race. That makes 11 times in the past 20 years. :) I don't know why I get so tickled over this, but I do. In the next 10-20 years the Japanese and Chinese will probably come to dominate the sport.
At any rate, this has been a spectacular race this year. I was glued to my television set on a daily basis and I would even set my alarm clock to make sure I would be up on those mornings when the telecast began at 6:30 am. Usually I was awake by 6:00 in anticipation anyhow. My biggest problem now is filling that void that is always left behind when one of my favorite bicycle races ends. When we followed the Coors Classic thru Colorado back in the 80's, I used to mope around for about a week like some big old dope when it was all over.
Alpe D'Huez
I was screaming at the television set this morning as I watched this leg of Le Tour. I can't help it....I get very excited about this event. We are in the final week, and it's still anyone's race. Or so the commentators continue to announce. I personally have no idea at all, and I don't even have a particular favorite racer.
At this moment, another American racer has moved into first place and will be wearing the yellow jersey again tomorrow. Floyd Landis, the rider that was criticized heavily for allowing another rider to take first and gain over 30 minutes in the standings. Levi Leipheimer has moved up into 9th place from somewhere around 66th. He is from Montana, so my sister is rooting for him...loudly.
When I was a child living at home with a father who was an avid sports enthusiast, I used to wonder why Poppa would be screaming at his television set while pacing the room. As I finally grew into being a sports fan myself, I began to eperience the same phenomena and it's enjoyable, I must admit.
This Alpe D'Huez climb today is by no means the worst mountain in the Tour, but it does have the most notable reputation. Somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people are up there watching this stage of the race. Some fans have been in the town since Saturday, waiting for the racers to arrive. Now those are avid fans!!!
I was watching the ESPY awards Sunday evening with Lance Armstrong being the host of the event. I was happy to see that he has such a great sense of humor, and I did catch a slam against the French...but this is an ongoing thing between France and America...nothing new there. What an annoyance it would be to have yet another American rider win Le Tour. bwahahahahaha!
Bicycling Babble
I can't seem to get enough of this bicycle racing. I was up at 6:00 am this morning to watch today's race coverage. Already I am feeling sad that Le Tour is nearly half finished. The racers most likely don't feel this way, particularly after today's stage.
6 hours they were out there riding over four separate Category 1 climbs and covering 120+ miles. That's a lot of climbing as those Cat 1's are incredibly steep. Their racing speeds today varied anywhere from 20 to 70 mph, depending upon whether they were going up or down a slope. How any human body can withstand such gruesome torture is almost beyond my comprehension.
Floyd Landis, the American racer who took the yellow jersey today, is going to be having hip surgery soon after Le Tour is over. Hip surgery???? Can you imagine riding a bicycle when you are in need of hip surgery? Another fellow out there has a fractured vertebrae. OUCH!!! I can't remember the name of that rider at the moment, but the stories abound of the physical injuries that these men are enduring for this race.
Being in pain has never been one of my favorite pasttimes in life. Hence, I have avoided as much physical activity as possible. I contemplate what these racers must live thru each day as they push their pain thresholds higher and higher. That is as far as I am willing to take it.
In my mind, and thankfully it is only in my mind, I have climbed and descended those slopes along with the racers. The aerial shots of the Pyrennes continue to be breathtaking and I can enjoy them easily in the comfort of my home.
Le Tour
After completing 10 stages and today beginning the stint thru the Pyrennes, the race has had 5 different yellow jersey/race leaders. As yet, none of the expected overall winners have made a move to take the lead. There has been no domination at all so far, but we aren't halfway thru the race yet.
The views today were breathtaking from the helicopter and motorcycle cameras. Once again I have gotten 'homesick' for the mountains. They never fail to take my breath away, but like most people I begin to take them for granted when I am living in a mountainous area. You don't even SEE them after a while because it becomes part of the scenery. Today's coverage of the race was lovely and since I have been living in Florida so long...seeing those mountains was glorious indeed.
Tomorrow, the race coverage comes on OLN at 6:30 am. Yeow. I haven't been rolling out of bed quite that early in the last week or so, so I will need to set the old alarm clock to get myself back on the early schedule.
No artwork to show yet today. Stay tuned, though, because there will be plenty more!
The Secret
http://www.thesecret.tv/
It is my wish for you that you live a long and happy life. Copy the address above and insert it into your address bar. This will take you to a video of some information that can be used to make your life what you WANT it to be. I hope that you enjoy it.
4th of July
Today's Tour segment was fraught with crashes and several notable racers are out with broken collarbones. Accidents are unfortunately part of this bicycle racing game. So much trust is involved when these peloton groupings contain hundreds of bicyclists all riding within inches of each other. When one person so much as touches another's wheel or peddle...blammo...it's a domino effect chain-reaction.
30 seconds continues to be the difference with the top 20 riders after today's race. That gap will not widen a whole lot until the mountain stages begin.
I just finished watching a Vlog that a 20-year old fellow artist has begun recording. Vlog stands for video blog. I do own a video cam, thanks to one of my dearest friends who gifted it to me. Unfortunately, it is still in my desk drawer.
This is another task that I will need to assign to my son. Hook up the video cam! Then I will need to figure out how to USE it and maneuver my way thru the technicalities of this newest technology. Yes, I know it has been in existence for years and years and piles of other people have been vlogging away....but to me this is a newfangled invention.
So vlogging will be on my list of things to get done this summer. Yippee. Another project involving more technical stuff. Cringe, groan, moan.
Not to mention, someone recently published a book using an online company and they posted a link to this company so that some of us artists could use it as well. I will most likely put together a book of some of my artwork. Uhhunh.
I have to make my plans for these projects month in advance due to my slow progress with these technological innovations. So don't expect to see a vlog or a book announced in here anytime in the next couple weeks!
5 hours & 140 miles
How on earth do these bicycle racers do this day after day? In spite of the heat, muscle cramping, crashes, and mountain climbs they continue to ride and ride. It's a dedication that few people could ever experience since it requires incredible physical stamina.
There were no large mountain climbs today, but those 'gentle' grades are killer when you are out there for that many hours. One by one, the breakaway racers were reeled back into the main peloton time and time again. It's much more difficult for breakaway racers than it is for the large peloton because in the bigger groups you can 'rest' a bit by riding in the slipstream of the other racers around you. Thus, it requires less exertion.
At least, that is what they tell me. Personally, it wouldn't matter to me if I were in the slipstream of a Mack truck....I would not be able to peddle that long or even stay in that hunched over position. My back aches just watching these athletes! I have such tremendous admiration for bicycle racers because of the intense and long durations of time that they must be exerting their physical abilities. Unlike most other sports which require much less....say poker, for example.
When the hell did poker become such a 'sport'??? You can find 2-3 poker tournaments taking place on cable almost any time of the day. hahahahahahaha I shouldn't laugh as there are definately people out there that obviously enjoy this sport or it wouldn't get so much air time. Apparently man loves his sports more than most anything because even bass fishing has become a phenomenon and involves huge sums of money.
In these earlier 'flat' stages of the Tour, a mere 30 seconds separates the top 20 riders in the overall standings. This is still anyone's race and this adds to the excitement. Thor Hosvgoud was up there in 3rd place again today, since his injury from yesterday was not as debilitating as it first appeared. The drs said that there was so much blood loss because his heart had been pumping so fast.
Today at the finish line he even had his left foot off of the peddle as at one point during the sprint it looked as if he was about to crash into the wheel of the final stage winner, Robbie McKuen. Thor still managed 3rd place and is wearing the yellow jersey again tomorrow.
OLN and Le Tour
OLN has done a remarkable job, in recent years, of covering the Tour when other U.S. stations won't even touch it....at least during the beginning stages of this 3-week race. Of course, the race is competing with the World Cup and Wimbledon at the same time, not to mention baseball, car racing, bass fishing, poker playing and other more popular American "sports".
My main beef with OLN is the number of commercial breaks that they schedule in their programming. It's over the top, excessiveand highly annoying. And it must be lucrative as hell for OLN. They don't usually carry the same advertisements as other mainstream broadcasting stations will. L.L. Bean? How often do you see them on ABC, NBC, Fox or CBS?
That's about all the good that I can find from some such abusive advertising....you at least get a nice reprieve from Geico, Verizon, and various car companies that seem to have an abundance of cash for tv advertising. If I could figure out how to get my remote control of my tv to work in conjunction with my dvd recorder, I would most certainly record these daily events and view them afterwards and fast-forward thru the commercials the way that MOST males in our country do.
So who then is watching all of these stupid-ass commericals? Anyone with any brains at all is going to have them eliminated from their viewing. The commercials play for dumbos like me that barely even registers what a commercial is about. If I were to take a quiz, I wouldn't even be able to tell you who is sponsoring 90% of these commercials or what their products are.
All of the advertising ruins the tv experience for me. I only view it as an opportunity to leave the room to do something else.
Today's race had an unfortunate ending for Thor, yesterday's winner. Just prior to the finish line, Thor appeared to cut his arm badly by brushing up against yet another idiot spectator who was standing there waving madly with some object. I would like to choke these people sometimes. They cause crashes and accidents routinely by being inconsiderate of the racers on the roads. It's all part of this sport, unfortunately.
Collage story for Blue Planet
I named this piece Blue Planet. This is a 22 x 30" collage that I made several years back from a ruined painting. Originally I was going for an underwater seascape thing which went horribly awry as it progressed from watercolor, to acrylics, to pastels and on and on, so I took a large slice of the original piece off of the painting and threw it over my shoulder onto the floor.
I continued working feverishly trying to develop the original painting...sweat, sweat, curse, curse...and decided to take a break from it. As I turned around, I saw this slice of the painting had fallen onto a clean white watercolor sheet.
OMG!!! It was this beautiful mixed media abstract looking thing and I could barely contain myself as I quickly ripped up and cut up the remaining bit of the original painting. I new instantly how I was going to arrange these things on the white background, and it came out beautifully. It's much brighter in person and I have a $300 mat and frame job on it so that it's one of my all-time favs.
I continued with the collage theme from that point forward..always saving ruined paintings so that they could be reworked into collages. I have a whole series of pieces that I did using the collage techniques.
Le Tour
Once again I am glued to my television as I watch the beginning stage of this 103 year old bicycle race in France. This is the only time of the year that I watch OLN. I used to love basketball until Michael Jordan retired. I was an avid football fan until Joe Montana left the game. And I thought that with Lance Armstrong ending off with his 7th consecutive victory last year my interest would fade.
No way! I watched nearly 3 hours of coverage last evening and have been at it again this morning for hours. The Prologue is in progress and the seconds are ticking away as these racers attempt to finish with a respectable time as this race roars along through France.
Axel Mercx, the son of the great Eddie Mercx, might be retiring after this year. With 9 riders already being eliminated due to drug problems, this race is already completely unpredictable. Who knew? From the reports on OLN, as many as 22 riders were under questionable circumstances with regards to drugs and performance enhancers.
I'm glad that at least ONE of the sports on this planet is beginning to make some limitations on this drug issue which has so permeated our society that 80% of the population is on some type of medication. Most people don't have a clue as to the effects of the drugs that they are bombarding their bodies with and it's time for this 'so what' mentality to end.
I must return to the race! For me, this is the most exciting sport around and most people would disagree with that statement, for sure. It's not easy to be a bicycle racing fan and watch one of the races because they zoom by so quickly that you can't see much of anything. But the excitement surrounding attendance at a bicycle race is completely infectious and it brings back many fond memories for me.
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Doodles 124
6:30 am on a Sunday??
Black & White image
Florida 59
Viacom vs Google
Tour de Chaos
Pet Video Contest #10
Klimt revisited
A lot to be grateful for....
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