DISTASTEFUL TASKS

In order to not feel like boiled dog poop it's important to do yucky tasks now and then, preferably daily. To whit: I just cleaned up my email, deleting most of the 480 messages that had been hanging out there since last year.

Other distasteful tasks can include finishing a dog's hair cut. I did this a few days ago and although there's now a carpet of grey fur covering the patio, at least Diablo is not as lopsided-looking as before. I even brushed his teeth, which he celebrated by licking Astrid's ass (apparently, that's where he's been getting his smelly breath).

Unfortunately, writing in this blog has become somewhat of a distasteful task for me, mostly because I feel like I'm losing whatever rhythm I had before Malko was born. I feel like the few entries I've written since he was born (I thought I'd be writing every other day!) aren't that great, and it makes me a little nervous to write more. But I know I should just keep doing it!

I removed the last entry I wrote (about guns, violence, etc.) because I thought it was too serious and too preachy and kind of stupid, but I'm putting it up again because the night before last a couple was murdered here in Ventura (it seems to have been a random attack) and even though my post doesn't say things exactly the way I want to say them, at least it does a little. Ultimately, it's not guns I have a problem with, it's people who hurt other people. I was shaken by the news of the couple's murder, and if I can help counter the tide of seemingly senseless violence in any way--even if it's just by saying "I'm against this"--then great.

I don't think my thoughts are well formulated enough to write much more about violence and all that--I need to take more time if I'm going to write something I want taken seriously--but I can't help wondering/asking again if there actually is more senseless, "random" violence these days. It seems to me there is, but maybe it's just that there are more people, and therefore more crazy people? Or is it that with today's communication we're more aware of things that are going on, so it seems like there's more bad news? Last night these questions were going around in my head, and I realized that in the long run it doesn't really matter (well, yes it does...) if there's more senseless violence than there used to be--there's a problem, and it needs to be fixed.

Hum dee dum, I'm getting all serious-sounding again.

Serious is as serious does,
do not destroy my happy buzz.

Ok, I'm not actually buzzed, but I am a lot happier than I was two days ago, when I sank into a dark lethargic gloom and basically just stared at the computer screen for eight hours. It was not a "good place," as they say! I knew why it had come over me--because I'd neglected some distasteful tasks and felt like a loser--but it was hard to shake anyway. I was SO glad when Joedy and Lula came home and I was forced to be an active participant in the real world!

The sun's coming out now and soon Malko and the dogs and I will go for a long walk. When we get back I'll tackle one of these tasks:

a) plot Joedy's and my finances on an Excel spreadsheet
b) clean and organize the garage
c) drink the beers left over from Lula's birthday party

Before I go, I wanted to share my "salad smoothie" recipe:

6 cherry tomatoes
1 shallot
handful of lettuce
1/2 a green apple
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
1/2 a cup of sunflower seeds
10 small mozzarella balls
1 zucchini
1/2 an avocado
salt and pepper to taste

Coarsely chop all ingredients and place in blender. When thoroughly blended, pour into a chilled plastic bucket (with or without a handle). Drink while congratulating yourself on your culinary experimentality!