“Well, if you want to live like that,” from a former neighbor who repeatedly offered pain medication and the name of her doctor. She was deaf to, I’m a Christian Scientist, for she knew what was best. I should have just taken the pills and sold them on the street.
“Well, if you want to wander aimlessly,” from a relative, who I later discovered had generously invited me to stay in order to get my act together. I was unceremoniously written off when I failed to meet expectations, for she knew what was best, too.“You always say, No, to whatever I say.” No, not only you; besides, where is it written I’m required to say, Yes? At least rethink your phrasing. Consider, "Have you considered," rather than "Why don't you?" Don't be pissed - be glad I'm such a smartie.
“Well, if you don’t want to improve (your situation),” by getting a real job and earning more money? Why? To raise my debt limit? For a poor person, I’m actually living pretty well. I may not have all the bells and whistles I owned in my youth, but at least now I live as I please. This morning I’ll be painting a clock, to sell on my Etsy store, soon as I finish this post. Or maybe not. At least now I can charge as much as I please because I don’t have much overhead (21-feet, to be exact).
Thankfully (in hindsight) no one will give me a substantial line of credit, so my only bills are phone and insurance. As Mom would say I live on the smell of an oil rag, which allows me to indulge in my current, poverty-stricken lifestyle.
The unsolicited advice began in earnest after I came back from Puerto Rico. What changed?
I became an artist full-time; absorbed Island Time; lived obliviously through civil alerts post 9/11; went bankrupt. That’s all I can think of.
I remember when I quit my job, sold near everything and bought Ruff Life sight-unseen. People thought I’d lost my mind while whispering they were secretly jealous, but it's never as easy as it seems.“Why not install a piece of Plexiglas over your motor-home?” Great idea; I’ll build something permanent on my landlord’s property.
“How about dying your hair Sky Blue-Pink?” If ever I want a date with someone who likes that color hair, sure.“You should paint fingernails; umbrellas; automobile detailing.” That’s only what I remember. Mentor Miguel once advised,
“Just say, That’s a great idea! You should try it." I have, but it's not much of a deterrent.
My words this morning words are running through my brain like a broken record…have I bitched about this before? Sorry. A recurring theme, rekindled during a recent, frustrating encounter. Wish me luck!
Photo notes (with links to web pages on my site): The colorful higueras were painted for a 2006 Paso Fino horse competition in Puerto Rico. The Tiffany-inspired gourd lamp shade was my first, but by no means my last. All were crafted from Puerto Rico’s tree-born higueras, which are harder than vine-grown gourds and very difficult to carve and clean.
The higuera, or calabash tree, once plentiful in our southern states, is still found throughout the Caribbean. I worked an average of 10 hours a day for close to a decade creating hundreds, possibly thousands, of one-of-a-kind pieces for festivals, exhibitions and competitions. Many of those will last far longer than you or me, for gourd fragments have been discovered in digs dating back 10,000 years.
Thank goodness the survival of my RV doesn’t depends on sales from art like my boat did. I continue to paint for friends, as I did at Community First. One resident asked if I would paint her a view of the sea to cheer her up while battling addiction; but since I couldn't paint a mural on the wall I picked up an old canvas at Goodwill. Tammy was thrilled with the results. She and her ‘View’, are now part of the documentary, Community First the Movie, currently premiering at the SXSW festival in Austin.
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