Strikes and Gutters

Sometimes there's a man band - I won't say a hero, 'cause what's a hero? But sometimes there's a man band. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here; sometimes there's a man who, well, he's the man for his time'n place. He fits right in there -- and that's the Dude, in Los Angeles. ...and even if he's a lazy man band, and the Dude was certainly that -- quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide--but sometimes there's a man band.. Sometimes there's a man band.

Things have been really heavy lately. Stress here, stress there. The clouds all around me on a bunch of fronts seem to be getting darker and darker. What's worse is that it's starting to effect everything around me. I'm not answering email, I'm finding myself coming home at all hours of the night and then just falling asleep on the couch only to wake up hours later to the sound of the remote falling onto the floor and the TV blaring some informercial. Next thing I know I'm half awake saying things to myself that make no sense like:

"Esteban, is that you?"

But through it all there are sometimes these rays of sunshine that seem to break through the growing tempest. Letters from friends far away, christmas socks, rings like snowglobes with glitter inside worn on someone's toe -- things like that. Little flashes of ok sprinkled amidst the rising tides of things that suck.

I may not know much, but I do know that you've gotta hold on to those things, no matter how small they might seem.

Which is why I'm stepping out from under the umbrella for a second here with the happyDan moment of my morning. I don't know -- maybe this one's just for me, but my eyes absolutley lit up when I heard the news.

Wow, I lost m'train of thought there. But..
-- aw hell, I done innerduced him enough.

Nothingface is back!

[Listening to: Mudvayne, "Pulling the String"]