The 2017 Denver Modernism Show Is A Hoot, Daddy-O

The Denver Modernism Show is running through this weekend at the Denver Colosseum. It's a great place to take in bits and pieces of late 1940's to mid-1960's popular culture, furniture, and art. Go there, have fun, enjoy.

Repeat if necessary.

The Life-Long Conundrum

The nature versus nurture debate is a mother. For quite some time now I have been mystified by my own inability to consistently stay interested or focused on one single thing, to see a project through from start to finish without distraction.

It is never been possible for me to get started on a project, no matter how interested or enthusiastic I am about it, without eventually letting it sit in order to take up another project that catches my interest.

Naturally, I have neurotically pondered this shortcoming as if it was the answer to everything that has ever vexed me.

I've grilled myself like an attorney hopped up on dexies and caffeine, hoping to find that one little crack that I could exploit straight on until victory over self had been achieved.

The questioning was always relentless, and always the same.  

Why can't I work hard consistently? I seem to be capable of working hard, very hard, on certain projects for a certain amount of time, but eventually, I lose interest and enthusiasm and abandon the project. Why?

Why do I not have the ability to narrow my focus to one thing, one constructive thing that I can start and finish in a respectable amount of time?

Why is it so hard for me to develop a consistent schedule?

But the crack has never reveled itself.

I envy those who have the self-discipline to stick to a schedule, a routine, who start a project and finish it without distraction.

Have I been cheated genetically? Is it my genetic heritage to not be able to work consistently, hard or otherwise?

Or is it because I lacked an example of a persistently hard worker to mimic in my childhood? I don't think I was ever presented with an example of a hard worker from which to learn how to work hard - only an example of a stay at home mom who did what she could to survive.

Wait a minute, that's not true. I did have persistent, hard workers all around me as I grew up - my older brother, my older sisters, the parents and siblings of friends - they all worked hard, whether at jobs they loved or hated. They all took pride in what they did, too, whether it was the janitor at my elementary school or the manager at the Grocery store, most every adult I was in contact with as a kid worked to support themselves and their families.

Gotta figure it out, might take a little hard work and persistence, but I gotta figure it out.

A Little Ditty I Wrote That Pretty Much Summed It Up

A good friend of mine said he was a little concerned
'cause he heard about the break-up, wanted me to know 
He was there if I needed to talk

I told him; Man, it's nothing I haven't dealt with before
You know I'm the king of the creating my own misery

That girl, she was nothing special, hell
The only thing I regret is how I embarrassed myself
By taking what we had so seriously

Yeah, we went to concerts, and had dinner together
But brother let me assure you we meant absolutely nothing
To each other

She was just another girl who got bored with me
Just another girl who got tired of my face
Just another girl who ended up in hate with me
She was just another girl who left without a trace

Yeah, we went to see a few movies
And yeah, we went to more than a few shows
But apparently it was because she had nothing better to do

And apparently I was taking all our time together 
Much too seriously 

She was just another girl who fell in hate with me

She was just another girl who got bored with me
Just another girl who got tired of my face
Just another girl who ended up in hate with me

She was just another girl who left without a trace

Even Des Moines Is Keen On The "Make Ordinary Items Huge" Sculpture Movement

                                  Plantoir, Claes Oldenburg & Coojie van Bruggen, 2001 (3/3)

The Curious Aftermath Of An Evening Spent With A Normally Respectable Soul

Monday The Cat Glared Back

Just Ducky

Who Does It Better: Repaving City Streets

Guess which city is more concerned about the safety of it's residents, the health of it's environment, and the ability of it's local businesses to actually conduct business?

The above picture was taken tonight at just about midnight, near the intersection of Colfax and Kipling in Lakewood, Colorado. 

Colfax avenue is being repaved, and the work is being done late at night, as that is when traffic along Colfax is lightest.

And thus there is about a 1/10,000 less chance of a road worker being injured by an errant driver, there is about a 1/20,000 less chances of a driver being put at risk due to suddenly finding themselves in a dangerous driving situation, and about a 1/100,000 less chance of a thousand cars (or more) spewing pollutants into the air while waiting 10 to 15 minutes for a person in an orange vest holding a small stop sign to give permission to proceed.

Now take a look at this second picture. It was taken around noon along Chester street just north of East County Line road in Centennial. 

Chester street is being repaved,and the work is being done between the hours of 8:00am and 5:00pm, in accordance with the City of Centennial's Right Of Way ordinance.

And thus, as several studies done over the last few decades have shown (such as "Night-Time Road Construction Operations Synthesis Of Practice" by O.A. Elrahman, PHD of the New York State Dept of Transportation), the chances of a road worker being injured by an errant driver increases more than a thousand fold, the chances of a driver being suddenly thrust into a potentially dangerous situation increases over 10,000 times (as there are literally 10,000 more vehicles on Chester Street between 8:00am and 5:00pm than at any other time, night or day), and the amount of pollution expelled by idling vehicles increases incalculably due to the extremely long times the multiple thousands of vehicles that travel along Chester street every single day have to sit at a dead stop until the caravan of dump trucks being filled with scraped asphalt gets out of the way...

So, which city does it best? Which city actually cares about the health and welfare of road workers and residents alike? Which city actually gives a damn about the environment?

You only get one guess.

Going Out West, Just Like Waits Sang In That One Song...

Hidden On The Side Of The House

The Most Unlikely Confession

I figure the most unlikely confession ever would be from a media outlet that purports to be a news source revealing that all they do is peddle fear to the already frightened.

One Lovely Afternoon At West End Architectural Salvage In Des Moine

As the name implies, West End Architectural Salvage is a business that specializes in salvaging whatever can be salvaged from old buildings slated for demolition.

Which makes it a dream destination for the restoration minded.