From The Mundane To Something Else

My god but I've been lazy today and it's been lovely. The rain has been falling gently all day long and I haven't felt a shred of anxious, a molecule of guilty. Whether it's the drug or the rain or a special blessing from the goddess Ixchel, I do not know and I do not care.
I did actually get out the grout cleaner I bought a few weeks ago and although it didn't do much for the grout, it did in fact, get Mr. Moon's tub cleaner than it's been in at least a decade and I know that for a fact because we moved in here almost ten years ago. It's an old tub and I've tried like hell to clean the stain off of it and never succeeded. It's not entirely glistening white but it's about 90% better. The name of this magic (and probably extremely toxic) product? Here.

It really didn't even smell bad at all. 

Too bad the damn grout still has mildew in it. I've tried bleach and everything else on that grout and it's just absorbed the mildew into its very bones and that's all there is to it. At least that's what I'm telling myself. 

Have y'all watched any True Detective? The HBO series starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey? (And no matter how many times I write his name, I have to look that fucker up to see how to spell it.) We've been watching it and quite frankly, I am bit behind on what is actually happening but I will say that it's fascinating watching. I've never seen an actor able to make his eyes as dead as McConaughey can make his. I saw him on that crazy Inside The Actor's Studio the other night and he was talking about the role he plays in that series. He said that the scripts are so well written, the dialogue so full that he has had to scale himself back tremendously and I can see exactly what he means. Harrelson is fine in his role but McConaughey absolutely blows him out of the water. I feel guilty about saying that because I have loved Woody Harrelson with all my heart since he showed up on Cheers but it's just the truth.

I am not sure I will ever act again in my life. I seem to have absolutely no call to it right now. There is just no part of me that yearns to do it. Even last night when I took Owen upstairs at the Opera House and showed him the stage and the dressing rooms where I've had so many wonderful, amazing times- it brought no rush of desire to do it again. And I can't call myself an actor in any way, shape or form but I do believe that I know good acting when I see it and it's like good writing- you don't see it happening. It seems effortless. It seems real. 

That's how McConaughey is in this role. He is scary good, at least in my opinion.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention that. I'd be interested to hear if any of y'all are watching it and if so, your thoughts. I realize that Mr. Moon and I are the only people on the planet who still watch what's on TV when it's shown instead of Netflixing everything, either with discs or with streaming. 

We're whacky like that. One of these days maybe we'll join the 21st century when it comes to our viewing habits. 

Okay. Here's something that made my heart happy:

A girl at the airport in Tokyo, awaiting the arrival of the Stones who are set to play there. How cool is that? I know, I KNOW, I'm crazy. I can't help it. Like that girl holding up the sign, I heart Keith too.

There's the man himself, getting off the plane. 

When I wrote all that stuff about aging the other day, I thought a lot about the Stones and how they aren't allowing age to stop them from doing what they do better than anyone in the world. I think that the secret to that is the obvious passion they have for what they do. Even old Sir Mick, whom I could probably be convinced still does it because he likes money, because no one in this world could manage to stay in the sort of shape he keeps himself in simply for the bucks. Well, maybe they could, but I doubt he's hurting for cash. So if there's anything at all that keeps us alive in the truest sense of the world, perhaps it is passion. I think about older people who seem so very vital and they all have one thing in common- that passionate attitude about something. Good causes, their art, civil rights, the environment, hell, it could be the law or the grandkids or growing roses. These people often work tirelessly well into their seventies, eighties, even beyond, and could retire and live a genteel life of ease in the knowledge that they have done their job but the fact of the matter is- they do their jobs because they love them and they give meaning and joy to their lives. 

I need to ponder that. And be grateful for it. I'll never forget watching Eubie Blake perform on some show a long, long time ago and he was introduced by the very talented, handsome and much mourned Gregory Hines. Eubie was in his eighties, at least, by then, and yet the way he played piano with those gnarled, beautiful fingers was a thing to wonder at. His love for his music was so obvious. It was like- why die when he could still do such a thing? He lived to be 96 years old. Yoko Ono just turned 81. Have you SEEN the woman lately? She stood and danced throughout the entire Grammys a few weeks ago in obvious delight. 

Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, still doing their good works at the age of 86. 

Passion. 

Which equates to beauty in my eyes and perhaps, the secret to a long and vital life. 

In some cases at least. 

How in the HELL did I get from grout cleaner to that?

Fuck if I know.

Sunday night. It's been a good and lazy day. 

True Detective is on tonight. I'm a little bit excited. Maybe not passionate, but definitely happily anticipatory. 

And speaking of passion, the frogs are deafening me again with their cries of it. "Love me!" they scream and their voices pierce the night as well as my ears. And what is passion if it is not love? 

So to you I say on this Sunday night:

Love...Ms. Moon