getting there, slowly

They say it’s half the battle. Or is that half the fun? I guess it all depends on who one listens to and the disposition of the listener at the time. These days, it feels more like a battle to me. Sometimes there’s a little fun mixed in, but it’s still a battle nonetheless. Much has happened since my last post, the most significant occurrence being my 50^th birthday on February 25^th.

That’s something of a milestone for somebody like me. There were those, in my early, self-indulgent and, some said self-destructive years, who took bets that I would even make it to 30. Yet, here I am. I’m still somewhat unsure what to make of this “achievement,” but life goes on and for that I am grateful. I mean, it could definitely be worse. I have my health, a fantastic relationship and home life and a job that, for all its challenges, is still far and away better than any dreary, humdrum widget counting job in a factory somewhere.

Unfortunately, with entrance to the next phase of my existence has come an increase in workload that has me completely bogged down. No time for writing anything except press releases and newspaper articles, when I’m not conducting massive marketing campaigns for Art fairs, award shows and concert performances. Such is the life of an in-demand public relations flak. Which is funny because that hasn’t been my official title since the late 90s, when I closed the chapter on my PR career with Paramount Pictures.

There’s been a lot of water under that bridge, since then. Ups, downs and twists I could never have imagined, much less written about even ten years ago. And some day, I hope to get to that. The clock is ticking, but I’m far from ready to retire. Again, I shouldn’t complain, but I would so love to be able to jot down some of the various stories clamoring for attention in my over-saturated brain pan. It’ll happen, but when? I guess we’ll just have to see. In the meantime, I take comfort in advice such as the following:

"The most solid advice . . . for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough." - William Saroyan

‘Nuff said.