REAL THINGS THAT GET MORE REAL, LIKE FEELINGS

Real things are not a mystery.

Maybe mysterious, but not a mystery.

For that we can thank science.

And thank some blogger for posting images too small to read.

More mystery? Not with the right solution.

According to the Goebbels School of Communication in 1930’s Germany, it doesn’t matter what you say as long as you repeat it often and loud.

The message could be life-saving like the Covid vaccine, or complete bullshit like the bleach and bright light.

Problems arise when the shit-talk comes from a source, or office holder, known for integrity in past times, known for honestly and strong moral principles.

People carrying believes important to them in ways unknown to normal people hear a source, an office holder they trust and admire, go off on an ignorant spiel devoid of reasonable meaning and it’s as if the word of God has spoken through man directly to them.

Again.

The one hundred human figures in the top image represent feelings felt by people while they’re being scanned.

We’re supposed to think our bodies light up?

Ask a baby boomer about scans lighting up in the wrong places.

When that happens there’s a phone call in your future:

“Yes, ah, David? I hope you’re sitting down.”

Color me sad on that one.

 

The Question Of Real Things

After decades spent working in museum collections I have a feel for material culture, for things and stuff.

My feelings ran the gamut during object searches, like finding the right saddle for an exhibit.

I felt like I held Narcissa Whitman’s saddle, but it looked just like three others that had gone undocumented in the past.

The range of colors would have gone from amazed, to shocked, to disappointed.

It was the wrong saddle. It might have been the right saddle, but without the proper identification it couldn’t be used.

That’s the way it works in an agency tasked with authenticity.

A lack of historical record, a lack of provenance, the link of ownership, disqualifies real things.

I felt it was real, but that’s not good enough.

You can’t fuck with facts and create doubt and still call it history.

People who do that are in the shadow areas of feelings.

 

Move Toward The Light

You can tell people who don’t get outside much.

They squint, they’re unusually pale, and they insist they’re not a mushroom.

They pass through life like ghosts.

No one, especially not me, says you need to light up every room you walk into, be the life of every party. Any party.

But as a favor to friends and family, work on the opposite of being a depressed drag-ass.

Based on the images, that attitude sucks the light out of every room, kills every party. Any party.

If you know people like this, then you know they need help, more help than you can give.

Who, then, can help them?

Ask them if they need help?

Just don’t put on your ‘I’ll Fix You’ smile and make things worse.

Let a professional listen.

And yes, I’ve been to counseling. Marriage counseling, which I recommend to all married people.

I showed up with the wife to an appointment where the therapist started with, “Let’s see if we can save this marriage.”

I corrected him with, “We’re not saving a marriage. That’s not why we’re here. We’d like to learn better communication tools.”

Kept it sweet and simple, just like my wife said she wanted.

The counselor wanted to expand his role? Only he could save my marriage?

There’s a word for someone who says, “Only I can solve these problems.”

Try not to sound like a fucking fascist when you offer to help, or get hired to help.

Instead, be more like the upholsterer when I took a couch cushion in that someone had spilled dinner on.

Okay, I spilled.

“What do I get for spending $350 for cleaning?”

The man smiled up at me and said, “You’ll get progress.”

I love progress, so I must have lit up?

 

All About The Love Light

Do you understand what these scans mean?

If you do, leave a comment.

I like them for the aesthetic expressed in the words more than the color scheme.

People have feelings and the body responds.

I had feelings once and ignored them. For that I spent the night in ICU.

 

After one of the best weekends imaginable, including a farewell, family, and the embrace of loved ones, I remember thinking: “Now I can die happy.”

It’s a common saying heard from healthy people and it’s funny. I’ve said it before and it felt funny. Not so much this time.

It was a funny twinge in my chest, which is no surprise. Last week I put up 225 lbs on the bench press. That’ll twinge a few things if you’re not ready. In other words I lift weights, I’m a weight lifter, and there’s always a twinge, a cramp, a spasm, a pull, or a tear.

Cranking through planned resistance training everyday is a key to staying young, or at least vital. One point is bragging rights:

“Did you lift today?”

“Yes, I lifted. And here’s what I did,” followed by listing sets and reps, the sort of conversation people hear too often and quit public gyms. Gym Rat talk.

Except I didn’t lift Friday or Saturday.

 

I didn’t die, no one discovered new ailments, no surgery, no meds.

Just feelings. My feelings got me, got to me.

On one hand I was glad to know I had feelings. On the other . . . ?

 

This OR That vs This AND That For Real Things

Things hit differently for everyone, but happy is still happy and sad is still sad.

Check your feelings, talk to others about their feelings.

Feelings are real. If you doubt it, just shut up.

And don’t leave some crap comments about sissies, and pussies, and wussies, and fuck your feelings kind of things.

Boomerpdx isn’t that blog and I’m not that blogger.

You don’t need to rush off for a scan for proof of feelings, either.

You don’t need to see your brain scan.

 

But you do need to understand why you have certain feelings.

If your actions and feelings are at odds, find someone to talk to.

With so much talk about mental health awareness, give it a try.

All anyone expects of you is living in harmony with yourself, your loved ones, and your community.

People have done that since the dawn of civilization.

If you feel yourself drifting toward a one-man solution for your problems, and he’s one of the creators of the problems, check your feelings.

Get in touch with the real things in your life, not the sort of things some charlatan says is more important.

Earlier I mentioned the Goebbels School Of Communication in Germany during the 1930’s?

It didn’t end well for the director in the mid-40’s.

Try not to be swayed by jack-assed messaging.

It has a way of pulling things into the dark.

Trust your feelings; they are real things.