Odds and ends

I'm at a real crossroads in my life. Like many people right now, my worldview is being constantly challenged. I grew up believing that there was some kind of design to the flow of my life. My mom is pagan, and I grew up witchy. I believed in using energy and intention to create the world around me, and things just worked out, even when they didn't. I rarely got what I wanted, but I usually ended up better off. At least, that's how I chose to view things. Whether that was true or not is debatable.

Putting aside the horrors of the world for a moment, and just focusing only on my immediate circumstance, it's hard to look at the events of my current life and not feel like there's some deliberate intention there, though I couldn't say whose. Certainly not mine. I don't really believe in any sentient God or higher power, but I'm seeing poetry in the movements of life.

Sandra and I have been experiencing some uncertainty in our living situation lately, and despite some uncomfortable setbacks, it's looking really good for us. In fact, it's looking very much like we might be getting the best-case scenario, and that's very scary because I'm so used to other feet falling.

I've maintained that I'm an atheist for most of my adult life. It's hard because I'm pretty pragmatic when it comes to things beyond our understanding of the laws of the universe, but it's getting hard not to notice those throughlines in some of the stuff that's happened to us.

If things go as I hope they will, then Sandra and I are about to step onto a new path in our lives. A very different living situation and lifestyle that will require some adjustment. I'm excited, though. Nervous, but excited. I know I'm being vague, and I have to be, because things are in the air, but I'll come back in a week or so, and I'll have a better picture of what's going on.

SHELLEY

So I've been thinking a bit about Shelley Duvall lately. She was such a product of her time, and it's so devastating how her whole career was just derailed, somehow. I can't speculate about what happened because there are a lot of different factors at play, and I don't know which of them actually landed. There was her experience filming The Shining, which was apparently quite traumatic. After that, she kind of just floated around Hollywood and never really found her place again. She did the Fairytale Theater thing, which was great. She did a few movies here and there, but never got back to that vampy, Robert Altman world of artsy, serious films.

Maybe that's what she wanted, or what she needed, given her apparent declining mental health. Like I said, I don't feel right speculating about why she detached herself from Hollywood, but it does make me sad.

What I'm getting at is 3 Women and Popeye were incredible films, and I wish we could have had more of that Shelley than we got.

ART STUFF

I've been drawing a fair bit lately. Enjoying Clip Studio Paint so much. There's something about the brushes that feel a little more intuitive (in the way they function, not so much the UI) and natural to me.

I also added a witch to my Devils and Witches page, which is NSFW btw.

THE LONG WALK

This week is FINALLY the film adaptation of Stephen King's first novel (written, not published, that was Carrie) comes to theaters, and I'm pretty dang excited. It was, for a long time, my favorite King novel (though it was technically published under the Richard Bachman name), and while I haven't read it in a couple of decades, I remember it fondly.

The Long Walk is one of the movies that it seems really strange to me that it hasn't been adapted yet, but maybe the world wasn't ready for it. Now that things are so scary, maybe it's time to watch some kids get executed over and over again for a couple of hours. Why not? What else are we doing?

OH, we're packing. And getting ready to move.

Which I should probably get back to. More this weekend!

Until next time, same Joe time, same Joe channel!