Happy Mardi Gras - Part Three

There really isn't anything else to say... but thanks to brianoberkirch you can see what it's REALLY about.

Happy Mardi Gras - Part Two

For those that don't grasp the reality of this amazing day (which would be pretty much anyone who hasn't lived through it in one of the intriguing and wonderful places on the planet where they truly celebrate Carnival)... One more time.... It's NOT about "show us your tits!"


Pictures live and direct from New Orleans today via Twitter, and courtesy of pontchatrain


YEAH YOU RIGHT!

Happy Mardi Gras - Part One

Last night I fired up the Safari on Nola.com and the iTunes to WWOZ and watched my favorite Mardi Gras parade... MUSES. I even pulled my Muses official high heel mardi gras beads down from the shelf and wrapped em around my neck.

The reality is that carnival began back at the end of Christmas but for me the celebration of "Mardi Gras Time" begins with the Muses parade. Now I'm here in my home/office struggling to track my way through a day of work (still recovering from the brain fog of a nearly weeklong cold), raise some money, pay some bills, and get some things done... but all I really want to do is be out wandering around on the streets this weekend, watching parades, listening to music, parading with the Indians and basically experiencing that thing that is Mardi Gras.

I'm even tracking a whole collection of folks who are Twittering their Mardi Gras experiences.

I am in party mode and despite the fact that I am in Petaluma and not in The Big Easy...

I WILL have a Happy Mardi Gras!

Y'all do the same!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Groundhog Day!

With the return of February 2nd, we once again "celebrate" Ground Hog Day, that time when we all wait to find out if that big rodent in Pennsylvania saw his shadow. This morning, evidently, he did, while also declaring the Pittsburgh Steelers to be world champions. I guess Punxatawny Phil keeps a tv down there in his hole.

My favorite part of Groundhog Day is the annual reminder of the film of the same name with Bill Murray and Andie McDowell. It's a classic early 90s goofball comedy, but better than most of that particular genre because it serves to remind us of the fact that we make our lives by the way we pay attention... or don't. In the film, Bill Murray repeats Groundhog Day over and over, until he first begins to realize what's happening and then finally learns the lesson he most needs to understand.

This also plugs into my return to a new 40 day plan. After bailing on my last plan, just before the new year, I've been floating along in search of focus and direction. The simple fact is that I do better when I have a plan. My various natural tendencies to distraction, and my perpetual flirtation with new ideas and intriguing projects, are all more creatively and productively channeled when I set myself up a structure to channel my flailing imagination.


So, here we go again. With Phil's prediction of 6 more weeks of winter, I am choosing to take on my own Groundhog Day discipline with a new six weeks of attention to the details of my life. My own sort of repeat it until you get it right discipline, running from now to the Ides of March.

In the meantime, just remember... Don't Drive Angry!!!