Brush Away The Nostalgia
Where are we taking this year? Is this the year you shock yourself?
I'm in my twenties, living reckless
So turn the hourglass over and let's wreck this
It's a brand new world, I got a brand new heart
And everyday I make a brand new start
I'm in my twenties, not in a hurry
I got a bulletproof chest so you can hurt me
It's a brand new world, I got a brand new heart
And everyday I get a brand new start
An incredible year to come! How blessed we are! Big goals but to look back for a quick moment: the second most popular writing for Souled Idea was Chashin’ Checks & Snappin’ Necks. Funny to me. I forget how popular Maria’s cat was. I’ll send the most popular via substack tonight. hint: “Do you feel compassion?”
(also all substack billing has been paused - It was imperative to get Art House rolling before slicing time too thin. Will never charge you if I’m not creating for you. Affirmed - Winston.)
This year we’re taking the Art House into a world yet defined by language… a land where imagination and electricity combine in Holy matrimony to zap life into the bones, veins of humankind. In the words of good friend Weiss, “goals so big only the notebook gets to see them.”
But to share one resolution, in the spirit of transparency: Fall in Love less. Last year I set a personal record by falling in Love 17 times.
My goal this year is less than 10 and it was going well under January 3rd when I fell in love with the soft spoken northern woman (I know, an enigma right? Soft spoke AND from the North?) who I met on the street downtown. I noticed the signs early… Love… it’s grabbing me by the attention and focus. So I locked myself in the house for three days to recalibrate.
Every morning of 2023 has started off the same, more or less, as I’m working on less “creating when inspired” and more “train, practice your craft, push creative boundaries” this said; we’ve been proactive in attempt to establish some essence of ‘routine’ a word that has historically made me thrown up:
So the routine, every morning of 2023, has been to start the day with card counting.
Open the curtains, sit in silence in front of rising sun, shuffle fresh deck of Reno, NV playing cards authenticated in 2018 at the ‘casino’ on the outskirts of little Vegas where dreams and standards go to isolate in a smoke marinated $75-a-nighter. The cards have a purple and white back. They have round edges and an exaggerated impression on the middle of the longer sides. They’re worn in. They’ve been played halfway down the Grand Canyon, side of a mountain overlooking Wyoming, the side of a highway looking out at the Arizona desert, beside wine bottles in Napa, on ancient oak table in Natchez Mississippi cottage, beside fried alligator bites in New Orleans.
The cards, as one can see, are well traveled. A cultured deck who’ve been the cause of many emotion, up and down the tunnels of the human spectrum. Heart crushing defeat. Wild laughs of victory. Guns pulled in that Oklahoma saloon after Big Al refused to accept fate had put the 2 of hearts under my final draw in the seventh game of our expensive Hoe Dog showdown. Dust flying up into hardened eyes as boots kicked across the wooden floor, bodies launching forward wrapped in the grips of the oldest debt settler known to Man. The cards, even then, somehow managed to end up in my back pocket where they stayed until we were out of Oklahoma.
I shuffle those cards. Place them upside down. Flip, quick, counting. K -1, 9 0, 8 0, J -1, 3 +1, 7 0, 2 +1, K -1. Another K. Players advantage is down. 8 0, 7 0, 4 +1, A -1, 2 +1, 4 +1. Running count, check. Still flipping. Repeat.
I’m going to an Indian reservation casino this weekend if you see me offering to sell Souled Idea for a very cheap and affordable price just know the practice didn’t work and I lost everything… I’m hitch hiking back from the mountains… I pawned my cell phone for a couple more hands. I’ll be typing these at the public library desktop from now on.
Before leaving: Think of something absurd you wish to accomplish. I mean so far outside the realm of Reality that just by thinking of it you can almost begin questioning your sanity. Build it further. Imagine the details. Feel and see the specifics. Is it crystal clear? Make this your target for 2023 and don’t rest until it’s reached. Once you’ve conquered it, you’ll be gifted about 2 hours worth of happiness before ambition returns again. So it goes… How hungry are you? How much energy do you have? How passionately believe God has gifted you and you alone with a VISION?
LISTEN TO RATTLESNAKE MILK
With love, Fire, energy, passion, a long stream of synonyms;
Winston
Souled Idea
Naturer Enjoyer
City Destroyer
