About Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark...
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Huh? That's what I thought.
Oh well, isn't that what blogs are for? To give us the
illusion that someone's listening? I'm kidding... a little.
I think it's wonderful that I've landed here at Artellaland. It
reminds me of one of my favorite movies. Remember the Island
of Misfit Toys? You know -- from the classic children's TV movie
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" wherein Rudolph, shunned by the
others because of his glowing red nose, runs away from home
with an elf who doesn't want to make toys. Instead he wants
to chase his dream of becoming a dentist and somewhere along their epic
journey they arrive on the Island of Misfit
Toys. I always felt that was a very
special place indeed. It harkened to me.
Like Spot, my editor, would say (and she's a So Cali kinda doggie) "It
really barks, dude!" Allow me explain. As a child I was
much like Rudolph. True, I wanted to fly! Besides that, and
the occasional red sneezy nose, I really felt that as a
super-sensitive, artistic, athletic and
intelligent girl, who didn't have a clue she was all that
different from everyone else, I never could quite fit in with my
peers. And they were quite happy to let me know it! I
became self aware. This is a most dreadful distraction and flaw
in humans I've decided and so, painfully, in my case I discovered I was
a misfit. My peers had labeled me conceited, while I
began suffering from isolation and persecution the more for simply
being terribly shy. I kept hearing things like "smile" and
"what's wrong?" What!? Why? I wasn't aware that I
wasn't smiling or that I had to smile on cue or to be on stage and
should perform at someone's command to appease them or to win
friends. None of this made any sense to me at the time and I
thought to be a Friend was to share and care, to be there and
listen, but most of all to treat others how you wanted to be
treated. These things I tried my best to do, but observed that I
sure didn't see that happening often in the world around me. So I
made a few decisions early on. I learned about Love and Faith and
to operate around Mystery and Paradox. In time
I learned who my friends were and not to listen to "those
people". I also learned to smile on the outside too. I
learned to speak up, speak out, to bark, and howl at the moon.
I'll even bite when necessary -- especially if I see
chocolate! I also developed a sense of sarcastic humor, and
thanks to the English language, I shall attempt to illustrate that and
incorporate that here in my blog with the help of Spot and my alter ego
Doc Grotchman. Well, that and my daily musings of my
life's journey... OH JOY AND RAPTURE!!! Just remember, if
that isn't enough to make your day, I'll be thowing in a few tidbits of
perspective from Right vs Left brain wisdom, which sometimes gets
separated from the heart... we need to check in with
both. Hey, check my Gallery too. And remember: "Don't Pathologize me, weird humor is the ally of sanity!" ~Doc L. Smack Grotchman a/k/a Lori Minick