What dreams may come…

Thankfully, dreams can change. If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses.

American comedian, actor, and talk show host Stephen Colbert was born on this day in 1964

I don’t think I ever wanted to be a cowboy. I was a bit young to grow up watching Roy Rogers and Howdy Doody. Although I did enjoy watching Cactus Joe on WSLS out of Roanoke every Saturday morning.

And, recently I had a conversation about the Johnny West action doll series. I’d love to have those around to put up on eBay. With those and my Matchbox Car collection, I could pay off the mortgage.

I digress.

Honestly, I can’t recall childhood dreams of what I wanted to be. Sure I had the fake doctor kit, but that was never really me. Reality is that it probably had more to do with art. I do seem to recall that for a while as perhaps a young teenager I considered architecture.

Although as a child I was never really considered to have any sort of talent. I mean, I still remember my first grade teacher telling me that I couldn’t put orange and red next to each other. You know, like God did in the rainbow.

Perhaps it is significant that the only other thing I remember her saying was that she could read Little Black Sambo to us one day because “Robert isn’t here.”

Early 1960s Virginia. You do the math.

Then again I think I also remember that I was left-handed but forced to write with my right hand which resulted of years in bad penmanship remarks and maybe the consideration that I had no talent in art. Maybe I’m misremembering, but most days I can’t read my own handwriting. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to that doctor’s kit.

I digress.

Maybe I still don’t have any real artistic talent. Maybe it’s just that I worked at it so long that I got to be “okay” with

graphic design.

Not okay enough to make a living at design because I don’t have a degree in art and there’s a lot of competition out there from folks who really do know what they’re doing. As I’ve discussed before, while I was accepted to Virginia Tech as an art major, I took a different route. And, that’s okay.

Now I do some graphic design on a pro bono basis. I play around with designs in my Zazzle and Cafepress shops. And I have a dormant canvas which currently needs a fresh coat or two of Gesso so that I can start all over.

You can relate this back to yesterday’s post about not having the time.

One of the ways I’m saving time is writing stories about artists and actors, sort of tying it all together.

Work with me here.

That’s also the way I’m venting some frustration these days. Piss me off, and you will be a character in one of my stories.

Briefly, if you get my drift.

It’s cheaper than therapy.

Also born on this day in 1950 , American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer, Steve Wonder

Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.

 

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