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Coyote Mercury Posts

How Wonder Woman Taught Me About Santa Claus

December 23, 2006 • • 1 Comment

Last year’s Christmas posts about the various holiday traditions still stand whether it’s decorations, Christmas music, movies and TV, or food and drink. We even packed up the pups again and drove to Orange for a few days with my in-laws, though we’ll be back in Austin tomorrow for Christmas with my family.

Perhaps I’ll post a picture of this year’s tree, which relies on a far different decorating strategy than last year, though it’s still the same artificial tree.

Until then, the tale of how I learned that Santa was really my parents…

One day in the mid-70’s, seemingly months before Christmas, but possibly only a few days I snuck into my parents’ closet looking for a place to hide from whichever kid had been designated as ‘It.’ I crawled across piles of shoes and boxes and as I neared the back, I discovered some paper bags.

‘It’ was getting closer and things were happening fast, but I noticed a Wonder Woman action figure in one of the paper bags. I thought it odd that my parents had a Wonder Woman action figure, but I wasn’t going to lose a game of hide-and-seek worrying about it.

I forgot about the whole thing until Christmas morning when I saw that Santa had brought a Wonder Woman action figure to my little sister. Odd, I thought, but I filed it away until I could investigate further.

Days must have passed in which I tried to avoid the truth, but eventually I had to know. I entered the closet and snuck to the back. Naturally, there was nothing but open space. No paper bags. No Wonder Woman. No more Santa.

When I brought this up to my parents, they let me join the conspiracy and asked me not to tell my younger siblings. It only took a few minutes after that to figure out the truth about the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and the Great Pumpkin.

Let’s Watch a Carl

December 20, 2006 • • 4 Comments

Note: This post is part of the Carl Sagan Memorial Blog-a-Thon in honor of the tenth anniversary of Sagan’s death.

When I was a kid in DC, I used to love visiting the Air & Space Museum. I collected everything I could get from NASA and thrilled to the images that came back from the Vikings, Pioneers, and Voyagers. I also watched Cosmos even though I didn’t understand half of what Dr. Sagan was talking about.

What I did understand, what came through loud and clear, was that sense of wonder. That awareness that there were whole worlds happening out there. Here was a man who was humbled and in awe of this grand universe of which we’re only a small part. But here, too, was a man who wanted to know all the mysteries of the universe, who seemed to be seeking knowledge for its own sake and yet possessed of a desire to share that knowledge as if in sharing it he could fill us all with the kind of wonder that makes one recognize the preciousness of life.

I gained much from joining Carl on the deck of the Ship of the Imagination over the years. I found a love for knowing, not to be a know-it-all or to amuse friends with an impressive command of trivia, but for the kind of knowledge that fills the soul, fires the imagination, and makes us whole.

As an adult, I read Cosmos and Billions & Billions and was struck by not just his passion for scientific discovery but by his compassion for his fellow beings. One thing he said or wrote (I can’t remember) that has always stayed with me was something to the effect of “if we find life on Mars, then we must leave and not go back because then Mars would belong to the Martians.” It’s this desire for knowledge, this thrill of exploration tempered by a profound respect for and love of life that I most admired about Carl Sagan.

There’s another Carl connection in my life. When I was first getting to know the woman I would later marry, we found ourselves in a video store uninspired by the shelves of recent releases. Finally, she said, “Let’s watch a Carl.”

“A Carl?”

“You know. Cosmos. I love that stuff.”

I couldn’t believe it. Something in me knew that I’d found the person I wanted to share my life with. Here was someone who was as moved by the vastness and wonder of the universe as me. Someone who had gained at least a part of that from Carl Sagan.

I hadn’t seen Cosmos in years, but we rented “Blues for a Red Planet” and fell in love cruising with Carl on the Ship of the Imagination.

Thanks, Carl.

Fancy Pants and Pretty Sashes

December 19, 2006 • • Leave a comment

Recently, my copy of the Austin American-Statesman came with a glossy, shiny, glorious section that documents the doings of Austinites who appear to think prom shouldn’t just be for high schoolers anymore.

It’s called Glossy.

Color (and, yes, glossy) pictures of gentlemen in purple sashes and ladies in formal gowns smiling pretty for the camera beckon to be examined. There are ads for expensive cars and condos. It all looks so nice and elegant and sparkly that I just want to pack up and move back to Dallas where I can be part of that life too.

But, no, this is Austin. This came in my Austin American-Statesman, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why. Am I supposed to want to put on a tux and go to one of these gala things? Should I be jealous of the men in their sashes (when ma’s in her kerchief and I’m in my cap)? Do I need to know who’s going where? Should I be impressed?

Is this what I should aspire to?

At first I worried about the fate of Austin, but then I found that it only goes to certain neighborhoods, one of them, being mine, I note with a certain amount of horror. Are these my neighbors? Should I find my world tinted green by the lenses of jealousy.

I guess, at the end of it all, I’m left only with that great bloggy exclamation, heretofore unused here: wtf?

Weekend Hound Blogging: Houndspotting

December 17, 2006 • • 3 Comments

Joey came to us an addict. He takes tranquilizers for his anxiety, but we’ve been trying to ween him off. He’s down to half his dose of junk and, so far, no dead puppies have been seen crawling across the ceiling. He’s a few weeks away from his final hit, but I think he’ll be fine without it.

Of course, there’s final hits and then there’s final hits, but in the meantime using Phoebe as a pillow is a good way to relax.

***

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Fog on the Highway

December 15, 2006 • • 2 Comments

This morning one of those thick fogs settled in over the whole area. The kind of fog that makes me lose track of where I am on my route as all references to time and space disappear only to reveal hints and outlines of objects as I drift past wondering if I’ll miss the exit, the turn off, an oncoming car.

Drifting through memory to other foggy mornings, I recall driving to Dallas in ’94. I had a gig working as a grip for one of the networks that was covering a golf tournament. My car was on its last legs, but I hoped it would make it since the pay would be solid.

After about an hour on the road, I completely lost track of my location. I felt like a living example of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. I knew my speed and direction, but had only the vaguest notion of my location, which had been reduced to a series of probabilities: I was somewhere between Austin and Dallas.

Somewhere in the great foggy between, the car stopped, and I coasted through the gray predawn, drifting on a downhill slope towards what appeared to be an exit. I steered to the exit and picked up some momentum, enough to take me a little ways down and over to the shoulder of the access road.

Naturally, the car wouldn’t start, and I couldn’t see more than about twenty feet in any direction, so I started hiking north. I didn’t have to walk far before shapes began to materialize. As I approached, these shapes took on the outline and density of cars. Lots of cars.

As I walked closer, a sign emerged and I saw that I was at a car dealership. I walked in out of the fog and a salesman, who was just opening the place up, came to greet me and asked, “What can I help you find?”

“Umm, me. Where am I?” Sounding a bit like an amnesiac.

That’s when I found out I was in Waco…

And then, this morning, I drifted out of memory, off the highway, down another exit ramp, a bit unsure of my exact location, uncertain if I was on the right exit, but knowing the road would lead me somewhere.

Just this Around

December 15, 2006 • • Leave a comment

There are these times,
And then some days…

There are the leaves on the neighbor’s tree
That haven’t fallen yet
They’re golden crisp and burned
Standing out form the mistletoe
All around

Some mornings the sky is just the opposite
And the leaves stand out
But never seem to fall

I’ll watch them every morning
While the dogs investigate the yard
I know those leaves will never fall
Until I stop watching

All of this, this time, this day
It’s falling all around…

There is all of this and then these people too

Friday Random Ten

December 15, 2006 • • Leave a comment

A little bit of everything:

  1. “My Baby’s Gone” – The Pogues – Waiting for Herb
  2. “Telegraph” -  Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood – Outlouder
  3. “Lollie Lou” -  T-Bone Walker – The Complete Imperial Recordings
  4. “Hairdresser on Fire” -  Morrissey – Bona Drag
  5. “Get Lost” -  Sasha & John Digweed – Communicate
  6. “I Against I” -  Bad Brains – I Against I
  7. “Big Time” -  Medeski, Martin & Wood – The Dropper
  8. “Elizabeth” -  Ornette Coleman – Broken Shadows
  9. “Living Alone” -  John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers – A Hard Road
  10. “Wild Blue” -  Dave Douglas – Freak In