Friday, July 30th

Idling...waiting on a passenger

Sometimes I wish I were a morning bird content to stretch my wings and fly on the winds of happiness. To soar far above the earth riding currents of contentment...it's always nice to think calm things and drift for a moment whenever things get a little hectic inside the ole brain...

What do you do when you have like 50 eleven million things to blog about but when you log in to blog it's like....uh...ok....hmmm....dam

Or in my situation, I feel on fire creatively right now but I'm having a hard time getting my brain to slow down enough to translate what I'm feeling...I hate when that happens to. It is so frustrating, almost like someone dangling a fat chunk of double chocolate fudge cake in front of me and then snatching it away as I reach for it. I sometimes get extremely creative whenever I get wound up with job tensions or life issues and then it's just a matter of getting prepared for the creativestorm that is soon to follow.
When I was younger, whenever I got punished and had to stay in the house or in my room is when I created my best pictures as a kidddie. Even now as an adult I think my best works are created shortly after something stressful or emotional happens in my life. More than likely this is because I channel most of the negative energy into the passion of creating artwork. I find this to be very therapuetic as it allows me to sort stuff out mentally while at the same time catch a serious creative flow.

And last but not least, without naming names I need to apologize to a few individuals who I know more than likely will read this post....You see, the last few days I've had a few "negative karma" moments with a few key individuals both on my job and in my personal life and want to publicly acknowledge to them without going into the juicies that I am sincerely sorry for those bad vibes emmanating from somewhere inside bad greggy and apologize for reverting temporarily to azzholizm when a degree of prefessionalism and wisdom would have done the trick more efficiently and most definitely with a better result.

With that said and out the way, I sincerely hope that everyone of you has a very good weekend! Have fun, be safe and above all...be yourself, after all you're an expert at it, right?

Peace
Artist Greggy on 07.30.04 @ 07:14 PM EST
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Monday, July 26th

just a slave..or is I ?

Thats what I am when it all get stripped away to the bare facts. Not a slave as in yes suh master suh slave but a slave as in to my art...or rather my art has me by the ouchers. I can't control this fire within me, this force that drives me to do art as if I might miss something if I don't. I've always been that way, even when I was younger I drew and painted like I breathed and ate. Have you ever wondered to yourself what the heck are you here for? I mean, whether you believe it or not, everyone on earth has a purpose in life, a reason for being who they are, who they were born to be...Most of us wander through life following paths that were basically decided for us early on by the whims or desires of our parents, or even by unplanned life circumstances. Nothing wrong with that at all, in fact most of the time it's a pretty nice fit, we accept the cards life deals us and make the most of it without a second thought. A lot of time, however, we end up in jobs or careers that are far removed from what we "prepared" for in college or high school. I love my day job, but I know in my heart that I was born to be an artist, not necessarily the greatest artist, but an artist all the same. I used to wonder when I was growing up what the heck I was going to do with myself, what career path I would take, since the boy didn't do that college thing...and at that time I had no clue that art was my vibe, my flow. Now I have no doubt at all that art is my calling. This is what I strive for, to be able to do one day...resign from my job and do art, for both self-satisfaction and for profit. I have no delusions about getting rich off of art, after all artists are a dime a dozen, but to do art for the joy of it is enough for me anyway (of course a brotha wants to get paid though)...So I have to admit that in that sense I am a slave to my art. I obey the call when the flow comes over me because I have to. Actually, that's all right with me...this is what makes me..me.

What do you think your calling in life is..or do you even feel you have a calling yet? Who are you supposed to be? Or are you content with just dealing with whatever comes down the pike for you in life, making the best out of whatever you're dealt? (which by the way is perfectly honorable and respectable)

Just musing...
Y'all be good ~1~
Artist Greggy on 07.26.04 @ 12:19 AM EST
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Thursday, July 22nd

Terror Alerts...

Since I once again don’t have much to blog about I’ll just yik-yak about a bunch of nothingness. I don’t know if any of you guys have noticed the little “Terror Alert Level” buttons that I added to the left hand side of my page near my blogroll. I designed a handful of different ones each with a different saying on them and they change randomly with each refresh or visit to the page. All of these buttons are tongue-in-cheek mind you, in other words, I just took the seriousness of the situation with the daily terror alerts from the Department of Homeland Security and put a humorous spin on mine to help make the whole issue more palatable. Actually I got the idea for these buttons from visiting Franks and Jamila’s blogs where they have similarly humorous “terror alert level” buttons on their pages, although theirs are “slightly” different than the ones I made and from a different place obviously. Ok now I know that all this terror alert BS and warnings about terrorists possibly striking us again at any moment is some pretty serious business not to be taken lightly but I saw/see no harm is having a little chuckle at our own fears with a little humor, knamean? Why is it then that at work someone pulls me up and informs me..."Greg, I’ve been checking your site and noticed your cute little Terrror Alert Level buttons and they are nice and all but…I think you should remove them because they disrespect the people who died on Sept. 11". I was like WTF??? Come on folk, can we lighten up, yes? How is making fun of our governments current preoccupation with “warning” all of us when we are about to get blown to smithereens disrespectful to those who perished on Sept 11??? I’ve always countered bad news with good news or at least laughter or humor, it helps make whatever is so bad in the first place more easier to bear. I just found it hard to believe that someone would take that button of mine and twist it up to make it seem as if I was mocking those who died that day…*shaking head*…In fact, having this person comment to me about that made me decide to create a whole bunch more buttons and will post them shortly also.

I better hush my mouth before the rabid Republicans for the Defense and Preservation of Good Thoughts Only read this and have me escorted off the premises like they did Linda Ronstadt in Vegas…
Y’all be good

Artist Greggy on 07.22.04 @ 07:15 AM EST
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Monday, July 19th

good side / bad side

Whose voice do you listen to most of the time? Your good side? Or your bad side? Honestly ask yourself that question...and we all have to admit it, that we all have two different sides of our brain that we use at different times in different situations, perhaps with two distinct and separate alternate sides of reasoning. Not meaning that we USE both sides in making decisions, but maybe sometimes we do. It's sort of like the eternal struggle between good and evil manifesting inside our minds, our thoughts. I know for a fact that I have two very distinct sides of reasoning, one side is my good side or rational side and the side most likely in control of my thoughts at any given moment. This is the “me” in my zone, where I live, interpreting the data of life experiences around me, analytical in my thinking, hopefully taking all that in and making good decisions from such. On my good side. This is the me I project to the world because that is what and who I am. A good guy, not a knucklehead or saint by any stretch of the imagination, but a decent bloke, no? I call this side my rational side or "Good Greggy". My good side, mind you...This is the "greggy" you guys know because I am in good greggy mode 99.97% of the time which usually would include most of my on-line time and off-line time. Good greggy mode is where my creative art side lives, where that nice chap dwells, friendly, compassionate, very respectful, gracious, loving, humble, accepting of others, kind, yadda dadda, blah blah blah...in other words, all the good qualities a person would strive to have, so to speak. This is the side I listen to 24/7, the side I try to make my "moral compass", my anchor in life...

Then of course there is my other side...The point 3% side...I couldn't even call it my "bad" side either, 'cause it's really not "bad", as in evil bad, but bad only for the sake of comparison here. I call this.."Bad Greggy". Bad greggy thank goodness is a very rare chap, usually restricted to very critically strained moments and then for only an extremely brief moments at that. That side is my irrational side, impulsive, the meanie, the side that is always trying to do stuff that don't make no sense later on, knamean? He's been showing up a lot recently, especially when "good" greggy is operating a motor vehicle. His nickname must be Road Rager and he has been known to curse and use hand signals when feeling threatened while driving. Bad greggy has also been rumored to have entertained the notion of choking up a few fools, not once but on several occasions when they didn't appear to understand that the blinking green light on the dashboard in front of them meant they were trying to make a turn, or when I have to slam my brakes on because a foo just dropped out of orbit into my lane only to have him go into coast mode??? Or the clowns who perform those "I'm turning right at the light even though I'm in the far left lane maneuvers". I've noticed that lately I've been allowing bad greggy to control my driving, can't help it, but it's like everyone out there has lost their grasp of Driving 101 and is just free-lancing it down the hiwayzzz. ...And good greggy is finding it harder and harder to cope out there and has just been leaving the driving to bad greggy. *sigh* You guys more than likely will probably never ever run into “Bad Greggy”…that is, unless you drive slow in the fast lane, forget what a turn signal does, change lanes frequently and without looking, or any other type of behavior that indicates a total lack of understanding or regard for the driving regulations of this country.

(I know I need to work on that fool before he get me in "deep" doo!)
signed: Good Greggy
~in the hammer lane...still chilln~

artist greggy on 07.19.04 @ 06:57 AM EST
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Friday, July 16th

Idling on empty

Just a few lines of randomness, trying to purge some idle thoughts that beg me to be set free...


I remember tomorrow as if it were yesterday
Your look when I passed by you
told me things that were secret
even from yourself you kept hidden
the sun the moon and the stars
hoping to claim them another time another place
like stolen family jewels locked away in a safe
they were denied a chance to help illuminate
that time when they took away your soul
and left you there in that place alone
then I remembered tomorrow
as if it were yesterday
and smiled again

Drip
Like molasses you flow over the world
with your hate and your ignorance you go
forth and fool us into believing your lies
Satan you are a trip a slow drip like cancer
eating away at the weaker part of my psyche
until I heard that sound that drip and shut it off
or so I thought but I still heard your lying smile
and became annoyed at that sound that drip
that had lingered in the shadows of my mind
I called my plumber to fix that noise
by reaching for my Bible

~chilln into the weekend~

artist greggy on 07.16.04 @ 12:19 PM EST
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Tuesday, July 13th

How can people be so heartless?

How can people be so heartless, so cruel, so hard? I happened to be off from work last week getting some home enhancement work done and since I couldn't really surf around on the net while waiting for them I flicked the the TV on to pass time and the usual crop of shows dealing with dysfunctional families was on....One of them caught my attention only because of the issue they were discussing, which happened to be paternity testing. I for the life of me cannot understand how a person can be in a relationship, being all lovey-dovey the whole time, baby we gonna do this, baby we gonna do that, have unprotected sex, conceive another human life and then when confronted with the possibility that they may be the father and then all of a sudden BAM! BooM! Then the song is like.."Awww...naw, hell no that aint my baby, sheeet, she was messin around on me while we were together, she's a stank, slut, hoe beayatch and I just want her to get lost and out of my life forever..." Sure there are situations where one or the other done flipped the script and done something bad, maybe they were cheating but those issues if known should have been dealt with long before baby-making time was here.
What can possibly drive a man to deny his own child like that after the act? It really pains a brotha to see the coldness, the hardness in todays society. Babies being tossed in trash cans right after birth, kids 5,6,7 years old cursing grown folk out and not being CORRECTED, youngster's singing and rapping of sexual fantasies and getting high and then making millions off their work, CEO's raking in billions while their U.S. based employees are losing jobs left and right to cheap labor overseas, whole departments of people getting pink slips a few days before Christmas...now how cold is that? I've noticed that most everyone, especially "our" people have issues with making eye contact when passing another person on the steet for fear of being attacked or threatened...it goes on and on...I'm telling you guys it's a spirit, a spirit of hatred and hardness settling in on people everywhere, like a fog. Doesn't have to be this way either, we are all born with brotherly love to one another anyway. It's over the course of our lives that most of us become hard, crusty self-centered people due to our environment or "atmosphere". *sigh*
Just like that old song from back in the day says..
"What the world needs now..is love, sweet love."

On a lighter note to flavor Hump Day..
I ran across this while surfing. It may be worth a giggle or two

ANSWERING MACHINE AT THE MENTAL HOSPITAL
"Hello, and welcome to the mental health hotline....

If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you have multiple personalities, press 3,4,5 and 6.

If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want, stay on the line so we can trace your call.

If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be transferred to the mother ship.

If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a small voice will tell you which number to press.

If you are a manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press, no one will answer.

If you are dyslexic, press 96969696969696969696.

If you have a nervous disorder, please fidget with the pound key until a representative comes on the line.

If you have amnesia, press 8 and state your name, address, telephone number, date of birth, social security number, and your mother's maiden name.

If you have post-traumatic stress disorder, very s-l-o-w-l-y & c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y press 000.

If you have bi-polar disorder, please leave a message after the beep or before the beep or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.

If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9.

If you have low self-esteem, please hang up. All operators are too busy to talk to you.

If you are menopausal, hang up , turn on the fan, lay down & cry. You won't be crazy forever.

If you are blonde please don't press any buttons, you'll just screw it up.

Disclaimer: The preceding was a joke and nothing but a joke. It was not intended to offend you if you are afflicted with any of the aforementioned disorders, or anyone who looks like you, walks like you, or is known by you.

Y'all smile and have a smooove day!

artist greggy on 07.13.04 @ 11:04 PM EST
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Friday, July 9th

where will you stand...

Where will you stand brotherman?
when they write your name in sand
on marble steps in a foreign land
weeping mommas trying to understand
the token telephone calls he was a good soldier
a fine young man a patriot coming of age
not ready to rage against the tyranny of it all
taking the fall for some fool on The Mall
unable to stall the eventual fall from grace
of an empty space that could never be erased
it still unbelievable just how much of a waste
a fools nightmare has cost the human race
at the end of time
Where will you stand?

Where will you stand sistahgirl?
when they open the door to Babylon
and beckon with promises of the world
the very earth beneath your feet will be as gold
getting old yet still the lies that are left untold
will swallow your dreams and let your life unfold
as a plastic beauty pretty as hell yet empty as a shell
you have no time to be real it'll kill your sex appeal
reaching for crumbling dreams of being a fools Queen
a prize in disguise in the window of lies
if only for the night
Where will you stand?

artist greggy on 07.09.04 @ 07:20 PM EST
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Tuesday, July 6th

You were there...

I just wanted to take the time to thank you again for being there when I needed you. Who are you? You are you, there really isn't a reason for me to have to explain who you are since your actions sort of speak for themselves. You were there for me from the start, when I took my first breath, even though I was much too excited at the time to take notice of you or what you were doing for me. Even when I was a small child, you were there for me, guiding me through my early years, keeping me safe from harm, steering me and directing me. Although I was much too busy being a kid to notice what you did or when you did what you did, now it is quite apparent to me that you were there for me all along. When I was coming up through high school and getting into my fair share of trouble, you were there, helping me to understand the difference between right and wrong and allowing me to experience the consequences of my actions firsthand. As I grew into a young adult male you were there, catching me whenever I fell, which was often, and setting me back on the correct path to adulthood. You were there as I started a family, even then I was too occupied to notice how much you were there for me as life just didn't seem to want to pan out the way I wanted it to...but still you were there for me. Even now as I still continue to grow you are there for me, in fact it is so obvious that you never left me all along, even in my darkest moments or times of doubts.

You were there for me, and are still there for me. And will always be there for me. Thou art wonderful God. I am who I am because of you.
Thank you.
artist greggy on 07.06.04 @ 11:47 AM EST
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Monday, July 5th

Back in the Flow...again

Whew....finally able to jump back in the river we call the internet. It really is like a mighty river, capable of pulling weaker minds along, caught up in the current, swept along like so many pieces of debris floating on the surface, unable or unwilling to reach the shores of sanity. Like I said a hot moment ago, thats for "weaker minds". I remember when I first started using the "internet" on a regular basis, heck that was even a good 6 years ago.... I had just bought a PC ( one that was "built" by someone who knew computers)..Back "then" it was quite normal to have a PC that was a combination of many different "maufacturers", not like it is now when just about everyone has a new PC out the box, all from one factory..Plus, it's amazing how much this thing called the internet has evolved since just then. Back then you could pretty much surf the internet all day without having to worry about virus this, virus that. I've alway's wondered why someone intelligent enough to create such mayhem couldn't realize the good they'd do if they just acted like they knew....oops, we developing a lil rant here, time to cut it off and flip....I'm out, hope you guys like my new flavor, just a lil' sum, nothing bizarre, just trying to chill a new stlye..
~1~
artist greggy on 07.05.04 @ 06:33 PM EST
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