politricks and other distractions

Finding Peace

The first time I realized the importance of having a calm, happy home life was when I was in acting school in New York. I was living in a crappy little mouse-and-roach-ridden apartment on 93rd between Riverside and West End. My roommate and I painted the walls in her room lime green, but we ran out of paint about 3/4ths of the way up the wall, leaving a straggly beige border around the 6'5" mark. The rest of the place was pockmarked with mouse traps and shadows.

Anne used to leave coffee cups with partial amounts of coffee in them lying everywhere. She wore dark red lipstick that stuck to the rims like sludge. Then she'd toss her cigarette butt in to marinate.

When my acting teacher Ron and I talked about my unhappiness in the place, he asked me a series of questions about what it took to make me happy. I said I needed some green space nearby. I needed peace and quiet. I needed solitude. Ron said, "so why do you think you should be happy when you don't have any of those?"

It was a good lesson to learn at 19.

My view from my living room window today, looking left:


The view if you're a lazy slob sitting in the blue chair facing the TV and looking out over Lucy on the ottoman. This weekend, we watched water skiers:


The view from the balcony at happy hour:


Life is good. You gotta recognize it when you see it.

posted by dcnative @ 8:07 PM