272. Red Shirt

Once I bought a red shirt, and it was a big mistake I wore. People let you know, you know, when you make a shirt mistake. The great thing is no one remembers but me because they quickly go on to assessing other people's wardrobe. The scorn machine never sleeps. Too, I got lucky and no one photo-seized me wearing the red shirt. 

Along with the shirt, I'd purchases stylish shoes. Another mistake. Always is. Stylish means you're trying too hard. The question is, why record such incidents of low-grade shame? Because recording is a triumph over shame, thanks for asking. I bought a red shirt once, and now it doesn't matter. The shoes are walking all by themselves somewhere in the Mojave Desert. Which is a very stylish desert. 

hans ostrom 2019

271. Eccentricity Emergency

There's a point at which one's eccentricities create such a tangle of knotted growth that one must cover them as if they were mutant antlers anchored to wood covered in red velvet. In fact, there are times when one simply must not be oneself. Must behave as a conforming lackluster hologram so as not to startle, offend, alarm, disappoint,  confirm, or disgust. This is called acting or behaving responsibly. One can tell if it's working if people start treating you as if you were behaving conventionally. Agile small-talk, short-lived, may be one indication. Of course, through it all you may be thinking of the antlers in the basement, and the basement, and wanting to be there playing with the wires, carving wood, doing push-ups, perhaps listening to a vinyl long-playing record that hasn't accrued any particular significance in the culture. Of course, you will have your own equivalent of the basement. And the antlers.


hans ostrom 2019

270. What Can Happen When You Begin with Red

If it begins with red, then we're in trouble. Red is notoriously complicated, and do we want a complicated beginning? No. It must start in a way that's easier than red. What's easier than red?

Well, anyway, the second part is about a lake, rain, woods, electronics, and, sure, a bird. Dirt and rocks, but that goes without saying.

"When I meditate," says someone in part three, "I meditate in blue." Other "people" in part three are sick of hearing this kind of thing from that someone.

And finally, let's end with this: Remember that a thing in three parts can resist all efforts to make in a proper three-part thing. Yes the thing can purposely disgust like the yellow on your great aunt's teeth.



hans ostrom 2019