A FULL YEAR OF NAVEL GAZING

It is five days till the New Year. Which is as good a time as any to briefly review the past twelve months and what one has actually accomplished in that period. Doing so briefly is the key concept, because most people have done little except carry on with their lives (commendable), act normal (also commendable), and if they've accomplished anything it may not be apparent or fully realized yet, or still in process with no results that can be quantified.

What have I done this year?

I've twiddled.

My skills using Paint on the computer have improved, and while most drawings/paintings have been of pipes, there are several showing food, Hong Kong, San Francisco Chinatown, and a few others. There's a blog I've created for the pipe drawings: BRIAR PIPE ILLUSTRATIONS, of which I'm rather proud, and for which most people would absolutely not see any point. Same but less so for the coffee or tea cups, as well as the food pictures.

MILK TEA

BOOMLA

Or the creatures smoking pipes.

CAT

Like this self-portrait. I have more or less maintained my sanity, been mildly and twiddlesomely "creative", and said some extremely mean things about Christians and Republicans, of which I'm rather proud. No deep insights have been offered on this blog site, and I have not contemplated the meaning of life or my navel.

Well, not quite true about the navel. That's where the incision for my appendectomy two years ago was made, it's been somewhat ugly looking since then, minor scar tissue and all. But in the grand scheme of things a no-longer perfect belly button doesn't count. No bright personable female entity has looked at my navel and exclaimed "that's it, the relationship is off, that ugly navel has nixed it", and no one has actually seen my navel. There have been no bright personable female entities in my life except for my apartment mate, who is still single.
As am I. I am complacent about that, and don't think about it.

I suppose I could have actually searched for a bright personable female companion -- a friend in Canada obsesses over the concept, his life feels empty to him without one, and several internet friends and acquaintances seem to think that their lives are more complete because of one -- but I haven't spent any time doing so. Something held me back. No, it wasn't my navel. Perhaps the concept is more attractive in the abstract than the effort to actually find one seemed, prospectively.

A man past his vibrant twenties is not a hot item, and likely will have calmed down a bit by that age. If that man has a navel with scar-tissue, it might fascinate ony himself.

Navel-lint is different now.



As an "intellectual conceit", I would like to see another navel close-up, inspect it and admire it, perhaps over a hot beverage or after enjoying tasty food together, but that is NOT something one could ever put on Craig's List or advertise, the subject has not come up and is not likely to. And I haven't actually devoted much time to considering it.

Navels are nice. Everybody should have one.
Except for the lizards from outer space.

I spent a year twiddling, okay?

Anyone wishing to say something deep and profound about navels, including mine, knows how to contact me.




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