st. patrick’s day

well, i never did get another beer, but mostly because i was trying to order one from the cook.
i didn’t get far.
but got far enough.
i got to the fire
i got to the din
i got to the moment
of never say win
i got to the cowboyz, across from the comfort inn.

cowboyz is back behind the gold coast mall. we used to go to the gold coast mall and play galaga. the puppet-man was there, and once a clown on stilts. once i did a dog act/training session in a mall, but that’s another story.

what about cowboyz. well, they let you dance on the bar. i think they even pay some girls to do it.

and they brought in lower case blues. lower case blues has changed a bit since i saw them last, and i was still taken away. they did a harmonious version of dueling banjos, but with guitar and bass. they almost got cut off after some space and drums, so they settled on johnny be good, and there was dancing, and general amazement. and me, i was still taken away.

and me, i wore my guinness shirt, again. even though i can’t afford guinness. ESTD. 1759 it says. i wonder if times were tough, then, and if they were allowed to brew their own beer, which apparently they were. i don’t believe we are allowed to have a brewery here in worcester county, at least that’s what i heard from this beer store out on 611.

which confuses me. because beer ought to be brewed along the shores of the chesapeake bay.

so i got home

so i just got home. and what a night. what an evening. what a beginning to this day we call the st. patrick’s weekend.

and there were guinness girls, for short time, and they gave out tiny guinness glasses, til they left. and some people still ordered guinness, but i didn’t, because i can’t afford it.

and there were little guinness lighty necklaces. but i took the glowey guinness bottle off of mine, and shined the little laser lightbulb at people, but only my friends, because that’s just they way i am.

and me and meanredjenny, well, we toasted the depression, more than once, and whether those toasts were for the first depression, or the one now, or for the one in between (the one we both might of went through, silently), i’ll never know.

and the first band was pianowire. and boy did they get into it. i swear i was all kind of thinkin too fast, too many times, so often, then there i was right in the middle of the magic. those kids are from baltimore. or btown. or this other thing i cannot spell.

and then came the lower class citizens. and it was stellar. i mostly got lost. but i recorded some of it, and i had about eight minutes on my tape so who knows what i got. maybe tomorrow we’ll know.

because tomorrow is another day.

so at one i point, i toasted michael, too, who was not attending. we all hoped his st. patrick’s day weekend was kicking off right. as was ours.

and so, sadly, i must attest that MDHC’s ryan muller is going on the road for a time. but when he gets back, we are going to record. maybe even the day he gets back. who knows? plus a special guest. special guest, i say, we hope.

we can only hope, because time is still of the essence, in this town. time is still undefined. who really knows?

who knows what lurks in the minds of men? not me. wouldn’t want to. the way i see it, men are mostly nice, and sometimes cuddly.

and somehow i have a piece of red tape on my arm. funny thing, that.

anyway, back to the town, and back to the music, and back to the holiday.

happy st. patrick’s day, everyone,

rambly.

life-related work

so i have work.

<startled glances. gasps of surprise.>

no, really. real work.

<raucous cheers.>

anyway.

what this post is about, tho, is mapping. namely, the social mapping movement that is bringing real-life back to cyberspace. you remember real-life. all that stuff outside? well it is being mapped.

and what does that mean?

empowerment through accessibility. for starters. people in devastated new orleans are mapping which groceries are open, and have food. new england farmers are mapping farm to table markets (real marketing, the ultimate enterprise).

and if you already have enough food, you can map other things, like constituents, if you happen to have any, or post offices, if you happen to be losing them, such as they are in the uk.

(btw, we don’t lose our post offices here in the us, because our post offices team up with large media corporations to make media about people who used to write letters.)

let’s see, where was i? oh yeah, working.

<more raucous cheers. openings of bubbly. pourings of espresso shots into warm guinness pints and shavings of chocolate.>

no, really.

this is a work-related posting. about life-related work.

because i have been using the platial maps for numerous things, most recently the bigTree project (mapping champion trees). and i felt had to ramble a moment about the inherent paramifications of these life maps, these maps of life.

what will happen? this is what i wonder, and what i hope to glean a glimpse of with this diatribe. what will happen when i can find a local farm, and know that certain foods are being harvested?

small scale – i can have a map of farm customers (such a strange word to use for a farm – we are so much more integrated than the word customer can emote). resources will be saved by more efficient farm to table. many much millions of resources, if we consider what is spent now on traveling food to large chain grocery stores.

back to small scale – i am intimately connected with my local farmers, and local community. now all i need is a local iPhone competitor and i’m all set.

<averted gazes and quick, furtive swigs of guinness espresso.>

ok, again, back to small scale. what happens when i map big trees? people can see if any notable trees are nearby, and add the ones they know of. overall consciousness of tree canopy, integrated ecosystems, and sense of time is enhanced. perhaps more trees are allowed to get big. perhaps fewer people opt for the post-industrial monoculture lawn(desert), and let a few more areas grow wild. diversity rebounds, stress decreases. climate may return to balance.

ok, back to small scale.

always back to small scale.

but the inkling of the thought i had in mind when i began this posting had to do with people. non-connected individuals now able to see each other. provide services. raise awareness of projects. we really are not alone. there is no them. just us.

i am on a map, therefore i am on a map. and what will happen when that map can do what it can do?

unknown.

it is a fine time to be alive.