The Work of the Rat

I came across a special on Walt Disney tonight when I was flipping through channels while dog sitting. It must've been made several years ago as some of the people they interviewed are dead now. At the end, it talked about The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco that Walt's daughter, Diane, created as a lasting tribute to her father. A few years back, Mom and I spent several hours there but unfortunately we were in the parking lot waiting for AAA because the Jeep's battery decided it couldn't go on living. We didn't get to tour the museum because we got there just before it was closing, and the price was too high to justify going in for only a half hour. One of these days I'll make it back there though as I'm very curious to see it.

While we were waiting for AAA, we met a very nice man who ended up driving me to the nearest auto parts store to buy another battery. He gave me his card when it was all fixed... he worked for Disney Studios. I remember his license plate was "WRK4RAT"... work for The Rat. :) I still have that card and think about him every time I think of Disney Studios now. I'm so glad there are still people in this world with a sense of chivalry and old world values, and it completely makes sense that he works for Disney.

Walt Disney really was an amazing man. He accomplished such an unfathomable amount in his lifetime – and so much of his work has touched and changed SO many others' lives in a positive way. How does one get to that level of greatness? 

In the documentary they talked about Mary Poppins and how Walt went in person to England, to the lady that wrote the original story, and charmed her into letting him make the movie. The author sounded like an earlier version of JK Rowling. I've thought many times about how influential that movie was in my thinking in different ways at different ages. When I was little, I saw it more from the two kids' point of view and I remember wishing my babysitters were more like Mary. Ironically, the best babysitter I ever had was, in fact, named Mary and she's the one that taught me how to make chocolate chip cookies. (Hmmm. I really owe her a letter! We still keep in touch!) I remember distinctly that the reason I started keeping my room clean was because of Mary Poppins' view on "a place for everything and everything in its place. Spit spot!" And when I made keeping things tidy more like a game, I never minded cleaning stuff up again. ("In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun... find the fun and snap! the job's a game.") It's probably the reason I've grown into such an organized person. At another level, the mixture of animation and live action was a relatively new concept in those days, and it only fueled my imagination for things that are not commonly seen in our dimension. As an adult, I could see the story that you miss as a kid... how Mary Poppins pulls a family together and teaches them all mindfulness in different ways. And that when the wind changes, you must move on. Every time I watch that movie I get something more from it. That's really the truth for many of the original Disney movies.

Of course they talked about the theme parks as well. Both parks are yet another one of those projects that when you look at them, you wonder how he could possibly accomplish all that in one lifetime. Technically, he didn't because Epcot and Disney World weren't finished until after he was gone, but the ideas were his and were well underway when he bowed out. I wish everyone that walked through the gates of Disneyland or Disney World could be hit with a spell that would give them the ability to perceive the principles behind those parks - all the thinking and planning that went into them, and Walt's intention to build places where families could enjoy life together. I know the media and Hollywood makes the 1950-60s out to be all sunshine and rainbows and unicorns when in truth it wasn't, but it would be so nice if people would go back to being respectful and courteous like what's portrayed, with high ideals and good manners, and goals and dreams. The only man I can think of that would fit a similar bill for Generation X (albeit in a less-gentle way) is Steve Jobs. Generation Y, well... we won't even go there.

When you look at those old films from that era, it seemed like such a lighter time. We haven't even realized how much darkness has crept into our world with money and corporations and lawyers. Talk about a spell from a villain! What's funny is we already know what will break the spell too because Walt told us a thousand times... true love breaks any negative spell. It doesn't have to be romantic love, just true.

I hope we all remember in time, Walt. You surely did your part by leaving us all the reminders you could think of. I wish I could thank you in person.

Ain't Nothin Pointless About This Gig

When I was little - knee-high to a grasshopper as they say - Mom had a vinyl record that I loved to listen to over and over, by an artist named Harry Nilsson. This record was not your typical record. It had music on it for sure, but it also had a story - a very pointed story - and that story was appropriately called, The Point.

So far in my lifetime, I haven't met anyone who remembers this story when I ask if they've heard of it, which I find a little strange (and sad since it was an excellent piece of entertainment), but I did find some movie captures from the DVD on YouTube so I know I'm not the only one that finds it enchanting.

If you read the Wikipedia information on Nilsson, he's had his hand in everything from The Muppet Show to My Name is Earl, but not many people seem to recall who he was offhand. His career seemed a bit jinxed. The two songs you would probably recognize are "Coconut" (...you put the lime in the coconut and drank 'em both up...) and Everybody's Talkin' (yes, that one: everybody's talkin at me/I can't hear a word they're saying/only the echoes of my mind...), but I'll bet you wouldn't have been able to recall it was him that sang those. I was also surprised to learn from Wikipedia how connected to the The Monkees he was. I loved everything about The Monkees when I was a kid! And although I knew Ringo Starr did the narration on the DVD of The Point, I didn't realize how connected he was to the Beatles as well. But I digress...

In hindsight, I can see how this story may have influenced my thinking in a very positive way for the rest of my life. I can't tell you how many times a line or song would come to mind long after the LP disappeared. It's probably been a good 20+ years since I've owned a copy of it, so I went looking for it online the other night.

I know the record has been out there the whole time, and is out there still, available this very moment on Amazon in fact. I just don't understand why, in this recent age of apparent awakening of the Collective Conscious, it hasn't taken off like a shot. Maybe Oprah hasn't heard of it yet.

I'm here to tell you though, if you enjoy wordplay and double entendre, the message behind the message, and an enlightened kind of thinking, you should buy this story because you will love listening to it over and over, no matter how old you are. If nothing else, buy it for your kids (or nieces, nephews, etc.) because they will be better people for listening to it and being influenced by the ideas.

The story starts:

Years ago there was a place called The Land of Point, and that was because everything in The Land of Point had one. The barns, the houses, the carts, everything. Even the people. Everyone in The Land of Point had a point on the top of his head. Everyone, that is, with the exception of Oblio.

Now, although Oblio was born to a set of normally pointed parents, and although he was born physically perfect in every other respect, he was born without a point. He was round-headed. And as time passed, Oblio became increasingly aware of his uniqueness, and so did everyone else. Which made life in The Land of Point rather uncomfortable for him, and his parents.

You see, Oblio became sort of an involuntary celebrity and he was subject to the sometimes cruel and unusual harassment from his schoolmates. It wasn't easy being the only pointless person in the whole Land of Point. And in an effort to make life easier, his mother knitted a pointed cap for him to wear. It was to conceal his pointless condition, but it didn't do much good because everyone knew he didn't have a point, so it only managed to make Oblio a little lonelier. In fact, the only real friend he had was his dog, Arrow.

Nilsson's song Me and My Arrow comes in here on the audio recording. After that the narration goes on to describe how Oblio and Arrow win a game against the villain of the story, are put on trial, and are consequently banished to the Pointless Forest (which turns out to be not so pointless after all). In their travels, they meet many interesting characters, but my favorite is The Rock Man.

After a journey through The Pointless Forest, Oblio and Arrow return to the Land of Point with a new point of view, which they share with the villagers. Something very interesting happens then, but I don't want to spoil the end, so you'll just have to find out what The Point is for yourself. :)

The original audio recording is so much better than the DVD in my opinion (except for the wisdom of The Rock Man, which was expanded in the animated version). I've always thought plain audio (or books for that matter) are better because they allow your imagination the freedom to create its own scenes and characters. Don't get me wrong, I love movies too and I see a lot of them, but you can't always allow Hollywood to do all the work for you.

Anyway, I'm sure you get The Point. :D

The Bunny With Cookies

I keep forgetting today was Easter. The age of egg hunts and bunny baskets has passed for Katy so the holiday doesn't mean much to either of us anymore. My closest family is down near Philly, Mark went to his sister's house, and I took Katy to the airport to go to my mother's in New Mexico for Spring Break, then I came back and finished some work from Friday. Exciting. (Edit to add: I ate way too many Girl Scout cookies while writing this entry - does that count as celebration?)

The best Easter I ever had happened when I lived in Arizona. I think Katy was probably 6 or 7. For whatever reason I decided not to drive out to my grandmother's house that weekend. (She always cooks a big dinner on "major" holidays even though none of us are Christian.) Instead, Katy and I went to a Native American Pow-wow (not our first, and definitely not our last). As I sat in the Great Circle watching the hoop dancers in all their feathers and finery, I remember being truly present in the moment, and thinking how even though I love spending time with my family, it was so much more appropriate for us to be there that day, celebrating Life in general with these strangers whom I admire so greatly. If you've ever had a moment of complete clarity like that, where you feel so peacefully connected to everyone and everything, you know what I'm talking about.

I hope the ease with which those moments used to come to me will return when we live in San Diego. Not to say I haven't had any here in NJ, but it definitely comes easier to me on the western edge of our island. I've started letting go of the furniture to get there.

~*~

The We Inside of Me

If you have 20 minutes to spare, use it to watch this video. It is a most amazing story about (and by) Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist who witnessed her own stroke and came away with a spiritual experience that obviously changed her life.

My Stroke of Insight

It's especially cool to understand the science of right brain vs. left brain functions, and connect that to our perception of the world around us.

I love at the end when she says: Which would you choose? Which DO you choose? You'll have to watch to understand.

~*~

What about taking this empty cup and filling it up
With a little bit more of some innocence
I haven't had enough; it's probably because
When you're young, it's ok to be easily ignored
I'd like to believe it was all about love for a child...

Mraz has this new song, Love for a Child. It's not released yet really (will be on the CD coming out May 13), but it got leaked on YouTube. He says he wrote it for his "very divorced parents" and I'll tell you what - there are not many songs that make me want to cry, but the chorus of this tune hits home a little too hard.

My parents have been divorced since I was 3, and only speak to each other if there is no other alternative. I have no memories of them being together, and when they're in each other's presence they act like business associates. It's hard to believe they were ever in love, and if my stepmother is witness to their meeting it's hard to remember Love exists at all.

Was it Mom who put my Dad out on his ass
Or the other way around
Well I'm far too old to care about that now...

My mother left my father; she wanted to finish her college education but Dad wanted her to be a stereotype stay-at-home mom. I don't think my mother had a cell in her body (at the time) that would allow her to be happy doing that. They both remarried, but only my Dad's marriage has survived (30+ long years, but at least this time he married exactly what he was looking for). My stepmother and I have reached a tentative peace just in the last decade.

My mother cut her second husband out of our lives so completely after he divorced her I probably wouldn't know him if I tripped over him now. I don't harbor any ill will in his case, but only because I can't remember much about the time he was in our lives. His mother, Fran (whom I considered one of my grandmothers), actually made a bigger impression on me. She looked like Queen Elizabeth and had manners to match. :) She was a very proper lady. Maybe it came from being Canadian. She did not put on airs, airs would be lucky to put on her, but in the kindest way possible. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'll bet she's the reason I love having tea. I have a vague recollection of having tea with her in the afternoons. Unless that's one of those things I made up until I believed it. :shakes head: No, I'm pretty sure that happened because I remember her collection of tea cups (they were lovely) and not being allowed to play with them. Hmmm. (My mother just confirmed it on the phone, that tea with Fran is a valid memory. Yay, I'm not insane.)

All my childhood memories are so misplaced in time it feels like every story I know about my younger years happened when I was 12. I'm often surprised what age my family claims I was when I'm recounting an event. I surely didn't feel that young when it happened.

Growing up with a single mother and minimal involvement from my father made me precocious in many ways. When you have to fend for yourself a lot, I guess you take in knowledge at a faster pace in order to survive, thus gaining more skills than the average bear. It can produce some nasty side effects though. I don't need a shrink to tell me that a good part of the control freak in me was developed from having no control over what happened with my parents (especially my stepmother), combined with a lot of time alone (and precious little control over that) because Mom was busy trying to make ends meet, and Dad stuck so rigidly to the court-appointed visitation times you'd think he was brainwashed to believe that was the only time I existed on the planet.

It's kind of nice to work the floor since the divorce
I've been enjoying both my Christmases and my birthday cakes
And taking drugs, and making love at far too young an age
But they never checked to see my grades
What a fool I'd be to start complaining now...

My birthday is five days after Christmas, so while I smiled at this part of the song because it's true children of divorce often get to celebrate things twice, the proximity of these two events in time sometimes cheated me out of the only positive result of my parents' split (from a child's point of view).

I forgave my parents long ago, but the scars etched in my history pushed me forward beyond my years. At age 19, just when I was about to get over my lack of childhood and maybe regain some footing on a different kind of immaturity, I had a child of my own and any innocence I may have hoped to enjoy disappeared. Maybe that's why my 30th birthday didn't bother me at all. I feel like I've been two ages so far in my lifetime: 12 and 30. Once in awhile a random fairy godmother makes me 21, but the feeling never lasts more than a few hours. I can only wonder what age I'll feel consistently next. Probably "retired." :rolls eyes:

I hope what they say about Capricorns living backwards (being serious in youth, and youthful in old age), is true because that means there is still hope of filling up my own empty cup with the star dust of so many innocent wishes. That would be brilliant. In the meantime, I'll just keep searching for the steady beat of peace and love and security - those moments of clarity that make Life wonderful.

~*~

We saw Horton Hears a Who last night at the theater. I've always loved Dr. Seuss, but my favorite book was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I don't remember reading Horton too often. I was surprised at the bold stab this movie takes at group-think religion, but I like the message it conveys of "exercise tolerance and respect, but don't stop questioning." Yay for teaching kids HOW to think instead of WHAT to think! I also appreciated the more obvious communication that just because you can't see or touch something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I have to make a trip to B&N now and refresh my memory of how the book actually goes because I don't remember Seuss making such a stand on controversial points. Perhaps it just flew over my head. The movie is worth seeing though, IMHO, so grab your kids or nieces and nephews (or go with adults, because you really don't need kids to justify wanting to see an animated movie) and escape for a couple hours this week. It does use passages from the book, but they don't rhyme the entire dialog.

Jim Carey and Steve Carrel are just awesome as Horton and The Mayor of Whoville, respectively. You can just see their faces in your mind's eye as their comedy makes you smile. Worth the price of the ticket! (The title of this entry will take on new dimensions as well.)