Invictus

Tonight:

Hail pelts down.

I saw the movie Invictus about Nelson Mandela and the South African rugby team. He is a great man. I read a biography about him years ago. He is truly one of the greats in the annals of history. What did I know back then? I had the 12-inch LP version of the Specials' song "Free Nelson Mandela" and then the song became obsolete a decade later.

Morgan Freeman is a great actor. You get a sense of Nelson Mandela from watching Freeman in the movie. It was a great day when black South Africans were able to vote for Mandela for president. Nelson Mandela was smart. He lived by his wits and his conscience and lived to see the day his country was set free.

You get the sense that South Africa is a beautiful land until you see the tin shacks. Nobody should have to live like that.

Nelson Mandela was a brilliant man. He had the courage to risk his life for what he believed in. How many of us would?

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Today while waiting for the train a woman complimented me on my new pocketbook and said it matched my pink coat. I had bought the turquoise backpack from a street vendor yesterday on the Upper West Side. My new mate and I had walked down Broadway and as soon as I saw the pocketbook I decided to get it because I always wanted a bag in that color. I can wear it in the summer with a black top and my beige linen pants.

That was yesterday, this is today: I arrived early to 34th Street and ducked into Loft where I bought an ivory tee shirt with a rosette design and a short sleeve black cotton knit cardigan to wear together in the spring. I was able to do this because I had some extra money. I'm really not a spendthrift. I love fashion. It could be worse: I could be spending money on cigarettes or booze.

So I feel justified in treating myself. Go ahead: mock me for being obsessed with looking good to a guy to myself to the world. All we need is love on earth and peace here too.

Life will continue: this glorious life.

It's a different kind of energy to wear the short pink coat: I look around and everyone is wearing black. Five years ago I traveled to Montreal and noticed that in that city everyone also blended in. It was early April and they had on black raincoats and I was walking around in my short red barn coat not knowing how to dress. So I recommend if you ever go to Montreal wear a black raincoat if you don't want to be a fish out of water.

Funny: how when I was younger I dressed in black all the time and I mean all the time. It was an instinct. Black was my favorite color. I wore black when I was moody. I wore black when I wanted to be taken seriously.

Now red is my favorite color to wear.

That time: the 1980s. It was a strange decade. Fashion hadn't evolved or maybe it was just different. One thing I know now: dressing well is an act of kindness towards yourself. I have learned this lesson.

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We went to the Metropolitan Museum and browsed the European paintings and the modern art. Then went to the City Diner for lunch.

I loved a painting of buildings in a neighborhood which makes sense as the location for a Gemini is the neighborhood and I have Gemini rising in my natal chart.

Felt I could be a good artist if I practiced painting and read the oil painting book before I actually took brush to canvas. The Complete Oil Painting Book I bought with an Amazon.com gift card I received after completing a survey about mental health blogging. One of the questions asked was whether I felt it was therapy to keep a blog and I checked off No. Joyful Music is an outlet for my creativity first and foremost. Therapy is a private matter although of course paid work could be consider therapy because it enables you to recover.

A memory has suddenly come on out of the blue: when I was a kid I took art classes in the summer and on Saturdays.

Why did I stop drawing and painting when I came out of the hospital?

Oh: I marched to other music in college and then the music died.

In February I will begin my painting hobby.

Wish me luck with this. I will post photos of my artwork here as it gets better.

Right now I will go sign off and go to bed.

Happy New Year!

Chris