DOUBLE DIDGE IT: MY REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

SELF AND BARON DOUBLE DIDGING

Because it was an algid zero degrees (too cold for guitar busking), Baron and I doubled down and went didge busking.   

Mentioning this to my friend, who was stunned that I was still busking this late in the season (never mind that I was still busking this late in my years), she asked me how it was busking as a senior compared to when I was a university student.  Not so strangely, I always seem to be reflecting on this particular friend’s questioning of my behaviors.   

And so, my significant frother (a portmanteau for friend and other), here it is, then and now.

Hmmm … Back then I was an inkhorn studying English literature.  I loved Beowulf and Chaucer, much appreciated Shakespeare, was in awe of John Keats, and Kurt Vonnegut was my champion.  Now I am still an inkhorn, a part-time university professor teaching in the Psychology Department.

Back then my regimentals were a denim jacket, white t-shirt, blue jeans, and hiking boots … now my busking garb is a leather jacket (purchased in Milano) or wind jacket (purchased in Amsterdam), a long-sleeved tailored white shirt (purchased at Colin O’Brian Man’s Shoppe), blue jeans, and work boots (purchased from Madame Yes).

Back then I rented a downtown basement bachelor apartment … now I own a downtown 1240 square foot apartment situated on the sixth floor.

Back then I was a percussionist and portrait artist … now I am a guitar strummer and didge blower (still a portrait artist).

Back then I really needed the money from busking … now I really need my delusional alterity from busking.

Back then I had no cash … now I have investments in corporate America.

Back then I was a hitch-hiker … now I drive an Acura RDX.

Back then I was physically fit, a swimming and scuba instructor …  still not battened, I’m a long-distance runner and weight lifter.

Hmmm …

And to continue with a couple more examples of my reversal of fortune reality:

Back then my guitar represented a kind of rock and roll religion … nowadays my didgeridoo really represents my ideal philosophy.  Like the didgeridoo, metaphorically I’d love to have no holes and no strings, and have my drone behaviors amplify my body desires.  Back then I was a real nowhere man going everywhere.  Now I’m an everywhere man going nowhere.

This bildungsroman blog entry reveals a past that has transformed to my imagined present. 

FACTOID: The difference between my otherness past and my niche present is not a bright-line; rather, it is a blurred narcissistic shadow attempting to make sense of my alterity.

Back then my university tuition costs were very high, so much so that I had to take out Canada Student Loans … now as a senior my tuition is free.

FACTOID: I don’t mind my age, but I don’t much like the idea of being a senior.  Being a senior connotes a decrepit  and mind and body, both of which I maybe am in denial but … this I know … I can’t stop the process of my aging … however … I can decide not to act out any societal expectations of my aging. 

FACTOID:  I decided a long time ago that being aged doesn’t have to mean being old.

FACTOID EIPIPHANY:  
My present self still loves to go busking because … 
I get to play out my alter ego - I get to be my doppelganger!

Just one person is marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week, my best friend, COLBY WILLIAMS.  Colby is now playing a regular shift with the HERSHEY BEARS in the AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE.

#25 COLBY WILLIAMS (MY BEST FRIEND)