How Do You Recharge?

     As is his weekly ritual, a gay buddy asked me to join him for endless drinks at a gay bar.  FYI: "Gay bars" aren't like regular bars or lounges.   

They nearly-always involve thong-wearing guys dancing on poles, hardly anybody has shirts on, 

more groping & making out goes on than bar room banter, and lewd behavior is the norm.

(It really projects a devious image, doesn't it).  

     Anyway, he calls it his "recharge" for EVERY week--done on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.  He chooses not to give much time to anything else.

     Curious, I polled my friends for how they recharge.  I got interesting answers.  City-dwelling gay friends tend to do the same: drink excessively and ply themselves into pleasurable mischief.  

     Heterosexual friends--and gay friends elsewhere in the world--gave these answers:
-"Rather than follow trends, I follow my own path."
-"Going to midnight mass."
-"Composing music."
-"Playing anything on the piano."

-"Wine."
-"Paul Taylor dance company!"
-"Thinking of the last day of school."
-"Nature walks."
-"My beautiful husband!"
-"Something as simple as putting on a jazz song."
-"Sessions with my voice coach."
-"Driving down the Palisades."
-"My two cats."
-"Oddly enough, my kids."

-"Working out while watching my favorite TV shows."
-"Yoga."
-"Journal writing."
-"Being focused on a passion."
-"My teaching."

-"Meditation."
-"Walking around grocery stores."
-"Prayer."
-"Fishing."

-"My dog, who never fails to relax me."
-"Designing."
-"Listening to others' stories."
-"Music and books."
-"Gardening."

-"Watching figure skating."
-"Talking with my family."
-"Life is beautiful when you let it be."
-"Singing with the chorus."
-"My partner, Gregg."
-"Being grateful."

-"The same thing has kept me sane for decades: love."
-"Being present to care for friends."
-"Being in action."
-"My boyfriend and my pajamas."
-"Attending live music performances."

-"Activism."
-"Little things: quiet time, window shopping, coffee."
-"Buddhist practice."
-"Taking care of my shop."
-"Making food with my children."
-"Animal rescue."
-"Nature."
-"Seeing what amazing things my friends are doing."

-"Playing my guitar."
-"At age 76, being able to perform with my own band."
-"Walking my Yorkie."
-"My other half!"
-"Remembering the good in the world, and that I'm alive to add to it for another day."
-"Volunteering in my community to make a difference."
-"Taking time to tune into me and tune out what isn't helping."
-"The beach here in Puerto Vallarta."
-"Feeling free and looking to the future."
-"Singing music."
-"Golf."
-"Living in the moment without being discourteous to anyone."
-"Drawing caricatures."
-"The arts, in particular music."
-"Spin class with my boys."
-"Pushing through to get things done."
-"Knowing when to unplug."

-"Gratitude, inner peace, connectivity."
-"Reading great stories."
-"Walking beside the ocean."
-"My new wife helping bring joy and comfort to my patients."
-"Being with you, Ken!  And reading your blog."
-"Sitting on my porch, watching the water."
-"Rehearsing beautiful music that keeps my musicians in our collective hearts."
-"Staying informed."


     That's quite a disparity of priorities.  But then again, some guys are content to spend several years in blissful stupor.  

This is somewhat related to my previous entry: 

http://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2017/03/questioning-why-its-all-same.html

Rediscovered: Being Streamlined

Engineers in the 1920s (the infancy of cars) understood the importance of streamlining vehicles for speed/fuel efficiency. 

But they veered off that path in the 1950s: the era of ignorantly wasteful American excess.  Instead of have efficient cars, Americans were distracted by shiny chrome and bought hulking cars that were full of uselessness.

Look at all the wasted space, just to sell more steel (and gasoline to move such heavy cars).  It made oil companies happy, as well as petroleum refineries, and steel manufacturers: American industries owned by cutthroat entities who warped reality for profit.  (It's currently why most American homes are full of things made from petroleum byproducts).

Auto-making became worse in the 1970s...

Thanks to the American film industry, such gas-guzzlers were celebrated in fast-moving (often idiotic) plots.

Ignoring its motto of "free enterprise", the American government protected badly-performing American automakers by keeping out more-efficient foreign cars... for decades!  Meanwhile, American vehicles got uglier, costlier, required more repairs, and increased wasted space and gas-guzzling--even into the new millennium!  It is a crappy heritage!

The Big Three automakers--in cahoots with American oil companies and steel companies--didn't care about their environmental impact.  Petrol fumes, junk yards, discarded rubber, and exhaust polluted the nation.  Society degenerated from the potential of having wind-resistant trucks like this...

to big boxy behemoths like this...  

Why didn't the automakers care?  They had everlasting orders from police departments, fire departments, and taxi companies!  Each one acted as an enabler for more wastefulness.

For example, fire chief cars usually carry one person.  In the 1940s, they were a streamlined compact-size... perfect for parking anywhere that was available. 

But since governmental tax dollars are routinely wasted on police and fire departments (without public oversight), those vehicles ballooned in wasteful size... and blocks the road.

As other nations adopted smart choices, America obstinately chose to enlarge its municipal vehicles!

Knowing that governments will pay for their crappy products, American automakers resist efforts to modernize sensibly.

 

Exceeding American taxis, London Black Cabs remained unchanged for scores of years--roomier, more fuel efficient, and more comfortable than American cars.

Additionally, they never lost their design elements, which were successfully engineered in the 1930s for how cars should look.

Suddenly, American engineers are REDISCOVERING the need to streamline!

     Trying to recoup what they had in the beginning, they realize that consumers prefer foreign vehicles for dependability, maximized space, low fuel-consumption, and less maintenance.   

Progress is overdue in this country.  

To see more about automotive history, please use this link:

https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2016/04/where-did-great-american-cars-go-into.html