75 and Sunny - Ryan Montbleau

music can be sunshine

75 AND SUNNY - Ryan Montbleau

I’d had a bad night. I mean a night so bad, I thought I was king of the world. And I drank ‘til daylight. I mean I never stopped once until my hands finally fell. And I fought my daytime self with a mighty dose of, “Hey, look at night time me!” And I never do win that battle, but I fight it over and over and over and over, it seems.

And I saw an old man smiling on a park bench feeding the pigeons. And my head was spinning, and as my young body ached I wished for an old man’s vision. And I watched the way he moved--slow, serene and lucky to be alive. And I thought to myself, “I’m never gonna make it that far with too many more nights like last night.”

And I’d rather be 75 and sunny than acting like I’m 17 and freezing again. I’d rather be up early in the morning than up late at night erasing memories of where I’ve been. Or to be through at 52 someday stone-faced and bleary-eyed. You’d better believe I’m living for the moment but my moment’s growing bigger by and by.

And I’ve got a best friend. She don’t drink or smoke like I’ve been known to. She’s got religion. She’s a one-woman dynamo and shines a light in every room she goes to. She says the light that’s there won’t go nowhere, no way. She don’t spend every second smiling, but she’s learning something exciting every day.

She’d rather be 75 and sunny than 29 with a chance of showers all the time. She’d rather be old as dirt than new as any $9 bottle of wine. Or to be thawed at 35, mama, stoned with her back to the wind. You better believe she’s living for the moment but her moment is the whole damn thing.

And I see these spin kids, double wide-eyed rolling and rolling and tumbling. They’re roaming in inches, taking the high dive approach and screaming towards the water. Their hearts race a million miles as they buy another smile from a jar. Their bodies are screaming for the water and, you know, I just hope they can make it that far.

I hope they’re 75 and sunny, not 29 with a chance of flurries all the time. I hope we’re all old as dirt, not new as every $25 trip that we could try. Or to be thawed at 35, mama, stoned with our backs to the wind. You’d better believe I’m living for the moment, but my moment, son, is the whole damn thing.

And I say I’d rather be 75, oh, how nice, oh, how easy for me to say. I’ve never broken a bone in my life, let alone had my heart or a hip replaced. And I keep this furious pace, and I still feel so good and strong. And I still get tempted for a taste, just a taste to keep me going, going, going, going, gone.

But I’ve got a notion that everything I’ve leaned been coming ‘round. And my devotion to the new thing and the next thing and the hip thing is slowing down. And I’ve got a light in here, won’t go nowhere, no way. And I don’t spend every second smiling and I ain’t trying, but I’m excited for every day, every day.

‘Cause I’d rather be 75 and sunny than 29 with a chance of showers all the time. I’d rather be old and in the way than this year’s new kid running for my life. Or to be thawed at 35, mama, stone-faced and bleary-eyed. You better believe I’m living for the moment, but my moment… You better believe I’m living for the moment, but these moments… You better believe I’m living for the moment, but my moment’s growing bigger by and by…by and by.

snow lounge

i'm just not that into the winter olympics.
ooh look at us...instead of chopping wood and foraging for food, we have enough money and free time to play games in the snow all day...
just kinda rubbing it in the face of the rest of the world...
i know it's about dreams. and it's great these people are pushing their physical limits. but all the nationalistic competitive crap is heavy.

see what inspired tiger woods

let me guess...fake boobs?

moving tomorrow

i seriously couldn't be more thrilled and grateful to be moving back to asheville though all the chaos and disorder and fear that comes with moving do take a toll when you do it more times than years you have been alive and i am looking forward to staying happily in this next place for at least 15 months which is the lease length.

holden is so excited he's crapped twice on the floor.

after looking unsuccessfully for non-skid stair treads my fantastic roommate went to lowes and found a roll of gym floor matting and cut it in strips and holden will now tentatively go up and down the stairs by himself which is extremely promising since the new place has 4 staircases. it's a canine miracle! onward! forward march! westward ho!

hope

i don't want to get too excited and count unhatched chickens, but i think we're moving to back asheville next week.

this house in charlotte is going on the market and the realtor thinks it has a better chance of selling if the dogs and all my shit are out.

spent yesterday looking at 8 places all over asheville and went back to the first one at the end of the day and realized it was the best and went to the rental office and applied and she thinks it will be ready by the end of this week.

the house is very old and up on a hill and has a spectacular view of mountains to the west and is a mile and a half from downtown. it has a dog door into a fenced yard. it has a slanting funhouse staircase. it has high ceilings and clawfoot tubs and ancient glass windows and a weird layout with no bathrooms on the first floor.

i am really excited.


a half foot of snow fell here last weekend, and super trouper friends came down to visit from asheville and more friends braved the roads to come over for saturday night and we had a good old time full of gumbo and a mountain of minicornmuffins and many extra furry retrievers.

the insides of orchids are extremely pornographic.

oral hygiene survey

so, how often do you brush the roof of your mouth?

tar heels

went to the unc-wake forest game this week at the dean dome in chapel hill.
after a competitive first half, the good guys lost, by a lot. the heels looked smaller and less aggressive than the deacs, and have lost their last 3 games. everybody is injured, and if they're not injured, they're an undeveloped freshman.

they're still national champions for a few months but it's not looking good for a repeat performance. count this a building year.

brave man

went to the bobcats game last night - they slaughtered the suns. the crowd was blase considering how well they were playing, we decided it's hard to cheer for millionaires. at halftime they should let people in the upper deck move down, and fill in all the empty seats.

during halftime 100 people came out to jazzercise, 99 female.

jazzercise halftime

rustic martini

what the hell kind of name for a bar is that? it looks like a post office.

dog's nose front door

welcome wagon evidence

wrinkled sunrise

it's so cold the reservoir froze. i am very grateful to be in an insulated house with working heat and pipes that aren't bursting. not everybody is so lucky. i would like to eat a giant hot apple crumb cake and hibernate until april.