Just About Now

Because I had earlier done an episode on manly men and did not want to repeat the theme, I came up with an instant Plan B. How about an episode on pretending to be or do or know…

Today’s episode is all about hanging around at the water’s edge and was inspired by a curious fellow who asked what I was doing hanging about at the water’s edge. The answers lie within.

Why make an episode about leaves? All I have to say is: “That’s an excellent question!”

Leaves, that’s all and yet, as pulled out my phone and began to film, a whole bunch of leaf-related memories jumped out from their hiding places and projected themselves on the big cinema screen inside my head.

It was a perfectly tailored topic as I’ve been good friends with performance anxiety for a long long while. The freedom of the podcast format provided an opportunity to share an extended version of my story. Here it is...

A brief glance at a fashionable young man, while cycling home, was enough to fill my head with judgemental opinion. Did those clothes really suit the wearer? And what is that thing about clothing that makes (some of) us to use them as expressive statements about who we are? Even I, who claims not to be fashionable at all, have memories from back in the day when I believed wearing A, B or C would be an answer to my identity issues.

This episode has that, and a few other bits and pieces relating to my relationship with fashion. Enjoy.

The first segment of this episode is dedicated to the eternal battle against boredom . My podcasting frequency has been pretty low for a while. True, there’s been lots to do. But… it often signifies the onset of boredom with a particular project, in this case podcasting. That said, podcasting gives me plenty of expressive freedom. I like it. And so, it’s time to move to another plan. Nothing dramatic, just a change in direction, and we’ll see where we end up.

And then we have a simple sharing three examples of finely-crafted attitude. The kind of attitude that kidnaps your ego and uses it as a skipping rope. As I’m sure you can understand, we’re talking about the very best attitude there is.

Quick question: Have you ever had one of those experiences that forces you to start believing in things that, under normal circumstances, you never ever believe in? Well, during the peak of the COVID-19 shutdown, I had one such experience that was so fantastic, I believe it is only that I share it with you. The simple fact of the matter is this: There is much much much more to this world than any of us could ever imagine and, as a storyteller, it is my sworn duty to shed light as much of that stuff as possible…

The first half of this double session begins the brief worry that my podcasting momentum is gone - a false alarm, thank goodness. Then I share an ingenious idea on how best to transmit aromas through sound waves. True, there could be, and probably is, a very good reason why this has not already been done. But… why oh why should anything like that ever get in the way of one’s imagination? And then, after that… some general roundabout thoughts.

A busy schedule has consumed most of my brain bandwidth and curtailed my podcasting. But, as they say, the show must go on, in one way shape or form.

The starting point of this episode is a little riff on overcoming the imagined fear of talking nonsense. After that we move onto a number of freedom-related themes such as questioning authority, panthers stuck in cages and the freedom to be…

On the way to choosing a topic or story for an episode, I bump into all kinds of thoughts and reflections. A bit like walking down the street: Some of the people you’ll remember, but the majority will be no more than a faint memory of a vague presence. And of those you do remember, for how long?

That’s how it is with my thoughts and stories: Most of them don’t make it beyond a moment. Here are some that have travelled beyond a brief moment, but probably won’t last beyond the summer. Unless... Exactly!