Below you can read a new story I wrote entitled, "Good ideas and bad women"
La Mariachi (2008)
Good ideas and bad women
It was Sunday afternoon and I woke up from a bad dream nursing a hangover. I checked the call log on my phone hoping I didn’t piss off too many people with drunken phone calls. I wiped the sweat off my brow and stripped to my shorts. I reached for the bottle of club soda that I keep on the nightstand and draw back a good one while I listen to a message from a doll I’ve been avoiding for sometime now, “Hey rooster hope your doing fine, this is Tanya, I was just calling to say ‘Hi’. I think I saw you leaving the Powwow Saloon last Friday around 11. I think it was you. You where driving a silver Taurus or something. Anyways, give me a call when you get a chance alright, bye” Tanya is a girl I met one night while winging a buddy. There were hardly any women that night and for the sake of not letting a night go to waste we decided to talk to the only chicks at the bar. At the end of the night our friends exchanged numbers and since me and Tanya had a somewhat deep conversation about ball bearings and cheese cloth, I felt a little obligated to exchange numbers with her as well. We talked a few times on the phone but I cut the connection after I tried to get her to come over one night and she wouldn’t budge.
I decided to get some serious work done that night so I sat down and started designing some new sculptures. I had a few Ideas I had been playing with for sometime now and tried to put them down on paper. I quickly drew out some quick doodles to loosen up a bit then did a little playing with surface planes and curves. Tried applying them to some figures but could not get them to flow consistently. I wanted to start playing a bit more with light this time around but just couldn’t find anything that satisfied me. I opened up a few books looking for reference, and then did a little meditation. I turned up the radio and blasted some jazz for a bit hoping it loosens me up some. I ended up laying out some good designs but they still required a bit more structure and flow. One of the things I kept struggling with was trying to keep true to my original concept. Many times an artist can come up with a good idea but end up fucking it up by cutting corners. Nothing good ever came out of cutting corners.
A good idea is like a good woman. If you cut corners or have no idea how to handle them they can ruin you. For instance, say you see a beautiful woman at the end of the bar. You build up enough courage in you to go over and initiate a conversation with her. You sit around, have a few drinks, and enjoy each others company. She asks you where you’re from, what do you do, and all that. That’s her way of checking your qualifications and if you don’t live up to them she’s not going to give you the time of day. Now, let’s say you meet her qualifications, you guys go out a few times, you start a relationship, and then after a few months you start getting comfortable. You begin to cut corners on her, stop giving a shit about your appearance, let your gut go, and before you now it she’s thrown your ass to the curve. Then, a few months go by, you try and contact her, and find out that not only has she kicked you to the curve but she’s also found another man and to fuck things up a bit more she’s engaged. Then you turn to drinking and hookers and before you know it you’re ruined. Now let’s look at how this relates to ideas.
You’re sitting around on a Sunday night and you come up with a good idea. Assuming you have the proper qualifications to undertake this project, i.e. proper education, enough research, and funds, you decide to take the initiative and begin working on your idea. So a few days go by, your funds start to slip, then you’re challenged by an unforeseen problem, you begin to cut corners, and half ass everything just for the sake of getting this shit done. You finish your piece and it looks nothing like your original concept. You’ve wasted tons of money on this big pile of shit you created, you get depressed, you forget completely about your idea, and let the damn thing sit in your garage for weeks on end. Then a few months go by, you try and work on that good idea once more but find out that some other artist has already made that idea and done a better job at it. That artist ends up gaining recognition and selling the piece for a ton of money. You grow bitter, depressed, and turn to drinking and hookers. You’re ruined.
On the other hand bad ideas are abundant and easy to find. Just walk into any trashy bar on any given night and you’ll find a bad idea looking for company. You call it up on a Sunday night after 3 weeks of no action. You go on over and dance with your bad idea for a while. A few months go by, your bad idea calls you, and tells you that in 9 months shell probably have ideas you’ll be interested in. Since you don’t really dig your bad idea that much anymore, you end up calling her drunk one night, end up telling her to go fuck her self, and before you know it your bad ideas turn into bad days. This will also lead you to drinking, hookers and your ruin. So don’t half ass your shit.
Sunday, 9:12pm
Tanya: “hello”
Rooster: “Hey doll how you doin’”
Tanya: “I’m alright how bout you? How was your day?”
Rooster: “It was good got a little work done here and there”
Tanya: “That’s nice”
Rooster: “Yeah, hey listen I was wondering if maybe you’d like to grab some donuts or somethin’”
Tanya: “ha, you’re funny?”
Rooster: “what?”
Tanya: “nothing, but if you want to come over, that’ll be cool”
Rooster: “Over your place?”
Tanya: “yeah”
Rooster: “give me 20 minutes”
-Red Rooster 2008
