Free Stuff!

April 27, 2011

As a staunch proponent of free love back in the ‘70s (ages 0-8) and again during several on-again-off-again relationships during my conflicted teens and 20s (I was torn between the monkhood and my monkey hood tendencies) I still keep an eye out for free stuff. Such as this sweet stationary bike-

I’m sorry to inform you that it’s not there anymore (previously available to anyone who wanted to pick it up). It is now dripping water onto my basement floor as I simultaneously type and pedal thoughtfully towards the development of my “free” theme. Eat your hearts out, suckers!

I also like to sporadically encourage free expression, such as this artwork on one of the multi-use paths I frequent.

Ah, the spontaneous expression of one’s passions is, alas, a thing many of us have to leave behind as we move into adulthood. We get jobs. Married. Children. Work slavishly for “the man.” And if we are lucky the man rewards us with pay that, I would guess, probably provides a higher standard of living than the pay in most other countries. As the count on SCTV used to say, “Not, too shabby, eh kids?!”

This generally seasonally-attired and accoutred scarecrow always provides a free smile to passersby.

I was also treated to some free sunshine (both the liquid variety and the less easy to define variety [waves?, particles?, watt-eVeR] as illustrated in this photo. [end use of "quotation marks" and "free" theme here]

Well, my legs have finally recovered from my Earth Day fun run. I felt drained and crankier than usual for several days afterwards. Small price to pay for my foray into the world of the sharp-eyed raptors and their blunt-shelled prey. I have been attempting some ambitious sleeping to aid in recovery. So far I’ve been rewarded with dreams that included a man who was cheating on his wife telling me that Year One is a really good movie, and one in which I started arguing with a large, doughy punk while sitting in a theater and watching Spaceballs.

Now that I've got some film-watching opportunities available while sleeping, maybe I'll hold off on my free trial subscription to Netflix.  After all, as Debbie Harry has been known to sing, "dreaming is free."  (Yes, I realize I've quickly lapsed back into my use of quotation marks and the "free" theme, but they're irresistable!)  So, my freewheeling friends, here's some free advice:  freak freely and watch for freebies!