I just finished watching Reality Bites, a movie that was filmed in Houston for the most part, and I honestly rather enjoyed it. First off, I seem to have this “impossible love” syndrome, and the character played by Ethan Hawke reminded me of having been consumed in love, drunk with the madness of this love for someone who I don’t know that he felt the same way about me. To him I dedicate a poem by Rumi I found the other day:
Sometimes I wonder, sweetest love, if you
…Were a mere dream in along winter night,
A dream of spring-days, and of golden light
Which sheds its rays upon a frozen heart;
A dream of wine that fills the drunken eye.
And so I wonder, sweetest love, if I
Should drink this ruby wine, or rather weep;
Each tear a bezel with your face engraved,
A rosary to memorize your name…
There are so many ways to call you back-
Yes, even if you only were a dream.
Houston, TX -- my current home
Impossible love aside, I loved the fact that the movie was based in Houston. I found it sad you didn’t really get to see much of the city like you get to see in movies starring New York City or San Francisco (not to mention most movies are filmed in cities like these, this is the first time I hear of a movie made in H-town). I can’t quite put a finger on how to describe Houston to people. It’s not NYC, it’s not San Francisco, but the city is full of hip, chic, cool people, art and so many cultures come together here as well. Downtown is a beautiful sight (generally from afar, I hate driving through Downtown), and it’s just Houston, motherfuckingTexas. Yes the weather is awfully humid and hot during the summer, yes traffic is ridiculous… GET OVER IT and move to Artesia, NM then (I used to live there and no offense to all my fellow Artesian friends, but goD that town SUCKS).
Finally, the movie reminded me of my vow to right livelihood. It also reminded me of a Houstonian version of SLC Punk. Generation X seems to have been struggling with this and I honestly feel that Generation Y is too and who knows, A through W were probably struggling with it too. The truth is that there seems to be this cultural trend to “grow up” and “take responsibility”: Go to school, get a car, get married and have kids. And it’s fine!! It IS. But there also seems to be something missing in the equation — and that is merely the individual. The duties to society are a mask, as Jung puts it in his Two Essays in Analytical Psychology.
Most of the time I am content at work. Then there are some days it just drives me crazy. My veil is too think right now, and I cannot see through the screen as to what I need to do to make my dream of right livelihood come true. And so I write. I write away.
with soul 