“Living free is gaining on me. Can’t keep ahead of my dreams. My relief turned out a thief – smooth as rocks in the stream.”, Tom Petty, This Old Town, 2006 Sometime in the fall of 1978, Mom, Dad, and I toured the campus of Texas State University – except at that time it … Continue reading Intro to Chemistry and Grad Students
“Yeah I’m runnin’ down a dream that never would come to me.”, Tom Petty, Runnin’ Down a Dream, 1989 Daddy died on February 8, 1991. He had spent his last days glued to CNN and Wolf Blitzer’s reportage of Operation Desert Storm. Daddy was 68 when he died. I was 28. He was buried … Continue reading Breaking the Law – Part 4
“Now and again I get the feelin’ (that) if I don’t win, I’m gonna break even.” – Tom Petty, You Wreck Me, 1994 You know what fascinates me? How someone can memorize tiny components of a craft and then practice memorized sequences and phrases and then that thought-intensive, rote, often sequential behavior somehow magically … Continue reading Breaking the Law – Part 3
“Think of me what you will. I’ve got a little space to fill.”, Tom Petty, You Don’t Know How It Feels, 1994 I remember a few things about the 12 years I spent working in Corporate America at USAA. For example, I remember the size of the Employee Handbook. “HANDbook”, hell!! It was too HUGE … Continue reading Breaking the Law – Part 2
“with one foot in the grave and one foot on the pedal, I was born a rebel” – Tom Petty, Rebels, 1985 I have always confessed to being a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Maybe, to some extent, all ‘performers’ are. But all sources of adrenaline are not created equal. Adrenaline – infused with the … Continue reading Breaking the Law – Part 1
Downtime. Historically, I’ve hated it. I mean… just the word “down”! Down is bad, right? The concept of downtime always conjured images of people getting ahead of me. I think I was born a competitor. Competing for what? I have no idea. But there is always a two-week break after Karavan Studio’s annual “Give Belly … Continue reading Downtime and Tom Petty