MY AVATAR

           No picture attached here.  What you have to appreciate is the line drawn cartoonish creature on the right side of your screen.  That is what I have adopted as my avatar going back quite a few years.  This is the work of our second son.  This depiction of me is much more than just a little joke that is produced in a light hearted moment on the occasion of some calendar highlight.  You know what I am talking about, I'm sure...Birthday, Father's Day, Thanksgiving, etc.  I can't clearly remember the year nor the occasion, but I have treasured it from the start.  It is from that moment that I knew that this is the image that resides in my loving son's soul.  For that reason, I have adopted it in my deep soul domicile as well.  That's why I call it my avatar.

          Since this avatar is an embodiment of my identity as it dwells in the heart of my son, I keep it in the warmest corner of my creative spirit.  Notice that this expression of who I am includes two elements that are now nothing but figments of creative imagination.  The spirit of alcohol has become nothing but a mnemonic symbol, a reminder of joys past.  Joys that, as we all know, are better carried in our soul as lessons learned and as elements that help us to find deeper joys in the present.

          Note that there is no expression of tobacco.  That is a singular truth about me.  I have never indulged in the smelly practice of burning sot-weed before, during or after the moments of joy that high class whiskey releases in the heart of the imbiber.  

          I am glad that I have this artistic embodiment of the relationship that exists between me and the intimate creatures with whom I share the the deepest meaning of life.   I have written this in the hope that you can find something in the story that will bring something valuable to your life.

BTW, it has been 7 years since the last drop of alcohol has passed my lips.  Not bad for an "old guy", right?

FOURINCHDEVIL -- AN AVATAR -- OOPS ANOTHER WORD

Here he is.  My favorite avatar.  Actually, this word has taken on an extended meaning in this day and age of the electronic representation.  In Hinduism an avatar is a manifestation of a deity.  In our common parlance, an avatar is a manifestation of what we would like others to know about our person.  So If I say that this depiction on your left is my avatar, I mean that it is my manifestation to you of whom I want you consider me.  These pictures and representations come in handy if you want people who are reading your drivel on the Internet to get the hint of what your "handle" means.  We talked about those a little while back and we had some fun with them.  Actually they are more fun when you see the "handle" and the avatar in close proximity.  It is a little bit of progress from the days when we would hear the name of a band or a singing group but didn't get a hint of how the group came to that title.  In some cases, it was perhaps better that we didn't get to see the pictorial.  In a bunch of other cases it would have been a lot of fun.  I get interested in Internet handles because then I dig around in my head trying to drive myself to imagining how I would represent the spirit of the "handle."

I personally went through a large portion of my life with a nickname that I still use personally but that only a few of my older friends from a previous iteration of my life still know, but don't use.  I get asked every now and then what it means and from where it came.  I always tell the truth because it is cute and rather arcane.  I use it in my main email address because that way I can't forget it and I also remind everyone about the spelling that I devised for it.  Oh, I got a lot of grief for the spelling all right.  I don't care.  Through all the grief and all the disparagement, I still have a famous nickname with a distinctive spelling when most people with nicknames go by "Spike" or "Bob".  "Bob" is especially handy for those who can't spell and for the contemporary college graduate who can't write cursive.  I mean, who can't write BOB?  Frontwards, Backwards, Upside down...phew, what a challenge!  So with all of that, some 60+ years ago I took my nickname and gave it the spelling that I and I alone wanted.  After all, if it's my name, and it means "me", then, by golly, it's gonna be me.  So my nickname is PUTTSS.  It was given to me by a dear, dear friend called Maurice Rondeau.  He has since gone to his eternal resting place.  Maybe it is because he didn't have a good nickname.   I am still Puttss and I still remember that I was given the name after the song, "Putty, Putty, Cement Mixer" which was big in the early '50's and which you can hear by clicking here.  Back then there were no visuals.  Now, you'll hear it and see it at the same time.  Actually, then, my avatar is a cement mixer.  A small one with a small, noisy as a mad Chihuahua, two-cycle gasoline motor.  Now you got the picture, right?  So that's my avatar, spelling and all.  I hope you have enjoyed the song too.

Hey, it's better than nothing, right?