Always the Right Choice

I opted out of a night out on the town - so to speak. I just couldn't muster up the justification to do it. I'm just not that guy anymore - especially since I have "work" (to be at) tomorrow morning and a workout session right after... I can't take a chance on having too good of a time. [Read, too much to drink, etc.] It's always nice to see the scene peeps, though.

Since I had the cat-nod in anticipation of hanging out, I'm awake. Not wide awake, but awake enough to punch out a few memories.

It was about twenty-five years ago when I was into my magazine/newsletter phase. I was publishing a zine (zeen) called KOLLAGE and in between issues while I was gathering up the funds to publish it, I put together a little thing I called Ozmosys (which, come to think of it, is a title I should revisit; it says so much.) Anyway, "Oz" was run on a copy machine, stacked, folded and compiled by hand, un-stapled and just handed out where ever we did a show or something. Most of what I've done I did myself, mostly. Every so often someone would help if they were around, while we were talking about our dreams.

Ozmosys c. 1991

During that era... the early 1990s... I worked the 3-11PM shift and was often up until 3AM writing, drawing, folding pages and putting these little mini-zines together. I had a lot more energy for that sort of thing. Almost everything I was doing was new... not just to me, but to a lot of us that were "out there." There weren't that many people publishing their own independent, underground magazines. And the only reason I did it, was because I like magazines. Later I found out, I also like spreading information.

I don't have... or take much time to do that today. Lack of energy maybe. Lack of focus; or lack of interest. Or maybe there is... to my imagination a lack of audience. Today, thanks to technology everyone has a voice - for what it's worth. So many voices that very few stand out. As usual, when there are so many voices the bar is lowered to the most base and profane among them. The public, has been dumbed down and indoctrinated to the point of docility only to be stirred into action by the most minor of (celebrity) infractions.

I still like magazines. Most of those I've seen lately I haven't cared for. They've become tools of the corporate state... more so than ever. Behaviour has been connected to fashion, which has been connected to style and the infamous "cool." It's less subtle than before and since a large segment of the current consumer generation (Millennials) have not had the benefit of involved parents they don't know any better than to follow what mass media instructs them to do and how to do it.

I'm seriously considering starting a new title - available exclusively only in a downloadable file. I'm not sure exactly what it will contain. I plan to stay away from entertainment... but not completely. There are a few theories I've chosen to believe in the past quarter century, so I may pursue them. I don't mind coming off like a nut, (which could indeed be a theme, as I may go a little crazy with each issue.)

Many indicators suggest there's a new paradigm coming and I've been slightly ahead of the curve very often in my career as an observer and an information disseminator. It may take a bit of explaining to the six generations alive today, as to what's going on. Truth, will be up for grabs in the near future and people will need options more than excuses. Maybe that's my role for the days to come. Everything I've been practicing and learning, thinking and understanding.

Hmmm... Ideas... brain rumbling... (11:11 EST). This may prove to be worth staying in for.