I've seen some of my favorite customers today. One couple drives a Caddy convertible. They're a hoot. You'd swear they fell out of a crack in a time warp - but they are not leading a "retro" life. THIS is their real, everyday, "never-left-it" life, and they enjoy it.

She bought a small suitcase from me. In a very dry fashion, her husband said:

"Looks like she's leaving me...
but not taking much..."

THAT cracked me up.

---

For a Saturday, it's been quiet at FUTURES because it's apparently good yard working weather. I've seen vehicles everywhere dragging small rental flat-beds behind them. Empty. Then I saw one as of yet unloaded. Ah, mulch. Okay, I get it. I can't imagine how many suv's etc. have mulch in them I couldn't see.

I know about mulch because of my wife.

You put mulch in certain places of the yard for a reason or reasons.

................Told you I know about it.

---

The bridge of my nose isn't symmetrical. I always have to bend my glasses this way and that to make them sit horizontally on my face.

Artists are trained to see, and a good artist sees much better than a non-artist. I promise. You may think you can see - just because you have eyes - but odds are it wouldn't take but a few minutes for me to prove your ability to perceive the environment is truly, shockingly weak. Just take my word for it. I've proved it to hundreds & hundreds of students over many years.

I only bring this up because once I'd learned to see (on a consistent basis), I then began noticing the lack of symmetry in faces, bodies, etc.. They're NOT symmetrical...NONE of 'em.

One of my ears lays much closer to my head, the nose bridge is all disjointed, don't even get me started on my teeth, my septum leans to one side, and the fingers on my left hand do not have the same proportional length as my right.

All kinds of stuff like that.

In fact, some of the quirkiest faces are in the modeling world. I love analyzing their faces. Truly odd ones there ... and yet the public perceives them as beautiful - something to imitate - which I find doubly interesting.

How about actresses? Ellen Barkin!

http://www.theflickchicks.com/images/E_Barkin060607-JS09011.JPG

Fact is, I LIKE many of the asymmetrical faces I see. They are more animated, more beautiful, more fun, more alive.

But I'm not going to pick on anyone. We ALL, ALL of us, are ASYMMETRICAL. Yes, some things are noticed and not often overlooked - a leg short enough to cause a gimp, one breast hanging lower than the other, a partially paralyzed face, etc.... but in general, because most people do not actually see what is in front of them - the myriad of little details is never seen - and their perception of a person, home, car, landscape, crime scene (!), and all other things visual are only slightly understood. I came to learn that "eye witnesses" are NOT a part of the legal system with whom I can get comfy... and I came to that more from an art/visual training angle than I did anecdotal legal stories. I've just "seen" how poorly people "see".

Makes you wonder about yourself, donut?

It did me.