Yesterday I overheard two women bemoaning their dull lives. “How are you today?” one asked the other.
“Same-old, same old,” was the reply.
I wanted to shake their doldrums away. Go look at a painting! Walk the dog! Stop drinking soda–it’s making you tired!
Theodore Wores was the son of a hat manufacturer in San Francisco. He took to art at the age of twelve. At 15 he enrolled at the San Francisco School of Design. A year later he was off to Munich to study and befriend the likes of Frank Duveneck and William Merritt Chase.
I doubt he ever had a same-old, same-old day. Theodore spent years in Japan and visited Hawaii and Samoa. He married and settled in San Fran spending the rest of his life capturing California.
Theodore hung with people who had big ideas like Oscar Wilde.
We don’t need fancy friends though, do we? We may not paint or write prose that will stand the test of time, but we can walk the dog when winter finally breaks. We can allow ourselves big ideas, too. Who says we have to be the same-old, same-old people getting our marching orders from TV and people who’ve already given up on life?
I’m going to stick with painters I don’t know and when I’m done drinking up their masterpieces, I’m going to walk the dogs.
Author Adrienne Morris 
19 responses to “Antidote for the “Same-Old, Same Old””
We had doggies named Rosie and Daisy. Rosie was adopted in England and Daisy was adopted here. Rosie died of old age and Daisy is still kicking. We also have a pug named Captain.
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How did you get Rosie home? Did she have a cute accent?
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My husband had her shipped over when they came back from England. She came on a plane with the family. I always teased him that she barked with an accent. We lost her a few years back though. All her siblings had been named after herbs. Rosemary was her full name. There was Coriander, Thyme, Basil, Sage and I forget the rest.
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I like that–naming after herbs. I may do that with my goats.
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One of the advantages of living in the realm of ideas is that it never has to be “Same-old, same old.”
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My only fear is not having enough time to explore everything I want to explore!
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Bailey thinks walking the dogs is a great idea!
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I always dread taking them out–having to get bundled up etc, but once out my mind clears and I feel much more energetic. The dogs LOVE it of course. 🙂
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Dogs never see the day as ‘samo-samo’ do they? Every moment is a chance for ecstasy!
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So true!
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Rosie and Daisy are, of course, absolutely adorable. Thank you for all the wit and wisdom, as usual.
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You are always very kind. I love my Cavaliers. I remember going to the Met in NYC for classes and the old paintings always had these long eared little dogs. I knew one day I’d have a few.
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Love this.
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Thanks! I really enjoyed your being a woman complaints a few days back. You said everything I’ve felt over the years.
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=) “You said everything I’ve felt over the years. ” Why am I not surprised? Thx.
Xxxxx
D.
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What a sweet pair of dogs. King Charles Spaniels?
A commenter above remarked on naming dogs after herbs. I named my boy dogs after the Rat Pack: Frankie (for Frank Sinatra); Sammy for Sammy Davis, Jr.; and Joey (for Joey Bishop). We had a beautiful outdoor cat for a time. We named her Ava for Ava Gardner.
I am so weird…. 😀
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Oh no! I LOVE it! haha. I’m glad I didn’t think of theme naming my children. They would have hated me. I wanted to name Sebastian Huck Finn but my husband wouldn’t let me so I had to name a beloved dog Huck.
I used to hang out in Frank’s place of birth–Hoboken, NJ when it was a little more gritty.Now it’s very posh.
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I hear Hoboken has since become more upscale. I think Sinatra had a love / hate relationship with his birthplace. 🙂
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Great Cavaliers. They can never be to enthusiastic. You can’t have a dull boring day with them around.
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