December 06, 2006

Pollock or Picasso?

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Originally uploaded by billyjoebob.
Guest post from Evey (as dictated by Bill)

Life goes on...

It would seem, my son, my beautiful son, that you have discovered the joys of body art.

Generally, most major artists stick to media other than their own bodies on the grounds that it sells considerably better (Keith Haring being a notable exception to this rule). This is not by any means an attempt to discourage you from exploring each and every artistic opportunity you find (but please don't draw on any of daddy's electronic equipment using permanent markers).

I cannot express here how fervently I hope that you inherit your mother's gift for the artistic rather than my own (although your unauthorised modifications to my carefully calibrated subwoofer settings do not bode well for the future). I'm writing this post to you over the phone through the nimble fingers and nimbler mind of your wonderful mother.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to be away for, but I think of you, your bubbling laugh, your shining smile and your 1.8 second hugs every second of every day.

I'll be back to you as soon as the four winds permit.

But while I'm gone keep hold as tightly of this as I wish I could keep hold of you.

I love you.

Dad.

8 comments:

Mrs Pants said...

I've been AWOL for some time (some issues of my own) and was surprised to read the last couple of entries here.

Even though I've not meet the three of you, you are all in my thoughts. Hope your health improves greatly Bill and positive vibes sent to the three of you.

Steff said...

My little one is obsessed with biros and spends hours decorating herself

Anonymous said...

What a dumb blog. I think you're a whiny, self-indulgent nincompoop, producing a blog that is a curious and disturbing blend of unbridled narcissism and adolescent attention-seeking, and for the handful of basket cases 'hoping you get better soon', here's one person who hopes you grow up, stop acting like a 15 year old EMO, either deal with the angst or don't deal with the angst, and move on.

Seriously, how self-obsessed do you need to be to have some poor person actually transcribe your whinging and then upload it to the www for all to see? That's the person I feel sorry for, not you.

Anonymous said...

Dear billyjoe aka Dad, I know the best thing to do with trollops like the above is ignore them, but in case anonymous's comment makes you feel EVEN ONE IOTA WORSE I thought I'd delurk and say that your blog is just great, please keep posting with honesty, and perhaps anonymous could bother to read some of the wondeful archives before making snap judgements. Bram is lucky to have such a great Dad. Hope you feel much better soon.

Anonymous said...

There is a stark difference between attention seeking and clinical depression. William Styron battled severe depression over the course of his life, but managed to bash out some seminal works rather than simply dwell on how lousy he felt....Sophie's Choice is clearly the work of a man grappling with darkness, but Styron massages his moods into a very authentic, powerful story.

This blog is neither powerful or authentic! billyjoe has a flair for the dramatic, but it's all talk - even the 'going away for a while' is fabricated - because of course from the perspective of this blog HE DOESN'T GO AWAY!!! Nope, he has to PHONE in his soporific, woe is me tripe so no one forgets that 'the dark clouds have descended'.

William Styron wrote about his depression in 1990, in his memoir Darkness Visible. It's mesmerising read, largely because it's everything this blog isn't - understated, well crafted and genuine.

As I said earlier - grow up, move on (or don't, but stop vascillating about it), stop being manipulative, and maybe take some time off from celebrating how miserable you are. Take someone you love out for a nice dinner, ride on a Ferris Wheel, and perhaps come up with a game plan on how you can get your EQ up to par, which I dare say is really the issue in play here. This game plan might include you refraining from issuing up to the minute updates everytime you have a bad day/week/month, and perhaps reading the definitions of ennui and depression, and working out where you stand.

And for god's sake, lighten up a notch.

For everyone else, stop encouraging him. It only makes it worse.

And Kezza, how you could possibly surmise that I am sexually disreputable woman from the above comment is beyond me.

Anonymous said...

Yikes anon, you need to get a grip and a life. Billyjoe writes this blog as a chronical of his family's life for his son to read one day and this is obviously a big part of their life. Cripes, if you don't like it then don't come back because alot of us enjoy reading this site and wish nothing but the best for this family. Stop spreading hate and just push the little red x in the top right corner.

Anonymous said...

yeah, what Blurry said!

Kate said...

The thing that amuses me, Anonymous, is that you treat a personal weblog as though it's inconvenient required reading for a college lit class. Do you have a right to post your distaste for Bill's writing? Sure, if you please. But I'm rather inclined to wonder why you have taken time from your day to make sure a man who writes letters to his young son knows that YOU find his writing to be subpar. Who the hell are you to judge someone's chronicle of mental illness (if that is indeed what he's referring to; YOU jumped to the conclusion that "sick" meant "mentally ill"), especially if his writing is therapeutic and will one day help a son to understand his father. I don't recall this blog ever claiming to be some sort of literary opus. If you want to talk psychology, pal, look up "introspection" and "empathy," then try to sort out why you clearly possess neither.