“I wanted the whole world or nothing.”  Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski is really one of my favorites so it’s him that I’m dedicating my most recent non-zen week to.  I have tried to be more simple, I did the right things, I read Zen Habits and Mnmlst all winter.  I pared down, spent less, saved (sort of…), said no at Anthropologie, Sephora, and Pier One.  I was a living simply, non buying, zen machine.

Then I looked at my bedspread a few weeks ago and saw that it was kind of dirty.  And ugly.  How had I not noticed until this very second? I hate when I buy something and then realize 2 years later that I’ve had a completely ugly INSERT HOME/ WARDROBE  ITEM HERE this whole time.  You could almost hear the tide changing and all of my “paring it down” being undone.  When I left my bedroom, I saw that the wall was dirty, my fridge was full of healthy goodness, my couch pillows…. how could I have bought those ugly things?  It was like a reverse epiphany except I didn’t become enlightened I became a spring pleasure seeker.  I saw no reason to have ugly things……

You remember that book, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie?  The one where if you give a mouse a cookie he’s going to want milk and after that he’ll just want something else? Well, if you give a Caitlin a bedspread, she’s going to want shoes, champagne, a new printer, car washes, face cream, new shampoo you have to order if you live in Wisconsin because Whitney Port from The City uses it (it’s amazing by the way), and loads of other things that would make Leo Babauta cringe.  In fact, he might even shed a tear which I would sweep away while admiring my new ring that I’m still thinking about buying (in this Leo story I would have already gotten it).

I don’t know if Bukowski would be on my side with all this pleasure seeking but I’d like to think maybe, if I can’t have Leo’s approval on this that I could have Bukowski’s.
And since I’m on a Bukowski kick today, here are some other pearls of wisdom from Charles to start the week:

“You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.”
“Great art is horseshit, buy tacos.”
“I don’t like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there”

Anyone else feel like they want to shower themselves with spring gifts lately?