I wanted to be cool and on the inside to make up for the fact that I was born 10 years late. In my early teens I bought Dylan’s first record and I bought the books of Bukowski, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Castaneda. Truth is: I found it really hard to make the connection. It took me years of hard work.

This day in 1020, Heinrich Karl Bukowski was born. He changed his name to Henry Charles when his family moved to the US. Here is a quote by Bukowski someone sent me today:

For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
Charles Bukowski

He was a controversial genius. The way genius’ are. Read this again: We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us! How beautiful is that!

We are all amazed at Pádraig’s progress since we came back: this morning, when I asked him a question, he didn’t move his tongue or pressed a switch with his foot, he said ‘yeah’. And when I wasn’t sure whether I had heard it correctly, he said it again. And when we asked him again, he repeated it for a third time. When he was standing he corrected, by himself, he position of his feet, something he had never done before. He is so alert it’s amazing – and it makes it very clear that he needs not just physical challenges, but more mental and intellectual one as well.