7/4/08

I was thinking, you could tell them I got AIDS. And then they’ll ask how, and you can say from my gf. And then they’ll ask if they can see a picture of her, and you can be, well, actually…
I just said that you ran over a dog.
Yeah, that works too.


With my steps retracted to the point of despair, SludgeFest ‘08 had a happier ending- realizing my camera was missing, I am able to find it intact before further rain where I had unwittingly dropped it in the mud.

7/2/08

“Is this the place that I've been dreaming of…”

Umrath and destruction.

“…Oh simple thing, where have you gone…”

7/1/08

“Who remembers when it all began…”

Orange has become fully ingrained in fashion, foreshadowed by last year in Italy and prior avant garde individuality. With the world painted through no effort of my own, what need I to do; what *am* I to do? And yet, gratifyingly, with the world tending to itself, in a place where it was 2500 years ago, there is actually internal optimism.

“…Before the whole world was in our hands / Out here in no man's land…”

6/30/08

Astronomy
Bathing
Clue
Driving
Enemies
Fluorescent lights
Gemstones
Hugs
Indigo
Jeopardy
Kaleidoscope
Love
Mazes
Newspaper
Obama
Pasta
Quotations
Russian Roulette
Soap Operas
Time travel
Utilitarianism
Virginity
Waffles
Xerox machines
Youth
Zero

It’s easier to say 26 things than 1.

6/29/08

Even at the novel’s beginning, the character I most hated was the narrator, being not Stoically objective enough. It is the Greek Chorus, delivering a letter and bringing news and sharing common observations; wanting to be the star, it must settle for directing. “Atonement” is not its story, no matter how much it wants it to be.

Unreliability of witnesses adds a new dimension: is better to lie, or to tell something that seems to be true from one's perspective but isn't. Having lied, for what reason should truth later be told? The WW2 flight (with the scenestealing Nettle and Mace) is laced with lying to survive, although ironically as it turns out.

Even though I have seen it before elsewhere (Odyssey, Eco, Scrubs, myself), the conceit is good to see again.


(Sorry it took so long.)

6/28/08

There is something grand about the elegant process by which single becomes plural, especially with shiny machines full of options, colors, and a glorious efficient speed. Even tending to a jammed machine is a talent, with such satisfaction when one can cancel a call to the paramedics because of CPR performed.

Shredding, however, I despise. If copying is creation, shredding is destruction, a violent process cynically testifying to misanthropy, opting for ruin over recycling.

Every job I have had has involved copy machines in some way, to my delight, would that this streak continue to repeat.

6/27/08

Every Friday.

“I’m only happy when it rains…”

6/26/08

“Would you like me to make a list of all the people who don't like you?”

I’m somewhat surprised, trying to list pet peeves, how few actions I loathe.

Do you know who his daughter is?
Rashida Jones?
Yeah!
You totally did not expect me to get that.

No!

6/25/08

Did you see M[]’s desk?
“The Swedish fish?”
Yeah. Did you see the note?

“Note?”
It explained how I was inspired by the sea lion show, and figured we could use some positive reinforcement whenever we shelve a cart, or find an invoice, or balance a ball on our nose.
“I’ve already had 8.”

Then I guess you’re really good at balancing balls on your nose. <pause> I didn’t even mean that.

6/24/08

“He said, “Reese’s Pieces, Swedish Fish…”

The Platonic Ideal of a Fish is Swedish.

While watching the sea lion show, I realized that what Trade really could use is more positive reinforcement. So, you can give us one of these now, whenever one of us files an inovoice, or shelves a cart, or balances a ball on our nose.

6/23/08

What happened to Pythagoras?

Go fourth and conquer.

No, I really hate that guy.

6/22/08

Pasta types should not be blended.

6/21/08

It’s a combination of customer service and protect the country.

“Are you a terrorist?”

What type of answer are you expecting?

6/20/08

“Cheeseburger in Paradise: I think it is *actually* about cheeseburgers. It is the one song that is not about love *or* drugs that I have encountered. Prove me wrong.”
Thermonuclear war is a big third category.
“Name me a couple about that.”
99 Luftballoons, We Didn't Start the Fire.


Sex, drugs, and rock & roll.

“Is Forever Young about drugs or sex?”
Thermonuclear war.
“I guess that makes sense. Maybe.”

I'm not even kidding. I would have said thermonuclear war no matter what song you mentioned. But, it is.

6/19/08

“It knows its lines / It’s well rehearsed…”

Discovering that a song that I enjoy is really about drugs, in a how-did-I-not-see-that-before kind of way, keeps me up at night.

“…Dream on…”

6/18/08

“Everytime that I look in the mirror…”
Dreaming of someone who’s dreaming of me.
“…The past is gone…”
Dreaming of someone who’s dreaming of who I’m dreaming of.
“…Got to lose to know how to win…”
Dreaming of someone who’s dreaming of who I dreamt of.
“…All the things come back…”
Dreaming of someone who I dreamt of.

“…Dream on…”

6/17/08

Loyalty is stronger than obligation. Ideals are bigger than people. Self-identity cannot be constrained by others; it bursts out in a battle of defiance, with the caliber of strength usually reserved for mid-epic digressions. Someone else can point out aesthetic, but it can only be recognized as a means and an end. Questions get asked, games get played. No matter what democracy tries to do, the Constitution will remain.

Deep down I think I might be an optimist.

<smiles>


“A working class hero is something to be…”

6/16/08

I play scrabble like I play poker.

6/15/08

Photo finish.

6/13/08

Borrowed time.