Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“The burning keeps me alive” – David Byrne (of the band Talking Heads, in his song Life In Wartime)
ㅁ Kiamon never could disregard signs showing conspiracies, visable lines, tracing connections between sundry groups. Gazing at traffic, she pondered these loops.
– a quatrain in a dactylic tetrameter. A nonsequential snapshot into a fictional being’s life.
ㅁ I try to think about my brain, but thing comes to mind, it seems. Perception stops outside, it's plain. I try to think about my brain. The soul and body split in twain. A language rules inside, in streams. I try to think about my brain, but thing comes to mind, it seems.
– a triolet.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“even the king of terrors, when personified by the evangelist, rides on his pallid horse” – Herman Melville (in Moby Dick)
ㅁ Last night, driving home I noticed the sun setting out over the sea.
– a pseudo-haiku. (The “62 Pit” is an actual place-name in my town.)
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“There will be chronic food shortages and gas shortages and people will live in hovels. Paradoxically, they’ll be surrounded by computers the size of wrist watches. Calculators will be cheap. It’ll be as easy to hook up your computer with a central television bank as it is to get the week’s groceries. I think we’ll be cushioned by amazing technological development and sitting on Salvation Army furniture. Everything else will be crumbling. Government surveillance becomes inevitable because there’s this dilemma when you have an increase in information storage. A lot of it is for your convenience – but as more information gets on file it’s bound to be misused.” – David Byrne (NME, 1979) [Note that date! – not all correct, but interesting how much he DOES get right]
ㅁ My brain is captive, imprisoned in a hard skull... limited options.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“It turns out that hope doesn’t just float in on feathers. It can actually take out an eye.” – Dahlia Lithwick
ㅁ The mornings are dark again these days. I nurse my coffee at my desk, the window just a black frame. Daylight has retreated. Fragments of rain tap. A truck trundles. Seagulls cry. Moments pass.
– a nonnet.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Neoliberalism is not the celebration of the market, but the denigration of the state.” – Attributed to Francis Fukuyama by Matt Yglesias
ㅁ Slowly, over time, I become more and more tired, until I must sleep.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“‘Needless to say’ is, needless to say, needless to say.” — Enoch Haga
ㅁ Like craters on the moon raindrops appear on the car's windshield like a map of moments a distribution of dreams with patterns instantly erased by the laconic windshield wipers.
– a reverse nonnet.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“What altar of refuge can a man find when he commits treason against the majesty of reason?” – B Spinoza
ㅁ the treehouse hung. the tappings of the rain: a safe sound, plain, cloud-drainings, wet branches' world worshippings.
– an englyn penfyr.
With my “other uncle” Alan (Arthur’s brother) and my cousin Dawn visiting, we went on some excursions over this weekend.
Yesterday we went to Kasaan – my favorite “cultural” attraction to take visitors to on the island.
We hiked the half-mile trail to the totems and longhouse, had a picnic lunch (the restaurant was closed).
Alan and I posed with an orca.
We drove around, saw Thorne Bay. It rained on and off.
We saw a large and well-aged excavator in the forest.
This morning, the sun put in a half-day appearance, and the sea was remarkably calm. We took out the boat for a little 2 hour jaunt. Much to our shock, Art was not interested in going (this is a weird, sad milestone for Art, for whom the boat and outings in the boat have been utterly central to his life and identity here – his whole house is about the boat!).
We saw some whales. A bit hard to see, but the whale-tail is there, right of center.
We did a drive-by of the city of Craig on the way back, as seen from the water.
ㅁ The summer's nearly ended: yay. I'm glad when summer's mandate's done. You know: you see the shortened day. The summer's nearly ended: yay. The endless tasks have gone away. The night, its moon, that's now the one. The summer's nearly ended: yay. I'm glad when summer's mandate's done.
– a triolet.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types — the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution.” – GK Chesterton
ㅁ they say death is real, but we must deceive ourselves: be fake immortals.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life, but still the same amount of snow.” – the internet
<venting>
With Arthur’s brother Alan and Alan’s daughter Dawn visiting here, Arthur has suddenly gotten very obsessed with the bed down in the boathouse (~basement), where he used to sleep. He imagines the possibility of moving back down there to sleep, as a matter of being hospitable to our guests by yielding the main bedroom upstairs, which has become his bedroom now.
So Arthur has finally noticed how I’d strategically disabled the kerosene heater down there, and how I’d stripped apart his old bed. Last night, after dinner, he wanted these things fixed and wouldn’t let go of the notion. Yet he’s also gotten more dependent. Consequently, instead of trying to fix them himself (which is a relief, especially with respect to the kerosene heater – recalling the incident several years ago when I found him standing in a puddle of kerosene at 2AM) he just waits around and pesters me, urgently, about when I’m going to fix them.
I understand that it’s good for Art’s “quality of life” to have people to interact with who care about him, as visitors, but frankly, it’s ruining mine.
I’m so, so dreading the need to travel to Portland with him in November.
I recognize this is more my problem than Arthur’s – I don’t deal well with “contingency” responsibilities, uncertainty, and disrupted routines. I’m going to be a truly horrible old person.
</venting>
An anecdote.
Art was stumbling around the kitchen opening cabinets and drawers.
“Watcha looking for?” I asked.
“What?”
I repeated myself, much more loudly.
“I don’t know what I’m looking for,” he answered.
“The oreos are in the upstairs cabinet, now. You put them there,” I guessed.
“Very good,” he said. “Now I know what I was looking for. I didn’t realize I was looking for oreos, but I was.”
ㅁ easy: do nothing wait for events to impel but then take action
– a pseudo-haiku.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Fun is one of the most important things there is.” – Aaron Zinger
ㅁ ...joyfully displaced from the places I've been placed by fate or fortune.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“There should be an immediate ban on all packaged shredded cheeses in the United States! Make America grate again.” – Dgar (a mastodon personality)
ㅁ The only problem with the sun rising later... I think there's more time.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills.” – Schoepenhauer
ㅁ Tales demand retellings, mental reviews, else they will acquiesce to entropy.
– a tetractys.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Panic is a form of hubris. It comes from a feeling that one knows exactly where the world is heading. Bewilderment is more humble and therefore more clear-sighted.” – Yuval Noah Harari
ㅁ Well, I'm glad that's over now. This aging... always getting older, how? ...furrowed brow.
– an englyn cil-dwrn .
Last year on this day, I wrote the check that made my purchase of the gift store a fact. It also happened to be my birthday. So today, one year on, on my 59th birthday, I take a moment to reflect on this decision to buy the gift store.
Overall, I have a lot of “buyer’s remorse.” I think it was unwise for me to take on this challenge. I won’t say that I’m failing – I think that actually, I’m doing pretty well. I’m keeping the business above water financially, and running a going concern. I’ve even think that I’ve been successful at restoring some of the community trust in the store as longstanding local institution, that had been a bit eroded by the previous owner’s efforts to gentrify the store – gentrification really isn’t something Craig, Alaska, is ready for.
No, I’m not failing at running the store. But I derive almost zero sense of personal accomplishment or satisfaction. It’s only a source of constant stress and neverending miniature crises that each has to be resolved. Being the manager means I’m the person who ultimately always has to say “no” and “I’m sorry” to each and every unhappy stakeholder (customer, employee, vendor, service provider). This is not a role I enjoy in the least. And unlike with teaching, I don’t feel a sufficient sense of reward in the occasional positive feedback to counterbalance that burden. This is difficult for me to parse – I think I am simply more capable of accepting negativity from children, and also somehow more capable of enjoying limited positive responses. With adults (and especially, elderly adults) I have less patience for shortcomings, frankly. I expect old people (which is at least half the gift store’s customer base) to be more considerate, or something. But it doesn’t really work that way, does it? Perhaps it has to do with my own stage of life, as caretaker for a cantankerous elderly adult. I don’t know.
All I know is that I’m mostly miserable with the day-to-day burden of the store, and I resent that it’s become a more-than-full-time job that robs me of my formerly enjoyable time at my various hobbies – my writing, my geofiction, my eccentric “follies” (e.g. the treehouse).
So happy birthday to me. Buying the store currently ranks in the “Top 5” of “Mistakes I’ve Made In My Life.” Disentangling myself, however… I accept it’s a long-term commitment, and even if buying the store was a mistake, I would be compounding the mistake to try to bail ungracefully. So. I’ll cope.
ㅁ The years fall down like drops of rain. And soon you're just a muddy road. You learn to overlook the pain. The years fall down like drops of rain. You write cliches, the words are plain, 'Cause life deserves an aimless ode. The years fall down like drops of rain. And soon you're just a muddy road.
– a triolet.
Here are some links I found interesting- without comment.
An illustration from the internet.
A quote.
“Perhaps the real issue is that we have become a culture that highly values transgressiveness qua transgressiveness. There are no actual boundaries to the particular sort of transgressiveness that is valued, though of course each subculture will value some types and condemn others. Overall the pattern is seemingly a random distribution of transgression: e.g. marxism, trans politics and queerness on the left, fascism, racism and anti-vax attitudes on the right – there is no logic behind either of these: they are simply the particular chosen transgressions of two major subgroups, and there are plenty of people who pick and choose their preferred transgressions from either side or from other, less common types. It’s essentially a “Chinese menu” of transgression, but there are popular combinations.” – me
