Friday, September 28, 2001
There isn't a line here that rhymes with anything, anything, anything. . .You know what's funny? Watching a woman in an SUV sporting 2 flags and an "I'm Proud to Be an American" bumper sticker running a stop sign.Know what isn't funny? The local Indian eating establishment papering a parking lot full of cars with flyers stating "We Condemn the Attacks on America" because they feel they have to.
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1:25 PM
Thursday, September 27, 2001
Last night I went running through the screendoors of discretion, for I woke up from a nightmare that I could not stand to see . . .The inner Naif has assumed the fetal position in the couch cushion fort of my soul; she's making wimpering noises; we don't expect her to emerge anytime soon. Meanwhile the Warrior Duchess has armed, armed and out she strode to stand and block the sunny flower patterned obliette from intruders; both hands are white gripped around her light saber of righteous indignation; don't. make. any. sudden. moves. And the Priestess? She made straight for the goldentip darkroot meadows, the better to address her gods: "I don't need this. I don't need this! I DON'T NEED THIS!"Where have the Druids gone? They're always so calm. . .
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10:54 AM
Wednesday, September 26, 2001
I'm losing my mind, everything's FINE. . .Ever have one of those mornings where you wake up and feel like a basically worthless human being? And then have it confirmed via e-mail? yeah. yeah.
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6:46 AM
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Charlie don't surf. . .Guess who saw Apocolypse Now Redux this weekend? I had only seen half of the original, so it was mostly a new experience for me. Whew. What glorious filmmaking. And of course, my seeing it just now means I'm filtering it through the terrorist attacks and the looming military action. . .and I think everyone who is presently crying out for blood should have to sit down and watch it. I'm not saying it will nesseccarrilly (i've given up on ever learning how to spell that word) change any minds. . .I'm not even saying I want it to. I just wish I believed everyone had a clear idea of exactly what we are jumping into here.Vietnam, the War on Drugs, the Crusades, pick your metaphor, the essense remains: The majority of the opinioned public would have it that we're unleashing our righteous hordes of avenging angels. Perhaps, but make no mistake that they are still creatures of darkness. . .and when this holy war of "freedom versus fear" is over we will have to answer for what they have done. . .and what they have become. I don't think it will be a very good answer. Of course, we could just not have the war. . .
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1:53 PM
Monday, September 24, 2001
It is almost at odds with morning, which is which. . . I meant to wish everyone a joyous Mabon before I abondoned work Friday afternoon, but those half days just zip by rather quickly. . .hmm, was that an apology or thinnly-veiled bragging? Can't help but hope the spirit of the holiday of balance might seep into the collective unconcious a bit; I think we need a little balance, right this very minute...and maybe we need some nice pagan carols, too. Anyway, for those inclined to celebrate, I hope your equinox was lovely. . .as mine was, if somewhat subdued. More later today.
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8:19 AM
Thursday, September 20, 2001
To hold, as it were, the mirror up to nature. . .I have to say, Martin Sheen's "taking God to task" speech from The West Wing season finale last night was magnificantly powerful. . .probably more so than when it first aired. Compelled to add, if I thought a man of that character's caliber was in the White House now, I would be less worried.A friend just forwarded me the Lyrically Questionable Songs list, allegedly from Clear Channel (I say "allegedly" because according to Clear Channel's website this list does not exist. I suspect they're just being careful with their wording; note the use of "banned"), and I find that actually 2 friends sang questionable songs Tuesday, since Killer Queen is also on the list. Go team! Next week I'll get the cajones to sing "Leavin' On a Jet Plane," promise.
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7:53 AM
Wednesday, September 19, 2001
Sail on silver girl. . .One week after the WTC attacks, and life is trying to return to normal, I guess. . .as a midwestern civilian my daily activities are no longer out of wack and I've resumed my usual television-watching habits (ie, no news). . .and last night some friends and I were able to return (somewhat triumphantly) to our regularly scheduled Tuesday-night karaokeing. . .of course, there were only 4 of us there and we weren't quite our normal jovial selves, but it's a beginning. . .and in anti-tribute to some "consider these songs volitale" list which is apparently making the rounds of radio stations, one of my friends did a lovely version of one of the listed songs. . .good call, that. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is a real rabble-rouser.In other music news, apparently my friend Jim's band is going to be involved in a disaster relief benefit cd. Neat, very neat.
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1:46 PM
Tuesday, September 18, 2001
And now for something completely different. . .For those of you who, like me, are drowning your fear and bewilderment in political analysis and news over-exposure, Entropy has a nice selection of text quotes from various pundits. They're not presented in an unbiased manner, to be sure, but at least there's a nice even representation. And the commentary is well written, too, so who cares if it's subjective?Of course, it doesn't hurt that I agree with most of what he's saying. . .
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1:25 PM
Monday, September 17, 2001
One tin soldier rides away. . .Point of curiousity: I wonder how many of the racist redneck assholes hereabouts who are currently screaming "Kill all the Arabs" and "Let's kill all their babies, so they don't grow up and kill our children!" will actually enlist if it comes to a land war. I bet it's a small number. I wish I were exaggerating the language. I really do. Ah, the heartland. .
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1:53 PM
Friday, September 14, 2001
Nor can there be that deity in my nature of here and everywhere. . . . .or can there? Go see Howard Bloom and decide for yourself. . . keep reading KMO, he is sharing words of perspective. . .check out Michael Moore's thoughts on the whole mess. . .and, for heavens sake, turn off the TV and go outside and play. . .I feel lucky to be alive on a day like today. . .very literally. . .
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2:16 PM
Thursday, September 13, 2001
The rest is silence. . .Not having the words, yesterday this friendly blog was observing an official day of silence.I still can't consider my own musings terribly important or relevant; I wasn't there (thank all the powers that be), and everyone I know and care about appears to be still alive and as safe as any of us get to be. In attempting to cope with my spectator stress, beyond curling up on the futon with my terrorism textbooks (this site is a good on-line referrence) and over-discussing the events with friends, my mental hamster has diverted itself into Hating the Media and Trying to Understand the Terrorists. Call it deflecting;I won't dispute you. I can admit at the outset that it is terribly unfair to be loathing the entity to which I have been obsessively glued for the past several days. We did want and need to know what was going on, and I'm thankful we have the communications systems in place to enable that. So it's not really the media I hate, it's the packaging. Beyond the previously mentioned Terror Theme Songs, there were the quick-to-appear thematic uber-graphics, the "local updates" which are really just local spin machines. . .and most disturbing is the ever-present banal chatter from the talking heads. Last night: "September eleventh, 9/11, a number that will stay with us for the rest of our lives, just as so many people were, ironically dialing 9-1-1 that tragic morning. . ." Really. I've long thought that news should, perhaps, not be entertainment. This event, in particular, IS NOT ENTERTAINING. We do not need this insipid blather to make the situation come home to us. It speaks for itself. And we should let it. People with cameras, and microphones available for any bystanders who wish to comment, period. Not investigators trying to interview those fleeing from collapsing buildings, hampering rescue workers on their way into the war zone, and hunting down relatives of those killed for truly wrenching soundbytes. You might argue that they're merely doing their jobs, and being quite brave at that. If I'm going to admire anyone it will be the police and firefighters who were "just doing their jobs" amid chaos and danger. I'll do honor to those who died and, even more amazing, those who are continuing to "just do their jobs" knowing they too could be buried at any moment. . .not the jackals packaging the tragedy for easy shipping and handling. Obviously, I'm still a bit het up. Better save understanding the terrorists for later. . .I will sayKMO's site has been helpful for me on that score.
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9:16 AM
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
The only thing we have to fear. . .is the methodology employed to inspire fear. Notice how Hollywood and the local news and everthing seems to work on the "bigger, better, faster, louder, more" principle? So, too, terrorists, to truly inspire terror, must keep up with the times. Today we witness the results. Tommorrow we see the backlash.And my friend e-mails me that there is already a "Terror In America" theme song. sigh.
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9:58 AM
Monday, September 10, 2001
A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys. . .Sitting in the sunlight on the steps of a Presbyterian church in Columbia, Missouri, drinking a smoothie and having a 5-hour "catching up on the last year and a half" conversation, I scoot over to allow room for a mother and small girl-child to descend.
Mother: "You're ok."
Me: "Just didn't want to add any obstacles for her."
Mother: "It's just being three; everything's an adventure at that age."
(pause as they wander out of earshot) (perhaps a chiming church bell in the background) (perhaps a lot of them)
Me: "You mean it's supposed to stop being an adventure?"
Friend: "What a sad life she must have."
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12:45 PM
Friday, September 07, 2001
Blame it on the Bossanova. . .which was a really fun West Wing episode, by the by. Still haven't seen the season finale. Today we are randomized for your protection:
Apocalypse. . .Calypso Music. . .Jammin' In The Name of The Lord. . ."...and behold, there rose from the sea a beast with seven dreads...". . .the 4 Steel Drummers of The Apocalypse. . .
Toasted Ravioli doesn't impress you? OK. Not enamoured of wafer thin pizza crust? I won't argue. But I will put Ted Dwewes frozen custard up against any sweet dairy-based frozen concoction you have to offer, buddy. Bring it on!
Since I'm considering moving to Seattle, friends felt obliged to point out a recent article in our local paper about the "Commuters Telling Woman To Jump" incident. It suggests that maybe Seattle is not such a warm and fuzzy place after all. Riddle me this: Who is more worthy of scorn, those who yelled for her to jump, or those who agreed with the sentiment and really wanted to yell jump but lacked the guts to do so? At least no one suggested the police shoot her down. . .
Missed the video music awards because I don't have cable. How sad is that? And is it sadder that I missed it or that I wanted to see it in the first place? I admit: MTV was my brain candy (especially the Real World. . .oh, the marathon weekends!). If I ever get cable it will pretty much be for that, Comedy Central and the Discovery channel.
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11:02 AM
Thursday, September 06, 2001
Then I was inspired, now I'm. . .weary, very weary after the Sysiphusian (sp?) task of clearing out the company's voicemail box as new voicemails kept rolling in. See, our phone system is broken, in kind of an original way: The night message is stuck on, so anyone who calls is greeted with the statement that the office is closed and will be open between 8am and 5pm. . .anyone care to hazard a guess as to what percentage of callers felt the need to inform the voice mail box that it was indeed between 8 and 5 as they were calling? It was high, but not surprisingly so. (answer at the end of the ramble)For I am rambling, as I never vowed not to. Had the random idea today to start a blog dedicated to Sophism and call it This Blog Is Not Here. You know hast been a long day when you call to make a hair appointment (just a trim) and ask if they could maybe squeeze in a chair massage as well. 44%
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1:49 PM
Wednesday, September 05, 2001
Fairwell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies. . .This dreadful conspiracy to defame sharks has me hopping mad, and I'm, hop, not gonna, hop, take it in silence, hop, any more, hop hop! As of yesterday, I have woken up one too many times to face a so-called Shark Attack as the lead news item of the Today show. In so far as this appears to distract the media from the Gary Conduit/Chandra Levy olds, this is a good thing, but in so far as it is spooning heaping helpings of negative PR on an undeserving predatory vertebrate, it is diabolical and bad. Now an obvious and elegant solution would be to cease watching the Today show altogether. pause. ("Now an obvious and elegant. . .") Oh, how I wish I could, but in the absense of caffiene I require my intense loathing for the seldom-all-present co-hosts to propell me off the futon and into my day. Another just as obvious and slightly messier answer would be to kill the media, kill them all, AHAHA!. . .ahem, hop. . . however, defining what and who exactly is/are the media gets tricky, plus some of my best friends are journalists. . .but I digress and, hey, why focus on the solution when I could focus on the problem? Dolphins. Clearly these "friendly" mammals, about to be discovered in their on-going plot to take over the "world," have deflected suspicion onto the poor, harmless, unsuspecting sharkies. The sad part is, Flipper's ploy seems to be working. One man actually commented on how surprised he was that one shark attack happened merely two days after another. . .as if they should've spread them out more to throw us off. . .as if sharks carry around PDAs and synchronize their activities. . .as if most sharks don't have brains the size of a couple of peanut M&Ms! And dolphins are supposedly all that bloody intellegent and you really expect them to be content jumping through hoops? Fools!
Hop. Hop. Hop.
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1:27 PM
Tuesday, September 04, 2001
You load 16 tons, and whadaya get? . . .So another summer has officially unofficially ended and it seems to be time to take stock. One excessively messy apartment, check. 3 rolls of undeveloped film, check. Handful of misc. ticket stubs, check. Nagging sense of having accomplished absolutely nothing, check. sigh.
And I've been sighing a lot lately, too. Granted that my summer was very busy, very full, mostly fun and definitely a lot better than it started off to be. However, results of a concrete nature are somewhat lacking. . .so we direct our gaze bellybuttonwards to see if, having nought to show for the 3 months past, we perhaps show of it ourselves. The results are all too disquieting; August seems to have left us generally discontent. Or perhaps it's just proving the old adage: "In fall, young women's fancies turn lightly to thoughts of Grad School." Startled wide awakening, 2:07am on the clock by the cat who didn't wake me for a change, by the thought that did for a change persued by another of "Where in the hell did that come from?"
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1:38 PM
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