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Tuesday, January 24th, 2006
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11:02 am - feeling blue?
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it (people's worst nightmare) happened
him (the big conservative devil) will now be running our country
a change (and a overhaul of everything we hold dear) is on the way
it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Thanks Chuck. Sums it up nicely.
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, January 17th, 2006
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9:24 pm - the politics of voting
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so many questions during election time. do you vote strategically or ideologically? federally or locally? what issues matter to you? scandal or same sex? national unity or the environment? child care or health care?
its almost enough to make one throw up their hands and scream enough. but we can't. we live in a democracy. we live in a country where we have the right to vote, and our vote counts. that is important. that is a responsibility outside of our everyday life.
i approached this campaign differently than all the rest. i started federally, looking at each platform in turn. weighing the strenghts and benefits of each. then i eliminated a party. then there was 2. well, 3. but 2 really. then it came back to locally, and it was somehow still federal for me. and continues to be. so i'm going to support the local candidate who may or may not even have a chance, if history tells us anything, for what the party stands for in ottawa. wrong? i don't know. all i know is they might as well all sit down.
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| Friday, January 13th, 2006
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4:10 pm - today's pet peeve
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people who don't flush toilets or urinals. we're all very proud of what you've done. it was a herculean effort, but you've done it. call your mom. take a picture for the fridge. then get rid of it.
i picture these people like Tom Hanks in Castaway... you know the scene where he dances around beating his chest screaming '''i... have made fire... i made fire..." well whoop-dee, you made water... i'm so proud... you should be voted onto the island, not off it
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| Wednesday, January 11th, 2006
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2:11 pm - get your dislike on, get your dislike on
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To begin, a clarification: in the YEAR between December 2004 and January 2006, I read 64 books. Not in the week. The year. Even I don't read that much.
Now, let's get down to business. The business of disliking other human beings. For whatever the reason, there is someone that when I say dislike, their grimy, ugly mug pops into your head and you cannot for the life of you bring yourself to stop it. You may dislike them, but you cannot under any circumstance bring yourself to even tolerate them. It's okay. I say it is okay. Today, I thought about this. And I laughed.
What do people have to do to be intolerable. What buttons do they have to push, what little part of you do they have to find and natter away at for you to maintain this feeling. A scientific wonder.
Here is who everyone, regardless of who you are, and even if you are one of these people, dislike. People who cannot follow simple instructions. Go over there. They go somewhere else. Drink this. They choose not to. Stand up. They remain seated. Whatever you ask of them, they find a way to not purposely, but almost accidentally screw it up. A miracle of modern science. They just cannot follow directions. All medical reasons aside, everyone dislikes these people. I had one person go as far as to say to me today, "well, if they don't know where to go to volunteer even though i told them, you don't want them anyway." Blunt. Truthful. Accurate. Amazing.
A test for you. Keep reading. We'll find out if you dislike yourself in 6 to 8 weeks.
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| Monday, January 9th, 2006
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7:34 pm - life is a series of points on parallel lines running congruent to reality
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ever stop and wonder where people are on their life's trajectory? ever wonder what end they are closer to, where the bends are, and where the line rises and falls?
me either. but what i do wonder is how we are all on such different lines that seem to cross, repel and return to each other at various times
this weekend i ranged from exuberant (for me, which is merely happy for most) to morose to almost comatose (bad wal-mart moment(s)) and through it all she was there. she was not always a willing passenger on the ride, but she was there, voicing her (dis)pleasure as the ride went about its up and down movements
in the end, with a bag in hand and without a coat, we said goodbye for another period of time which might as well be an eternity... our lives are both moving constantly, and while i know they are moving towards each other, the movement seems to be punctuated by hardship and a lack of direction
we will get there. i know we will. but until we can, we need to stay in contact, talk to each other and enjoy the ride. it will make the destination all the sweeter.
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| Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
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8:08 pm - 2 things
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1) welcome to a new blurty ... an old friend, a new blurty... and a busy blurty at that
2) is it ironic, or even deliciously ironic that jack layton and the ndp want to invest billions into health and home care for seniors while investing equal amounts into renewable energy? why ironic you ask? well, aren't the seniors the ones who insisted on developing bigger, fatter, uglier cars and houses and other oil guzzling fuel machines which have destroyed the earth which has destroyed their health.
no? just checking
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11:18 am - books
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From December 29, 2004 to January 2, 2006 inclusive, I read 64 books. A wide array of books. Many good books. Many average books. But many books. Which I like. Books. I like. And writing. I like.
I pledge at this point, 11:19 am on January 4, 2006 to write something everyday. Online. Onpaper. Onthewall. You will be seeing it. In pictures.
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| Thursday, September 8th, 2005
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8:06 pm - some things i've thinked
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1) i think there is something empowering about the fact that some of the biggest rock anthems in history were sung by a homosexual, an open homosexual, an open homosexual who died of aids....
yes friends, freddie mercury and queen.... we will rock you, we are the champions... both of those songs that just stir the excitement and the dominating feeling in the bottom of your soul, the songs for every arena around the world... all voiced by an openly homosexual man.... fantastic
2) i can't remember 2... stay tuned?
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| Tuesday, August 16th, 2005
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1:25 pm - duh, earth to CBC
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has anyone noticed that on a sunday in September, CBC will be showing Bowling for Columbine...
if yes, you have noticed that the date of that Sunday is September 11. A day which should ring some bells for you. And a day that might not be the best day for a Canadian channel to air a documentary by a "disliked" American about their gun crazy ways
then again, good fro the cbc... i mean, those corontation street reruns aren't exactly stirring the pot now are they?
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| Saturday, August 13th, 2005
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9:43 pm - do something
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having spent the past 2 nights learning about things needing to be done, this is about doing something
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last night i watched Go Further, a docu-film by Ron Mann about Woody Harrelson and friends on the SOL (Simple Organic Living) tour.... it was great... jared, do not watch it as we will most definitely lose you to the biking/bus life....
in the end, amy and i have tried to think of things we can actually do to be less a part of the problem, if not more a part of the solution... as such, i'm going to
1) buy more (all?) organic veggies and fruit... this won't be hard for me as i don't eat a lot of either, so i'm going to work on it
2) i'm going to convert to soy milk, at least for coffee and cereal
3) i'm going to replace light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs which use less energy
4) finally, i'm going to keep reusing, and try to use less plastic bags...
its not much, but its a start....
for more info, visit: http://www.voiceyourself.com/
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tonight i attended the world premiere of a film made by a group at Laurier Brantford called Project Empathy... this is a group of 22 students and a few faculty members who are committed to making a difference in the AIDS pandemic in sub-saharan africa
i'm not going to even attempt to capture the power of the stories and statistics, but i'm only going to say this....
ignorance is not bliss... educate yourselves about this crisis, and if you still do not wish to do anything, fine, but knowing is the first step towards action
a step i'm going to try to take soon, and often
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| Sunday, August 7th, 2005
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8:45 pm - the cottage
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i just spent 3 lovely, relaxing days at the cottage
with the best thing that has ever happened to me
it was great
i liked it
i love her
a lot
a lot
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that is the update folks...
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| Tuesday, July 12th, 2005
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10:30 am - food, glorious food
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has anyone else noticed lately that groceries seem to be available EVERYWHERE NOW? drug stores, mega-stores like Wal mart and zellers, your local corner store, and the old reliable grocery store, everyone is selling food
which leads me to believe that food is produced for literally next to nothing, and then sold at a ridiculously high profit margin... i mean, why else would it be so pervasive in our commercial culture? it certainly can't be the benefit of the consumer, or at least not actually.... we're not the important to them
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on a side note, my building doesn't have recycling... which i don't like... and aside from the obvious reasons why i don't like it, i really resent having to look like i'm residentially-challenged when i'm carrying a plastic bag full of newspapers or cans and bottles to work with me to recycle there.....
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i wish more people in the world were less stressed, so they could me more friendly, accomplish more, and be more generally reliable.... the more people i deal with, the less faith i have in them.... this shouldn't be the way
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i like these little seperator lines i'm creating.... very visually pleasing
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i also like:
mensa trivia books
plungers
needing plungers
fans
sophie
golf
not sweating when i golf
not freezing when i golf
playing good golf
possibility
opportunity
and
you
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| Tuesday, July 5th, 2005
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6:35 pm - first off
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i would just like to say that much of this was written earlier today, when my computer would not load the completed page and it went to cyber-purgatory
to recreate:
i want to talk about 2 things: live 8, and karla "the schoolgirl killer" homolka.... the former is fresh and i wrote extensively about it already which was lost, and i'll try to recreate it before it turns to mush
1) i, for one, am disgusted, literally sick-to-my-stomach disgusted by the amount of coverage karla's every move has gotten for the past two months... while the world has kept on keeping on, every day, every minute has been karlapalooza and quite frankly, it is both disturbing and obnoxious...
yes, the actions which she and her husband undertook 12+ years ago was horrific and will forever be a scar on this country and this province for those who were unfortunate enough to have been around for, i think it is time for the media to take a look at itself and say 'what were we thinking?" for example, the canada.com portal today, which is a catch-all for CanWest Global (TM - i don't want to get sued) actually had the following headline:
How the CanWest papers covered Karla's release
excuse me, but when did how the news was covered BECOME NEWS.... disgusting and i for one am so tired of things of this ilk
2) i love the self-deprecating and unsupportive way canadians feel about themselves, and our country's ability to run things.... the military was the old stand by, the butt of oh the many jokes ... but might i put forward a new contender, the judicial system.... lets investigate, shall we
now, my details are sketchy and my research is none, so try to follow without being too critical.... but 12 years ago, in exchange for a deal which was made by defense lawyers (judicial system - j.s. from now on) and the crown attorney in ontario (j.s.) allowed karla homolka to plead to manslaughter in exchange for testifying in court (j.s.) against her husband paul bernardo. this testimony, in part, allowed the court (j.s.) to place paul bernardo in jail (j.s.) for the rest of his natural life without even a sniff at freedom... ever
karla serves her full, let me say again FULL sentence, does not attempt to be paroled or let out early (i means she was in there every minute of her sentence people... every minute) and before she is even out, it is months away and the ontario attorney general (i think) (oh yeah, j.s.) decides that wait, people are still pretty upset about this whole thing, we better try to cover our butts because we are the ones that made the "deal with the devil" (again, so as not to be sued by Stephen Williams, author of the book of the same name) and now that our deal is ending, we can't just let her move back into normal society.... heavens no, there must be restrictions placed on her... many restrictions.... so they go to court (j.s.) and get these restrictions... then karla has to go to court to i) get these restrictions looked at fairly, and ii) have the media stop acting like paparazzi trying to get a shot of her on her way to freedom.... she doesn't get either
so, doesn't it seem like not only does the court of public opinion (not j.s.) but the government of ontario (j.s.) feel that prison doesn't rehabilitate? i mean, we put people in jail because they did something wrong, and we want them to know it was wrong and make it so they don't do it again, no? i for one think that is the point, but seems like we don't have much faith in that... at least not with karla.... maybe we should put restrictions on the white collar criminals like Ken Lay of enron, so that when the get out of jail, they can only have monopoly money for 6 months, and they aren't allowed to use calculators....
now, i already hear the backlash that imbezzlement and rape, torture and murder are different, very different and right you are.... i don't even want to begin to pretend like they aren't... i just think in the culture of fear we live, with a media obsessed about sensational headlines, sex and violence we simply can't go on.... and this is my breaking point
do i want karla homolka living next to me? no. nor do i want ken lay living next to me. or charles manson. but i also don't think chasing them around and ruining their lives and their chance to become a member of society again is going to help anyone... not us and certainly not them. there is something wrong with being so worried about someone doing something wrong, and watching them for so long they snap and do something else wrong because they can't stand the attention anymore...
this is long and rambling... sorry.... but so is the coverage of this whole debacle and i want to give equal time to the opposition here.... last time i checked it was a democracy
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| Wednesday, June 15th, 2005
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8:26 pm - 6 easy questions from brad
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so, i got tagged on brad's site (www.jimtucker.blogspot.com) , so i thought i'd bring it here too. from brad and from people before him:
and now to begin with my(brad's) all time most favourite songs list - with a special thank you to david. These are by no means in any particular order
1. moby - god moving over the face of the waters
this was the song i fell in love to. and is one of moby's greatest.
2. the hip - ahead by a century
in gr 12 my basketball coach told us before our first offsa game in Timmons that "this is not a dress rehearsal, this is the real thing." at the opening ceremonies that weekend, one day before he gave that speech, two fellows covered this song for us.
3. Beck - Diamond Dogs
the movie had interesting camera work, and i am a big McGregor fan, but it was definitely the sound track that does it for me in moulin rouge.
4. dj danger mouse - december 4th.
he is such an amazing lyricist
5. mud men - saturday
get up and go, get drunk and fall over
6. etch - window of opportunity
up and coming from hamilton, i had the privilege of seeing them play at a local pub. i hope to see them again soon.
I responded with:
Well, to be honest I just had a long sit down with my current cd collection, which coloured the results, but here goes:
1) Ben Harper - Burn to Shine
this is the song that made ben a must listen to and a must have for me, and to be honest it is the best thing i took out of a bad relationship
2) Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
c'mon... its dylan.... and it was a eyes closed pick... it could be just about anything from his 40+ years, honest
3) Neil Young - Out on the Weekend
(see above about could be anything, but replace 40+ years with the Harvest album specifically) anyone who has little to no talent to sing but makes it rock like this, has to get some credit
4) Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
the first track on his greatest hits album, it sets the mood for an evening, afternoon or when-the-hell-ever with the boss...
5) Jack Johnson - Flake
a special thanks to someone i donned with at LP for this one... it quickly became a must have and i can honestly say that is the first, and only, CD that i owned a burned copy of that i actually bought... its that good
6) Ricky Gervais as David Brent in the BBC classic "The Office" - Freelove Freeway
if you haven't seen it, you won't get it, but if you want to, ask me... i'll be happy to share
and because i'm too lazy to tag 6 as the game goes, i tag you o reader(s), amy, jared.... game on
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| Thursday, June 2nd, 2005
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9:46 pm - an sociological experiment by a guy who can barely spell sociological
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here is what i'm about to do: please, feel free to take part
i'm going to see how much i can learn about you (or how accurate this test is) with one simple question:
if i was to study your garbage, what would i find (ranked in descending order of quantity)
the ground rules
i) this is only YOUR garbage... garbage you produce.... no roommates, family members, spouses, offspring, etc... (in the case of animals, anything that doesn't come out of them counts ie. cans of food count)
ii) this is if all your garbage was compiled into one bag (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, miscellaneous)
iii) for arguments sake, let's imagine this bag would fill up in 1 week
for example, my garbage would be:
12-15 used coffee filters
8 pieces of paper towel
7 fancy feast cat tins
5 empty pudding cups
1 can of soup
1 can of Chef Boyardee
1 milk container
1 bag with 1-3 pieces of bread still in it
you get the idea... i think this gives a pretty clear and accurate picture of me? what does your garbage say about you?
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| Friday, May 27th, 2005
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2:13 pm - part of a complete breakfast
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today for breakfast i had coffee, and two pieces of whole wheat toast with margarine and peanut butter... and then i was still hungry, so i had a bowl of special k soy cereal
and made me harken back to the days when cereals was only part of a complete breakfast.... do you remember the orgiastic spread of gluttony that used to be considered part of a complete breakfast? i mean the table almost collapsed from all the weight.... some sort of cooked bread be it waffles, pancakes or toast, cereal, a large piece of fruit, a big bowl filled to the rim with some sugar coated cereal, coffee/tea, orange juice, water and of course some antacid and a stomach expander
looking back, is it any wonder that our kids grew out before they grew up? look what you were shoving into their faces before the sun is all the way up.... now i know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but we seem to be instilling in our youth that size does matter.... the bigger (the breakfast), the better.... no wonder some many people have complexes about size
with that said, i say bring back the "complete" breakfast... only blend it up to a liquid-esque consistency so parents can pour it down the little one's throat and still make it to school to drop them off, to horton's for the morning fuel they need, and to work by 8:35....
mmmmmmmmm.... purefied pancakeswafflestoast/cereal/fruit/coffeetea/juice/water.......
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| Friday, May 20th, 2005
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9:51 am - where've I been?
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hi... its been a while again and i'm sorry. I just didn't have the right words to say what i wanted to say, or i didn't have anything to say even though i had the right words. oh, the double edged sword
so, what's been going on....
much golf
much work
much Sophie
and perhaps less importantly, our country can't decide if it really wants any government at all, or at least that is what it seems like.... we are much to caught up in who is destined to be a less effective government, and a more repugnant leader... so instead of debating issues which actually are important like the freakin' budget and the mess that is going on in sudan that, depending on your source, we could stop or we could at least help them stop themselves, we are arguing about the merits of an accused liar, a selfish, though gentlemanly leader, a power hungry beast and a guy who could care less if this country got anything done because he wants to lead his own anyways
here is my wish: i wish that we could snap out of the daze in which we've planted ourselves, stop licking our wounds of woe is me and my battered reputation, accept responsibility for shooting ourselves in the foot and get to work...
mr. martin - oh fearful, and terrified of losing your grasp on power leader - instead of trying to do everything in your power to stay in your position short of actually doing you job, do your job.... if any one person, and especially party would simply realize that this country would support anyone, and i mean anyone, who simply did their jobs.. that is what an election should be run on.... work.... accomplishments... to be honest, the adscam scandal is bad... but doing nothing because you are too busy trying to stay afloat is worse
mr. harper - do you really think the carpet is all that greener on the other side of the house? think of the position you are in right now.... you have no real threat of being bombarded with scandals, no obligation to face up to the things you and your party have done wrong in the past and no need to be grilled by the media for your mis-steps on a daily basis.... you have the perfect spot.... you hold the power without any real threat of being shocked by it.... take a look around you.... when you were at your highest point poll-wise, you were sitting tight, running the country from the other side of the house in a seat of veto, rather than a seat of power.... and all of a sudden you want your cake and to eat it too, you want the title, the fancier house and the bigger chair... but all that gives you is a headache and all that does is make the country's stomach turn.... be happy, run the country from where you're sitting now... its is a lot more comfortable a seat
mr. layton - continue doing what you are doing.... be the parliamentary gentleman... people will respond to that... unfortunately, they will not respond to it enough to give you any power other than a very strong alliance with those who need your support, but don't let your strong name and super hero characteristics become sullied by mud slinging and spitting power
mr. duceppe - go ahead. leave. take anyone you want with you. but know that if you go, you are no longer canadians, you will get nothing from us and we will ask for nothing from you. even you must find it strange that you are leading a party with no real future, with not real chance to make a difference in this country. you are out for one thing, and one thing only and that is the interests of quebec. do you ever stop to think what this means for the rest of the country? i mean, i could see if canada was out for canada without quebec, but we care about you too... i mean, you are part of the family, even if you consider yourself the estranged little sister who was neglected as a child and forced to live their entire lives as a boy (so as to fit with the rest of the boys in the family, no one likes difference, right?)
so here's to politics working... i mean, its been interesting to say the very least ... but the point of the matter isn't to be a drama, but to be a government..... crikey, do they even know what governing is anymore?
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| Tuesday, April 26th, 2005
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9:36 am - dream a little dream
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i usually don't remember my dreams.... i heard once that that is a sign of a good, solid sleep... alas, i must have been dozing instead of sleeping last night because i remember it, and it was a doozy....
(wavy lines begin)..... so i'm at golf town, where i have spend some time in recent weeks, and i'm testing out some new drivers... but here's the thing.... its not really golf town, its more like a bunch of drivers in an empty field with the golf town testing rooms and computer screens....
so i'm hitting something, i think it was a titelist (which i've actually hit) and it was going okay, but not great.... so i pull out my club that i have now and i'm striping it... just lasers..... so i'm just about to go back and grab a few more, because somehow its the middle of the night and i have the run of the place... and then the guy who helped me at golf town comes in and is trying to coach me and get me to try things, which only screws me up more.... and just as i'm about to try some different lofts (something told me to hit a 9 or a 9.5).....
(wavy lines begin.... dream ends.... story ends.... good day.....)
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, April 25th, 2005
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9:21 pm - j.d. salinger, a hero and a nightmare
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i have decided i have a very passive-aggressive man crush on both jd salinger and everyone of his characters, but specifically holden caufield
i am obsessed with all things catcher.... movies, other books, cds, experiences... you say it is "the new catcher in the rye," i'm buying it, watching it and probably loving it
but i can't reason it out.... i like everything about it, i remember the first time i read it, i associate it with a definite time, place and feeling in my life but nothing stands out as something which was revolutionary... it was another book
but now, it has this hold over me, this complete enrapturement....
it is one of those experiences in my life that has changed who i am, what i consume culturally and fuels my passion.... i just can't understand why
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, April 22nd, 2005
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9:19 pm - the elevator
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Back and forth, back and forth, forth and back, forth and forth. So went his eyes.mind.feet.heart. As he sat, he could feel himself moving in a thousand different directions with a thousand and one different destinations and a thousand and two different routes.
But under him, beside him, away from him something lay. Hidden.Outofsight.Obvious.Apparent.
What was it? Why was it? When was it? Who was it? Where was it? 5 different questions to ask himself, 6 different answers he could give himself, 7 different smart ass responses to give instead.
Lately, it seemed as if his life was a set of building blocks, one thing leading to the next, to the next, to the next. There was nothing original, nothing spontaneous, nothing excitng. His life had stagnated sometime in the last 46 days.months.years.
Maybe a donut would spice things up. Maybe not. Maybe a quasi-flirtatious encounter with a telephone operator at the "adult" store down the road. Maybe not. Maybe nothing would help this situation. Maybe.
Money. One of those things you work for, earn and then question and question and question your use of. He had always been good with it, hadn't he. He had always saved when he could save, and treated himself just enough so as not to deprive himself, hadn't he.
The future could be filled with fearful options or delicious failure. It could be the last big thing or just another wasted moment.
It could be anything. But it wasn't. It couldn't be. It would never be for him, for he wasn't real. He was a creation of a mind, made for the entertainment of at least one. He was just a character, an actor on a stage that is the world. If He wanted it so, he would cry, and wax poetic about his lack of substance and his lack of being. But He doesn't, so he doesn't.
He simply is. Or isn't. Depending on your view from the midway point of the inside of the glass.
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