Fighting the Universal Spider Too

Big snow fell – very powdery. It’s 14 today. The snow started yesterday afternoon it was still snowing when I went to bed. It is lightly snowing now. The forecast is for it clearing off but not for the temperature to rise any. I stayed at Hoopers until the after work traffic cleared off and got home around seven. Big fluffy flakes are waffling in the sun that glares in through the frosted coffee shop windows. Keep that door shut. It is impossible to keep warm. My shoes are damp and moisture is soaking into my socks. Soothing music and a big comfy chair are nice. I slice into a puffy hot cinnamon bun.

My next adventure - an excursion to the cross atop Mt Davidson and to McLaren Park as part of a project to climb all of San Francisco’s hills. The seven hills of Rome?

Clap, Clap. I look around. “They [San Jose] won. Three and Oh.” And I am complacent. Someone down the bar asks that the King’s game be put on. The San Jose fan’s phone rings – Hello - That was an amazing win. At Colorado you have got to realize…You were talking to Stacey? So how is that girl doing in Kentucky…Haw, haw, haw. So I guess everybody has those cars already….Whatever…So did you get to Kim’s place … It’s the playoffs Two Thousand and Four - Sacramento 33 and Dallas 37.

Jenny was in a tizzy this morning (nothing new there). Her biggest projects, which she assures me never ever happens, are both due and PG&E shut her power off for two days and she didn’t meet her deadlines, and she was up all night and she is beside herself, and … and…and. - Yes, I tell her I do see two of you. Ugh, she replies. All is normal with Jennie.

And Michael says “Oh, my God, it’s a dead bird”.

She has a mass of dirty white feathers perched on her right shoulder- no it’s a faux owl. I’m Minerva, she announces and shows us the little cloak that she had made for the fake owl. It had hold of her with green wire talons. So is this International Minerva Day, I ask? Yes, she says and turns the owl’s head and flaps its wings before she departs as abruptly as she had appeared.

San Jose, we picked her up then and then dropped her. Are you from Boston? No. Yes. Went to Boston College. It’s the first and the second final. And he said, OK, there are not rock stars to be found. I haven’t been here since Thursday and the whole place went to hell. Do they really enforce the two hour parking limit? Yeah. And it cost $300. I guess I ought to move my car. I’m afraid so. Either that or whip off the chalk mark.

If you write enough crap, you will eventually write something worthwhile - it’s the monkey and the typewrite hypothesis. But not today.

It was for a measure
         Of her beauty
         That she asked that
                 For the mirror
To quantify it. It replied
         40% more beautiful
         In just seven days
Or I can slip her a poison
         Apple she said
Yes, that will work also
         Her reflection mouthed
She glared into the glass
         And turned in a huff
        Stomped out and headed
For her laboratory
She was heard to be humming
         A cheery little tune

Many live their lives for the few, and political and economic institutions operate in such a way as to make this situation either bearable (liberal authoritarian) or painful (totalitarian) – Marcus Raskin – Being and Doing, 1971

The three social classes: the drones, the wantabes and the be’s

When I was young, I guess I was looking for something I could do. Then for something I could be. Finally just for something to want, or to think, or to believe in – Lillian Hellman – Days to Come

56% of US retirees had outstanding debt when they left the workforce

The wonders of the intellect are by no means a way to Truth – J G Merquior – From Prague to Parise, 1986 p58

Older debtors have 50% more credit-card debt than do their younger counterparts. 75% of them cite medical or funeral expenses as the cause of their debts.

Whatever happened to your childhood
         Sweetheart
Go onto the Internet and find out
         Now imagine how it might
         Have turned out differently
Such a miserably and futile experience
         We look for what had been possible
         Rather than probable
It is irresistible and so easy
        And come away with a heartache
        And a good cry and then
Pick yourself up and go on
        It would never have happened
       That way anyway
Never tell your spouse that you think
You might have a better home awaiting
        In the bye and bye

[In] the rules of fiction, where (unlike life) something has to happen – Susan Sontag – Where the Stress Falls, 2001 p15