I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
2001-08-21 - 9:39 a.m.
I have gone from doing nothing to being busy every day. It makes it a lot easier to come up with material for my entries but it means I don't write the philosophical and political ones. One of these days I'll remember some of the more reflective material and tag it on the end of my entry.
Yesterday I got my nephew his birthday/graduation presents. He is going off to Tufts University in a few days and wanted things to decorate his room with. The plan was I was going to meet him in the City and I'd buy him one of those paintings that artists do of the city that they sell near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I met him at Grand Central station without a hitch and we took the subway up to the museum. This is where the plan started going awry. The museum is closed on Monday. That meant the artists weren't outside it selling their wares. We had to come up with a plan b. We walked up to the Guggenheim museum, which is closed on Tuesday. There weren't any paintings there but there was someone selling photographs of the city. Max got one of those. I told him that he could still get more, as the photo was less than I was planning on spending. We then continued our trek. I suggested that we walk down to 59th street through the park since I know they sell lots of things in the street down there. For those of you not familiar with NYC geography the Metropolitan Museum is around 83rd street and the Guggenheim around 91st. There are 20 blocks to a mile.
I always love walking through Central Park, there are always new nooks and crannies for me to discover. I also showed Max some of the places I already knew. Our first stop was Cleopatra's needle. That is an Egyptian Obelisk brought to the city in the 19th century. I pointed out to him how the pedestal is covered with fossils. Of course the first place I tried to show him was the one spot on the whole thing where the fossils weren't obvious. We moved a few feet and he could see it was totally covered with them. Max and I both think the obelisk is so cool. Here in the middle of NYC is an Egyptian artifact thousands of years old. The whole thing just radiates a feeling of age.
We then headed south through the Ramble. The Ramble is a very atypical section of the park, it is not well manicured, it is much more like a wilderness. When you are in the middle of it, it is hard to believe you are in the City. We started talking about how there are lots of fun things you can film in movies in the park. You could film a story that looks like it is taking place in the middle of nowhere then pan the camera and find that you are in the Park. I really enjoy how Max and I latch onto each other's ideas. I guess we really are related.
After coming out of the Ramble I was surprised to find very few people hanging out in that section of the park. It is usually filled with people. I think part of the reason is that earlier rain was threatening and then it was very humid. The other reason was that they were filming a movie there. We couldn't find out what it was but we saw all the equipment. That started us telling each other our screenplay ideas. His is a comedy/thriller I'm not at liberty to discuss. Mine was a very old idea that I thought of on a previous trip through the park taking the same route we were taking. It is called Central Park it is essentially a romantic character study. The entire film would take place within the park. I'm not going to give away all the details but one essential part is that the theme music is Christine Lavin's The Kind of Love You Never Recover From.
We finally made it to the south end of the Park. I started getting tired then. We had walked over two miles by then, the route through the park is very circuitous. That is not a long walk by my usual standards but I haven't walked that far in a long time due to my illness. I then remembered that I had bought us unlimited one-day metrocards; we could have been riding the busses and subways for nothing. I really was glad to take the walk though. I really enjoyed it.
When we exited the park on the east side we went to the book/CD/picture stands there which was my plan. The paintings were all a bit garish but Max was really happy finding these postcards of great Jazz musicians. He is going to make a montage of them and put them up on his dorm wall. We made one last attempt to get a painting. We walked over to the west side of the Park, to Columbus Circle where there are often artists. There weren't any there too but by now we were hot and tired and just wanted a place to eat in an air-conditioned room. At lunch Max said he'd like a movie poster. I knew exactly where to get that. After lunch we took the subway down to 14th street and went to Jerry Ohlinger's Movie Material Store. This place has a plethora of movie posters and stills from just about any movie you can name. Max was like a little kid in a candy store. He ended up getting a Mad Max Poster and a still of Jay and Silent Bob from Chasing Amy I love the idea of the Mad Max poster. You know that is what everyone will now call him at school.
Our next stop after that was Bleeker Street for great ices. I gave Max the choice of ices or the best ice cream in the world at Cones. Since he already has been to Cones he chose the ices. After hanging out in the Village a bit we were both tired and called it a day. He took the bus back up to New Paltz and I took the railroad back home. It was a great day.
It was a good night too. I had my usual great conversation with Carey, which I was afraid might be our last till after Labor Day. Then I got a call from Prof Cohen who told me my tentative teaching schedule. I'll be teaching two remedial classes back-to-back three days a week.
Then I got a call from Leah. It was the first time I've had a long conversation with her in a month. I really needed that. Late last night I got an encore call from Carey. We talked to each other till we were both relaxed enough to get to sleep, perchance to dream. I had a really nice dream too. Unfortunately I can't give the details on a family website J
I almost forgot I wrote a song yesterday and Carey thinks I should put it in my entry
I called you up and asked to play.
You said, "maybe but not today."
All I said is "What the hey?"
I got the you don't want to play with me Blues
I've got the you don't want to play with me blues.
Got the you don't want to play with me blues.
I'm wearing a frown down in lonely town.
I've got the you don't want to play with me blues.
I'm sitting on the teeter without no totter.
Sitting on the see without the saw.
By myself on the jungle gym.
There really ought to be a law.
I've got the bat and I've got the ball
But no one to pitch to me at all.
I'm shooting hoops one-on-none.
That's not my idea of fun
Chorus
Why won't you play with me?
No reason that I can see.
I'll play with my toys by myself.
I'm putting our friendship on the shelf.
I've got the no one wants to play with me blues.
The got no friends anywhere blues.
I'm wearing a frown in lonely town.
I've got the you don't want to play with me blues.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018
creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile 2001-08-21
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