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 ...
December 02, 2013 - 12:37 p.m.
You know something is afoot, I started writing before noon. Maybe I'll even finish this before class. What's going on? I left the house today before 8 AM. I made it to school earlier than usual. I didn't just sit on the computer wasting time? What's up with that? That's what today's Wise Madness is about. I have no idea what I'm going to write, but I feel inspired to write. In fact I almost sat down to write last night but saw that it was 12:30 and I have to get up at 7:30 AM. I'm trying to get myself eight hours of sleep a light. Well that wasn't happening but I could still manage seven. The lowest sustainable amount is six hours though I got by on four. One of the things I've talked about with my therapist is taking the care of the things I'm in control of and sleep is one of them. So I didn't write then. But I did leave an item on my calendar reminding me how to end today's entry. It's the only part I'm sure of.
I got up yesterday and did my usual reading of editorials, columns, and blogs and got worked up politically. I found myself thinking as I often do about this song from 1776. I feel this way about politics and life in general.
I am not that fond of the John Adams I learned about in history, the Alien and Sedition and all that. But I love the one that corresponded with Thomas Jefferson and even more that fictional one in 1776. He has vision and he has commitment. This is very much the intended edition of myself. And I do have the vision even as I lose my sight. I'm just lacking on the commitment. Listening to that put me in a good frame of mind.
Then yesterday afternoon I made a good decision. I made a lot of good decisions yesterday. Despite the fact that I haven't heard live music in forever and that lots of people I love were playing, Pat Wictor, Diana Jones, and Paul Sachs, I didn't go out to listen to music. Instead I met a friend and all we did was walk, shop, drink hot chocolate, eat dinner, and most important of all, talk. It's the talking that I needed. Well I needed the shirt I bought too but not for my mental/emotional health. That's just so I don't have to do laundry twice a week. Close to four hours of actual conversation, not social butterflying, was just what the doctor ordered. Actually my therapist didn't order that. But she should have. I'll talk to her about that today.
When I got home I made another good decision. I did some NERFA homework and listened to music I got there. I found something I liked quite a bit from someone that I didn't see perform only talked to. I have to write them and let them know.
Then I did something I keep saying I'll do but don't. I watched a movie on Amazon Prime. I had two films in my watch list, Pleasantville and Galaxy Quest. They were both films I wanted to see in the theater when they came out but somehow missed. My life was not very good in 1998 when Pleasantville came out and I probably couldn't find someone to see it with me and didn't want to go by myself. That's the one I figured I should see. I wanted something substantial. OK so why did nobody tell me that I had to see it! Carey said she did but she didn't make me see it. She should have rented it and watched it with me as she did that horror of horrors Schitzopolis. Neal I love you but I cannot forgive you for infected Carey with that pathogen. I told myself I'd write nothing negative today so back to happiness.
Let's start with the caste, Reese Witherspoon, Tobey Maguire, William H. Macy, Jeff Daniels, Don Knots for god's sake, and Danny Strong (Jonathan from Buffy). Then there's style points. It's a movie, not a play photographed or radio with pictures. It told the story with the medium. The use of color and black and white was not a gimmick but central. It might even surpass the two classics, the Wizard of Oz and A Matter of Life and Death in that. Maybe. They both make my top ten films and the latter is on my list of personal films. But so now is Pleasantville. It fits perfectly into my mood. It's a story of non-violent revolution. It's a tale of redemption. It's theme is self-fulfillment. Oh and I'm in love with Reese Witherspoon but that's another story. The characters do what characters are supposed to do. They grew. They were transformed. They went from black and white to color. It's a perfect counterpoint to John Adams. Somebody does see what I see. And it sums it up perfectly at the end. My one quibble is that they should have reversed the order of the last two scenes. This is how the film should have ended. After going through a truly miraculous day where he lived in the world of his favorite TV show, Pleasantville which was transformed and redeemed by him as he was transformed and redeemed by the show, he sums it all up to his mother., "It was a good day." That's the message I left myself. What's a good life but a series of good days? It's all we can ask for. This is shorter than most of entries, still short of a thousand words, but I could have made it shorter. All you really have to know is "It was a good day."
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
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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
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Horvendile December 02, 2013
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