I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

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.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

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 ...
-James Branch Cabell

July 05, 2017 - 11:08 a.m.

You Are Entering A World of Imagination

Independence Day is my favorite holiday but I didn't do much to celebrate it. I didn't even go up on the roof to watch fireworks though I saw them out the window. Fireworks aren't as much fun when you are alone and no one can hear you say, "ooo."

I was a bit depressed so I treated myself to fun food. I made those great Parmesan Garlic Crash Hot Potatoes. You have to try them. I don't get where the "crash" and "hot" come from. They are not hot in the spicy sense and who eats cold potatoes? What the hell does "crash" mean here? Is this a term of craft I'm unfamiliar with?

The best cheer-me-up food is ice cream so I went over to Lickity-Split for a bittersweet symphony cone. They were closed! How could they be closed on July 4th on City Island? I came home and did true depression eating. I bought a box of instant chocolate pudding. My plan was to make it and share it with Jane and Bernie. They were out last night, I made the pudding, I ate it all. It was delicious. I will buy more and be good next time. The worst part is, I wasn't that depressed. I know that sounds odd but I'd find the lack of restraint more understandable then.

The best thing about dinner was what was on TV, the annual SyFy Twilight Zone marathon. I have seen each of the half-hour episodes countless times. I can still sit and watch and enjoy many of them. The game I play is seeing how long it takes me to recognize the episode. If it isn't instantaneous I'm disappointed. To my great shame I got one wrong, it was The Shelter. That's the episode where there's warning of a possible nuclear attack and everyone fights to get into one family's shelter why they try and keep them out as there is not enough supplies or air for everyone. It is one of the few episodes without any science fiction or fantasy elements. It's very heavy material for TV even today and this was 1961. It even brought in anti-immigrant prejudice. Rod Serling was ahead of his time. My misidentification lasted all of ten seconds. Still, that should never happen.

The other episodes I did get immediately. I came in at the end of the one about the soldiers going back in time to the Battle of Little Big Horn. The highlight was the very best episode, To Serve Man. I remember that from when it was first aired, I was five. My father loved the show too and he was watching. Can you ever forget, "To Serve Man, it's a cookbook!"? That was my Facebook status. Mark admonished me for not giving a spoiler alert. I disagree; there is a fifty-year statute of limitations on spoiler alerts. That might not just be the best Twilight Zone episode, it might be the best episode of any TV show. The last one I watched was A Kind of a Stopwatch. I got that instantly even though the opening is far removed from the heart of the story.

The The Twilight Zone has been a favorite TV show of mine, my entire life. There are friends who I will still start naming favorite episodes with out of nowhere. Every episode wasn't great, there were a few clunkers, but I still can't resist watching when I see it on the TV.

I just got a call from a friend, her husband died. He was the one I was friends with first. It just happened and I don't know who knows so I don't want to use names. The funeral is tomorrow or Friday. I hope tomorrow. I don't want the dilemma of deciding between the funeral and therapy.


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



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Horvendile July 05, 2017
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