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

February 25, 2016 - 12:25 p.m.

ATrip to Villa Palagonia

I should tell you what happened to Word yesterday. I opened it and 10 copies opened at once. When I closed nine of them I discovered that I had lost my "normal" template. That meant all my macros and preferences were gone. I just checked, they are still gone. How did that happen? Any ideas?

I was part of team Villa Palagonia last night. I went over to Allison and Joe's apartment to help with a mailing and organizing a data base. I have skilz. Cutting and taping are not among them.

They live on the upper west side so it was a perfect opportunity to check out my PO box. There were three CDs in it! Which reminds me I have to send three thank you notes. I'll be right back.

Wow that took over an hour. I got distracted. I am listening to one of them now, These are the Days by Burning Bridget Cleary. You'll get to hear it next time I'm on Brian's show. Hey he got his copy first. How did that happen? I'm sure they were mailed together. The USPS loves him more.

After the post office I got back on the subway then walked a few blocks to Allison and Joe's Apartment. When I got there I almost but didn't quite remember the apartment number so I called and Allison let me in.

When I got there I immediately told Allison something preceded by, "I can't blog this but I have to tell someone and you're here." I obviously can't tell you what it was but it involves bubble wrap. It also involves me being evil. The person inside my head is not as nice as the person I let the world see. I'm pretty sure that's true of everyone. That's what manners are. Only Trump think that's a bad thing. Allison gave me the best compliment. She said "no matter what else we accomplish you'll make me laugh." If you're stuck for an epitaph if I die you can use that. Yes, I said "if." Just because everyone else is going to die doesn't mean I have to.

As part of the data base prep I had to look through Italian language newspapers. That was interesting. I had to glean contact info on people. Here's a tip for everyone with a website. It should be easy to find the contact information. It should just be there, obvious on the splash page. A link that says "Contact" is nice. Whenever you work on a project like this you see how bad many people's websites are. Here's the simple trick. Picture yourself as the various kinds of people that would use your website and make it easy for them. I was just on the Bowery Ballroom site today. The address is not on the front page. I had to follow a link that says "directions" now not too bad though on the very busy page not easy to find. But that should be right there on the splash page. It's not hard to give an address.

Oh I have to write about food. It's me. We had pizza, something unusual, prosciutto on it. I pronounced it "pro-shoot" even though I didn't want to. It's because it's how my mother said it. Allison told me that's how the people in, damn, some part of Italy, pronounce it. Naples? Why is the adjective for Naples aka Napoli, Neapolitan? Where does the e come from? Why did some English speaker decide to call Napoli Naples? It's not like we don't have all the sounds in Napoli in English. We have no trouble saying Napoli or Roma or even Firenze. It wasn't the English translation of the name till someone arbitrarily decided it was. It's a name, it does not have a translation.

One of the things I was doing was updating a contact list. I had to say what everyone does. I was on the list. What am I? I wanted to put in "parasite" but was pretty sure Allison wouldn't go for it. First I put in press, that's what I call myself at NERFA. I changed that to networker. That's closest to my most common function in the folk world. I get A together with B. I usually know a guy. That guy is often a woman but in this situation it's always "a guy."

We could hear the wind howling outside. My phone said there was a severe thunderstorm alert. And I didn't bring my umbrella. Know why? I'm an idiot. More on that in a bit. Fortunately, Allison had an extra umbrella and lent it to me. I left and started walking down the stairs. I made down a few flights when I heard Allison call to me, "Your phone!" Yes, I left it on the table where we were working. I told you that I'm an idiot.

It actually wasn't raining hard when I got out and it was very windy so after a block I closed the umbrella. It was more trouble than it was worth. When I got back to Crown Heights it still wasn't raining, for about 20 seconds. Then it started raining. The last half a block it was raining very hard. It was still windy so it came at an angle. By the time I got home I was soaked down the front from the thighs on down. It was just above freezing so it was cold. I got in and immediately got out of the wet clothes, turned om my space heater, and got under the blankets. That felt good.

I'm listening to Dusty in Memphis. Is everyone going to hate me when I tell them that I don't think it's anything special? It isn't doing anything for me. Yes, I somehow went through my life never hearing it.

OK it's time for me to make breakfast. Poached eggs sound good.


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 February 25, 2016
site search by freefind advanced


Follow on Feedly



about me - read my profile! read other DiaryLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!