With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going past them into the impossible.
August 14, 2009 - 2:09 a.m.
The Chronklepts did their work on me today and I lost the entire day. I did not buy an AC, I did not buy a computer, and I didn't get a haircut. So let's skip to this evening when I actually did things. I went to the annual WFUV volunteer picnic. This is always one of the key social events of my year. It happens every year yet it still shocks me that I can go to a party where I'm the social butterfly that talks to everyone.
It was supposed to start at 5PM. I can get there in about 25 minutes without traffic, maybe less, but 5 PM is rush hour. I gave myself an hour and ten minutes. So what happened? There was traffic in only one place, I saw it coming and took an alternate route and arrived at 4:15. I figured that I'd spend my time taking photos of the Fordham campus. I took a few but those plans were scuttled as I left the parking lot. I ran into these two friends.
Oh, now here is my idiot story for the day. I can't remember their names. I've know them for years. They are people that I always talk to, they are friends of mine, yet their names have left the void in my head where my brain should be for parts unknown.
As we walked and talked I did take a few pictures including this discovery that I didn't know was on the campus.
I like that, a seismic station as a memorial.
Because traffic was light we were not the only ones that were early. We weren't allowed into the meeting room in the library where the party was so we had our pre-party party, in the library proper. I wish I had gotten up and taken pictures of the other people there. I know Mark was standing right next to me.
l to r: Brian, Ron, John Platt, Lori, and Sue.
Rain had been threatening all day, it actually rained earlier so they planned the party so it could be indoors or out on the patio. The food was inside. When we were let in the first thing I did was make a beeline for the buffet table. They had some marvelous chicken and magical chocolate chip cookies for desert. I told everyone that my family would expect a report on the food. Are you happy Sue?
I went out and wild man that I am, I had not one but two diet cokes. Do I know how to party or what?
Most of my life my problem at a party was forcing myself to not sit in a corner alone. Here the problem is that that there are so many people to talk to that actually want to talk to me.
I first sat at this table. Going clockwise around the table starting at the bottom left there's Steve, Nancy, Howard, John, and two people whose names I forget. Steve, Howard, and John are the ones I'm very friendly with.
As I was sitting there Jim and Janeen came in.
I got up to talk to them then did the social butterfly thing and flitted around talking to the people I had missed so far. I wish I had gotten a picture of Lucy. She's one of my oldest friends at the station and this was her last time there. She's moving down to Virginia. On the Christine Lavin album Subway Series she's the one that shouted out, "It's Gordon's fault!"
Next came some posed photos. Too bad most of the photos that people took of me with my camera didn't come work and the photographer didn't notice. I should have checked but things were a bit nuts. There were five of us with 3 cameras and we were getting photos of almost every subset. Here's what worked.
Lori and Me
Jim, Lori, and Me
This is Beverly and her daughter. That's DJ Corny O'Connell sitting at the table behind them.
That's it for photos. If some of my friends post their photos I'll show them to you.
After the socializing we went in for a game of musical bingo. We sat at tables with customized bingo cards. They didn't have the usual letters or numbers on them. Instead the grid was filled with the names of bands and musicans. They played songs and you marked off the artist on your card. No one knew all the artists, most of us only knew a small percentage but everyone shared when they figured one out. There were three prizes awarded. Guess who the first one with a winner was? Yes me. Bell X-1 did it for me. That's one I figured out on my own. Nobody else got it. I won a WFUV festival chair. The Budgiedome can always use more furniture.
Then there was a raffle. Guess who won. Yes me. I won a $50 gift certificate to a deli in the Bronx. I'll use it next drive. Actually it is worth enough that I might make a special trip to get food there for a party.
Oh yes, people shouted fix!
After the party I hung out for a while with a few of my friends then we walked back to the garage together.
So what am I forgetting? My beard went over very well. I got many compliments on it from women of all ages; from the teenage students to the senior citizens. Sorry Lena you are seriously outvoted.
Now I better get to bed. I have a lot to do tomorrow.
As Cool As I Am - August 19, 2009
Quest for Coolness - August 18, 2009
Dance Like No One is Watching - August 17, 2009
Lisa's Big Fat Fruhead Wedding - August 16, 2009
Project Spiffy: Part 1: A New Hope - August 15, 2009
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile August 14, 2009
