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 ...
November 22, 2010 - 12:28 p.m.
A student was supposed to come to my office today. He didn't. I'm not surprised.
Yesterday I had a very Gordon day. I went to see Richard Shindell ... at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia. A week and a half ago Leah called me and asked, "What are you doing on November 21? I checked my calendar and said, "Nothing." She said, Yes you are, you are seeing Richard Shindell with me. I'm putty in Leah's hand and she knows it. Leah lives in Atlantic City. Leah objects to my saying that she lives in Atlantic City. She lives in whatever town Stockton College is. Her father lives in Atlantic City. When she isn't in school she lives with her father. Leah lives in Atlantic City. I'm putty in her hands so I have to get feisty to compensate.
To get to Philly I have to cross the not so vast wasteland of New Jersey. That of course meant that I had got to buy cheap gas and Taylor ham. I couldn't wait for real cheap gas and bought it on the Turnkpike as soon as I crossed over to the Dark Side. I figured I'd get the ham when I was forced to get off the highway to make my way to Philly. As a crucible of evil the roads in Jersey are designed to be as difficult to navigate as possible. There is no direct connection from the NJ Turnpike to Philly. I set my GPS to find a supermarket. It was quite close but as it was Jersey almost impossible to get to. I did finally make it and got my Taylor ham but it took me far longer than it should have. It put me about 15 minutes behind schedule. Good thing we planned on meeting half an hour early. It also led to a revelation about New Jersey.
New Jersey is only redeemed by three things, cheap gas, Taylor ham, and my friends. If it weren't for all three God, who doesn't exist, would be spontaneously created (being god once created he would have always existed), just so he could destroy New Jersey in all its wickedness in a rain of fire and brimstone. Wayfarers would then cross the smoldering ruins reeking of sulfur and say, "How come Jersey's smelling better than usual?" If Taylor ham and cheap gas didn't exist I'd be sent to New Jersey to lead my friends out of it. If any of the family turned back to look they'd be turned into a pillar of salt, the kind used to de-ice the Turnpike.
Lori told me that I'd have no trouble parking near the Tin Angel on a Sunday night. Since the last time she was there they changed the parking regulations. There is a three hour limit even on Sunday. I had to commit the deadly sin of paying for parking. I feel so dirty.
I got there late but so did Leah. She arrived just as I was getting out of my car so that worked out fine. All our timing did. In order to get good seats at the Tin Angel you have to eat at Seranno's the restaurant downstairs first. When you make reservations for dinner they reserve you table at the venue. That of course makes it a more expensive evening but not outrageous. I got a steak for about $20. We splurged and had dessert too. I can't resist peanut butter pie. The food was delicious.
Can you tell that I wrote this? I'm writing about a Richard Shindell concert and the first 600 words are on the commute, parking, and food.
I told Leah that there has to be someone there that I know from either Falcon Ridge or NERFA. The only one I spotted was someone familiar at the next table but he wasn't someone I knew to talk to. I was a bit disappointed. Two guys did think I was a friend of theirs named Michael. I have a doppelganger out there.
When we got upstairs we got to our reserved table. They are assigned in the order they were reserved and we reserved late so it was in the back, right in front of the sound booth. We weren't in the very back behind the stairs. We were in the main section. We couldn't see well but we could hear great. The two guys that thought they knew me shared out table.
I haven't seen Richard do a club show in years. He's usually a bit expensive for me. I made an exception this time. It was well worth it. Shindell is great. He often writes real folk songs, not personal confessions but songs with stories about characters. Even his personal songs are not in the normal singer/songwriter style. I decided that the best word to describe it is narrative. He sings as if he were just telling a story. He often eschews rhyme. It might seem easy to do but it is actually more difficult than writing something more structured. Dar has ruined a generation of songwriters by making it seem to easy. Her songs seem effortless. What her imitators lack of course is genius. Richard has also ruined songwriters by writing in a style that is only inimitable on closer inspection. It is so close to conversation it seems easy.
Leah and I went through the songs we really wanted to hear and he played all of them except Canadian Driftwood. Well he also didn't play Fell in Love but I didn't actually expect him to as he never has. I just wanted to be able to say, "It was the best concert ever, he played Fell in Love. If you are totally confused be relieved. You have not been infected. If you understand completely I'm sorry. I don't try to be bad. I'm just drawn that way.
Leah had to make a 9:30 train back home. To play it safe I felt we should leave by 9:00. The show ended at 8:50. As we were leaving I finally found someone I knew. Someone I know well actually, Aaron Nathans. Aaron has played the Budgiedome. We have SMAFed together. I introduced him to Leah and he walked us back to my car.
For some reason 30th street station is not on my GPS. Leah had to get the address from her phone and I put that into the GPS. We found the station with eight minutes to spare. I then spent the next 8 minutes trying to get out of the station's drop off area. I think I circled it about 700 times. Once I was out of there getting home was a breeze. I even remembered to buy the last gas in Jersey with cash. For "my protection" Sunoco won't let you buy gas twice on the same credit card on the same day. If you try it freezes your card for day.
Getting home at 11:30 on a Sunday night I thought parking would be impossible. Instead it was only difficult. I found a spot just four minutes away and it took me only six minutes to find it. Everyone know what time I got home?
That was a pretty great day, Shindell, Leah, Aaron, Taylor ham, and cheap gas twice!
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
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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 November 22, 2010
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