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
May 09, 2016 - 2:00 p.m. Sorry I didn't write yesterday, I was actually out and doing things. So today I have things to write about. Yes, that is the only reason I go out, to supply material to Wise Madness. But before I start recounting my day I'm going to write about something totally inconsequential that happened today that explains how Donald Trump can be the Republican nominee and so much dysfunction in the world. This morning's WFUV Question of the Day was, "… your favorite songs mentioning any of the planets." Many people suggested songs that mentioned the sun or the moon, not planets. I woke up late and didn't get into the act till after it was over but Ken pointed out that those aren't planets. I had started going one by one through the suggestions saying, "Not a planet," till I realized how many there were and made one blanket comment. One person said, "I looked it up on the internet and some sites said the sun and mood are planets and some said they aren't." Please tell me you just said "ARRRGGGGHHHHH!" when you heard that. But that is exactly why people support ridiculous things. They can find a reason to believe it, it's just not a good reason. So people believe what makes them feel better emotionally and as admitting that you were wrong makes you feel bad they are loathe to do that. You can't stop other people from doing it but you can work on minimalizing how often you do it. You won't eliminate it. So now on to adventures. Yesterday was No Fuss and Feathers Album Release show for Traveling Circus. They are one of my favorite band and four of my favorite people but they have not been playing where I could see them. I don't think I've seen them this year so going to the show was a high priority. To make it even higher it was a home game, they were playing First Acoustics. Of course this was like when the Green Bay Packers played some home games in Milwaukee. First acoustics was 20 minutes from my apartment but it's hours by public transit from Ardsley where I'm staying. Getting there was an odyssey. Brynden kindly drove me to the MetroNorth. That saved an hour. It was actually well ahead of when I had to leave so when I got to Grand Central I walked over to Bryant Park to read. I managed to get through 60 pages of Game of Thrones. I have to make decisions now. Do I picture the characters as they appear on the TV show or by the descriptions in the book? I'm trying to use the book but it's tough. The characters are all younger in the book than on TV. That makes a big difference for the younger characters. Jon Snow and Robb Stark have facial hair on TV, in the book they are 14. Ned Stark is only 38. As I suspected the actor playing on the show was over 50. After reading and getting to exactly page 100 my phone rang. It was LORi. I have been wanting to talk to her and we haven't been able to connect. Talking to her is important to my mental health. We talked till I had to leave. I walked over to Times Square and took the to Brooklyn heights. I meant to time myself. It takes something like 20 minutes. I simply don't get people who are in Manhattan that think that going to Brooklyn is a big deal. First Acoustics is only a few blocks from many subway stations. I got there early of course, I wanted to have schmoozing time. This was my crowd. There's an open mic before the show and I knew every performer. If my life was not in such turmoil, I'd have performed too. The open micers were:
I sat down front for Karen but then I got up to take better pictures of the others which led to me getting up to socialize too. Who did I socialize with? The people at the Open Mic and No Fuss and Feathers, Coco, and David for the most part. There's a vegan dinner served but as I don't eat most of that I brought a peanut butter sandwich. I did have plenty of coffee and donut holes and oranges. See I eat one healthy thing. I did sit down for the Feathers and found Karen D and Katherine at my table. The Feathers did their entire album in order. Their songs aren't silly but most of what they do between songs is silly. They even wore Christmas regalia for Quiet Christmas. They are one of the bands that I feel free to heckle. I think that Scott Wolfson would think I was mad at him if I didn't heckle. If his band were to play without him they'd be Scott Free Superheroes. Sorry I can't resist. it was a great audience to see the show with, it was filled with musicians familiar with the music singing along I love to sit with someone harmonizing well with the person on stage. It's the truest surround sound. The thing that made going to the show possible was that I got a ride home from the people I knew would be going my way, Jay and Catherine. I asked them a few days ago. So I stayed for the cleanup which I usually help out with anyway and then we headed north. There was Mother's Day Traffic on the FDR but after that it was clear sailing. I got to ride with two of my favorite people. That helped a lot. Everything sounds wonderful right? Well actually I had a few huge waves of depression. When I talked to LORi it all came out. Then it hit me at the show. I wonder if anyone noticed. I was still getting up and taking pictures but a few times I went and sat by myself with my head down. When I caught myself doing that I got up and tried to sit or stand with someone. There's no joy in Mudville. That reminds me of baseball. Even with everything else going on I still think of that. The Mets are doing great but I can't feel part of that as I can't watch the games. I do read about them. My fantasy team the Nashional Batnoses are doing well too. We are at our highpoint of the season. There were are in second place only 4.5 points out of first. We won our first week. Not bad considering I did pretty much no prep for the draft and it's not like my players are having great seasons. Many are doing poorly. Maybe I'll never prepare again. Even with my life a wreck this makes me feel better. I grasp at what I have. Today I put lots of my stuff into a crawlspace at Brynden's house. Brynden is actually two people, a married couple. I should call the house a tree to keep consistent. But I won't. I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge: please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
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