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 ...
January 07, 2017 - 11:51 a.m.
I opened Word half an hour a go and didn't start writing till now. That explains a great deal of my life. But now I'm starting even though I'm not sure what I'm going to write about. I do this sometimes, it's an accurate reflection of what's going on in my brain. What I haven't done in ages is write a pure stream of consciousness and I'm not doing that now even though this sentence is pure stream of consciousness.
I stayed in yesterday, it was my recovery from a Crohn's attack day. If I had something important to do, I'd have done it but I didn't. I wasn't in pain and the attack was so short I wasn't even that weak but it was still for the best. How can I put this delicately? When I have, a Crohn's attack my digestive system is clogged up. Yesterday the pipes cleared themselves out. A big part of being a good patient is learning patience. It's the epitome of accepting the things you cannot change. I have trouble with that in other circumstances but not with health. I spent the day not moving much and made the best of it. That is why god invented computers and the Internet. I could read, interact with people, listen to music, and watch TV without getting up from the couch.
I was able to eat with no problem. I had sausageeggandcheese on an English muffin for brunch and a ham steak with Shai-Hulud potato for dinner. Once again, the potato came out exceptionally well. Is the secret that I add garlic salt and MSG to the olive oil before I baste it? It must be.
Weather permitting, and it better permit if it knows what's good for it, I'm going to a concert tonight and two tomorrow. I could make it three but I'm not totally insane. I thought everything was happening at once but now I realize that it might be possible to see Kate Copeland up in Hastings at River Spirit Music then race down to Rockwood and catch most of Free Dirt Records Presents: Rachel Baiman, Kaia Kater, Kristin Andreassen feat. Chris Eldridge, and Anna & Elizabeth. I haven’t seen Kaia since discovering her at NERFA. When I met her, I told her she had to meet Kristin. I guess that's happening. I love Kristin & Chris and Anna & Elizabeth. You should go. I can't vouch for Rachel but the rest are far out of the ordinary. I'm not going to be able to catch Anthony da Costa next door at Rockwood 2.
My blogging brain is in a difficult place. All the ideas that I'm having are political and that's not what I want to write about; I don't think it's what My Gentle Readers want to read. I'm going to leave my Ideas Bin and try something I just thought of. I'll see how far I want to go with this. I'm going to make a list of art I've obsessed on. These are artists or works of art that I try to be a completist about. I delved in and read books about them. If they are TV shows I got program guides. I've been to conventions. I have tried to not miss the bands playing. I'm not going to write about the art and artists but give evidence of the obsession. These are not necessarily my favorites. Obsession is a special beast. Especially with authors I'm finding it tough to decide who is on the list. There are authors I've read a dozen books by that aren't on it. On a different day, there might be a few more added. I'm listing the ones I'm sure of.
Authors
- J.R.R. Tolkien: I've read LOTR over 50 times. I collected editions of it and the Hobbit. I waited anxiously for The Silmarillion to be published and bought it the first day. That is my favorite work of his. I have read the complete History of Middle Earth. These were books based on uncompleted works of J.R.R edited by his son Christopher complete with footnotes. I saw the Ralph Bakshi animated version the second day, I had to teach the first day and it was sold out by the time my friends and I got to the theater. I saw North American premiere of Jackson's Fellowship of the Rings. It was at midnight and Ian McKellen was there.
- Isaac Asimov: I read all of his science fiction, all his science essays published in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and scores of his other books. I saw him too many times to count. I even called him at home. He was listed in the phone book. This was a prank by my friend Aubrey who dialed the number and handed me the phone. Asimov was very nice.
- Arthur C. Clark: I've read all his fiction and a good deal of his non-fiction. I didn't do anything extreme but he's deep in my heart of hearts.
- H.P. Lovecraft: I tracked down every story he wrote which was not that easy. I read books about him and the Cthulhu Mythos. I had a Cthulhu for President bumper sticker.
- James Branch Cabell: He's died with Tolkien for my greatest literary obsession. I bought every edition of his books I could find including the complete numbered and autographed Storisende Edition of The Biography of Manuel. That's 18 volumes. My username across the Internet is Horvendile. That's one of Cabell's characters. I give people copies of Jurgen.
- Terry Pratchett: I might have bought more books of his than of any other author. I wrote him an email about Cabell. Some of his works echo Cabell's.
TV Shows
- The Twilight Zone: My father watched it so I was watching it before I was aware. It has simply always been a part of me. I have seen each episode countless times. If I turn it on I try to recognize the episode in seconds. I bought the Twilight Zone Companion and gave a grade to every episode. More than any other show it's the one where I'll have conversations listing our favorite episodes.
- Star Trek: I'm talking the original series. I looked forward to the first episode, the ads hooked me. I mourned it's passing. It was my first encounter of TV as church. I had to watch it every week and then talk about it in school the next day. It got me going to conventions. I've met the entire regular cast.
- Doctor Who: This is my number 1; the show is so great and there is so much of it. It is the reason I bought a VCR. When it moved to Saturday night when I almost always went out I couldn't bear missing it. I had them all on tape. I would spend New Year's Eve watching Doctor Who marathons. I went to the first American Doctor Who convention where I met John Pertwee and Elizabeth Sladen. I was a charter member of The Doctor Who Fan Club of America. I bought a DVD player so I could watch the new series before it was shown in America. I wrote a blog about me traveling on the TARDIS.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I'll include Angel in this too. The first three seasons were Church. During the first season, each episode was shown twice an I'd try and watch it twice. I bought not one, but a whole slew of Buffy t-shirts. Bad Carey and I would talk about it every day till we started "The Day of Trial and Denial," when we were not allowed to talk about it. At Dragoncon I wrote and hosted Buffy Jeopardy. Lauren and Mike got obsessed too and built the set and ran it. I got Good Carey hooked on it. We went on Buffy action figure hunts. I made my first internet friend, Jodie, through the show. I then created a chatroom to discuss it. Carey and I dressed as Vampire Willow and Xander at Creepcon where we met Anthony Stewart Head and saw Adam Busch, he has a band, Mark Lutz, and Andy Hallett. The last two were the best panelists.
- Game of Thrones: I started late and it took a full season of binge watching for me to get hooked, but it got me. I'm counting the days till the next season. I'm trying to read the books but my eyesight makes that slow going.
I'm hungry so I'm going to leave out music. I'll get to that another time. Now all I can think of is bacon and eggs.
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 January 07, 2017
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