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 ...
September 24, 2015 - 1:23 p.m.
Another very late start, once again I slept through my alarm. I have not done that since college now I've done it two days in a row, that's a bit scary. I checked the alarm works. I have to get to sleep before 2 AM tonight. Last night it was closer to 3.
I didn't do much yesterday though I did go over to Dan's house for a few hours. I managed to be an idiot walking there. I had never been there before, he lives near a triangular park. I thought he lived on the other opposite side from the corner I started at. Nope, he lived by an adjacent angle so I went around two sides of the triangle instead of one. Next time it won't be an issue.
Oh I'm skipping things. Yesterday was Yom Kippur so I had to celebrate with a proper breakfast, here it is.
That's sausage egg and cheese fried in bacon fat on chocolate chip Eggo waffles. My breakfasts are never kosher but for the holiday I enjoyed it more. If I wanted to atone I'd do something nice for someone I wronged, which I try and do anyway. My fasting would help no one.
This might seem unrelated but it's not. A friend of mine joked about converting to Catholicism because of the pope's visit. And it made me think of seeing Ben Hur as a kid; I thought of it as having an unhappy ending because he and his family become Christians. As an atheist Jew I did not see this the same way as most Americans. By the way it doesn't mean I didn't like the movie, I did; I'm a sucker for the ancient history stuff. I just cringed at the religious parts.
I am once again trying to read Gogol's Dead Souls. I picked up where I left off and I'm now on page 70. I have to enter that on Goodreads I'll do it now. I don't know why I have trouble finishing it. The book is funny. There are problems with the translation. It will give the distances in versts, an obsolete Russian unit which is 3500 feet, just about a kilometer. It should either tell you that or just say kilometers. It explains some terms but not others. A glossary would help. On the other hand instead of saying "blini" a term I know, it is the Russian equivalent of blintzes, it says griddle cakes. I only know it meant blini because on the first occurrence it say blini in parentheses. Nobody is going to picture a blintz when it says griddle cake. How many other things are there like that where I'm not familiar with the term? Still I’m enjoying it. If I could see properly it would be easier.
I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and I have to go back today. They were out of peanut butter. I also didn't buy milk though I was tempted to. I got home and found that the little milk I had left had turned. I bought gnocchi and made it for dinner. Yes I am actually eating pasta. Maybe I can have friends now. I lost all my friends because I don't like pasta and rice. That's official, just ask Carey.
I also bought my first apple cider of the season. I'll have to remember to get that at the Union Square farmer's market. I love Trader Joe's but the ones at the market are even better. So for the first time in months I don't have iced coffee in the house. I will make more soon. I just love iced coffee. It doesn't have to be hot out.
Sometimes I weigh in on a topic by saying nothing here, I ignore it. I could say, "Why is everybody making such a big deal about…?" Or even "We shouldn't make such a big deal about …?" but that's not for the most part effective. It just gets people defensive and they try to justify their actions by convincing themselves it's more important. Of course I will weigh in when I have a different angle than I've been hearing. So now on to the pope.
First off does anyone else want to see the sitcom "That Darn Pope" that one of Doctor Hartley's patients came up with on The Bob Newhart Show? That's not what I wanted to talk about but I'll always think of that and Tom Lehrer's Vatican Rag when thinking about the papacy. Everyone knows the first pope was St. Peter? Who was the second? Shouldn't he be more famous? I mean we all know John Adams. I just looked it up, it was St. Linus. He used to carry a blanket everywhere. His sister was so embarrassed. St. Liberius was the 36th pope. I always figured he was a terrible pope. He is the only one of the first 48 that was not canonized. The seventh pope was St. Sixtus, how was he not the sixth? Something is wrong there. Here's the official list of popes, have fun with it; The Catholic Encyclopedia list of popes.
Sorry I got distracted by trivia and humor. Now back to this pope, Francis. He's the pope all the liberals love. Sure he's anti-abortion and birth control and ordaining women but he's not emphasizing those things and is preaching environmentalism and helping the poor. Hey I'm for those things too. But I have all these mixed emotions. I don't grant anyone moral authority. You can't say, "Hey congress you need to fight global warming and invoke the pope's support" without legitimize "He congress stop funding Planned Parenthood and invoking the pope." Remember even if this pope isn't emphasizing abortion and gay rights and contraception, most popes have. The next might. So I'm just going to be very happy that he is taking these positions on economics and the environment because they do so much good. Read this, Why the Pope Should Scare Climate-Change Deniers. The last paragraph is exactly how I feel,
Pope Francis is not a climate change expert, and it’s disheartening that the overwhelming consensus among such experts hasn’t been enough to convince many Americans of the reality of climate change. But if the pope can convince some people that climate change is a real and serious problem, that’s a good thing. And it may be exactly what deniers are afraid of.I won't use him to support my beliefs when he agrees with them but I appreciate the good he's doing. I also don't forget he won't ordain women and is against contraception, let alone abortion.
Now it's time to eat. It was time to eat two hours ago, it's 1:14. I'm thinking of poached eggs on an Eggo chocolate chip waffle. They are cheaper than English muffins, at least on sale. I was going to see Darlingside tonight but decided it's too expensive. I need to get to know them better and start doing merch for them. I love that band. OK I might change my mind. We'll see.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
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Horvendile September 24, 2015
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