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

September 17, 2015 - 1:14 p.m.

On My Honor I Saw a Great Show

Do people really prefer to not write in draft view? What's with Word's discrimination against it? It's the only view you can't open a document with and it's the only one I use.

Because Monday was Rush Limbaugh, no I mean Rosh Hashanah my therapy was postponed till yesterday, not that that changed much. That's a regular commute and one of the easiest and easiest to time. If I leave here at 2:40 I will arrive by 3:30 and it's just one train. That's nice and stress free. To make it better I read Maskerade by Terry Pratchett. I'm filling in the gaps in my Discworld reading. I might actually become a Pratchett completist. How does the Word dictionary not include "completist?" Is it an obscure word? I thought I was misspelling it when it was flagged.

After therapy I headed up to Big Daddy's where the shakes are half-priced to 5:00. I got there in time and got a chocolate malt. I felt that the waiter was annoyed that I didn't get food too. Their food is expensive. I go there for shakes. I wanted to be at Don't Tell Mama by 6:30 so I had time to kill. I walked which took half an hour but there was still time, so I went to Madison Square and read. Yes I'm really reading again! That's very exciting.

I got to Don't Tell Mama exactly when I wanted to. Christine Lavin and Don White were doing the third week of the songwriter's residency, their guest this time was David Massengill another favorite. To make it even better I had someone to go with, Honor met me there. Julie Gold and Tom Tose were at the next table. I was the only one that wasn’t a talented musician. I was going to say that wasn’t a songwriter, but I have written songs. Carey and I wrote the greatest song every written. More importantly Tom is also a Jeopardy champion and by chance we were sitting together. Do I need to say that it was Honor Finnegan? You might know another Honor but I don't. Anyone else think of the Star Trek episode "Shore Leave" when they hear the name Finnegan?

As you can tell this was a home game. It was one of those shows where Chris knows half the audience including her dentists. I was very happy that David tried out two brand new songs. He did "Riders on an Orphan Train" a song that will always make me cry. I think it was "My Name Joe" that got Julie all verklempt. David goes to heart. He can also be very clever and very funny. It usually comes out gentle. Well not "Kill the Rich." But he didn't do that.

There's one more show in the series next Wednesday but Don has to miss it. David Ippolito will be the guest. You should go.

Honor and I got there early and schmoozed. After the show we schmoozed some more. There were a lot of fun people there. Hey there was a picture taken after the show. No pics are allowed during the show


Christine, Honor, Tom, David, and me

After the show Honor and I walked to the eighth avenue line and hopped on the subway. Only two stops together but it was fun. We gave each other an Irish hug when we said goodbye. That was part of a funny routine that Don did about the difference between his Irish and Greek families. Almost everything he said about the Greeks applied to Jews, he said it pertained to Italians too. It's a Mediterranean thing.

I am not going to call this an idiot story but I did plan poorly. I needed to buy eggs which are always cheaper at Trader Joes. I could have gotten off the train at 23rd and gone to the one in Chelsea but I switched to the and went to Brooklyn Heights. I got there at 10:02, they close at 10:00. So I went to Pathmark. I didn't get eggs. They had Eggos on sale, $2 a box so I bought that and I'll eat that for breakfast today. I found out Pathmark is bankrupt and they are being taken over by Stop and Shop. My first reaction was "Great!" I love Stop and Shop. But then the horrible truth hit me. Pathmark is the only store I know in New York that carries Taylor Ham! That's a staple for me. I do not know what I'll do. Will I once again be dependent on Brian? Will I find a supermarket near a PATH station and go into Jersey for it? If I write Taylor can they tell me another store in Manhattan or Brooklyn that sells it? I doubt it will be as convenient as the Pathmark is, two stops from my house. This is a potential tragedy of biblical proportions.

After doing something stupid I told a friend, "At least this gives me a good idiot story to write about." He asked, "Why do you do that?" My first reaction is "My Gentle Readers like them." That's true, at least I hope it's true. But on further consideration I realized it's not why I do it. I tell idiot stories because I like them. It's my way of dealing with my imperfections. I joke about my anxiety, vision problems, and Crohn's too. It's my way with dealing with the world's imperfections. When you can joke about something it gives you an element of control. You can't control what happened but you can control the way you think of it. It often comes out as talking about things I do stupid because I can't really talk about other people that way. You probably think of me as a nice guy. I think of me as a nice guy. But if I let out everything I thought I wouldn't be a nice guy. I pretty much often want to humorously eviscerate people. Now you might have heard me say some things too. I won't say it if there's a chance the subject hears it and feels hurt. I never want to hurt people but I know who deserves it. When I write about musicians I'm nice if I mention the musician. What I love about thinking up the "Act" is that I can write what I think and not hurt anyone's feelings. But know something, it's still more fun when it's myself I'm mocking. At least when I'm writing.


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 September 17, 2015
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