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 18, 2014 - 10:20 a.m. I'm pressed for time. I have finals to grade. But I never forget you, My Gentle Readers. OK, let's be honest. I never forget that I need to write. I don't need it for my mental health, I don't need it to get attention. I need writing in and of itself. It's its own justification. I did not get nearly enough grading done yesterday. Today I'm going to be good. It's how I'm going to spend the day. Can I buckle down and do it? History tells me yes. With all my procrastination problems caused by anxiety I can always get my school work done. I was still drawn from my house yesterday by music. I had other options but went to see Paul Sachs at Kathryn's Space This is a home game. Of course it's a home game that took me forever to get to thanks to train trouble. As I keep complaining my subway stop is closed and I have to take a shuttle bus. And when I get on the at Franklin it runs local. And it is running less often. It's adding 20 to 30 minutes to my travel time. I still got to the show fairly early, I just wasn't the first one. I like getting their early just to hang out with Kathryn aka Kay. As Katherine was there and often is I like to call her Kay so everyone knows who I mean. I even had to disentangle all the Katherine, Kaths, Kathys, and Kats in my life with my therapist. I think. I'd probably be cured if I didn't have to waste all my time with that. I arrived at the same time as another guest that rang up. David let us in and made sure that nobody else followed us into the building. What other house concert do you know that has a legend of folk music working security? Kathryn puts on an amazing house concert. she lays out a beautiful spread and always makes sure she has something that I love to eat there. The carnivores and vegans are both happy. Carnivores and Vegans is the name of my Animals/Fruit tribute band. The preshow socializing is always an important part of the experience. I met some new people and talked to Katherine, Gidge, David, Su, and others. And of courseDiana Jones who is playing there soon and gave a preview last night. She also sang with Paul. How the hell do I know Paul? I know it's through friends but I'm not sure which ones or where we first met. He just slowly found his way into my life. Paul is a songwriter's songwriter. He's got skilz. I often don't like songwriter's songwriters because they have the skilz but don't have anything interesting to say. Paul does. I will always associate Paul with Johnny Cash. He has the resonant baritone, he wears black, and his songs are dark. When he said "next set I'll do some love songs" I shouted out, "Does anybody die?" He immediately came back with , "No but they wish they did." I only heckle when the artist can handle it. Paul reminds me a bit of Joe Crookston. Their performance styles are totally different. But they both create a character, get in his or her head, then write from his or her point of view. They are NOT sensitive singer/songwriters telling us how nobody has ever felt what they feel. Funny thing I talked about this with Paul after the show and he volunteered Jackson Browne, my b�te noire, as an example. But the funny thing is Paul loves Jackson Browne. You can never tell these things. This was the release show for Paul's new album Survival is the New Success. I got my copy last week at On Your Radar. Sometimes there are perks to being me. Paul has a song about that, Gratitude. Well it's about the perks of being him not me but you get the idea. That is a running thing of mine. Gratitude is not dark. Neither is his finale, Jesus Candle. It's better to light one Jesus Candle than to curse the darkness. As so often happens, the totally untypical song by an artist is a crowd pleaser. For years the most requested song by funny Christine Lavin was her poignant Kind of Love You Never Recover From. Paul gets the audience on their feet and turns the room into a revival meeting with Jesus Candle. It is NOT a religious song. He got in trouble singing it for a religious audience. After the show I made two culinary stops. First I stopped at Brooklyn Piggies. They specialize in pigs in a blanket. This was my first time trying them. It was not special. I like what I get at a wedding better. They are overpriced. $5 for three cocktail franks is too much. Then I tried an new ice cream store on the same block. It was good but didn't blow me away. I'll try it again. They were not overpriced for artisan ice cream, $5.50 for a double cone and $4 for a single scoop. I met Mikey and asked him what makes his ice cream special. He said it was love. On the I amused to people who watched me grade tests. They are both in college and taking math. I ended up riding the shuttle bus with one of them. I like when I end up talking to random people on the train. OK, now to make breakfast and get back to grading. Yesterday's fried egg, sausage, and cheese on a salt bagel was amazingly good. I fried the egg in butter. Let me clarify that I fried it in ghee. I've been waiting since breakfast yesterday to write that I like that ghee went from being a word I knew from crossword puzzles and scrabble to being something I use regularly. Wow It's 10:19 and I'm finished writing. That's a good start on my day. I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge: please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
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