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
February 07, 2014 - 11:13 a.m. I got up early, why am I just now starting to write? oh right, I'm an idiot. I didn't remember. Know why? You got it. I'm an idiot. See you can learn. I'm the one who can't. I'm operating at a handicap. Every night I get awakened after 2 AM by the Stair Stomper and I have not been able to go right back to sleep. I almost got out of bed last night to tell her. I will tonight as I have to get up very early all week for the WFUV pledge drive starting tomorrow. I gave a quiz in my Finite Math class last week on arithmetic with fractions. It is material they learned in 6th grade but I know they have trouble with. I do a review and tell them they are going to be quizzed on it and that if they don't pass they can't pass the course. I don't count the grade, it is pass/fail. Passing is 6 right out of 8. Out of my 25 students only 11 passed and only 5 got them all right. Remember these are college business majors being quizzed on middle school math. And this is a class that has a better attitude than most. How am I supposed to teach them new things if they don't have the basic skills? Three or four of them could not add 24+25 correctly. I am giving a retest. I told them to find worksheets online and do 50 problems. That's all it takes. Will they do it? My bet is that of the 14 people retaking it 7 will pass. After school I wrote my second blog of the day. I took so much time I missed getting to the Post Office before it closed to pick up my package. I'm not sure what it is. I've been ordering things online. But I still get excited getting things at my PO Box. I had a musical triple header planned. It did not work out that way. The first stop was Caffe Vivaldi to see Sharon Goldman. It was the New York release show for her new album, Silent Lesson. I gave you the link, now go buy the album. See how nice I am to you? You'll thank me. This is of course a home game. I'd have gone just to eat with the friends who were there, Allison, Elisa & Jon, Jay & Catherine, Shannon, Fred, Honor, and Amy. Who can figure out the order? You should know because it's how I always do things, it was geographic. I mentally looked around the room. Vivaldi is where I met Sharon and I get all nostalgic. I will always connect with Sharon's songs. She's a kindred spirit but not in the way most of my kindred spirit musicians are. She shares the sides of me that I don't usually share myself. My self-image is the clever wise guy riffing on the world. Sharon bravely exposes her vulnerable spots. She's secure about her insecurity. She gives me the warm and fuzzies. She's also a damn good songwriter. I videoed a few songs but here's the thing. The one I like better got cut off. I'm not sure why but the phone said, "Maximum length reached." I never had that happen before. It isn't like the memory is full, the phone is new. I'm going to show you both videos. And here's the cut off Valentine's Day. You'll notice there are ads in the second. That's because YouTube recognized it as Sharon's song. I hope she gets the royalties. I think that's the purpose of it. Of course I'm sure it's only a fraction of cent. So watch it over and over. How much is Sharon one of my people? She stops in the middle of the show to ask about everyone's food. She knows that's important. I had tiramisu. This was the second day in a row I actually got to talk to a friends. Jay and I talked quite a bit and I got to talk to the others too. As Sharon said, "the tribe" was there. That's different that talking to a random group of friends. We all know each other so you can jump into any conversation and hame some idea what's going on. I appreciate things like that. Most day I spend with people I am not so fond of or who positively annoy me. There are two very annoying people where I live and several at work too. The best I get from anyone at home or work is exchanging pleasantries. There is no meeting of minds. So when I get a chance to to talk to someone I care about, I care about it. For some reason I got my check after everyone else had already pay theirs. So I was still in the restaurant when the group picture was taken. I know they tipped the waitress to do that so I wouldn't ruin the photo. On the more practical side I wanted to make a quick getaway so I could make it to the second leg of my triple-header, Kristin Andreassen at Rockwood. But alas that was not to be. I was still waiting for my check when the show was scheduled to begin. Then because I hadn't slept well I didn't feel up to killing an hour and a half to the third leg, Tammy Faye Starlite's salute to The Runaways. I really wanted to see that but It was a long wait and the show was at the Cutting Room so pricey. I did get to talk to Allison as we walked to the subway. You can tell that my mood is improving I'm seeing the bright side. I then indulged myself by getting a hot chocolate at Pop Bar. They do things strangely. You get a chocolate bar on an ice cream stick which is put in the hot milk. You stir it and it melts into the milk. I made the bad plan of eating on the subway. I had to remove the lid to mix it. I got milk all over my pants and the floor. And I had just done laundry too. I tried to watch the Civil War when I got home but fell asleep. Then the Stair Stomper woke me up and that was it for a good night's sleep. OK I have to eat, shower, and get out of here to get to school. I was late last week. I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge: please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
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