I am a child.

"From the group's inception, The Wiggles decided to 'operate from the premise that a young child has a short attention span, is curious about a limited number of objects and activities, loves having a job to do and is thrilled by mastering basic movements'."

Huh. I do get a thrill from the mastering of basic movements. . .

Ideas I've had this week

Cotton is a superior fibre.
Also, certain British spellings are superior to the American: for example, fibre, spectre and theatre. Not centre though.

Do not remove your shoes.
Unless, of course, there's a good reason. For example, they're very muddy and you're about to enter a place in which mud isn't welcome, or a Japanese person's home. Generally, a person should put comfortable footwear on in the morning & not remove their shoes until the end of day—barring, of course, a change of clothes.

Every person should carry a pocket knife, a pen and a lighter.
An alternative: befriend people who carry knives so that you've always got one handy. Also, if you're shipwrecked or in a similar predicament, you'll be pleased. If you get arrested, it will give the police some fun things to inventory when they process you.

A person should wear fresh clothing whenever possible.
I like white oxford cloth shirts and I don't care who knows it.

Sandwiches are a superior food.
Yet eating them with a fork looks stupid.

The old is superior to the new and the foreign is superior to the domestic.
This is true because of a sort of dimensional osmosis. The old things that survive are, generally, the best of the old things. The foreign things that are imported/translated are, generally, the best of the foreign things.

Plastic has many useful applications.
It is also frequently a choking hazard.

"The question to ask about literature is not 'Is it new?', or even 'What does it mean?' or 'Is it art?', but 'Is it any good?'."
Oh, yes.

Cities are more beautiful than forests.
They frequently smell worse, though.

Hyperlinks are among the greatest wonders of the digital age.
Without them we and the internet would be poorer.

Conceiving of the world as finite realm with infinite possibilities is just fine.
Space is finite. Resources are finite. Life is long, but finite. And your credit card debt is, of course, your own damn fault.

Democracy has failed in all things.
Except self-promotion.

Facts do not require our recognition and will go on being facts whether we like it or not.
Neither knowing nor not knowing is that important.

Bowling is a fine game.
Beer is a fine companion.

Museums fail to educate the public.
Museums exhibits frequently disappoint me. Less so art museums.

Too many books are published every year.
The glut of books published in the English language every year is damaging to ideas and to the market.

I haven't forgotten you.

A Bizarre Introductory Paragraph from the Economist:

THERE is a story about a science professor giving a public lecture on the solar system. An elderly lady interrupts to claim that, contrary to his assertions about gravity, the world travels through the universe on the back of a giant turtle. “But what supports the turtle?” retorts the professor. “You can’t trick me,” says the woman. “It’s turtles all the way down.”

In other news, Taco Bell is still delicious.

There ain't no cure for the summertime blues.

Summertime Blues is a freakishly upbeat song. But then, I am an upbeat kind of guy. Today, I went to the bowling alley and, though one game was contested by a militant feminist faction, I won three games in a row―without breaking one hundred. JLE throws the whole ball with her body/BKG throws her whole body with the ball, but that one pin was glued down.

Fish are jumping.

I haven't been getting the reading done that I should. I am three/fourths of the way through Attila Bartis's TRANQUILITY and, though I like it well enough, I have taken untold breaks while reading it to read Le Carré's THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and Ludlum's THE BOURNE IDENTITY and I've also been getting a review blog started―which, as it turns out, is easier to start than to update. No fault can be found with the delightful folks who have volunteered their reviews, but . . . I just wish I knew more about all there is to know, that's all. Where's Squeo when you want him?

The cotton is high.

In other news, with my warranty on my laptop winding down and my battery charge winding down faster, I am preparing to buy a new laptop. A hot black MacBook, only years after they debuted. I'm anticipating obsolescence with four gigs of RAM, but when you make as little as I do, you cannot make such a move lightly. I'm making it lightly.

Nothing can harm you.

Jessica washed the sheets. God bless her. She also washed my shirts last week. She's a cleansing force in my life, a bright light that burns away the filth and the shit that accumulate around me. She destroys grime and sweat and leaves behind only cleanliness and purity. And sometimes she moves my books and throws me a new world, forces me to build again. She's the flood, le deluge, God's solution. And she's good at it.

I'm gonna rise up singing.

Dinner

Jessica's thrilling quesadilla scenario: chihuahua cheese, grilled chicken, and all you see here.

BLACK BEANS!

An email I received in response to my roommate advertisement on Craig's List

Hi ,
Thank you for your quick response.I would have loved to set up an appointment with you but at the moment,i am out of town. My name is Susan Rice and i am a deaf mute female caucasian of about 20 years of age.I am a native of York in Pennsylvania. I do not smoke. I am single with no kids and pets friendly and easy going.I am single and with no kids. I am currently trying to obtain my diploma in Pharmacy Technology at Sunderland University in the UK. I will be rounding up my programme come july 1th,2008. I will be sending you a certified check of $3500 which will written in your name and cashable in your bank. I am sending you that much money because i will be using the balance to pay for my travelling expenses.I know this is a very difficult task but i am craving your indulgence to please take the check to your bank and cash it. After cashing,deduct the stipulated fees and send the balance to my travel agent via moneygram. Moneygram transfer is available in every Walmart outlets.
Please send me your full name and address in order to write the payment in your name.

I hope to hear from you as soon as possible,
Regards
Susan

I googled Susan Rice and found THIS.

From ILLONA COOKS

A truly obscene series of photographs.

Dinner

Leftover fried rice sautéed with cremini mushrooms, onion, fresh basil, & fresh garlic.
Spinach & arugula salad with sliced avocado & sweet poppy seed dressing. Kind of gross looking.

Delicious:

Sliced avocado & sweet poppy seed dressing on a Chicago flat.

By Myself

When Jessica is out of town, I tend to stay up late. I don't know why. It's not that I don't enjoy sleep and it is no longer because I have difficulty falling asleep. There's just a mild anxiety about, well, maybe about stopping and starting. I don't like to interrupt. I don't like to change, to go from doing to not doing or to doing something else. Strings of activities, lists, they all give me that same anxiety, however practical. Jessica likes lists. Also, with Jessica out of town, I am slightly dehydrated. There's always a lot of fresh Chicago tap water with ice cubes when Jessica's nearby. I like that about her. I was thinking of her and then I thought, "I am thirsty." I wonder if I was just thirsty or if maybe I missed her. Today, I prefer to be romantic and think that maybe I was thinking of her and became thirsty.

I'm still thirsty and I haven't slept under the covers in a week.