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"[...]a vessel cleaving the dungeon of the waves[...]"
You're Love in the Time of Cholera!
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Like Odysseus in a work of Homer, you demonstrate undying loyalty by
sleeping with as many people as you possibly can. But in your heart you never give
consent! This creates a strange quandary of what love really means to you. On the
one hand, you've loved the same person your whole life, but on the other, your actions
barely speak to this fact. Whatever you do, stick to bottled water. The other stuff
could get you killed.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
Never miss a word
You're Infinite Jest!
by David Foster Wallace
While you1 consider yourself2 to be clever,
there are those3 who think you're just full of yourself or, perhaps worse,
playing a joke4 on everyone around you, and yet you are pretty sure that
you really are that brilliant after all, since people would hardly take the time to
get to know you5 if they didn't care very deeply about what you had to
say to them, to wit, about their lives, their hopes, their dreams, their fears, their
drug habits, and of course what videos6 they prefer to watch, since,
after all, your impressive vocabulary and tendency to go on and on7 makes
you seem superior, able to educate them, and really drive a sense of something
ineffable into their measly little skulls while you are not above making a cheap
gag or really going after anyone or anything or telling them about incredible
futures involving tennis, geopolitics, and
1Meaning you personally, not someone like you or your own
personal daddy, for example.
2As well as you can see yourself, which, frankly, may not be that well.
3Though we wouldn't deign to be so peripatetic as to name them here, mind.
4Jokes, though not common in Victorian England, were known to originate
sometime in ancient history, perhaps as early as the time of Babylon, or even before.
It is thought that the history of the joke plays an integral role in the mindset of
the characters depicted here, though you may disagree at this point, in which case I
am facing quite the dilemma in relaying this narrative, no?
5It is rather time consuming, after all.
6Ha!
7and on and on and on...
Take the Book Quiz II
at the Blue Pyramid.
You're The Metamorphosis!
by Franz Kafka
Though you think you're in the midst of a dream, the fact of the
matter is that your life has become a nightmare. The nightmare at first seems
horrific to you, but you are slowly able to adjust to the facts of the matter
and settle down and make do with what you've been given. There are those that
would say you're pointless and absurd, but you're really just trying to
demonstrate that people can (and do) adapt to anything, no matter how absurd
it is. Not that this will really inspire them to change, because they probably
don't understand.
Take the Book Quiz II
at the Blue Pyramid.
About Me
- Σφιγξ
- possesses wholly unmerited academic pretensions; examines love as an entomologist; collects haunted dollshouses; notes the lunar phase as regularly as the temperature; peruses field guides; reads like a serial magazine subscriptionist; functions through coffee and "mood" music; draws to the very corners of the page; takes notes on unlined paper; reads poetry as prayer; observes textual authority with the incredulity of fiction; suppresses the smart-ass answer(s); adapts as well as anyone beseiged by her own bibelots; she is a sensation seeker in spite of all of this.
20 comments:
Con toda palabra
Con toda sonrisa
Con toda mirada
Con toda caricia
Me acerco al agua
Bebiendo tu beso
La luz de tu cara
La luz de tu cuerpo
Es ruego el quererte
Es canto de mudo
Mirada de ciego
Secreto desnudo
Me entrego a tus brazos
Con miedo y con calma
Y un ruego en la boca
Y un ruego en el alma
Con toda palabra
Con toda sonrisa
Con toda mirada
Con toda caricia
Me acerco al fuego
Que todo lo quema
La luz de tu cara
La luz de tu cuerpo
Es ruego el quererte
Es canto de mudo
Mirada de ciego
Secreto desnudo
Me entrego a tus brazos
Con miedo y con calma
Y un ruego en la boca
Y un ruego en el alma
Yes, I realized that long ago, when I first bought her albums...when I was still fumbling through translated revenge plays.
I may be influenced by the album cover of "La Llorona" but I've always thought Lhasa's voice would match perfectly with Picasso picture of Dora Maar as "Weeping Woman" (1937).
http://www.tate.org.uk/
modern/exhibitions/livinghistory
/html/picasso.shtm
No, I did not use that painting elsewhere, with regard to someone else.
We will have to defer to the customs, and go out sometime. Then, when ready, hire an attorney to clarify things. One of the reasons that I worry about healthcare insurance, is that it seems to be a frequent wake in the domestic lives of couples I have witnessed. Family. I do not want to cause discord in your community. I understand how important it is.
https://www.plansponsor.com/even-healthy-couples-will-face-extreme-health-care-costs-retirement/
What I had envisioned on Friday was to ask you to dinner, or GrubHub or the option of your choice, and then I would drive home. I had to work four hours on Friday, and being able to get away was possible. Also, I really wanted to find something unique to give my niece, and I found it there this summer, the establishment next to the train shop.
I was going to give the Kaye Bledvad book (short, sophisticated, with nice illustrations) to my niece, but as I read it, with references to pink triangles and boys wearing pink, I desist. Her father is sensitive to any material that may rub off on his daughter. I think it it is important to give at least one book every birthday, in addition to whatever else. I chart the ages in my mind that I discovered certain books.
In reflection, I realize that I made a mistake because I do not like people stopping by unannounced. I had hoped that you would be intercepted, without much fanfare or obligation that it was Valentine's Day. I really wanted to say nothing intimate, aside from footnotes from the life that I inhabit, and to listen more about yours. Like Arrested Development, I will sign a non-disclosure agreement.
I have to write a final paper about CMS reimbursement, and I deal daily with case management. I regularly advise patients to beg for generics like clopidigrel, instead of ticagrelor for $412 for 60 tablets.*
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/23/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/
My mother is also coming by after work so that I can interpret her student loans. I told her she is not getting out of it. She makes too much, and it would be best if she paid it off with her TSP to reduce a monthly liability.
To reflect on being middle class or whatever: I do not have many vices, and I can give up mine, like wasteful spending, unlike a lot of Americans. I put off contemplation of a newer vehicle because the monthly payment and taxes in Virginia are high.
I have had to work fourteen-hour days all this week. High acuity and high volume surgeries.
I like the four-disc sound system, Hemi-V8 engine, and the gigantic trunk on my Chrysler 300 whose model year was built on the Mercedes chassis (Daimler Chrysler).
When I have to get a newer vehicle, I consent to having a car payment <500.
The desire for a Ford Bronco diminishes with the 4-Liter engine across all models. That big heavy vehicle with a golf cart engine that drags moving out to the interstate. No.
It appears that Penny the opossum is not leaving for the big world with the other opossums in the yard. She eats sardines and blueberries and rides around on her caretakers.
Madelyn received her kindergarten report card, and she is now exceeding expectations in all subjects. She will remain in tutoring and a summer program.
Perhaps, a Dodge Challenger in the last 8 years with low mileage and 8-Cyl, HEMI, 5.7L.
Penny finally went to be with her friends last summer.
After I liberate one more monthly bill, I think I am going to settle on a Jaguar XJ Portfolio with low mileage. An older luxury car is better than a new vehicle.
The unicorn is from Carvana (I do not negotiate) Jaguar XJR 4.2-litre supercharged V8 engine in the last ten years with low mileage. Not white or red.
Maybe EBay.
The Jaguar XJR V8 was the Prime Minister's vehicle until it was replaced by the ballistic-tested Range Rover Sentinel. That fact is irrelevant to me, but it has almost the horsepower of a Porsche 911 without dropping the engine in the trunk for routine maintenance.
https://www.goodwood.com/grr/road/news/the-2003-xjr-is-one-of-the-best-jaguars-ever--thank-frankel-its-friday/
https://www.pca.org/news/panorama-orange-crush
I found this issue incidentally. The Miata MK-5 looked to the Porsche 911 for inspiration.
The 914 was a venture with Volkswagen in the 1969.
https://www.porsche.com/stories/mobility/8-things-porsche-914/
They are moldering in a retiree's garage, and if one were to happen upon it, it would be like a vintage rescue. To my mind.
LOL.
Miata MX-5.
I really tried this year to put things down that were dispensible from Elul through the 10th of Tishrei. No music. No radio. No other books but religious books; to elevate my time and contemplate repentance. On Chol HaMoed, I have the sense that my human meat is slouching through prayers; it cannot reach the same level. That is both a by-product of one's attention and the claim that Gd makes on us for a fixed period of time knowing our requirements for living and our distractions.
The Piecework Blossom puzzle I pieced in that interval, and I was just about to finish, was thrown on the floor by a pouncing cat. Trying again; satisfaction with the performance redacted. Reprised by The Spinners (1972) after Tony Bennett (1962), but I like this version best from 1963 (revenge nothwithstanding):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Wf5eWt_Rw
To cite Rav Avigdor Miller on Teshuvah and the Yamim Nora'im recorded by Rabbi Yaakov Astor (2022):
Q. Why is Hashem Melech the focus on Rosh Hashanah, and not confessing our sins?
On Yom Kippur we're busy saying, 'Ashamnu, bagadnu, gazalnu—We sinned, we were traitorous, we stole,' and so on. We spend the whole day admitting our sins. Why don't we do that on Rosh Hashanah? After all, it's the Day of Judgement. It's a day of sakanah [hazard/severity], of great peril. One aveirah too many might, chalilah, tip the scales against us. It could be the decisive factor between life and non-life. So, you ask, wouldn't the important thing on Rosh Hashanah be to ask Hashem to forgive us, to wipe off our sins from our record?
And the answer is, we are doing teshuvah on Rosh Hashanah. We're asking Hashem to forgive us, to wipe off our sins, but we're doing so in a different form. Because the sin of sins—the greatest of all errors—is the error of forgetting Hashem (107)."
Q. Practically speaking, how can we really feel "Hashem Melech"?
"One way is by studying the phenomena of this world. The Gemara asks why Hashem created thunder (Berachos 59a). And the Gemara answers, 'L'fasheit akmunis shebaleiv—To iron out the wrinkles in the mind, meaning in the heart.'
I used to look at this LP of Jackson Browne's Running on Empty (1977), and I liked the drumset on the desolate highway. My favorite track is "You love the thunder (you love the rain)":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM1YXp3jy-I
True story, I would not have sought out Jackson Browne without watching that 1976 Scorsese film playing a song from the 1974 album with Magritte on the cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61kkRHw_uF4
Little did I know that when I became released from work in the late evening, I would wandering around like Travis. I do not have those predilections; only that there are few hours before midnight to fill the void, the weakness of faith, and it is difficult to turn home.
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