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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:
Solar made me think of this. I agree that McEwan is unparalleled.
http://www.ianmcewan.com/bib/books/solar.html
http://bigthink.com/ideas/19674
http://books.google.com/books?id=g0QQtlJSyOEC&lpg=PA277&dq=Isis%20pharmakon&pg=PA277#v=onepage&q=Isis%20pharmakon&f=false
I was debating over whether to check out this text, earlier this afternoon.
It is coffee table sized, with a lot of implements I have not seen:
https://books.google.com/books?id=BcuOoz_1l5wC&lpg=PP1&dq=The%20Book%20of%20the%20Dead&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=The%20Book%20of%20the%20Dead&f=false
*Solar. Yes, it was very pleasurable to read, and this will be the year to
enlarge it with my interpretations.
I thought then, as I do now, that because it upset the pieties of climate scientists, who could be anything but selfless exemplars of the field, it was panned. Additionally, the epigraph, from John Updike, polarizes many readers.
The envoi at the end may have seemed like three alternate endings, but to clarify, particularly, with Cavani in the audience, I was speaking to Floralia, but the apostrophes to ones born on Pelusia (March 20), and Parentalia (February 19) are her contemporaries. Rather than suggesting an equivalence among the four subjects in the Whistler vignette, I thought of Ovid's strategy of personifying the months in the Fasti during his exile. The inclusion of Isis (among her many attributions) signified the craftiness of experimental biology, which achieves a certain witchery at the molecular level.
Paper plants ! I have a long-standing prejudice against black with pastels (No!) It also very uninspiring to see office wear with frogman shoes (how lazy, to have everyone wear the same footwear) and apicultural netting; the latter, which signifies that the price of rooftop honey will be going down. I am less taken with Karl Lagerfeld's creations, but the installations are always amazing, even much better than the couture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiVxqpaRRVI
I will try to post the picture.
I rescued a cottontail today, and much of the day was spent trying to get it out from under the car dash; how it got into the car, is another story. A cat, Cleo, was rather disgusted that I interfered with her meal, and gobbled a small sparrow front of me, while this transpired. She left two unhinged wings by the car. Tumultuous day, but I at last procured more indigo, for the room.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_bsoyqDL7UDbFY0SjJwVnJGUmM/view?usp=sharing
I wore a silk blend cornflower blue shirt with dark pants.* It made the walk here and there in the late summer damp. I was shocked when someone offered a towel.
Yes. I want to read Solar next.
This came today:
https://books.google.com/books?id=4jtKCgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA4&dq=Senses%20of%20the%20Subject&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q=Senses%20of%20the%20Subject&f=false
I also found a new vitapack from GNC with more than I am leeching with coffee and tea; it should improve my stamina. That, and I am pleased to be on a schedule toward completion.
Yes, I was visiting the storage unit for my employment related documents, and I thought about Updike's epigraph to Solar. I might have to go back for the text, which is further back in a clear box. It is unnerving to go there, particularly alone, given the possibility of a door being bolted. There is the air of hacked up people (possibly?) and avarice for things of attachment, with no place for them to be secured.
I had a dream about skiing, which I really loved, and trying to make it happen within view of a slope on a Persian rug sprinkled with fine powdered bath salt. Somehow, the dream logic managed this, and then the living room became populated. I retreated to the basement, which was completely dark, and someone was there, by the palpable animal heat, and sadness.
Come out of the basement, and get into bed with me.
https://youtu.be/O309CWuNlZo
https://www.dthomasfineminiatures.com/single-post/my-visit-to-the-stettheimer-dollhouse-at-museum-of-the-city-of-new-york
https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapses-into-patapsco/
https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/article/2021/03/23/civil-engineering-almanac-baltimores-francis-scott-key-bridge-opens
Can you guess whose taxes will be going up?
"If current economic trends and spending levels continue, Baltimore could face a cumulative budget shortfall of $1.8 billion over the next decade."
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-power/local-government/baltimore-budget-deficit-L4FTE7FPORGOHKNRHZRIRUEQDA/
The case for optimism is that no matter how immaterial and romantic I can seem, you factor in my longterm plans.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42912/the-secret-56d2219131cd4
https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/08/14/renew-baltimore-appeals-to-maryland-supreme-court/
I am guessing that this won't be a ballot iniative the next cycle, either.
https://books.google.com/books?id=rFy1EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT56&dq=perek+shira+songbird&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5t_aQ8daJAxWwMmIAHQ4TFoIQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=perek%20shira%20songbird&f=false
*initiative
https://youtu.be/lwlkXUNQ2vc?si=C4wCyDRDneVuQIgN
I am not sure what the answer is. Municipalities everywhere are extracting residential property taxes to fund pension liabilities, schools and public services.
One argument I frequently make about the house where I reside is that it is submarine, it is in a bad neighborhood, but it is owned free and clear with lower taxes. I am reluctant to part with something owned,and the house on Stephenson has a 3% mortgage.
Another interesting thing is that my mother told me that no one has submitted an application for her floor. I told her that I wasn't ready to go back to the VA. Not yet.
https://condenaststore.com/featured/bad-valentines-roz-chast.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqofEDcZmqAt5x9mQONg5gYAoUhbIJYOhr3LcWsDMLhtrD61QCv
Reproduced for educational purposes only:
ArtScroll Series: Living Emunah 3: Achieving a life serenity through faith by Rabbi David Ashear (2018):
89. Your Family Business
" [...] The problem begins when we think we must carry the entire burden of earning a living on our own. If a person believes he is all alone to fend for himself in this very big and tough world, it will definitely cause a lot of stress. On the other hand, a person who has a family business to join us not as worried. He knows he has a father to take care of him.
When we bring Hashem into the picture and understand that He is the One in control of our livelihood and we are going into his business, the one He has designated for us, it will calm our nerves. He knows about the tuition. He knows about each person's financial situation; after all, He is the One who placed us in these circumstances. He knows exactly what each person needs in order to be able to do his job properly.
[...]
Hashem purposely gave the Jewish people in the Wilderness enough manna for only one day at a time, because He wanted to train them to rely on Him.
[...]
Relying means that we don't have to have every last detail figured out. We have to make an effort, and we have to have a plan that makes sense for now. But, we do not have to worry about what will happen five years down the road. Just because a person has a job today doesn't mean he will have it tomorrow. Just because a person has a job for 20 years, does not mean he will have it for 21. Physically, we have to try as hard as we can to earn a living, but mentally, we have to let go and understand that we are just going through the motions. Hashem is controlling everything.
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