|
fifty years have ridden off into the sunset
|
|
I'm sorry but I'm just thinking of
the right words to say
I know they don't sound the way
I planned them to be
But if you wait around a while
I'll make you fall for me
I promise, I promise you I will
|
|
- My time flies, and I can't hold on ...
- I don't want to let go ...
- I wish I could freeze the picture, to press rewind, to do so many things again ...
- If the world could be moved ...
- I miss you already ...
- All the little things get in the way ...
- I can't find the words to say what I want to say ...
- I love you ...
... but he didn't.
-David
|
"Is it worth it? Should we just pull back, forget the whole thing as a bad idea and take care of our own problems at home?"
"No. We have to stay here and there's a simple reason why. Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics, and you'll get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on: Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe and Lao-Tzu and Einstein and Morobuto and Buddy Holly and Aristophenes ... and all of this ... all of this was for nothing unless we go to the stars."
--Mary Ann Cramer interviewing Jeffrey Sinclair, "Infection", Babylon 5
-David
|
A couple of hicks are out in the woods hunting when one of them suddenly grabs his chest and falls to the ground.
He doesn't seem to be breathing; his eyes are rolled up into his head. His friend runs to the nearest phone and calls 911. He gasps to the operator, "I think Bubba is dead! What should I do?"
The operator, in a calm soothing voice, says, "Just take it easy and follow my instructions. First, let's make sure he's dead."
There is a silence ... and then a shot is heard.
The guy's voice comes back on the line, "Okay, now what?"
-David
|
Hold me now, oh hold me now
'til this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land
It's a bitter pill I swallow here
To be rent from one so dear
We fought for justice and not for gain
But the magistrate sent me away
Now kings will rule and the poor will toil
And tear their hands as they tear the soil
But a day will come in this dawning age
When an honest man sees an honest wage
Still the gunman rules and the widows pay
A scarlet coat now a black beret
They thought that blood and sacrifice
Could out of death bring forth a life
Hold me now, oh hold me now
'til this hour has gone around
And I'm gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen's land
-David
|
I hate, hate, hate M$IE.
I just realized those tagboard input areas were blue, and so was the post button. Why? Because Micro$haft was being cute and put in some extra CSS commands that don't exist in any other browser. Not Safari. Not Mozilla-Firebird-Camino. Not even NETSCRAPE, for crying out loud.
Gah.
-David
|
Yes, the Blogger icons are custom jobs.
Yes, I'm willing to let you use them.
Yes, I'll do them in different colors for people.
No, I'm not making any money on this (sadly).
I tried to make them transparent, btw, so that the background would show through them, but the background makes transparent GIF files look really, really bad because of dithering. *sigh*
Well, I tried.
-David
|
Azure water, south of the border
Takes me to higher ground
Lost in the weekend
Ain't it funny how the sea can
Make you feel found?
We just sail away into the southern night
Everything gonna be all right if you're lost at sea
Baby, we'll sail away into the southern sky
Everything gonna be just fine
Sail away with me
Hoist up the mainsail, add a little *bam* to the ginger ale
Head on straight down to Mexico
Rocking the boat with the band
For a little late-night jam
Let it steal your soul
We just sail away into the southern night
Everything gonna be all right if you're lost at sea
Baby, just sail away into the southern sky
Everything gonna be just fine
Sail away with me
He llegado a ser perdido en el mar
And we measure the time
By the good ones that we have
Watch our hours turn to sand
While striking up the band
We just sail away into the southern night
Everything gonna be all right if you're lost at sea
Baby, we'll sail away into the southern sky
Everything gonna be just fine
Sail away with me
Baby, just sail away into the southern night
Everything gonna be all right if you're lost at sea
We'll sail away into the southern sky
Everything gonna be just fine
Sail away with me
Music coming from down the hall
Just makes you want to sing along
Sail away
Show me the way up to your room
We'll put a sign up that says "Come back soon"
Sail away
So here's to you and here's to me
Here's to getting lost at sea
We'll sail away
Here's to you and here's to me
Here's to getting lost at sea
Sail away
-David
|
Yes, I have a new style.
No, it's no longer the skylinefadedblue theme.
No, I don't know why I changed it.
Yes, I will be going back to the old style.
No, I don't know when.
Any questions?
-David
|
The Pentagon office that proposed spying electronically on Americans to monitor potential terrorists has a new experiment. It is an online futures trading market, disclosed today by critics, in which anonymous speculators would bet on forecasting terrorist attacks, assassinations and coups.
Traders bullish on a biological attack on Israel or bearish on the chances of a North Korean missile strike would have the opportunity to bet on the likelihood of such events on a new Internet site established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The Pentagon called its latest idea a new way of predicting events and part of its search for the "broadest possible set of new ways to prevent terrorist attacks." Two Democratic senators who reported the plan called it morally repugnant and grotesque. The senators said the program fell under the control of Adm. John M. Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser.
One of the two senators, Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, said the idea seemed so preposterous that he had trouble persuading people it was not a hoax. "Can you imagine," Mr. Dorgan asked, "if another country set up a betting parlor so that people could go in -- and is sponsored by the government itself -- people could go in and bet on the assassination of an American political figure?"
Continued on link ...
-David
|
Out on the Mira on warm afternoons
Old men go fishing with black line and spoons
And if they catch nothing, they never complain
I wish I was with them again
As boys in their boats call to girls on the shore
Teasin' the ones that they dearly adore
And into the evening the courting begins
I wish I was with them again
Can you imagine a piece of the universe more fit for princes and kings?
I'll trade you ten of your cities for Marion Bridge and the pleasure it brings
Out on the Mira on soft summer nights
Bonfires blaze, to the children's delight
They dance 'round the flames singing songs with their friends
I wish I was with them again
And over the ashes the stories are told
Of witches and werewolves and Oak Island gold
The stars on the riverface sparkle and spin
I wish I was with them again
Can you imagine a piece of the universe more fit for princes and kings?
I'll trade you ten of your cities for Marion Bridge and the pleasure it brings
Out on the Mira the people are kind
They'll treat you to homebrew and help you unwind
And if you come broken they see that you mend
I wish I was with them again
But now I'll conclude with a wish you go well
Sweet be your dreams, and your happiness swell
I'll leave you here, for my journey begins
I'm going to be with them again
I'm going to be with them again.
-David
|
| X it |
| 3:55 PM, Monday, July 28, 2003 |
Installing Mac OS X on a system that already has 9.2 on it is one giant pain. First the user didn't disable their system security, so everything on their computer that was related to system settings was locked out. Moron. I had to reset the system with the original CD, then restart into 9.2 to disable security, then restart into OS X.
Then I had to reconfigure half the computers I just fixed because the person who tried to configure them before me didn't know what they were doing. Ugh.
And I'm not even getting paid to do computer work!
-David
|
I have to say that this "online romance" stuff is dumb. Maybe dumber than dumb, it's sort of ... well, see for yourself.
"So you're not in love or getting married yet?"
"No one said anything about not being in love. It's the other thing that we're still talking about."
"Aren't you two like, 13?"
"Kaelis: He is talking about some kind of online thing." |
... and it makes a difference that it's online, why exactly? It's not marriage in the first place, so why call it marriage, especially if it obviously doesn't mean what a real marriage means to you; and ... well, I can't really describe why it's so stupid in words, I guess. It just is. Well, I guess it helps that these kids are thirteen, too. But the whole concept is just nonsensical.
-David
|
*yawns* Well, today was a good day. Got on the boat around 10 and spent the day cruising up and down the coast and through Gloucester and the area. Mike showed me most of the boat's operation, which was really cool ... ended up spending about 12 hours on it all told. All in all, a very good, enjoyable day. I needed something like this.
-David
|
The MBTA's training manual for the new 60-foot stretch buses begins its section on backing-up procedures by stating in all capital letters: ''DO NOT PLACE BUS INTO THE POSITION TO HAVE TO BACK UP.''
Great.
-David
|
| No Va |
| 3:49 PM, Friday, July 25, 2003 |
Looks like I'm not going to be able to go to the Jars concert next Sunday, because Mom is worried about the flipping mileage on the flipping car. I mean ... argh.
This royally sucks.
-David
|
I got a new comments system.
For those of you who have blogs of your own, it's called Enetation. And it seems pretty decent. I've been having some connection problems, but it has edit, delete, ban IP, template modifications ... some really, really nice stuff.
As for BlogOut, if it ever comes back I may go back through the old posts and add the comments back. Then again, I may not. I'm notoriously lazy.
As a side note, I was pretty sure of this last night, but now I'm totally sure -- the reason BlogSpot has seemed so slow the past few days is because when you load our blogs, it tries to contact BlogOut at http://www.klinkfamily.com. That domain no longer exists. So, the major delay is your browser trying to load data from a non-existent domain.
-David
|
We stumble through life, groping blindly for handholds, footholds, for a light to lead us to a happy ending. Staring blindly at our present, trying to learn from our past, and reaching towards the future. In dreams, we see ourselves flying, soaring above the world and our petty concerns, truly happy. To reach for the stars, to work with all your might towards something, to know you need it as surely as you need oxygen ... what is this yearning?
Is this our gift? Our curse? Do we, as a species, tap into some ideal that we can remake the world in our image, make reality conform to what we want it to be? Is this the nature of humanity?
Dreams. Imagination. Love. Desire. Pain. Growth. Reaching out with all your might.
The power to change things.
Humanity.
-David
|
I cried because I had no door, until I met a man who had no cubicle.
--Dilbert
I need to stop complaining about my life already, because it's become completely clear to me that there are many, many people who have it far, far worse than I do.
You have better than you deserve. Be grateful, and don't rock the f***ing boat.
--Caine, Blade of Tyshalle
-David
|
I've been messing around with the template, and I don't know why. Boredom, mostly. Notables: added a title for each post (actually, I just added it for the most recent ones; I'm not going back through three months of archives just to add titles to each pithy little piece of junk I've posted on this blog [is that a coherent sentence? I can't tell.] [and what's with all these parenthetical {is parenthetical a word? I think so but I'm not sure. Does anyone know for sure?} remarks anyway?] because I'm lazy and I may be a decent web author but I'm still not futzing around with posts THAT old) and, irony of ironies, commented out the comments section. I'll put it back when BlogOut starts going again.
-David
|
If you've never played Escape Velocity: Nova (or even if you have), go check it out. I got it a year ago, but I have a Mac -- Ambrosia Software is notoriously pro-Mac. :-) Anyway, they just finished the Windows port, and it's an absolutely incredible game, well worth the $30 it costs. It's shareware, too, so you can try before you buy.
If nothing else, check out the Desktops section. They're amazing renders of some of the cooler ships in the game.
-David
|
Now this is my type of Harry Potter game.
-David
|
Flippin' ...
Work is really not going well. Some moron (read: the only other guy in the lab right now) used up all the reagent I needed for an experiment, so I had to throw the whole bloody experiment out. Waste of 16 plates and several days of work.
*growls angrily*
-David
|
I finally listened to "Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows". Actually I have a few songs I need to listen to.
But wow. I wish I'd remembered I had a copy of it before now. It's good.
More:
"God Only Knows", Jars cover of The Beach Boys. Decent but not great. Too ... pop-ish.
"Bring Me To Life", Evanescence. Not bad, not bad at all. I like.
"Love is the Movement", Switchfoot. Decently good. It can stay.
-David
|
I hate these 9-hour work days. The worst part is that I'm not even working for all nine hours -- I just have to sit here the whole time because the experiment itself spans nine hours.
Blah.
-David
|
Little bird, little bird, in the cinnamon tree
Little bird, little bird, do you sing for me?
Do you bring me word of one I know?
Little bird, little bird, I love her so
Little bird, little bird, I have to know
Little bird, little bird
Beneath this tree, this cinnamon tree
We learned to love, we learned to cry
For here we met, and here we kissed
And here one cold and moonless night we said goodbye
Little bird, little bird, oh have pity on me
Bring her back to me now, 'neath the cinnamon tree
I have waited too long without a song
Little bird, little bird, please fly, please go
Little bird, little bird, and tell her so
Little bird, little bird
Little bird, little bird
-David
|
I had the greatest epiphany today at work.
For those of you who don't know, I work in the research lab at a mental hospital. Now, normally I don't really think about it, but there are some times when I can't help it. For example, when I see this girl who has tattoos up and down her arms and legs, who wears oddly colored skirts and shirts and has a completely shaved head save for a little strip at the front that hangs down and makes her look like an overgrown paintbrush ...
Uh, anyway. As I was saying. I was at lunch and I sat down in a chair which, I realized, had a loose arm on the right side. So I moved it around and I realized that one of the screws was missing. Not just loose, but completely missing; and I couldn't help but laugh as I thought that either by human intervention or because that's the way it just happened, the chair at a mental institution had a screw missing.
Yeah, so anyway. I'm way too snarkful for my own good. But dang, is it fun.
-David
|
You know ... I love a cappella music.
They tell me Jesus died for my transgressions
That He paid the price a long, long time ago
When He gave His life for me on a hill called Calvary
But there's something else that I want to know
It seems that I'm so good at breaking promises
And I treat His precious grace so carelessly
But each time He forgives; what if He relives
The agony He felt on that tree?
Can He still feel the nails
Every time I fail
Can He hear the crowd cry "Crucify" again?
Am I causing Him pain
When I know I've got to change
'cause I just can't bear the thought of hurting Him
-David
|
And now I'm standing in a terminal waiting to connect to another plane
And if I told you I just cancelled my flight to America, would you call me insane
Everything I am has been neatly contained into the contents of a Samsonite bag
Me, a laptop, two suitcases, and I'm coming to see you whether you like it or not
Sort of.
But I remember now how much I've missed Long Island. *sniffle* Saw the fam again. Had a decent sermon for the first time since May. Remembered what it was like to actually belong to a church, instead of just going.
Grah. G and BJ wanted to come up to Boston sometime but it's gonna fall through. *sighs* And now I'm stuck here for another five weeks.
On the other hand, I got to see everyone. And the barbecue was fun. Although I could have done without the weird relay race things. On the other hand, I did sit out for all but one of them, so I guess I have no complaints.
Except that one of my new shirts got ripped during the football game and I think it's irreparable. Maybe I can find another one just like it.
Or maybe that's wishful thinking.
Either way: I got to see the gang again, and it was some good stuff. Way, way too short, but still good stuff. Also met a couple of new people who weren't there when I left, which was neat -- always good to see new faces. And hey, I had a car on LI for the first time, uh, ever.
So that was kinda cool. And I got up to date on all the latest info, too. ;-)
Oh, and BJ, in classic fashion, left his Bible in the backseat of my car. And I found it after I got on the ferry, of course. And it's not like it's the first time he's lost one ... or two ... or three ... either.
-David
|
And in the evenings on Long Island
When the colors start to fade
She wears a silly yellow hat
That someone gave her when she stayed
I didn't think that she returned it
We left New York in a whirl
Time expands and then contracts
When you are spinning in the grips of someone
Who is not an ordinary girl
Off to Long Island for the weekend. Don't think I'll be online, but you never know. Feel free to call if you need to talk.
-David
|
Okay, I have come to the conclusion that Tony Blair is a flippin' idiot. His speech to Congress today was filled with nothing but rhetoric and threats directed towards nations which didn't fall in line with the Bush regime, including -- specifically naming, in fact -- Iran, Syria, and North Korea.
Oh, and I love this bit, too: "And our job, my nation that watched you grow, that you fought alongside and now fights alongside you, that takes enormous pride in our alliance and great affection in our common bond, our job is to be there with you. You are not going to be alone. We will be with you in this fight for liberty." It appears Britain's job is to play Grima to America's Saruman.
Wonder-flipping-ful.
-David
|
Albert's always sincere, he's the sensitive type
His intentions are clear, he wanna be well-liked
Well if everything is nothing then are we anything?
Is it better to be better than to be anything?
And Albert's vision's blooming uncontrolled
All his wings are slowly sinking
The world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the king's men reappear
For an eggman fallen off the wall will never be together again
Einstein's down on the beach staring into the sand
'cause everything he believes in is shattered
What you fear in the night in the day comes to call anyway
We all get burned as one more sun comes sliding down the sky
One more shadow leans against the wall
And the world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the king's men reappear
For an eggman fallen off the wall will never be together again
Albert's waiting in the sun on a field American
For the cause of some inflated form of hit-and-run
One more sun comes sliding down the sky
One more shadow leans against the wall
And the world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the king's men reappear
For an eggman fallen off the wall will never be together again
Albert's fallen on the sun, cracked his head wide open
The world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the King's men reappear
For an eggman fallen, fallen
The world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the King's men reappear
For an eggman fallen off the wall will never be together again
-David
|
I now have to kill the Stony Brook housing department. And financial aid.
*grumbles*
My roommate for next year - excuse me, intended roommate - didn't get his summer refund check in time, so now he has to find an apartment off-campus because the housing department already pulled him from the room.
Argh.
-David
|
| Ow |
| 5:43 PM, Tuesday, July 15, 2003 |
I absolutely despise trips to the dentist. Hate them. Passionately.
My mouth is still numb. Bah.
-David
|
|
| 11:08 PM, Sunday, July 13, 2003 |
The plane flew over Niagara Falls going home. It was a little bit weird ... from miles up, it looked like it was set in stone, unmoving, as if the spray and whitecaps were just part of an beautiful, elaborate statue.
-David
|
"Luck." Tan'elKoth spat the word with vehemence surprising even to himself. "Luck is a word the ignorant use to define their ignorance. They are blind to the patterns of force that drive the universe, and they name their blindness science, or clear-headedness, or pragmatism; when they stumble into walls or fall off cliffs, they name their clumsiness luck."
-David
|
|
| 1:01 AM, Saturday, July 12, 2003 |
Had dinner at Naomi Sushi tonight. Man, I miss the fish out here. And the people. The people, mostly. But I miss the fish, too.
Ah well. To think that this vacation is almost over, and I feel like it was just yesterday that it began. *shrugs* I guess that's the way life works though.
I guess all I can really say is, "it's been fun."
-David
|
|
| 9:08 PM, Wednesday, July 09, 2003 |
Spent most of last night at the house of one of my oldest friends ... basically I grew up with him. We've known each other since we were four or so ... can't believe it's been that long. But catching up was fun, finding out how we've grown and going over old times ...
Spent most of today around downtown Palo Alto. I did have lunch at the Peninsula Creamery though, which was cool ... sometime in the past four years it's changed its name to the Palo Alto Creamery, but I doubt any of the natives call it that ... well, none of the natives who've been here for a while anyway.
Also picked up Heroes Die, which is essentially the novel that comes before Blade of Tyshalle ... kind of different focus though. Heroes Die is action; Blade is action and philosophy. So ... *shrug* well, it's a good book, anyway.
-David
|
|
| 1:17 AM, Tuesday, July 08, 2003 |
I went down to the Stanford shopping center today, among other places. My home town, Palo Alto, has changed. A lot. My old computer store is gone, in favor of a Radio Shack and Quizno's. Other things have changed. The shopping center has expanded and grown. The old Sand Hill lot is now a large set of condominiums. It's not really my home any more ... I still recognize it, remember it all, but it's just ... different. Deer Creek has changed. Places I spent fourteen, fifteen years in are all different.
There are places I remember all my life
Some have changed, some forever, not for better
And some are gone, and some remain
All these places have their meanings
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I loved them all ...
Anyway. So I've been thinking about this for a while, and Blade of Tyshalle has somewhat helped my thought processes along, as has seeing the changes that have been wrought in California since I've been gone. Humans find it very easy, as a generalization, to worship and fear God. But it's very difficult for them to love and accept that God would want to be with humans. Why is that?
I think, and this is through a haze of fiction, non-fiction, observations, and general philosophy, that it stems from the human desire to make and mold their environment. To quote Agent Smith from The Matrix:
| I'd like to share a revelation during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. |
That's part of it. I think we find it difficult to embrace anything that we cannot remake into what we desire it to be.
Too, as a species we pretty much destroy the Earth. Crossing the Bay today, it was ... brown. There were blue patches, yes, but for the most part the water was brown. Smog filled the air, and it was ... unpleasant. We've taken the planet and industrialized it, turned it into something to serve our needs. Rather than working with it, we take it and enslave it.
The Blind God from Blade of Tyshalle is a wonderful example of this:
The "Blind God" is not a personal god, not a god like Yahweh or Zeus, stomping out the grapes of wrath, hurling thunderbolts at the infidel. The Blind God is a force: like hunger, like ambition.
It is a mindless groping towards the slightest increase in comfort. It is the greatest good for the greatest number, when the only number that counts is the number of human beings living right now. I think of the Blind God as a tropism, an autonomic response that turns humanity towards destructive expansion the way a plant's leaves turn towards the sun.
It is the shared will of the human race.
You can see it everywhere. On the one hand, it creates empires, dams rivers, builds cities - on the other, it clear-cuts forests, sets fires, poisons wetlands. It gives us vandalism: the quintessentially human joy of breaking things.
Some will say that this is only human nature.
To which I respond: Yes, it is. But we must wonder why it is.
Consider: From where does this behavior arise? What is the evolutionary advantage conferred by this instinct? Why is it instinctive for human beings to treat the world like an object?
We treat our planet as an enemy, to be crushed, slaughtered, plundered. Raped. Everything is opposition - survival of the fittest on the Darwinian battlefield. Whatever isn't our slave is our potential destroyer. We kill and kill and kill and tell ourselves it is self-defense, or even less: that we need the money, we need the jobs that ruthless destruction temporarily provides.
We even treat each other that way.
(Blade of Tyshalle, pp. 282-283, Matthew Woodring Stover) |
I wonder if we worship God because we need validation. Is this why we find it so difficult to accept the unconditional love He has for His children? Because we invalidate ourselves in our eyes by our actions on Earth?
The magickal races of Overworld - the primals, the stonebenders, and treetoppers - they can feel their connection to the living structure of their world. This is why they have never developed organized religions in the human sense; their gods are not objects of worship, but only of respect, of kinship. An Overworld god isn't an individual, a unitary Power to be appeased or conjured; it is a limb of the living planet, a knot of consciousness within the Lifemind, just as is each primal or stonebender or treetopper - each sparrow or blade of grass. They are all part of the same Life, and they know it.
They cannot avoid knowing it; Flow is as essential to their metabolism as is oxygen.
The tragedy of humanity is that we are as much a part of our living planet as any primal mage is of his. We just don't know it. We can't feel it. The First Folk have a name for our incapacity - for our tragic blindness.
They call it the Veil of the Blind God, and they pity us....
A religion that teaches you God is something outside the world - something separate from everything you see, smell, taste, touch, and know - is nothing but a cheap hustle.
(Blade of Tyshalle, p. 283, Matthew Woodring Stover) |
I wonder if maybe this is what the Holy Spirit is all about. And too, I wonder if perhaps everything we think we understand about the world is completely and utterly wrong.
No, wait, I don't wonder that. I know that much.
But perhaps this is why we find it so difficult to grasp the consciousness and reality of God - because we have distanced ourselves from the planet, we are distanced from reality. We cannot unmake that side of us, but we can submerge it. We can try to pretend it doesn't exist. And we can hope that we can choose service to the Blind God in order to mitigate that feeling of lack.
-David
|
|
| 1:47 AM, Monday, July 07, 2003 |
Oh, so I forgot to mention that I got into CA on 4 July at about 9 pm Pacific time. The city was lighting up with fireworks both local and gov't-sanctioned, and all for my arrival. Kaelis looked down upon this spectacle, and smiled benevolently upon the city's inhabitants. And yea, it was good.
-David
|
I have decided that I don't really like the handling on the A6 and comparable cars. It feels a little too much like a truck, or an SUV. When you're going at any decent speed, the handling isn't that responsive. It seems like if there's a single second between the time when a correction is prudent and when it comes too late, these cars cut that second in half, and none too cleanly either. It's a sort of jerky response rather than the smooth response I've come to love in the 3-series.
-David
|
|
| 9:08 PM, Sunday, July 06, 2003 |
So I have to admit that the wedding actually wasn't that bad. The actual ceremony was only half an hour long, followed by the reception and then a dinner where I got to meet a few people who weren't sixty or so years old. In other words, my age. About midnight a couple of us bounced to go walk around the hotel and hang out, and ended up staying until about 6:30 or so. Went back to the room and got about two hours of sleep, then went down to breakfast for the wedding guests. Checked out, went back to my aunt and uncle's house. Got another three hours of sleep or so on the car ride to Napa and Yountville. Slept through most of that too, but managed to finish Reunion while I wasn't sleeping. Wine-tasting. Yuck.
I think I need to pass out. Or something. I just have no patience for this any more.
-David
|
|
| 12:50 PM, Saturday, July 05, 2003 |
Art was not merely the creation of beauty, for him; neither was it merely a reflection of reality. It was not even the depiction of truth.
Art was the creation of truth.
It is a truism that when one is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The glory of art is that it can show this proverbial hammer how everything looks to a screwdriver - and to a plowshare, and to an earthenware pot. If reality is the sum of our perceptions, to acquire more varying points of view is to acquire, literally, more reality.
-David
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Having landed in California roughly four hours ago, I can safely say that I am exhausted.
However, I have broadband access at my aunt and uncle's house which is where I'm staying. Woo. Go me.
As for Blade of Tyshalle, it is every bit as good as I thought it was at first impression. Maybe more so. It's a very interesting blend of Judeo-Christian, Buddhist, Confucian, and satanist theologies all wrapped up into a nice neat scifi/fantasy package.
The one problem is that its language and visual scenes are very graphic. I'm not so sure it's a great influence for Christians, especially those who are not quite as strong in the faith. If it weren't for that, I'd say it should be required reading for Christian fantasy fans.
On the other hand there's always Mike Stackpole's Eyes of Silver.
But I was right about one thing: Matthew Woodring Stover can write.
-David
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| 1:30 PM, Friday, July 04, 2003 |
I just bought Blade of Tyshalle, and while I'm saving most of it for the plane and trip to CA, what little of it I've read has served to reinforce an opinion forged by Traitor and Shatterpoint:
Matt Stover can write.
-David
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| 10:14 PM, Thursday, July 03, 2003 |
Be warned: I am armed with new music, and I am very, very dangerous.
Band: Guster
Album: Keep It Together
Current song: "Amsterdam"
Gonna write you a letter, gonna write you a book
I wanna see your reaction; I wanna see how it looks ...
-David
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All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breaking, it's early morn
Taxi's waiting, he's blowing his horn
And already I'm so lonesome, I could cry
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I think of you
Every song I sing, I sing for you
When I come back, I'll wear your wedding ring
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Now the time has come to leave you
One more time, let me kiss you
Then close your eyes, and I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times I won't have to say
Kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
-David
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Trying to explain music is like trying to explain color to the blind. You can fight, and push, and pull, and point, and scream at the top of your lungs, you can spend three hours talking your head off. But in the end, it comes down to a very simple fact of life:
If you understand it, you understand it; and if you don't, you never will.
It's not just comfort, or relaxation, or a stress reliever. It's all that and more. It's not about having a better mindset, outlook on life, better mood. It's something transcendental. It's not about the human condition, it's everything that makes us human and not human and in the end it blends everything together. It's insight. Music. Life. Sorrow. Pain. Love. Joy. Happiness. God. People. Community. Fate nature grief comfort rapture loneliness friendship solitude noise quiet loud suffering relief sheer bliss. It is everything and nothing combined into five minutes of melody, harmony, lyrics, and humanity poured and combined.
Here's an example: "Champagne High", both the Sister Hazel and Extreme Measures versions. Most people who share my taste in music like CH. They may like it a lot; it may be for them one of the better songs they've heard. But it's still just a song to them. They may pick up on part of the grief, longing, sorrow, loneliness in the song but it's clinical, cold, immaterial. It's just not ... personal. When it is, it looks something like this:
*listens intently* Vocal..... oh my God. NO WAY!!!!!!! *leaps up and paces*
*cranks it* where did you GET this? *sits in awe* Holy....
They understand the song, and.... they got all of it. They ... oh.
Insane. Should come with a warning: "Don't drown in this" |
And when it isn't, it looks something like this:
| It's a nice song, but I like "Change Your Mind" better. |
No. I'm sorry, but no.
There is no more final reckoning of human nature and understanding than music.
-David
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| 10:26 PM, Wednesday, July 02, 2003 |
I'm so ready for this vacation.
My duffel bags are packed, I'm ready to go
The sun is coming up to melt the snow
I feel fine for the first time in a long time
I feel fine for the first time in a while
-David
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I want to stay, not to go
I want to ditch the logical
Here's a toast to all those who hear me all too well
Here's to the night we felt alive
Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye; tomorrow's gonna come too soon
All my time is froze in motion
Can't I stay an hour or two or more
Don't let me let you go
Don't let me let you go ...
-David
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