a description of the amazing and exciting adventures i have here in baltimore--- and other lies.

 
If one writes a blog, which is presumed to be a public expression of one's daily life, thougts and other musings, does one need to send a detailed XMass card insert?
If one writes a blog, does one even need to send out the cards; cannot it suffice to send out e-greetings, as it is presumed that internet access predicates email ownership?
If one writes a blog, cannot one simpy say "Happy Holidays" in the blog, letting loyal readers take from that what they will?
If one writes a blog.
posted by gregorio at 3:51 PM

 
All my Christmas shopping is done. Now, the gifts list is small, but I am very happy that I got it all done. I am also happy that there are technically twelve days of XMass, so that I can get to everyone over the next few weeks.
Here's a thought for you until Wednesday, stolen from Death to Smoochie(which, if you have not seen it, is worth a rental):

Sometimes light is really dark,
Sometimes crows can sing like larks;
Sometimes Winter can feel like Spring.
Don't think you know everything!

Especially the Winter into Spring part.
posted by gregorio at 10:18 PM

 
It occured to me the other day how much time I spend with my walkman on. Going on nineteen years, more than half my life. My first walkman was not the Sony Walkman proper, but one of the competitors which sprung up almost immediately, as is the case with electronics. It was pretty good: radio, antenna, casette player. I remember one of my first tapes was "Remain in Light", by the Talking Heads. It was soon accompanied by The Who's Greatest Hits. I loved my walkman, but I hid it from prying parental eyes for fear that they would disapprove of my wearing it, especially to school. But I had to have my tunes, so I hid it under my pillow at night, and brought it to school, so that I could have something to entertain me while waiting for, and riding on, busses. This was especially pleasant while I rode the public transportation back home, after having participated in extracurricular events. And, a walkman has been a part of my transport system ever since, particularly since I hoof it around more often than not.
My walkman linked me to the world. I could listen to my favourite DJs. Hear music no one else cared about, be it classical or hip hop or whatever my humours bade me attend. And, this was the key point: avoid the nattering of all other human beings.

My student, Esther, asked me the other day about my walkman, and I proceeded to tell her about my lifeline. I said that I am just like a junky, that I feel I need my walkman rather than need it. "Of course, I'm not going to kill anyone to get batteries or anything, but I feel naked without it." This is quite true, too: when I go about my walkaday life, I regret choosing not to port my portable stereo. It is a drug.

I say it loud, I say it proud:
I'm here, I use my walkman to tune out the world, especially the idiot conversations around me, and use not being able to hear people as a dodge not to get involved in protracted dialogues about nothing at all, thereby insuring my privacy and letting me, without truly withdrawing in autistic fashion into my own world, escape into a blissful state, almost heaven like.
Get used to it.
posted by gregorio at 9:51 PM

 
If it is Wednesday, it must be blog day. (As opposed to Prince spaghetti day, but that is another story.)

Before we begin today's lecture, please read the following: Case For the Empire.
When I was in high school, one of my friends was this fella, Tom Smith. Big, ungainly, really nerdy, he and I shared a passion for Weird Al Yankovich, and a perverse, black humour. He was the only one of my friends to truly appreciate Monty Python. Sadly, he and I parted ways, because of politics. He was (and is, I suspect) a rabid Republican, and therefore truly evil. But I digress. One day, as a treat, our biology prof eschewed class to show us Empire Strikes Back. He and I thought it would be a great goof to make signs saying "GO EMPIRE!" and "DIE REBEL SCUM!", in pennant style. We waved them around, and waved any chance of getting a date that year goodbye.

But, I have always had a secret admiration for the Empire. I guess it is because the Empire, in its most ideal state, was more than a hodge-podge of factions and rules. It was a unified system, without the complex, byzantine (and I use this word carefully) terms under which the Old Republic lumbered. I am happy that the Empire cleaned house! I am glad the "last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away!"

I'm glad that there was one, Imperial Armed Forces to take care of business, and to police space and hunt down smugglers. Sorry, Han Solo, but you were doing illegal activites. I'm glad it was a meritocracy, not an elite boys/girls club of Jedi. Anyone with good fencing skills could have operated a light sabre, and I don't understand why there could not have been a police force, perhaps composed of those "lesser" mortals not so gifted with force skills?

And, really, what did the Rebel Alliance have to offer? When we do go to the expanded universe, we find nothing but chaos, disorder, warlords, Huts ravaging what they can, and a whole host of other pestlititude including former Empire remnants (and even the clone of the Emperor himself)vying for power and influence. The American Revolution, while it suffered through a few years of impotence, got it together pretty quick--- and they still had a plan of action in the Articles of Confederation that was reasonably thought out. The south had a real Confederate Government in place, one that seemed to fit their political needs, and, de-centralized though it may have been, was able to rally an army that kicked the Army of the Patomic around for three years, or most of the war. The French Revolution got it together REAL fast, so too did the Russian and Chinese Revolutions. Hell, after the Romans kicked out Tarquinus and abolished the monarchy, they had a solid plan in place. But these Rebel Alliance idiots? I mean, come on, they are supposed to be planetary leaders already, shouldn't they have had at least some idea what they wanted to do once the Empire was
dissolved? What were they thinking? I could come up with a more unified plan sitting on the can after a long night of drinking!

So, while the Empire was problematic in some respects, I ask how the New Republic does better. Will there be as tight a controll on the security of liberties, now that they are restored? I argue that we must be ever vigilant of our rights, but as equally ready to do our duty, suck it up if we have to, and to guard both against that which would deny us liberty for the sake of security, and the liberty security offers.

And, as a parting note, I ALWAYS thought Star Destroyers are bad mofo ships! Ahhh, to be captain of such a mighty vessel!
A ship, an isle, a sickle moon,
With few but with how splendid stars
The mirrors of the sea are strewn
Between their silver bars! -Flecker, 1913


posted by gregorio at 9:45 PM