The 90 Is Absolute Piss.

I had a dream last night that for whatever reason I remember more vividly than most. So I am going to take a stab at recording it before I leave for lunch to cap off a horrendously unproductive morning.

The things I remember are as follows: It began in the home of one of my Tias. I can be more specific, it started at the home of one of my redheaded Tias, so Linda or Teresa. I think we were playing a video game or something when my dad said he was going to meet some old friends (so I reckon we were in Rio Grande). I tagged along, but before we left 2 things happened.

1 we looked at this thing on her wall that had little fake fish in this thin clock-like thing filled with water. There were 2 colors of fish and each fish was connected to the others of it's color by a transparent net of strings the apex of which you could manipulate by squishing the clock thing and all the fish would come to your hand. It was kind of neat.

Secondly, I found a bathroom scale in the kitchen. Oh, and the kitchen had nice island. Anyway, I wanted to check how much I weighed but it was to complex so I opted to use the simpler scale next to it. I weighed 253 pounds.

So we leave and stop by a liquor store. Papi wants to get something nice and asks my advice. I, of course, suggest the 1987 Kopke. I described it and he thought it sounded nice so we went in and they had a bottle, but it was 80 clams and Papi went with some regular wine instead. We had a sample of some wine while there and before I got into the car again I realized I still had the glass. So I was gonna return it but then I dropped it on the pavement and it broke, so we left.

Thats it.

The weird thing about it is the numbers I remember. 253, 80, 1987. Thats weird right? Though 1987 would be easy for me to remember since it's by far my favorite Port.

110%

Amazon released their quarterly earnings yesterday and it turns out that this quarter we doubled our earnings. The stock today rocketed up 26%.

Now, sure it is true that I started at amazon at the beginning of this quarter. But I assure you that everyone played a good game and teamwork was paramount.

=-D!

A Case for Harry Potter

I'm more well read than you. With some confidence I can say that I've made it further and more skillfully through the canon of our cultures than you might hope to claim. I'm no student of the art but I am comfortably established in the upper echelon of the lay and with few exceptions can hold my own in basic literary conversation.

That being said I feel the need to tell any gainsayers that Harry Potter is not "A children's book". In fact the plot is more subtle and complex and dark than most things I have read. Rowling has worked on this immense cast of characters for 15 years and it shows in their development. Themes of betrayal, war, familial hatred, loss, murder, loyalty, racism, sacrifice and emotional abuse cannot be cast off as child's play merely because they are mixed with the themes associated with coming of age.

Well, clearly they can since they are, if only by the unfortunate ignorant.

I'll grant that at least now it seems like a classic Hero device. Harry will win and we will all be happy, but that device has been proven for thousands of years and is absolutely not without value. Though the series is not without it's tragic deaths and many more are to come if the author is to be believed. My point is that the books is only "formula" in a very broad way.

I only mention all this because if you are ignoring this important series because of those kind of prejudices, because you are in your "Umberto Eco" phase, you are depriving yourself of an extraordinarily compelling story. You don't have to be stoically detached all the time to be and adult.


So...who wants to go to Edinburg with me?

Latusia

Here a second ago I was laying n my floor for reasons I won't go into. My eyes found my bookshelf and I discovered that my copy of Microsoft Office is in between a copy f the Holy Bible and a Copy of Diablo from Blizzard.

I'll bet there is something profound here.

Random

The 1992 US Men's Basketball Team. The original (and only in my eyes) Dream Team.

Christian Laettner
David Robinson
Patrick Ewing
Larry Bird
Scottie Pippen
Michael Jordan
Clyde Drexler
Karl Malone
John Stockton
Chris Mullin
Charles Barkley
Earvin Johnson

It's almost emotional to read that roster.

It's on May 5th.

I'm having a small get together for Cinco De Mayo. In my efforts to inform people I like about it I have stumbled across an extraordinary piece of information. Evidently, not everyone in Seattle speaks Spanish. Whats more, the majority of people in Seattle don't even speak enough to figure when Cinco De Mayo takes place. So exactly each time I've invited someone I've been asked "When is it?"

The first few fell victim to my reproachful wrath, but eventually I just lost the will to condescend. In Texas it didn't matter that everyone was either Asian, Indian, or White because it was Texas and so reasonable to expect you to know "Cinco" and "Mayo". Now I am lost in a sea of people who find themselves perfectly comfortable in their inability to speak Spanish.

To be fair, Australia is pretty well removed from Spanish speaking cultures (though I believe Spanish exists in the Phillipines).

You Down With G.O.D.

Generally when things are labeled as "Playing God" it is taken as an argument against that thing. Stem Cell research or Designer Babies come to mind. You'll find alot of "Playing God" arguments in discussions involving creating life through unorthodox means.

I'll forgo discussion whether it's our place to "play God" because I realized today that we are so far beyond that line that it's not a relevant conversation anymore. More specifically I realized that all the things we do to prevent death are "playing God". How on earth would some woman's bone marrow being used to make a sperm be more abhorrent in God's eyes than a man who didn't die when God intended because of a pacemaker? Really Death is God's power while giving life is well within man's jurisdiction.

Even more salient is the fact that God told Adam to go forth and multiply. So really these strange procreation methods are quite inline with Christian doctrine.

It's an interesting thought.

Soporific

http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/misspotter/


I just now realized there is no one who will understand my allusion...

If you do...tell me.... =-D

Oh, and John Cusack Too.

Arguably it's merely a contrivance, an artifact, an outcome if you like, of my ongoing effort to learn to and subsequently play the banjo, but I have a bit of a taste for the bluegrass now. I could argue back, then, and put forth that I wouldn't have picked up the banjo if I had not some latent bluegrass-ness already in the wings waiting for it's discovery. You would then retort with a statement of your complete lack of interest in bluegrass and anyone who wishes to discuss bluegrass, even people who were so recently interesting to you.

Yes, in my attempts to find folks to attend bluegrass concerts and jam nights I have been meet with regular disappointment. Notably excepted is Blake, who expressed interest in the latter; unfortunately the jam night I found in Fremont occurs on Mondays, when both Blake and I have a league b-ball game. For the most part, however, when I ask how someone feels about bluegrass I am generally answered with a very cautious "why?" and a sense that the question was only a stall so the asker could determine the most diplomatic way to call me a hayseed with bad taste.

Fear not! For I discovered a coincidence the likes of which boggle the mind. See, I was at this concert where a friend of a friend's Latin Jazz band was playing. After they were done we were discussing music and whatnot (I generally relish a chance to inform someone I played in a jazz band). I asked him, as a man in the music scene in Seattle, if there even existed a bluegrass community in the area. His response was emphatic! He said there was not only a thriving bluegrass scene, but a revival occurring. I was excited but wary. That seemed odd to me.

But then I woke up last week to a NPR piece about a most recent Bluegrass revival in Western Washington State (which I take to mean Seattle). Since, much like the internet and the papacy, anything NPR says is absolutely true you ccould imagine my excitement.

All I need to do is gain enough confidence to play with others. A mass whose criticality is steadily being approached.


p.s. I am listening to a blugrass version of Tenacious D right now.

p.p.s I still hate modest mouse. Where is your god now?

Heartbroken

It was a hard fought victory, to be sure, and I would never fault them their moment. But damn it we fought hard as well and were ahead the entire game save for the last half second.

We gained a good 10 point lead in the first half by playing aggressively and taking most rebounds and stopping them on offense. At one point they almost caught up but we regained our commanding lead.

Somewhere in the last quarter these Overlake Christians slaughtered a pig or prayed to some Norse God or accepted Jesus and were connected to some large vein of luck and energy and managed to score within 1 point. They had the ball on the sideline with 2 seconds or so and managed to sink on before the clock ran out.

That's heartbreak. It's a very unique pain when you fight so hard and lose. =-(

I think I need a hug....

Though on the other hand, it was probably one of the best games we've played so far. When teams are fairly evenly matched, thats when things are fun. =-)