Friday, August 28, 2015

Things that I'll never stop being fascinated by


Time travel.  I think it's why we have these brains, to think about time travel.  Not thinking about time travel every day is sort of like having electricity and sitting in the dark.  Oh, that's a terrible analogy.  Ok, more like having legs and never walking.  There are all the great campy movies, and the opportunity to think hard. And, we all spend much of our time doing that: thinking about the past, wondering about the future.  (Me?  98 percent time travel.  2 percent on my yoga matt.)

Messages in bottles.  What's not to love? That someone took a bottle with a cork  -- and that's quaint right there -- but they decided to mail someone a message by way of the ocean, and it's often a sweet message full of hope and love.  Arrgh.  A tiny tear leaks out when I think too hard about that.  Why choose the ocean?  Oh right.  Probably because the ocean has been so generous with us.  And is also full of hope and love, not to mention octupuses and seals.

Amnesia stories.  I will confess that these were more compelling when I was 20 and had a great memory, when forgetting seemed so implausible.  But when I hear stories about people who turn up in Dallas, for example, with no idea who they are and how they got there, well, that stops me in my tracks.

Or this tomato, that announced "NO".  Photo
stolen without permission
from The Cake Boss
People who orchestrate their own disappearance.   "I'm just going out for a pack of cigarettes, honey..."  And only years later do their loved ones realize it was strange -- "Hey, he didn't even smoke!"

Amelia Earheart.  Duh.  I love imagining that she flew into some weird vortex-y tessarect and is alive in another dimension.

DB Cooper.  Of course.  Who does that?  Jumps out of an airplane with wads of cash?

Renditions of deities that appear, unannounced, in tortillas.  Emphasizing yet again that we see what we want to see.

Finding mushrooms in the woods.  Because that's magic, to go on a walk and see a giant orange orb popping out of the ground.

Honeybees.  For the obvious reason that they live in extremely tight quarters and get along, always rowing together in the same direction, building comb and making honey.


Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Half mast and other random thoughts.


1.  About 10 years ago, I was in Black Diamond, a small town near here, and noticed the flag at half mast.  I expected something big, so I pulled over and went into the post office to inquire.  The lady said that the postmaster died.  Right?  Didn't the flag being halfway up the pole used to give you a start?  Like, "OH MY GOD, JFK's BEEN SHOT!"  Or some form of apocalypse happened. Now it's like, "yeah, the guy that put it up has Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and that's as far as he could pull the rope.  Anyway, two out of the three official flags in our town were at half mast yesterday and no one knew why.  I find this disturbing.

2.  I don't know if there will ever be a thing as beautiful as Stevie Nicks singing Landslide.  On this planet, at least.  Go listen right now.

3.  Which reminds me: as far as I know, I won't be able to listen to music after death.  That may be the worst part about being dead, though I won't know til later, I suppose.  Maybe maggots eating the flesh would be worse, but I don't think so.  The music thing makes me panicky, like  I shouldn't stop listening for even a minute while I have ears and a pulse.

4.  Well, there is just the need for a little silence.  Or a lot, if you're me.  I won't go into my long story about the Loud Person in the library who was talking LOUDLY on his cellular telephone, arranging to have a wetland cleared on a Sunday 'SO NO ONE WOULD FIND OUT', he shouted.  No, I won't go into that rant.  Because the real point of #4 is this.  They blast traffic noises in the desert to see how the wildlife like it. Um, let me guess...

5.  I'm almost done with medical school (although I've taken to calling it medical marijuana school because the tests are easier and the hours are shorter.)  Actually, it's massage therapy school and I'm going to be so sad to leave the lovely humans I've met there.  It's been amazing to learn about how people respond to touch.  In a nutshell, yes, we like it.

That's it.  Five things is all I could summon today.



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