dys· phem· is· tic Sunday, February 29, 2004
On the Pain of Loosing Children
Last night I read Emerson's Journal entry the day his beloved boy slipped forever into the black abyss:
January 28, 1842
Yesterday night at 15 minutes after eight my little Waldo ended his life.
That's all. A few days later, as he tries to capture the thin ghosts of precious memory before they slip away, he calls him "...my boy, my fast receding boy..." How that phrase captures it!
Even in the 19th century -- a time not all that far removed from our own -- parents bore children in the almost certain knowledge that some of them would die before they were grown. Most people responded by making sure they had a lot of children for death to choose from. I admire their fortitude; I don't think I would have had any. Loosing Brian or Gwen is the greatest fear I have, and I am blessed enough to live at a time when the odds are they will live. Of course, it may be even harder to loose a child when you lived on the presumption they would outlive you.
As it is, the simple fact that their childhoods are almost over, that the babies and toddlers and six-year-olds I hugged so tight are "dead" -- eagerly cast aside like a cocoon as they grow -- is enough to wake me with tears at three in the morning.
"...my little ones, my fast receding little ones..."
posted by Pleonic @ 12:17 AM
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Saturday, February 28, 2004
On Celibacy and the City
Sex and the City has finally run its course, occasioning a wave of nationwide grief and tear-stained nostalgia (or so the newspaper tells me). Here in the real world it doesn't seem to have been that big of a deal.
My view: The writing was superb, character development deftly excellent (though Sarah Jessica Parker's character was not much like a real columnist says real columnist Kerry Dougherty), and the concept was an atrocity. This is our culture?? This is how we want history to see us -- or at least what we flock to as sophisticated entertainment? Good riddance Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte (oh, and all those guys); don't let the door hit your wiggling butts on the way out.
My view: The writing was superb, character development deftly excellent (though Sarah Jessica Parker's character was not much like a real columnist says real columnist Kerry Dougherty), and the concept was an atrocity. This is our culture?? This is how we want history to see us -- or at least what we flock to as sophisticated entertainment? Good riddance Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte (oh, and all those guys); don't let the door hit your wiggling butts on the way out.
posted by Pleonic @ 5:42 PM
(0) spontaneous expostulations
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Dipsy the Sleep Deprived Gerbil is slowly becoming more neurotic as time goes by. We got her a new, colorful, split-level rodent cage two weeks ago that is a gerbil-ish version of those tubes that dangle from the ceiling at Chuck E Cheese, and she is much happier with it than she was with her old aquarium tank. But she recently started chewing on a foothold inside one of the plastic tubes that leads up to her penthouse. I'm sure plastic isn't good for gerbils, plus we don't want her tunneling out and making a break for it late some night, so we removed the tube and replaced it with a plug.
Now the little white fuzzball spends all her time digging vainly at the plug and hurling herself at the cage walls in a futile attempt to scamper up through the plastic ceiling into her penthouse. Right now I'm searching Google for an effective gerbil repellent to coat the inside of her tube with so we can replace it without fear of Dipsy gnawing it to powder. So far I've discovered that "Gerbil urine makes a fine rodent repellent" at a site dedicated to gerbil-based energy plants. I can testify from my own experience, though, that gerbil urine fails to repel gerbils.
On Frantic Gerbils
Dipsy the Sleep Deprived Gerbil is slowly becoming more neurotic as time goes by. We got her a new, colorful, split-level rodent cage two weeks ago that is a gerbil-ish version of those tubes that dangle from the ceiling at Chuck E Cheese, and she is much happier with it than she was with her old aquarium tank. But she recently started chewing on a foothold inside one of the plastic tubes that leads up to her penthouse. I'm sure plastic isn't good for gerbils, plus we don't want her tunneling out and making a break for it late some night, so we removed the tube and replaced it with a plug.
Now the little white fuzzball spends all her time digging vainly at the plug and hurling herself at the cage walls in a futile attempt to scamper up through the plastic ceiling into her penthouse. Right now I'm searching Google for an effective gerbil repellent to coat the inside of her tube with so we can replace it without fear of Dipsy gnawing it to powder. So far I've discovered that "Gerbil urine makes a fine rodent repellent" at a site dedicated to gerbil-based energy plants. I can testify from my own experience, though, that gerbil urine fails to repel gerbils.
posted by Pleonic @ 2:34 AM
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Friday, February 27, 2004
On Dysphemistic Renovation
I've finished my site re-design and it finally looks the way I want it. There may be some tweaks still to come, but that's it for now. Except I'm looking to put in a way for you to communicate with me -- not just a "mail to:" link, but a form powered by Perl. That's coming soon.
I saw a site week before last where the author answers his email publicly every month instead of having the ubiquitous comment link on every post. That's more what I'm looking for. Now however, I'm going to concentrate on writing for awhile.
I saw a site week before last where the author answers his email publicly every month instead of having the ubiquitous comment link on every post. That's more what I'm looking for. Now however, I'm going to concentrate on writing for awhile.
posted by Pleonic @ 12:02 AM
(0) spontaneous expostulations
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Wednesday, February 18, 2004
On Phantom Toll-Booths
You know those dreams where you're at work and suddenly realize you forgot to put on pants this morning -- the Worst-Possible-Scenario dream? Well, transpose that over to taking the tollway to work and you've got my commute this morning. Running late, as usual, I took the Sam Houston Tollway to speed things up. The toll is $1.25 when you exit from I-10 and I don't have an "E-Z Tag" yet because I don't take the tollway all the time. So I buzz up to the robot toll booth and toss in my handful of dimes and quarters... Nothing. Please deposit $1.25, the display says. The gate is immobile and cars are lining up behind my minivan.
Arms are are flailing in disgust at my stupidity in the long line of anxious autos as I go through my ashtray for more change. No pennies allowed. Do I have enough? What do you do when you get stuck like this, anyway? There's no panic button. At least I hit the receipt switch so I have proof my first $1.25 was truly paid.
Finally, just as I have the required amount -- mostly in nickels -- and a second payment is leaving my palm for the toll receptacle, the guy in the white SUV yells that the gate has opened! The machine devours my change again, acknowledges it this time, and I speed away as fast as I can so I don't have to look any of my fellow commuters in the eye. The rest of the way to work I wonder: "Was this some sort of Texas scam to make me double my toll? Do they randomly refuse to open the gates on toll roads all over the state just to collect a little extra money?"
But I'll be back tomorrow.
Arms are are flailing in disgust at my stupidity in the long line of anxious autos as I go through my ashtray for more change. No pennies allowed. Do I have enough? What do you do when you get stuck like this, anyway? There's no panic button. At least I hit the receipt switch so I have proof my first $1.25 was truly paid.
Finally, just as I have the required amount -- mostly in nickels -- and a second payment is leaving my palm for the toll receptacle, the guy in the white SUV yells that the gate has opened! The machine devours my change again, acknowledges it this time, and I speed away as fast as I can so I don't have to look any of my fellow commuters in the eye. The rest of the way to work I wonder: "Was this some sort of Texas scam to make me double my toll? Do they randomly refuse to open the gates on toll roads all over the state just to collect a little extra money?"
But I'll be back tomorrow.
posted by Pleonic @ 11:04 PM
(0) spontaneous expostulations
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Montaigne's Essays,
M A Screech translation.
Monday, February 16, 2004
On Current Reading
Montaigne's Essays,
M A Screech translation.
posted by Pleonic @ 8:58 PM
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On Webpage Sophistication
(Note: This was writen before my site rennovation) I realize this page is pretty basic. If you read blogs much at all, you must recognize it for the Blogger template that it is. I just made a few modifications and slapped it onto the web. I've become aware that it doesn't look the way it is supposed to in Netscape -- the Gecko-powered versions, at least. I'll be tinkering with it in the days ahead, adding a way to get feedback and perhaps going to a three-column format among other plans.
