Why is it that terribly uncomfortable situations happen in the kitchen? Is it because the proximity of sharp knives lends an subtle threat of violence to the air? Needless to say, I am highly tempted to retreat to my corner of the house and hide there until the coast is clear.

It’s just plain embarrassing to ask at the hardware store: “where can I find some caulk?”

At least I can fix the bathtub now.

I went from so clean cut:

To paranoid and delusional:

And finally have sold my soul:

Our bathroom is suffering from an infestation of tiny ants, the smallest ants I’ve seen. I suppose you might call my actions this morning “infanticide.”

My new dustpan technique is unstoppable. With my orthogonal sweeping action, no piece of grit can escape its trashy fate. Beware, bunnies of dust, coagulated hair, and fragments of tortilla chips! Your doom is nigh!

I am neither, and therefore I bear little corporeal resemblance to Buck Mulligan. Since today is Bloomsday I bought myself a copy of Ulysses, my old one having perished. This one is an old hardback from Moe’s, delightfully musty. I read part of the first chapter on the steps of the library before the crowds of orientating students and parents forced me to flee to the relative calm of Cory Hall.

Don’t bother reading on unless you care for my self-excoriating drivel.
Continue reading →

We had to say this every time we went to the library in elementary school. I think it has influenced me profoundly. It neatly encapsulates some of my personal philosophy and how I interact with the world and my fellow humans.

Life is short. Therefore, I shall be a crusader in the fight against ignorance and fear, beginning with myself.

God bless Ms. Vickers-Shelley.

In high school I was sitting at lunch with a bunch of my friends, and my friend Hadas was singing something, and as a friendly jibe, I said “Hadas, could you pick a key?” This was the wrong thing to say. I didn’t mean it to be hurtful, of course, it was me trying to be funny I think, but it fell short. In any case, now it’s this little joke between us, which is good, but I wonder how many other inadvertant witticisms I have made have actually been mean. Sometimes I lay it on a bit thick, after all.

I’m not sure what made me think of that — I think I just wanted to use the phrase “Witty Schisms” as a entry title. Maybe I should start up a blog for research papers so I can write up summaries and post them for my browsing pleasure. But I think that might be just a little too geeky, even for a website called ergodicity. Ooh! A new play entitled “A Website Named Desire.” Some sort of strange hypertextual Tennessee Williams-esque cyberpunk play. And “STELLA” could be the STrategic ELectric Laser Android. Hmm….

I had thought San Diego would be sunnier than this, but I guess it’s gloomy in June. Yesterday we checked out some museums and walked around Balboa Park a bit but avoided the zoo. We saw a line outside of the zoo that was not at the zoo’s entrance. It was a line to get into the zoo’s food service job fair, and it was pretty long. Given the number of unemployed people in the US now, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but I’m guessing the number of openings available was well below the number of applicants. The country is in pretty sad shape, I think.

If I had decided to blow off work for 4 days and stay in Berkeley, I think it would not have been nearly as relaxing. Going out of town is a necessary thing for me (but not sufficient). Next time, however, I am going to figure out how to avoid LA traffic.

Is unstoppable. Too bad it’s got a poor order of growth. ‘Nuff said.

I’m headin’ down to San Diego tomorrow for fun in the sun. Time to take the new car on it’s first big highway trip – gotta figure out how the cruise control works. I used to like driving on the highway, but a cross-country trip in a Ryder truck will beat that out of you pretty quickly. Actually, Kansas will beat that out of you in a slow, painful, soul-crushing way. And parts of Wyoming. And northern Nevada. Next time I want to take the scenic route.

I’ve seen a lot of people hawking the Socialist Worker newspaper in the last few days, which is baffling to me. The campus and town in general are more deserted than they have been since I moved here, so it seems like inopportune time to start a big promotion campaign. Dan’s analysis was that this way they don’t get ignored by the mob or get lumped in with the other people vying for the attention of passerby on Telegraph. I’m not entirely sure I buy that — I think it might just be that the Socialist Worker movement is out of touch with the community in which they are operating. It wouldn’t be the first time.

I wish Jim’s Big Ego would come and tour the left coast sometime. But I was informed by Ram that Gotan is playing in SF on July 8!