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Showing posts from December, 2013

Pet deaths

Last night, I carried the lifeless body of one my new cats upstairs from the basement, where he had gone to die. I'm not sure what happened to Cow, a big white cat I've had since late August when I agreed to look after him and a little black kitten for a short time. That short time turned into permanent companionship, although that's now turned out to be short, too. The kitten is now almost full-grown, and she's not sure what's going on. She's been extra clingy with me, and I'm pondering converting her to an indoor cat so as not to tempt fate. Two days ago, both of them sat with me as I wrote here in this place I've carved out as my office within my home. I'm right next to their food.  Well, her food now, I guess. This is the second of my pets that has died this year. My dog Billy died in September after a quick illness ravaged his body, which was at least 12 years old. I miss him terribly, and Cow's death is making me feel the fres

A week from the day, two weeks from the night

It's a week until the day that more or less everyone celebrates, even if they don't literally believe that the son of the creator of the universe was born on that day. Something about the story of good will to all has more people thinking positive thoughts. Careful readers might have detected that I've been ambivalent as this particular holiday season approaches, knowing that my children would not be here with me. I've just put them to bed on the last night I will see them until New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, depending on how scheduling is going to work out. "I want you both to know that I am not sad you will not be here. I am happy for you because you will be with family and that is important to me." And that was not a lie. I am happy all of my children appear to have a rich life, participating in extended families. I am humbled by this, able to step back and see that people who I helped create have already moved on into a world that I do n

New Holiday: First Winter Storm

Now listen carefully. There was some frozen precipitation on the ground earlier. For the past few days, many people have told us we were in for a terrible onslaught of electricity loss, bread loss at grocery stores, and wintry unpleasantness. And, I bet you that many of us, in the back of our minds, welcomed this and decided we were going to take a little break from the normal today. I know I did. I jumped at the chance to have a sudden holiday from the normal routine. So, why don't we find a way to enshrine this phenomenon as a holiday? I think floating holidays around the threat of inclement weather should be much more acceptable. People's fears of traveling are their own business, no matter where that fear came from. I propose that we create in Virginia a special holiday on the occasion of the first storm where we all just decide it's okay to be relaxed about everything. We realize that the universe will occasionally throw up obstacles, and that many of the

Daydream Nation

My recent purchase from eBay showed up today. A four-LP deluxe edition of Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation. I originally bought this album on CD in 1990 having only heard Silver Rocket and Teenage Riot. The sound took me to new places in my imagination, and now these records will sit amongst all of the vinyl I've accumulated through my childhood and my Freecycle binges. This one's special, though, because now I own a formative album on the first medium I was ever aware. There is something about vinyl that connects me to me childhood and my core self, and I'm so glad I finally have a record player again to experience this on a daily basis. What I am listening to right now is not digitial. The sonic waves hitting my ear drums right now are the result of a physical connection between plastic and metal. To  me, this gives what I'm hearing more authenticity than an mp3 file or a YouTube video. I'm currently listening to Sonic Youth's cover of Neil Young's Comput