OK, And...

Somehow or other, I thought global warming, terrorism, and a single world power with imperial ambitions were headline items.

My damaged veteran self thought possibly the still-invisible wounded of the current conflict might merit a headline or two.

Gawd, what a jackass! What we must really worry about is the shortage of video game consoles.

Before his conversion, Scrooge was FUCKING RIGHT!!!

Tis the Season for Summat or other

Discussion of the illness that limits my life bores even me, especially since this round has lasted some two months. The fact that I am ill and must approach both friendly liquid libations and solid food with great caution bears on the story, so we'll leave it there.

On Friday we went to Salem Beer Works, because

a) if I didn't have one night out I would go nuts

b) it's barley wine season, which I don't plan on missing even if I have to rise from a coffin to do it.

For the interested parties, I got to sample a straight-up barley wine they are working on. Very creditable. Alas, after the modest sample and a pair of Hercules Strong ales, my spouse had to drive home. Life still has its limits.

My wife is seldom philosophical, and I am quite sure I did not hallucinate this suggestion of hers, made over beverages. Its drift was that there are two things Americans can agree upon this time of year. One is participation (willing or no) in the free exercise of American capitalism. The other is doing things that lift the psychological burden of short days and long, cold nights. I suggested the latter is close to a primal human urge: the desire to drive away the dark.

She agrees that "Happy Holidays" is a pallid and inadequate greeting, and observes that all greetings with religious overtones are going to cause some friction in a pluralistic society, so why not get to the point? Let's just say "Happy Shopping" and have done with it.

I don't find shopping this time of year especially happy, but the principle has an admirable candour. Happy Shopping, every one!

(I'm personally going to work the "drive away the darkness" angle this year. We don't have a fireplace, so I think I'll open the furnace door, crouch in front of the gas flame, beat a drum and chant.)

Stifling Myself

I was going to make a flip remark about the appearance of the anti-gay-marriage talking heads, and then I thought:

That's where it began, isn't it?

All right, it's possible that such a fire has many fuels, but if one could ever get these people to open up, one would likely find an overture in adolescence from someone who was also trying to find the way to his or her sexuality. Some people can shrug off receiving a suggestion contrary to their interests and move on. Some people may even have made such suggestions as part of the stormy voyage of discovery we call adolescence. One of them, or all of them, may not have been a fit. That is how we learn.

If I went on in this vein, I would hardly be stifling myself. I'll save it for the present, and just pledge to say nothing personal that might increase the spokespersons' anxiety level.

Beter is Better?

Here I am again, courtesy of Blogger Beta (OK with that) and IE (Gaak!!!)

Despite physical preoccupations, I've kept my hand in elsewhere, so I trust that time hath not withered, nor custom staled, my infinite variety.

Recently, I saw a reference to the commitment of bloggers to publishing "the truth." Given my interest in contrarianism, this offered me a badly-needed laugh, and a challenge

The process will go much better if I can get this sucker to run in Firefox. It's agin my religion to use IE.