2010 — 26 October: Tuesday
Having sent my latest email whinge1 regarding the continued failure of Staples to organise the proverbial drinking festival in a brewery, I see the big hand has just passed the top digit on my watch, so I'm calling it a night.
G'night.
In earlier years...
... while still vaguely wondering from time to time how to make "sense" of it all2 I occasionally nibbled gently around the edges of (inter alia) Zen. Like the character in Eric Frank Russell's "Diabologic" I would ponder the whichness of the why, or the sound of one hand clapping.3 As a child, I never gained anything but a deep sense of intellectual frustration when listening to the "answers" to my questions from (I don't doubt) an increasingly weary set of "Religious Instruction" teachers. I couldn't figure out why so many people "got it" (or seemed to) when I didn't in this area. Yet I seemed to have far less difficulty "getting" the simple stuff (language, maths, science) that so many of my peers stumbled over.
Of course, things all made a great deal more sense when Christa, and later Peter, entered my life :-)
But the idea of there being a "deeper dimension of reality, beyond the realms of mere reason" as satirised in the ever-delicious "Jesus and Mo" strip? I admit I have not read this learned gent yclept John Haught, let alone page 13 of his book "God and the New Atheism". I like my mind firmly closed, thank you. It helps keep the brain in. (Source.)
Meanwhile, in this reality...
... I think I shall stick to my cups of tea. It's 08:58, the day looks much greyer than yesterday, I have yet to hear back from Staples, but I don't think I'm prepared to wait in all day in the future. They are polite, helpful, yet (on the evidence so far, it seems) total failures when it comes to executing their "faulty goods return" procedures. Time for some breakfast.
Wonderful interview here with the creator of "Doonesbury". I've already made my Christmas present request to my rich son!
The next batch of supplies is safely gathered in, with only a small number of raindrops encountered. But the feather warcast looks awfully wet for much of the day. I shall relocate to a deeper dimension of reality for the duration. In plainer English, up into the loft wherein lurk a great many cartons of further CDs for my scanner to feast upon. I have a long-term goal of once again having enough empty reality in the garage to house the car. But until I've shifted stuff from the loft and housed it more efficiently down here, I'm unable to shift stuff from the garage into the loft. I'm sure Mr Haught could understand this, though I doubt he'd describe it quite so simply.
What's that, Mrs Landingham? Yes, I guess it is time (10:41) for my next cuppa. I'll get right on it. But, before I do, I can ponder who was the photographer on this occasion. Probably Peter:
That two-seat sofa has long since gone the way of the hair colour, and most of the hair, into that deeper dimension that is the Past :-)
Here's another player departing the stage:
As the Register article puts it: "demand for the serial crinkly recording format had nosedived in Japan". I bought my first mono (Sony) radio/cassette-recorder in 1971, and my first stereo model in 1972. And, yes, I bought the first Walkman as soon as it was available in the UK. <Sigh>
Sometimes my taste in music left Christa stone cold. For example, Steve Reich. His curiously hypnotic style, as here, was challenging but well worth trying. We largely agreed to differ on opera, too. But then, she generally knew the plots — I didn't.
Slowly, but surely...
... I do get around to things. For example, I gave a very cursory listen to the Loudon Wainwright III CD set I mentioned here when it first arrived. I'd also heard him talking a bit about the Charlie Poole project to Terry Gross on NPR's "Fresh Air" but I didn't pay too much attention. Turns out — of course — to be worth a much, much, more careful listen. And (as a bonus) there are also four mp3s that didn't make the final cut, but since they turned out to be special favourites of Greil Marcus, who was writing notes on the project, they've been hosted (for free) here.
Christa tolerated my admiration for Mr Wainwright over the years, but I have to say she didn't really share it :-)
Forward to the Past
Mercy me! I haven't listened to a Nicky Horne radio programme since the time I lived within range of London's Capital Radio in Old Windsor. Turns out he's now on Planet Rock which, if only it didn't carry ads, would be rather good. It's 18:52 — I suppose I'd better do something about my evening meal.
Spooky! I just started browsing "Crime of the Century" on Amazon (as the CD's been re-mastered) and Planet Rock simultaneously starts playing "School" from that very album. Time (21:47) for a sobering cuppa, obviously.