# 01 Jan 2003, 03:57PM: The Long Backwards Glance: If you wish to review 2002 in my life, instead of or in addition to yours, read my journal. (It's about 4/5 of a megabyte of text; month view may be more manageable.)
# 01 Jan 2003, 06:14PM: The Other Philosophers' Song:
As per extremely recent tradition, I spent New Year's Eve quietly at Leonard's house, and watched a few minutes of fireworks at midnight.
The next day, returning videos (of which more anon), I stopped by Sarah's house, and enjoyed New Year's brunch with her St. John's gang, Moss and Cassie. Inspired by Pete Seeger's "Solidarity Forever", they did me the great kindness of singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic of Letters. The song versifies Plato, Ansell, Hobbes, Kant, and Hegel, in that order, as per St. John's curriculum. Lyrics by Henry Higuera.
(Other St. John's songs include "Livin' La Vida Logos" and the only parody of "Particle Man" I've ever seen. The author also shares bits of Johnnie life: "Sicut Gallia, sicut Gallia, ille vobis in partes tres divendi sunt! 'Just like Gaul, just like Gaul, divide them up into three parts, just like Gaul!'")
Who knows, maybe the Johnnies will provide Leonardic innovation with a use. Which brings me to the guitar. A year ago I got into logic, spurred on by smart friends; last night I learned the chords G, A, and E-minor on the guitar, envying talented friends. Low-priority 2003 goal: learn enough to knowledgably noodle on the guitar, maybe three songs suitable for playing at parties.
# 01 Jan 2003, 06:18PM: Loves and Wishes: If foodies resemble bookworms, then they need recommendations too.
# 02 Jan 2003, 08:40PM: Cody's Deals & Cody's Big Deals:
I wandered the remainders piles today, which feel much more civilised today than they did in December.
Some pretty good stuff. I often find the bargain floor worth a trawl.
Also,
January author appearances (the "big deals") include Po Bronson, bell hooks, Maxine Hong Kingston, Daniel Goleman, Jerry Mander, and Bruce Sterling. I'll do the introduction for Sterling (Wednesday 15 January), who often makes cool speeches and writes fun sci-fi.
# 03 Jan 2003, 12:03PM: Fact Friction: I heard about promising research into a cure for multiple sclerosis. My first thought: "Oh good, maybe this'll help President Bartlet!"
# 03 Jan 2003, 12:55PM: Rest in Peace: Sydney Omarr dies at 76.
# 04 Jan 2003, 12:25PM:
Last night, I found out that (hearsay) it's illegal to buy a lighter in California
if you're under 18. To paraphrase Devin: "You can't have alcohol, tobacco, war, oh, and fire. You can drive, though."
Also, Devin opined that Scotch is proof that there was really nothing else available to ferment.
Somehow my power went off while my computer was on and now it's acting weird when I log in. I think it has something to do with X or KDE.
If you care, you can ask me and get details and offer assistance.
Nandini and I hung out last night most profitably. She gave me a Mardi Gras
mask and we made pilaf and curry, and I got to introduce her to Josh Kornbluth,
Get Your War On, and Penny Arcade.
Off to see Adaptation with Joe.
# 05 Jan 2003, 11:39AM: I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence:
So a year ago I thought I'd be teaching and starting a business by now. But my unexpected late graduation threw that out of whack, and then I took the first job I could find, and now I'm focusing on climbing the rungs at Cody's and improving my comedy. Someday I'll get back to substituting and computer tutoring. How many back burners can you have?
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
# 05 Jan 2003, 11:07PM: Sumana the Sarcasto and Leonard the Logiccini:
"The Revolutionary World Tragedy."
Sappiness follows:
"Is that KatzDot?"
"No, it's Google News, yes, it's KatzDot."
"Well, if I'm your greatest sweetie, and I'm your only sweetie, that means I'm also your worst sweetie."
"Wrong, because you are better than the null sweetie, which everybody has. ...Phew!"
# 05 Jan 2003, 11:09PM: Leonard turned down my enticing offer to 'mix weblogs' by posting in each other's steads. It's the new apartment key!
# 07 Jan 2003, 12:46AM:
I lost my physical notebook, the one Nandini gave me that had the Underground map on the cover. Yes, this is the second notebook loss in three months.
On the up side, in virtual notebook news, my old entries from 2001 are now searchable and viewable via NewsBruiser. (Example.)
Thank you, Leonard!
# 07 Jan 2003, 11:05PM:
Parties, work, and other worries. I have no notebook and feel disoriented. Do tell me if you want to get in on the group discount tickets for the 31st.
Coming soon: reviews of many books and films. Also, do you know anyone who seeks a place to live and wouldn't mind living in a living room?
# 08 Jan 2003, 08:45AM: :
Well, I was wrong. Musharraf's still around. That's the unfortunate thing about "today in history" -- it renders your "One Year Hence" predictions awfully available for inspection.
From last night: "Oh, you're going to do stuff about your parents in your stand-up, right? Because Margaret Cho does this stuff about her parents in I'm the One That I Want, and she does all these funny voices. She's great. I love her."
# 09 Jan 2003, 11:32PM:
Adam and I saw Punch-Drunk Love again. Still so good. Afterwards we expounded on doppelgangers and colors and music and dialogue and character.
Adam, this is Frances's sweet entry.
# 10 Jan 2003, 08:42AM: Too Many Notes:
Note to self: check out the Smokin' Popes. I just heard one of their neat tunes on KALX. After checking NPR for my no-new-catastrophe update, I turn on KALX in the morning for music education. Danger: finding myself late to work because I stay to hear the end of a song, e.g., "Rocked by Rape."
On the other hand, Shaaban Abdel Rahim: Reprehensible ... but rockin'. [Also: "Rahim's latest song, in praise of Osama Bin Laden (with its catchy chorus, "Bin Bin Bin Bin Bin Bin Laden"), was removed from the airwaves."]
I hope I get to listen to the music at the Apollo Night, and not just stay cocooned in the green room the whole time; I'm sure some of the performers will blow me away.
# 10 Jan 2003, 05:49PM: Double Duty:
Sometimes research for a customer request, e.g., word-per-day calendars, also provides me with amusement.
word-of-the-day.com:
"WE ONLY TEACH WORDS THAT ARE PRACTICAL, CURRENT AND CUTTING EDGE."
Vocab Vitamins testimonial: "In addition to the great vocabulary and excellent usage examples that help me actually incorporate these words into my personal lexicon, I especially like the attractive formatting you use and the fact that you don't incorporate animated ads in your newsletter."
# 12 Jan 2003, 07:54AM:
I turned into Andy Holloway for a weekend. I'm still up, dawn
has long since broken, but my room has order and a visible carpet and
décor.
Michael: "Any time you feel conflicted about your identity as a geek,
just look at the crimper in the drawer, and remember that
you
know how to use it."
# 13 Jan 2003, 08:18AM: He's So Dreamy!:
Last night's synapse-fest really went kooky. I watched some lesbian
subplot on West Wing with a bunch of dream-acquaintances
who had convinced Leonard to try pot. I was unnerved. Then I saw
an alternate-universe Russia with a slightly different alphabet, where
I tried to tell a woman that I'd never poured milk into circular grooves cut into
the ground, as she was doing. I did well enough and passed her surreptitious test, so I got to
be in the Apollo Amateur Night, and I met various other up-and-coming
performers who expressed their pleasure at meeting me and desire to hang out with me.
Oh, and somewhere in there my family had Hamid Karzai as a boarder,
and he helped keep peace between my mom and me (I was throwing away some photos and she loathed that) with a metaphor of a
coconut tree that an anti-Muhammad mob burned down just because it
suspected he was hiding there (he wasn't). We all knew he was fated
to die soon, and we helped him write his book and burned long, thin
candles. In the dream I discovered that my family and most other
religions used them as Hindus use incense, and that the candles I held
contained elaborate decorative carvings on the inside, carvings
that would melt away unseen if you never truncated the candle to see it. How wonderful!
Also, Cody's was part of Disneyland.
I notice now that I use the verb "to be" and the imperfective a lot when
I relate my dreams. I do this because I remember fewer incidents and actions,
focusing instead on the strange persons, places and things that populate the dream world.
Only really vivid, disturbing, emotionally evocative acts from my dreams really stick
around for my conscious.
# 13 Jan 2003, 08:29AM:
I know I haven't become a retail person yet. My boss called me at
home and told me she was "at the store," and I thought she meant a
grocery store.
Note regarding my previous entry: probably a kookier dream
than usual because of my odd, multinap sleep structure over the past
few days. Stimulus processing backlog!
# 15 Jan 2003, 07:44AM: I volunteered for an assignment to sell textbooks for Cody's at Alliant University, which is basically a school of psychology in Alameda. We're there 9 to 5 five days this week, so I've been getting to work at 8 or 8:30 and leaving work at 6 or so. Contrary to common sense, though, I have scheduled events for four of this week's five evenings. Yesterday I performed badly at A Cuppa Tea. Tonight I introduce Bruce Sterling at Cody's and watch TV. Tomorrow I participate in a focus group. And Friday my sister and I watch a highwire act at Zellerbach Hall. Yay in that many interesting events wll occur, but will I run myself ragged? Tune in Saturday to find out! Uggh...I can't move...
# 17 Jan 2003, 07:56AM: Soliloquy on a Suspected Speakeasy:
"The Mob?"
"Yes, the Mob. Thank you. Thank you for articulating my unspoken
fears. The Mob. And when you say it like that, it
seems so trivial, the Mob. I mean, it's not like they're organized
or anything. They're a mob! What are they going to do? Carry torches
and pitchforks? 'Kill the doctor, kill the doctor!'"
-Sumana and Leonard
# 18 Jan 2003, 06:03PM: Economists not only make great butts of jokes, they banter better than West Wingers did last week.
# 18 Jan 2003, 06:06PM: Further investigation will reveal whether emptygeneration of Ohio and OgGogBeGog really deserve thorough perusal.
# 18 Jan 2003, 06:09PM: I worked overtime five hours a day selling textbooks from a small windowless office, but now it's back to my regularly scheduled schedule. My various nighttime activities proved reenergizing rather than ultra-exhausting. Coming soon: I talk about Bruce Sterling, a gymnastics expo, and free comedy.
# 20 Jan 2003, 08:50AM: I'm steadily developing new material for tomorrow's A Cuppa Tea open mic, my "showcase" performance (up to ten whole minutes!) for A Cuppa Tea next Tuesday, and of course for the Apollo Amateur Night on the 31st. So if you see me, caution: I may be wacky.
# 21 Jan 2003, 07:59AM: Search Request Terms On Which, Sadly, I Am Actually An Expert:
"dating a gamer"
# 21 Jan 2003, 05:56PM: Labor Legislation Vetoed By Sandman: Ever since I spent five days selling psychology textbooks from a small room, I've been having vivid and usually bad dreams. I'm thinking a worker's compensation suit. I mean, post hoc, right?
# 23 Jan 2003, 10:27PM: Cue Old-School Star Search Theme:
Tonight I did not-too-badly at The Brain Wash, that laundromat
performance venue restaurant in SF. I'd never been, but Joe
fully acted as my text adventure help/hints screen. "The man over
there runs comedy classes and will tell you about them...Press
Control-H for more help."
Tomorrow an article partially about me will run in the Berkeley
Voice, I hear. Also tomorrow I will try to scramble eggs
for breakfast without the fantastic melt-resistant spatula that
my flatmate callously took with him when he moved out.
# 24 Jan 2003, 06:09PM:
I would actually watch Mr. Sterling, a new NBC drama
best described as The West Wing on Capitol Hill, were it to
star Bruce Sterling. A few nights ago I met, conversed with, and
listened to Bruce Sterling when he spoke at Cody's Books. He just
wrote a book of blatant futurism, Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the
Next Fifty Years. (You can find it in Aisle 8 at Cody's, New Social Sciences and Humanities, despite Sterling's pronouncement that "the future is a form of history that happens to be in the future rather than the past," which would place it in Aisle 1, New History and Politics.)
Sterling read a very funny excerpt comparing vendor-customer relationships
to romantic relationships, especially with reference to vendor techniques
to snare customers. I recommend it.
He said all sorts of interesting things in the Q&A period, predicting
that a really effective global civil society would look "kind of like
Al Quaeda, only not murderous," and that [liberal paraphrase] fetal-control technology will be hot.
He dismissed a questioner's optimism/pessimism paradigm, noting that futurism is about looking into one's own grave, an endeavor best performed without optimism or pessimism. His words: "Mr. Sterling, you're going to be mouldering in your grave for about 13, 14 billion years before the universe
implodes on itself. Do you plan on mouldering in a hopeful, positive fashion?"
Tossed-off controversial comment: the idea that existence comprises life, an interregnum (death), and then an eternity of praising the Creator:
"a psychotic misapprehension of the nature of reality," said Sterling.
# 27 Jan 2003, 08:46AM:
So I stood in the shower and tried to remember my dream from last
night. "None!" I thought. "My bout of vivid strange dreams has ended!
Hooray!" But then I visited my homepage
and remembered that John
participated in my dream somehow. Maybe I went back to Russia.
I recall an anxious, goal-oriented tone, as in so many of my dreams,
but not much else. Bah.
Fantastic weekend just past. Beautiful weather, for one thing, and
many happy events. Chancellor Robert Berdahl
interviewed me for a program to be aired in early February, and I made the
audience crack up. I hung out with Adam's family and helped him move, and had much fun doing so. I hung out with
my sister, and Leonard, and my colleague Chris from work. And Leonard played
for me his best song ever, What's Your 20?.
And when I got back home yesterday evening, my flatmate had hung a lovely poem on my door, and I will ask him for permission to
quote it here.
# 27 Jan 2003, 08:50AM GMT+5:30:
I finally got back to the Sally Lockhart trilogy. I finished Shadow
in the North in about two days. Now I'm on Tiger in the Well.
Who besides Pullman and Card writes such non-trashy pageturners?
Oh, and I saw Christopher Hitchens at the store Friday night. He
seems like The Economist: wry and British and presenting an appearance of extreme erudition.
And the in-crowd is hip to him, and you'd better be too. I'm not sure whom I disparage more
with this comparison.
# 28 Jan 2003, 10:14AM GMT+5:30: McWhorter Update!: Johnnie Mac's newest tome, Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority, has arrived at Cody's Books. I've been skimming it and it looks good. The cover photo is silly, but what are you gonna do.
# 28 Jan 2003, 10:16PM: Observer and Observed:
I'd ben preparing for this showcase night in spurts for days and days, and then
I was frantically memorizing a sequence of bits. And then the emcee
discombobulated me by interacting with my companion, who absolutely
hates being the target of emcee banter, and I only partially
calmed down before going up.
I forgot my bits and put them in later, I switched stuff around, I
didn't hear nearly enough laughter to satisfy my inner critic, and
I was so nervous. After I sat down, people told me I'd done great, and
I couldn't believe they'd iie so barefacedly. I'd sucked!
But I can't watch my own performance as I was doing it, and I sure as
rain couldn't quiet the never-satisfied inner critic, especially while
nervous. So I will have to start recording my performances, as Joe
strongly suggests, to review once the storm has passed.
Oh, and I ran to the restroom gagging after a comedian tonight told a
quite gross joke. Whew, you don't expect that going to a comedy show.
Maybe I should.
So now I have a much better sense (thank goodness) of the material I'll do
for the Apollo finals. Exactly what I needed. Aside from feces jokes.
# 29 Jan 2003, 04:40PM: cleaning out the filesystem:
Once upon a time, a year ago, I considered making an anguished fan page:
Why? Dear Lord, Why? I find that, against my own will, I enjoy watching
Seventh Heaven, a television show broadcast in the US by the
Warner Brothers network. It was created by Aaron Spelling, the same
fellow who created Beverly Hills, 90210, and its offshoot
Melrose Place, and its offspring Models, Inc..
I can't claim complete ironic distance from enjoying the show. I mean, I
actually keep track of the plot. Camp-as-self-loathing seems to apply
here; I like something that I know I should hate, and thus project my
revulsion with myself upon a defenseless serial. But -- allow me to say
-- there is something to like in Seventh Heaven. There are
strong parents who like each other and cooperate in raising the kids.
There is some snappy dialogue. Stop me before I puke.
But I never finished it, and boy am I glad.
I never watch "SevHeav" today, but I hear the characters have remained
borderline cases and the writing still swings between wonderfully absurd
and awe-inspiringly awful. So there you are. Watch out, West
Wing, Aaron Sorkin can easily descend into Aaron Spelling.
# 30 Jan 2003, 03:58PM: New Frog Record!:
As per Leonardy experience,
only today did I realize that the various "yay reading" posters lining
the streetside wall of our office all portray amphibians. Kermit,
Frog & Toad, the whole nine meters. I've been working here for months!
Also, as I copied that URL for Leonard's relevant entry, I thought of
a new frustration for database engineers: changing the calendar so that
now a year contains more than 100 months, or a month more than 100 days.
# 30 Jan 2003, 11:07PM: A Short-Lifespan Sumanonics Schema: "You Are Not My X," where x rhymes with "broom".
# 30 Jan 2003, 11:24PM:
Leonard is helping me finalise my act for tomorrow evening. What a collaborator, and in a good way. I'll miss work for the rehearsal, so three-day weekend, yippee. As in previous similar situations, I forgot to make plans for days immediately following The Important Event, so I'm free to hang out.
Today, as I crossed a street, I nearly got hit by a car. Very stupid of me. It seemed to shake onlookers more than me.
You can hire me through Changeset Consulting.
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