Books can talk to you in different ways at different stages of your life. This is especially true of great books, such as George Orwell’s 1984 which I have read at least 3 times. I recently watched a Wondrium class George Orwell: A Sage for All Seasonsthat was utterly fascinating. I would wholeheartedly recommend this class to anyone with an interest in literature or history. Watching the class inspired me to reread both Animal Farm and 1984.
The Guardian in 2007 proclaimed 1984 ‘is definitive book of the 20th century’. The Atlantic in 2019 declared that “No novel of the past century has had more influence than George Orwell’s 1984.” In my world view Orwell’s book would be required reading for all high school students, and most certainly for college students.
I had to run down to The Hill area close to downtown St. Louis this morning. On the way back I passed a compact, maybe a subcompact vehicle. I did not notice what brand it was as I was focused on the vanity license plate which read MN’TALA. I was busy trying to decipher what that meant in license-platese. I finally decided it must be a name which piqued my curiosity.
As I passed the vehicle I peeked over from the high peak of my pickup truck to see who was driving the subcompact. It was a smallish, Arabic looking women dressed Continue reading “Veil Replacement”
I have two frequent muses for my silly, little blog. One is Señora. Most of the time she is okay with being my muse, sometimes she is tickled, and on occasion, she will arch one eyebrow and give me that look. After two bouts of the the brain fever known as matrimonitis I have gained enough “wisdom” to seek Señora‘s approval before releasing stories involving her into the wilds of cyberspace.
My other muse is The Wee Dog, aka Princess Lily, our 7 kilogram rescue dog. A year or so after we adopted her, on a whim – and on sale – we had her DNA tested. She is 3/8 Bichon Frisé, 1/4 Dachshund, 1/8 Pomeranian, 1/8 Pekingese, 1/8 Shih Tzu and 100% adorable except to squirrels, rabbits, moles and especially chipmunks.
Señora and Princess Lily are essentially surgically/psychically/telepathically connected. Neither one of them can stand not knowing where the other is, generally they are in the same room together. As revealed in True Confessions, I, by spells, have my roles to play in this ménage à chienne. For reasons known Continue reading “Choice is Good”
I generally agree with Bill Maher, but I find him so self-righteous that at times I find him hard to take.
I find myself between a rock and hard place shopping these days for all things except groceries. In full disclosure (smiley face) Señora takes care of that. I really do not like buying from Amazon because 1) I find Jeff Bezos obnoxious beyond words 2) I do not see Amazon’s business model good for anyone except Jeff Bezos and maybe Amazon shareholders 3) they like many of these big tech companies went over to the dark side long ago.
Where is Luke Skywalker when you need him?
Yet I keep buying from Amazon. When I try to buy locally I generally cannot find what I want. I say locally, most the stores anymore are really part of huge corporations. And these huge corporations continue to eat into many businesses that have traditionally been local mom and pop operations. Have you tried to find an independent barber shop lately?
So then I try to buy online, but not from Amazon. But somehow Amazon always beats everyone else to death price wise. I thought I found a good source for used books that was not Amazon, Abebooks. Guess what. Amazon owns them.
Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?
If you are sensitive to “colorful” language… you might want to avoid Mr. Maher and this video.
After Bezos rode into space on Blue Origin’s maiden voyage, he famously said this in a news conference.
“I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this.”
To me ears that was one rankest statements of hubris I have ever heard, given Amazon’s reputation for overworking and underpaying employees, given how their business model has changed the American landscape – and not for the better.
“Matrimony… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Casamiento Segundo, its until-death-do-us-part mission… to explore a strange new relationship… to seek out a new life and new adventures… to boldly go where no sane couple has gone before.”
Today Señora was going to meet a friend for lunch. Normally when I see Señora around the hacienda she has on her I-have-five-loads-of-laundry-to-do-and-10-rows-of-corn-to-hoe outfit. When she came down to our little gym area to say goodbye to me she had put on a nice dress, fixed her hair and put on some makeup.
“You be sure to tell Roberts I am more than a jealous of her, you getting all duded up like that for her,” I declared.
Before I could completely finish my thought, Señora ejaculated, “Bullshit…I brush my tooth every day for you!”
Señora and I are having an ongoing “debate”. After visiting the bathroom for a “meditation session”, do you leave the bathroom door shut or do you open it? My opinion is that you leave it shut to trap the “aromas” therein, allowing them dissipated in due time. Señora repeatedly opines that it is better to leave the door open to allow the “aromas” to dissipated quicker.
We keep a candle in there, but the problem with those is that I forget I have lit it. I suppose that is a minor fire hazard, but mainly they are burning up very quickly.
On a semi-related note, did you know that there are soaps that are solely for decoration, that they are not there for the washing of your hands?
Recently Señora and I were in Oklahoma. First, we made a quick visit to my mother in her nursing home in Owasso. She has Alzheimer’s, so quick or long, the visit it is all the same. In fact given her level of engagement and attention span, a short visit might be better, even if St. Louis to Owasso is a long trip.
Books can talk to you in different ways at different stages of your life. This is especially true of great books, such as George Orwell’s 1984 which I have read at least 3 times. I recently watched a Wondrium class George Orwell: A Sage for All Seasons that was utterly fascinating. I would wholeheartedly recommend this class to anyone with an interest in literature or history. Watching the class inspired me to reread both Animal Farm and 1984.
