The weather is weird.  Like some days it rains.  Then some days it doesn't.  Sometimes it's kinda' hot, but other days it seems cool.  I've been thinking about the weather as a metaphor for how we view ourselves.  Not "ourselves" but our selves...as in self-S.  Who are we?  How do we see who we are.  Especially, if it's foggy or it's really cold.  It's pretty hard to really get a good look at yourself when you're just freezing cold or blisteringly hot. 

Maybe the weather is not really a metaphor for how we view ourselves.  But weather is just weird...it just is. 

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I might as well tell a few more things about work. There are a bunch of people that work there.  I'm not that friendly with any one person.  Sometimes I talk to the other people.  They talk about the most trivial things like the weather, and TV shows like Survival, So you think you wanna dance, The Biggest Fat Person or whatever it's called, Project Runaway or whatever that's called and some other show called American Idol.  I don't have a TV so I don't know what this is about. 

I'm kind of surprised that with all of that talk of mindless entertainment, they are so interested in a show like American Idol involving idolotry and paganism.  Maybe it's some kind of Wiccan thing.  I didn't think Wicca was that popular let alone permitted voting using a toll-free number or text messaging.  I guess times have changed for paganism like everything else. 

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I don't talk about work much because I'm really not supposed to.  They made me sign an NBA (non-blogging agreement) in addition to an NDA (non-disclosure agreement).  What this means is that I have a job that's got some restrictions, so, you can assume I'm not the president or CEO or whatever.  I didn't make the rules. 

That said, I'm going to try to blog 'around' my job because I want to write about it.  My job involves doing things.  Sometimes I'm asked to do things...or "told."  Sometimes, I choose to do some things myself.  Some of the things I do standing up, most of it is sitting down.  Some of it involves computers and printers and all that.  The company makes things...let's see...what else can I say.  If I named the company you might know the name.  If I didn't name the company, there's no way you'd know the name.  If anyone wants to guess the name of the company they are free to do so. 

They have venetian blinds...they have offices and cubes...the carpeting is grey.  I use the Day-Glo Post-Its a lot.  I'll write some more about my job later. 

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For those who haven't been following, my relationship with Vumba is going through its changes.  Last night she didn't want to stay with me.  I actually didn't want to stay with her.  We went to dinner at Monk Chin.  She ordered the Blanched Bland Walnut Soup and I ordered the Tofu and Buffalo Burger.  She was mad at me for eating meat.  She knows I eat meat.  She knows I'm vegetarian, but I eat meat when it's served in vegetarian restaurants. 

We wound up getting into this loooong discussion about food and its influence on relationships.  I was trying to say that what we eat is what we are.  She was trying to say that what I am is not what she is because she's not what I ate.  Or, like, I ate what she didn't so I couldn't be her.  I never really said I was her.  She didn't eat what I ate.  I ate meat and I'm a confused vegetarian, so what else is new.  She probably didn't like the soup b/c it was bland....like the menu said.  No salt, no lard, no spices, no wheat, no gluten, no milk, organic,...what more could you not want? 

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my father won't read my blog.  he has a computer.  in fact my father was/is quite the geek.  he worked at darpa, the defense department's advanced research project that started the internet.  but he's kind of bitter about the whole thing. 

his idea was that the internet not be a network of computers, but to just be one computer.  in fact, he insisted that it be HIS computer and no one else could use it, unless they asked for permission.  this, of course, didn't sit well with the project and they wound up with this network of networks idea. 

he also didn't like the name 'internet' and instead wanted to call it 'tourniquet.'  no one really knew why he wanted to call it tourniquet; it had nothing to do with a bleeding wound or cutting off blood supply to a limb.  but he insisted it was a better name.  may the lord bless my eccentric, misunderstood father.  i understand. 

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I've been looking at the internal combustion engine lately.  Seeing it as a metaphor for our culture, our society.  In an internal combustion engine, a small, contained explosion pushes down a piston which turns a cam which drives a crankshaft and so on.  In our culture, there aren't so much small contained explosions so much as much as people running around with different ideas, talking, emailing, communicating.  So, there's not really an internal combustion, it's more like an ongoing movement...actually...come to think of it, I don't really know why I've been seeing an internal combustion engine as a metaphor for our society.  It just sort of fits.  I have to think this one through.  Maybe it's the gas?  Or the carburator.  Like the carb combines gasoline and air ... it's like our culture is a mixture of...well, I'll get back to you on that. 

Thought for the day: If you change your shoes and not your socks, are the shoes that you decided not to wear relieved and the shoes that you changed into angry?   

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This new restaurant opened, sort of a vegan ovo lacto place called Monk Chin: www.monkblogchinblog.com.  The food's actually pretty bad, but the idea behind the place is great:  This is from their menu.

"We are a totally un-oppressive establishment. Our staff shares in the profits at an equal percentage.  All of our food is purchased from organic co-ops. We compost 80% of our trash and give it back to the farmers that grow our food as fertilizer. None of the products we use are from large businesses. From the oil we cook with to the manufacturers of our stoves and refrigerators to the toilet paper in our bathrooms, everything is purchased from businesses that meet our high standards of low oppression capitalism. Those standards include selling compost back to suppliers, profit sharing with all employees, using recycled products and doing business within our tight network of high-standard, low-oppression capitalistic partners and vendors. Our staff wears uniforms that are non-oppressive in colors of muted grey made from organically grown hemp. Everyone in our staff receives health care from Willfull Spirit Holistic Health. At Willful Spirit they are treated to monthly high colonics. Anyone entering our establishment is treated to a random act of kindness upon entering which may include a hug, a kiss, a blessing in English, Hebrew or Hindi or brief reiki massage. We also believe that any customer who is in any way dissatisfied by our service is entitled not only to a full refund, but we will shut down the business in their honor during the next full moon for 24 hours."

It's good to see someone in a service industry who really cares  

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Egon came over to the studio today to help me record this new radio play I'm working on, "Marconi's Macaroni in the Telephony."  He had some great ideas.  I have this one scene where the main character, You (no, not YOU, but the main character is named "You"), has to look at himself in the mirror and find something wrong with his face because an acting teacher told him he has to do it.  When he does that, Egon had this great idea that he should see someone behind him in the mirror and it should be Tammy Faye Baker.  And she should appear and then try to put false eyelashes on him.  Except they're not really "false eyelashes" but false "I" lashes.  She's actually trying to get him to actually lash his "I" ... his self, sort of self-flagellation.  It's a little abstract, but I think when people see it they'll get it.  I mean, when they hear it, they'll get it.  I hope.  I might have to explain it.  I'm thinking maybe the radio show should be broadcast on two stations at once so you can listen to the radio show and then listen to this sort of running commentary explaining all the references.  That would be cool.  But I have to get two stations that want to play it.  I haven't found one yet. 

If anyone knows two radio stations that would like to air two semi-related radio shows that are loaded with meaning and metaphor, please let me know.

Egon is almost done his book of poems, "How to Mispell Re Leaf."   

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There's so much talk about the "greening" of America and everybody's going "green."  I really don't think "green" is the best color to represent nature and a healthy, earth-friendly approach to life.  I'm thinking more along the lines of brown.  Brown is what the color of mud and dirt and sand is.  That's really what makes up the Earth, not the green.  I mean, if you're referring to green, it's really the chlorophyll that's green.  There are parts of the world that are totally natural, where man hasn't invaded and left crap all over and those places are grey and black and white, like Antarctica.  Antarctica would look pretty weird with a lot of green splashed around.  It would be like if someone clubbed a baby seal and it was bleeding green.  Besides Earth is, well, when we say "Earth" we can actually mean dirt, soil, humous.

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I don't know why but those two words are stuck in my head today:

Unction

 - and -

Gumption

These are not totally unrelated.  Gumption has to do with aggressiveness and guts, spunk.  Unction refers to a religious anointing or spiritual sacrament.  What do the two words have to do with each other and why am I saying them all day long today?

I think this has something to do with Sharmayne's new paintings.  They are both bold and aggressive and they are also spiritually soothing.  Interestingly enough, I find her actually very shy and demure and totally devoid of any spirituality.  She doesn't believe in anything, let alone a Supreme Being.  She told me the the only thing she believes in is the ground under her feet.  She wouldn't even believe the ground under my feet.  She didn't even believe I was there talking to her.  I walked away and she didn't even yell for me to come back.  Sharmayne is an interesting character.  I hope she likes this entry.

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