so what?
It's been almost a week since the ranty post about silly duties. It wasn't that bad. Somehow exaggeration always makes things much more fun and exciting though. In a minute or two, I turn 20. So what? Does turning 20 magically makes more things happen? Don't think so.
Anyway, been reading a little more than I managed in the past few months and my brain seems to be much more active. Latest book is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, which is like the military version of the Hitchikers Guide to The Galaxy series, which means lots of absurdly funny stuff. For books like these, I read them for their language, as all the humour is hidden within puns and paraphrasing, which may make sense initially but on further reading seems absurd. Also, the tenses are so irregular I give up trying to make sense of the plot. It seems in this case, the plot is the but the "side dish" to the language, as well as the general absurd idea of Catch-22, stating one can only be discharged from the army if declared insane by the doctor. But the only way to get a doctor to see one is to ask for him, and suspecting one's own insanity shows that one is sane. Thus, soldiers are caught in a vicious cycle.
I'll probably put up some quotes on another post. I'm tired.
justin.
don't worry. you won't be getting any help.
Thanks to certain factors, my long weekend is nicely fucked up. I have learnt in a short 10 minute telephone conversation how unwilling people are to accord help. Myself included. Situation is that there is going to be a shit job on Sunday and I happen to be the standby. In this company I'm in, the simplest way is me taking over, no questions asked. Yet there happens to be someone who hasn't done this shit job before, while I have already done two. See where I'm heading towards?
Yet because he has his own well cooked up excuse, and noone else is willing to help, I have a nicely burnt weekend. I'm not blaming anyone else very much, just Mr Man-of-many-excuses-for-many-situations. Of course noone else wants to put himself up for a shit job. Yet, I only see it fair that it be done at least once. Not to mention $80 down the drain. Such a lovely gift for my birthday this year. Of course, as standby I'm going to have to do it, despite all my plans. Also, of course I'm not just unwilling to do it because of fairness. It's also because of my own selfish reasons and hell that's the way humans are. Helping others(where I am) just causes your own downfall. Everyone wants help but noone is willing to give it.
It doesn't help really that Mr Man-of-many-excuses-for-many-situations tends to be extremely self assured when he speaks. And boy does he speak often. Not to mention many other things. Well to quote A7X in Critical Acclaim "Shh Be quiet you might piss somebody off Like me motherfucker you've been at it for too long." Too long kid.
Meanwhile excuse me while I dispose of my burnt weekend. It smells extremely bitter.
justin.
timeless.
I seem to have this thing about time. Another extract from Fear Nothing, this time by Christopher Snow.
"The hands of every clock are shears, trimming us away scrap by scrap, and every timepiece with a digital readout blinks us towards implosion. What Corky had given Bobby was not time really, but the chance to live without clocks, without an awareness of clocks, which seems to make time pass more gently, with less shearing fury."
justin.
life.
Been reading and perhaps gotten yet another valuable perspective to life. Book is Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz. The quotes are from Bobby Halloway, who isn't the main character but the main character's best friend. I don't think my own opinions on the extracts are needed. Just revel in their simple complexity.
[Bobby said, "She doesn't live her life in the beauty shop, doing someone's hair -- or in her house vacuuming the carpet. She lives her life between her ears, There's a world inside her skull, and probably way stranger and more bitchin' than you or I, with our shallow brain pans, can imagine. Six billion of us walking on the planet, six billion smaller worlds on a bigger one. Shoe salesmen and short-order cooks who look boring from the outside -- some have weirder lives than you. Six billion stories, every one an epic, full of tragedy and triumph, good and evil, despair and hope. You and me--we aren't so special, bro,"]
["We're not here to leave a mark, bro. Monuments, legacies, marks--that's where we always go wrong. We're here to revel in the world, to soak in the awesomeness of it, to enjoy the ride."]
The below extracts are conversations between Bobby and Christopher Snow, who is the main character.
["The world's maximum perfect as it is, beauty from horizon to horizon. Any mark any of us tries to leave-- hell it's only graffiti. Nothing can improve on the world we've been given. Any mark anyone leaves is no better than vandalism"
I(Christopher Snow) said, "The music of Mozart."
"Vandalism," Bobby said.
"The art of Michelangelo."
"Graffiti."
"Renoir."
"Graffiti."
"Bach, The Beatles."
"Aural graffiti."]
["These people can't get away with murder."
"Sure they can. People get away with murder all the time."
"Well, they shouldn't."
"I didn't say they should. I only said they do."
"You know Bobby, maybe life isn't just surf, sex, food and beer."
"I never said it was. I only said it should be."]
Such is life. Simple yet so hard to understand.
justin.
magic mushrooms.
So I was eating fried mushrooms off a paper bag. Suddenly one of them dropped onto the ground, leaving me cursing mostly due to the global increase of food prices. But I left it there anyway, since it's not hygienic to pick up a fried mushroom off the floor and put it in your mouth. So I carried on my little stroll in the basement with my friends, and up the escalator where we were supposed to meet the rest.
All of a sudden, something caught my eye. By some work of the supernatural, the mushroom had taken the escalator up after us and was now residing somewhere between the escalator and the Giordano store. The next 10 minutes or so was spent looking at the mushroom being kicked back and forth by oblivious shoppers. Which led me to think about the chicken wing incident about a year ago, which happened in similar fashion but in AMK Hub. When the mushroom finally found a resting place under a metal Giordano shelf, not to be kicked unless someone decides to walk with his feet perilously close to a toe stubbing device.
Sometimes people just don't look. And if you don't look you don't see.
sniggering justin.
word of the day.
Today, it suddenly dawned upon me that my posts have been rather sparse ever since I started staying in camp. The lack of a computer for immediate noting down of ideas has proven to be the detriment of many a good idea. If this continues, the good ideas might start ignoring my brain and look for greener pastures. Though I must say if you know someone who has a green brain, please turn around and run away in your fastest possible speed when you meet him. Green brains are not normal.
So I have been listening to A7x pretty much nowadays and the title of this song "Gunslinger" jumped out at me. When I first saw the title, I read is as "gun-slinger", thinking something along the lines of a cowboy or some gun toting action hero. Upon hearing the song, which was about war(probably the "sequel" of M.I.A) and it's consequences from the perspective of an individual soldier, I began to see the title of the song as "guns linger". Of course my lack of knowledge dictated that I didn't read the most literal meaning of the title "Gunslinger", which actually means "An aggressive investor who purchases speculative securities. Refer to portfolio managers who choose risky investments with the potential for major gains in value."(Wall Street Words)
As such, the title "Gunslinger" can be read in three ways, which is extremely ingenious wordplay, whether or not it is meant. Accidental genius is still genius.
Speaking of geniuses do check out
www.edwardmonkton.com As well as random Albert Einstein quotes. He is not called a genius for nothing.
justin.
you're either red or dead.
With a comeback like this, nothing is impossible. Camp on the other hand, is not looking up.
justin.
stop and smell the...
Sometimes, one gets so caught up in what he/she is doing that he/she forgets one of the little enjoyments in life. Such as passing motion.
justin.
