Monster Truck owners - a little bit of respect

I *really* don't like obese SUVs and oversized trucks. I find them very boring aesthetically, having absolutely no decent sense of style. And from an efficiency perspective, they're very selfish. I simply do NOT understand the appeal.

My dislike of them, I find, is heightened by the perception that the "mainstream" likes them so much. I prefer well styled cars, and particularly coupes. I own a coupe, and have for many years. Not everyone likes my styling preference, but - and here's the part that comes to my point - there's a certain degree of self-satisfaction and pride in going in a direction that is NOT mainstream, that's Different.

Maybe somehow I'm declaring, 'Hey check it out! I've actually used my mind and thought about my choice rather than run like a lemming to get an SUV like everybody else - giving no conscious thought to if it's in fact a good looking vehicle.' A little over the top, I will admit. And I try to keep from letting it get the better of me :).

This morning as I arrived at work, and saw the usual array of parked, obese SUVs and Trucks that so many of my co-workers here drive, I found myself thinking once again, "how can these people not see how dull looking those things are?". A few of them were the 'monster-truck' types. Suddenly I grasped it...

Those who get ridiculously oversized trucks are simply doing the same thing I am:
declaring themselves not part of the Boring, Mindless Mainstream.

I found myself for the first time *ever*, with an increased level of respect for those drivers.

...I think that only applies to monster truck drivers though. Obese SUV drivers are still on my shit-list ;)))

On Having Kids

Not having children by choice is no big deal.
But facing the reality that you can not have children of your own is painful even if you would have chosen not to.

On History

Quote:

Men make their own history.

But they do not make it just as they please;

They do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves,

But under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past.

The traditions of all dead generations weigh like a nightmare on the minds of the living.

Quoted of Carl Marx by James Caroll.
In Carolls' book "Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews"

The above quote is a fascinating commentary on how history can unavoidably lead to following history. Suggesting that awareness of history can sometimes be as equal a curse as the curse of being ignorant to it.



Btw, Caroll's book, 'Constantine's Sword' is a stunning trek through the history of (mostly Catholic) Christianity from the perspective of its relationship to Judaism and the development of that relationship in western society - from the simple rivalry of very similar but competing 'sibling' religions; to the seemingly protective philosophy of 'survive but not thrive' arising in the eventually more dominant Church; to the grotesque perversion of murderous antisemitism that slowly but seemingly inexorably evolved out of each preceding century of repression and dehumanization, sometimes explicitly promoted , always quietly approved of by the Church.

Coincidence

Coincidences in life are sometimes so stunning.

Last night at dinner with Pam at the Cardinal Club downtown, we sat with a couple brand new members (just joined a couple days before). While talking, we found that the woman's husband is down in Slidel, LA for his new job while his wife stays up here until their daughter graduates high school. Pam and I were in Slidel last week for her surgery - who's ever heard of Slidel unless you've lived or visited there?

One of the woman's older daughters was with her. She is finishing up a degree in nursing. She and Pam got to talking and it turns out that the girl was just talking with a colleague of hers about Pam's "boss". Too funny.

------------------

I was thinking on my way into work this morning, how much I like those two songs by Nina Simone I discovered within the past year. The first one from the movie I liked so much, Before Sunset - possibly one of the best endings to a romantic movie I've seen (but maybe I'm biased ;). I'd never heard of Nina Simone before that.

Then within 2 or 3 months of that, I'm in my new, wonderful relationship with Pam, and we're at a Swing-Dance party in Raleigh. The first one we went to together, and the only one we've been to since. Yet on that single chance occurrence, late in the evening after most dancers had long gone home, the music changed and one or two couples start dancing Blues-Dance, this incredibly sensual new dance neither of us had ever seen before. The music is another track by Nina Simone. I think the tune is interesting, and then I recognize her style/voice. Another fabulous production of Nina's and a new favorite.

What are the odds of such a coincidence? Before-Sunrise/Before-Sunset are fairly old movies. Pretty amazing stuff.