Italian Air Conditioning

"...in the end they were convinced of the merits of the Roman strategy against heat, which consists of closing houses during the lethargy of August in order to keep out the burning air from the street, and then opening them up completely to the night breezes..."  

from "Love In the Time of Cholera"
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

my Old Lady came across this passage recently.
It reminded her of my parents house in Georgetown.

I don't remember having Air Conditioning machines during the Summer,
until the end of the high school years,
maybe...
She reckons it was about the same in her parents' house.

What you did instead
was exactly what Marquez said
keep the doors & windows shut,
the blinds drawn.

It works.
but to think our ethnic slur
might actually have "merits" and history
is baffling
although I like the ring of "Roman strategy"

We have a unit in the apartment now,
but only use it under extreme circumstances
as we both prefer a cool breeze through an open window.

Much is made of technology and my generation
in a "My Generation Was the Last to ________" sort of way,
and I've been thinking about air conditioning lately...

Social Cat

By Joe Cardoza & Marc Pinansky

He's a real social cat

Knows just where the party's at

Been looking so hard to find it

See him sleep the day away

Arise at dusk he wakes with grace     

Been looking so hard to find it

Don't run away
just stay

Don't run again
we'll be your friend

Without a word he gets his way

Every seats a throne, it's his holiday

The shadows, his friends, will hide him

As dawn arrives he takes his leave

All returns to stone and sleep

I've been lookin so hard to find it

He's a real social cat

Knows just where the party's at       

When it's over he fades to black

With the grace of a social cat

Fencing

I was disturbed by loud bangs that could have come from the kitchen, but soon discovered it was the backyard, the neighborhood kids...

We call them the "Rowley Bike Gang" and they've aged since we've been here.  Obviously.  But this fact still feels important.

The bangs were each guy taking a turn going halfway across the BBQ restaurant's parking lot on their bike or skateboard and slamming themselves at low speed into our rickety fence.

I watched them.  It wasn't malicious destruction of property, they all just seemed to dig the way the old fence would absorb their mild shock and spit them back out with a loud thwumpy crash.

As I stood there one of the kids noticed me and called out to the group "hey, it's The Guy..." and they scampered away...

which is probably what I intended all along,

but at the price of becoming The Guy...?

I'm not sure I was ready for that.

Thoughts From the Last Two Weeks

Who are all these people collecting annuities and long term payments?  They are a sought after bunch.

*****

Are you really going to THE MOVIES this summer?  Instead, I recommend you give me $20, and I will kick you swiftly in the junk.

You really want to see another Men in Black?  another Snow White?  another Spider Man? another Batman? another Bourne?  Mark Wahlberg and an animated teddy bear that regurgitates jokes from Family Guy?  Abe Lincoln killing vampires?  Adam Sandler?

Who are all these people supporting Hollywood's lazy garbage?

*****

I've never going to get anywhere but here, if I continue to stay around here.

*****

Cigarettes are for weak-minded people.  Not smoking cigarettes is for uptight prudes who will eventually die someday without dignity, but like to believe otherwise.

*****

You can't post shit on the Internet with one breath and expect Privacy with the next.

*****

People who vote along party lines are pathetic.  The World is not black or white, red or blue.  It's not that fucking simple.  Maybe to you.

*****

Don't argue against knowledge.  You're not better because you're unschooled or self-taught.  You are cooler though.

*****

I'm not this angry.  I just want to get back to work.  I just want to sit down, for a while.

Brothers & Cysters: Part 4 - Off the Deep End

Yesterday I went off the deep end:

posted a video of myself on a social network.

Which means it's on The Internet.

Which means it's Everywhere, Forever.

The video is low quality,

in that I'm unshaven & topless

with dirty hair and dirtier shorts
(which ultimately continue to conceal my drainage ball)

banging rhythmically on my belly with my hands.

In hindsight, it's the sort of thing that makes me want to Quit the Internet entirely, forever

(I won't)

I chilled out and input five months worth of lesson & gig data into an organized spreadsheet
and I feel much better now I'll watch a documentary about a guy trying to beat the World Record on the Donkey Kong arcade game.

I keep telling myself it was just a Minor Surgery and not a Major Surgery and that I'm lucky and need to stop bitching.