Mice

"The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse" is one of Aesop's fables,

one that has stuck with me since childhood.

The "moral of the story" is an important facet to a fable,

for this particular tale we're supposed to surmise that security is preferable to opulence,

but that isn't important here.

for me this tale finds itself in the swamps of self-discovery,

mainly:

am I a city mouse, or a country mouse?

*****

on a fiscal level I'm trying to be a musician, I should be in The City, end of story...

*****

unfortunately I have no respect for the fiscal level

the feeling I get when I see an animal carries more weight.  my whole aura perks and I transform back into a child.

(oh. my. God. it's a Rabbit/Hawk/Horse/Cow/Fox/Turkey LOOK! shhhh...do you see him?)

or the way my neck muscles relax by simply gazing out at the ocean.

natural. inclinations.

for now the remedy has been the Coast:

busy summers fill up with Tourists and we rock out for them

the winters empty, leaving a residue of weird artists and grizzled locals.

this may all be moot.  maybe the answer is to keep moving.  there is a lot to see.

Dr. Smith, Sports Gambling and Memory

I told the doctor throughout this ordeal I have lost faith in Medicine.

His response was to confide he needs treatment for skin cancer on his head

but his primary care physician neglected to send a referral to the surgeon...

This did not quell my skepticism, but I appreciated his effort.

*****

Earlier in the same visit we were making pleasantries,

the Thanksgiving holiday led to discussions of football,

and a comment from me about the Patriots covering the spread...

this led the Doctor into a long tangent about an Oakland Raiders playoff game from 1975

and how he lost $50 to his buddy, even though his bet seemed a sure win considering the circumstances...

(circumstances he laid out for me IN DETAIL, but I will spare you those...)

In Summation: the details of a 40 year old memory remain crystal clear because of a $50 bet.

This seems important. 

Landladies Against Illiteracy: Volume 3

I have a mini-stack to return to Jane.  There may (must) have been others before these.

"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole was funny, like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm sent magically to us from Louisiana in the 1960's... yet the author's biography and the story of his story may be even better than the story itself.

Erik Larson's epic nonfiction "The Devil in the White City" seamlessly intertwines two incredible stories from Chicago in the 1890's... grabbing me from start to finish, so much so that I temporarily denounced Fiction...

bringing us to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" which I became annoyed with at first but felt compelled to finish.  I learned that the Frankenstein is the name of the doctor, not the monster, who is only referred to as monster or wretched fiend.  I feel that as a society we should correct this mistake.  Spread the word:

Frankenstein was the doctor and his name was Victor.

A List Books For Every Human

Josceline mentioned desiring a good book

so I compiled a list for Josceline

which was Fun

so I decided to make another list

for Any Other Interested Human

which means that

I feel these books contain a Message

that is both Positive & Universal

(each changed the way I think about Things

which seems important)

Good Books For Humans (in no particular order)

The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn