Obligatory Reflection On Past Year:

As I sit and type, my little brother's new puppy sits on my lap and sleeps. (There was much contention over what to name him. I voted for Queequeg, but he was ultimately named "El Guapo," after the bad guy in The Three Amigos. I admit that I have actually been calling him "Nibbles," after Killer's ill-fated brother in the movie Half-Baked. I still think of him as Queequeg, though.)

My former roommate Mai-Linh's cat, Sashimi, would also sit in my lap as I wrote.

Nibbles and Sashimi have the love of sitting in my lap while I type in common.

One way they differ, I've discovered, is that when Nibbles rolls off of my lap, he lacks the ability to break his fall by sinking razor-sharp claws into my leg the way Sashimi would.

Another key difference is that Nibbles is much more content with my writing. Sashimi would invariably find something wrong with what I'd written and try to walk across the keyboard in an attempt to delete the whole thing.

The puppy is snoring gently. With a lazy dog, I do not fear accidental deletions.

Sleep, little Queequeg, sleep.

A Different Kind Of Reflection

Joey M. made me a mix CD. The hand-made sleeve boasts that it is a "[...] just-for-you mix. Tailored to your tastes. Word."

I was very impressed with what he put together, so I thought I'd share.

1. Whistling In The Dark -They Might Be Giants
2. Circle of Friends - Better Than Ezra
3. Tetris Techno - Bad Boy Bill
4. Everloving - Moby
5. Fithos Lusec - Nobuo Uematsu
6. If Your Mother Only Knew - Rahzel
7. Rock N. Roll McDonald's - Wesley Willis
8. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop
9. Honey White - Morphine
10. Mana Mana - Muppets
11. Optimistic - Radiohead
12. Yoda -Weird Al
13. Second Hand -Underworld
14. Smells Like Teen Spirit -Tori Amos
15. Beer Beer Beer - Wylde Nept

The CD makes me very...thoughtful. It's a very good thoughtful, though. It's the kind of thoughtful that keeps me occupied for hours on end, forming wild theories and second-guessing and even triple-guessing everything (don't blame me, I learned it from reading Dune.)

There are lines that keep popping out at me.

Whistling In The Dark:

"There's only one thing that I know how to do well
And I've often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well"

Circle Of Friends:
"...Try and understand
Put a checklist on your wall
I am not what you think I should be

(Chorus)
But you're making amends
To your circle of friends
And you're trying to fit me to their mold "

Lust For Life:

"Love, love, love
Well, that's like hypnotizing chickens."

Teen Spirit (Tori Amos):

"With the lights out, it's less dangerous"

Fithos Lusec

All of it, since the song is in Latin and I don't know what the heck they're saying.

Resolutions...Sort Of [Not A Song]

Quitting smoking has been going well and I'm pretty proud of myself.

But last night as I was having my third glass of wine I hazily remembered having resolved to stop drinking so much. So I didn't drink tonight. So far, so good.

I saw the latest movie version of Peter Pan last night. I took Luis. He enjoyed it, and so did I. The audience was filled with mostly parents and their children. I felt a little odd when a number of times I was the only one in the theater laughing hysterically.

Like when Captain Hook is shouting insulting at Peter and says "You are a tragedy!" Because, well, Peter Pan is. His refusal to "grow up" keeps him eternally happy, but without the ability to love.

Since love means attachment, and being attached means wanting to be with someone, wanting to be with someone means risking loss, and loss means pain.

So Buddhist style, Pan has achieved joy by removing desire.

Or something. When did I start sounding like Yoda from Episode I? Wait....Track 12 from Joey's mix...diabolical.

Tonight I bought the book. One of my favorite parts:

("Pan, who and what art thou?" [Hook] cried huskily.

"I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg."

This, of course, was nonsense; but it was proof to the unhappy Hook that Peter did not know in the least who or what he was, which is the very pinnacle of good form.)

It makes me thoughtful as well.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

I'm reminded of the fake Star Wars Episode II DVD I was given for my birthday.

My cousin's house was actually robbed tonight. Their DVD player was stolen, as well as some jewelry. (Which makes me think it was kids, or at least people without a vehicle since the heavier TV and computer were not touched.)

Well, the joke is on them. I had lent my cousins a couple of my DVD's. Those dumb bastards were trying to steal Episode II, and all they got away with was The Rookie.

But damn them, as if by an odd twist of coincidence, they also got The Professional, which I had watched the night I had discovered that I actually had been given The Rookie.

Odd, very odd.

But then, that is the very nature of coincidence.

"Sounding like me again you are."

Can it, Yoda! I stole that coincidence bit from Edgar Allen Poe.

Smart-ass Muppets.