Last updated 6-28-2022
You might be an island,
On a distant horizon,
But the little I see
Looks like heaven to me,
And I don't care if the ocean gets rough... just a little is enough.
Yes, kiddies, I've survived thirty-five years of this world and its nonsense. And notice how there's no apostrophe in the word "its" back there? I know, I know, with most words in the English language, an apostrophe followed by the letter s indicates possession, but it's is a contraction for "it is" and therefore is not used to indicate possession. It's pretty horrendous how badly the English language is getting mangled these days...
So I finally got to see my dream baby again, on my birthday. We'd originally planned to go out for sushi, but Hannah's not feeling well and other circumstances resulted in my picking our dinner up and bringing it over instead, which was still fine by me; as long as I was with Gina, eating lobster tail tempura and coconut shrimp rolls, I was happy. There was a temptatious (no, it's not a real word) little chocolate cake from Mazur's, too, topped with little chocolate hearts, sweet in more ways than one. I love the silver chain my honey gave me! But a single kiss would have been present enough. Walking back from her house, looking at the stars and the planet Mars in the clear night sky, I felt fine.
We don't get together very often, 'tis true, and sometimes I get a little upset when weeks go by and I don't see her. The lyrics to "Heavywait" are a good-humored recognition of the fact that the waiting is the hardest part. But the lyrics to Pete Townshend's "A Little is Enough," quoted in part above, hold true, too. Seeing Gina once in a blue moon would still beat seeing anyone else daily, or seeing no one at all. The fortune I pulled out of a cookie today also puts it well: Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. (Again, no apostrophe in the word "its." And no, technically this isn't a fortune, but I liked it nonetheless.)
Becoming reacquainted with the tennis court in September unfortunately necessitated an introduction between the court and my skull. Maybe some stretching before attempting a few volleys would have prevented it, but somehow, while trying to back away from a ball that Mahj directed a bit too close to me, I managed to fall onto my back, and then my neck muscles gave out and my head hit, too. Ouch. As far as I know, there was no permanent damage; at any rate, I'm still using apostrophes appropriately. I did bounce back, unlike some of the tennis balls we were using, and while Jeremy and I lost the match to Mahj and Fred, we all played rather well for people who don't play regularly or often. It felt nice to get a few aces in there. If I got to play like that once a week, or even every other week, I could probably get back to my old level of skill within a few months, or close to it, which isn't to say that I was ever a Becker or a Lendl (remember those guys?)... but I wasn't half-bad.
No new taxes, yet we're going to help out several hurricane-devastated regions while continuing to throw money down the Iraqi-Afghan shredder. Which domestic programs are going to suffer as a result? And when suddenly something you care about is affected, it'll be a bit late to complain about it. Even before September 11, 2001, I was against Dubya's giving a paltry few hundred dollars back to taxpayers, because even I knew that at some point, the federal government was going to need it again. Isn't it better to keep a little cash aside in case of emergency? Maybe Perot turned out to be a bit too nutty for most people, but a successful businessman might've been able to tame the out-of-control federal deficit. Maybe not. Still, it would've been worth a try as far as I'm concerned. Oh, well.
Star Wars:Galactic Battlegrounds really sank its barbs into me for two or three weeks there. On an idle Saturday afternoon, I popped the CD into my PowerBook and started to play, though I hadn't looked at the game in many months, and this time I just got hooked. The first few games, I got pwned, as the kiddies say, but once I realized that I was being much too conservative in my resource-building, I got game instead, and I've now wiped up the planet with Darth Vader's troopers, as well as the Trade Federation's droid army. I'm still playing once in a while, but I think the phase is passing...
I'm fairly well annoyed at Tanglewood and its UK resellers (still no apostrophe). I came across Tanglewood's left-handed twelve-string acoustic-electric guitar a few years ago online, while idly searching for a new axe; I ended up deciding on the Danelectro instead, but I kept an eye on the Tanglewood for the future. A few months ago, I started thinking seriously about getting the 12-string, but two weeks ago, while shopping around online, I discovered that the shop from which I'd intended to purchase it couldn't or wouldn't ship to the United States! The next two sites that I found which had the guitar were also UK-based and also wouldn't ship here. I did some research and found that Tanglewood has a North American division now, with a few resellers in Canada and the U.S., but that particular guitar is not offered here, and Tanglewood UK eventually responded to my query by saying that they're currently not making the 12-string. Grrr. So I've put a down payment on an Ovation instead, which is currently being built. Screw Tanglewood and its vendors. None of them wanted to sell me a guitar badly enough, and anyway I've heard more good things about Ovation.
Barbara has some visiting relatives at her home, and I joined them at a Yankees game last month. I'm not really a big fan of baseball, or any other sport for that matter, but I can enjoy the occasional game. I was impressed to see how well-trained the fans are; they clapped and cheered and yelled and chanted right on cue. Sometimes that was more entertaining than the movements of the men on the field.
Well, I think I'm going to get to bed while it is
still Sunday the 2nd. Another good "Rome" tonight; I can't wait to see how this civil war between Julius Caesar and
Pompey the Great will end. ;) I won't spoil it for those of you who are ignorant of history.
Actually, "Battlestar Galactica" ended its season last weekend with a showdown, too, between Adama and his superior
officer, Admiral Cain. I'm going to guess that the Galactica is not going to be destroyed, nor its commander
killed, but other than that, just about anything could happen. 'Night, all.
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A (webmaster@andersensilva.com)
Last updated 6-28-2022
