Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Local Mute Minister Quotes Scripture In Head (the universe in a snow globe)

I haven't posted a blog in quite some time so I suppose I should take up some space. As of right now I don't really have anything I particularly want to write about although I do have a few loose ideas bouncing around the ol' dome so I'm just going to start writing and see where I end up. Most likely, this blog will not be cohesive, thought-provoking, or entertaining. Maybe skewed, dimwitted, and dull. Who knows?
Ok. I made a funny not log ago. As Dave and Nang know, it goes as such: I was talking with a friend and she was telling me about a friend she has who is gay. Anyway, this gay man gets together with his gay friends to participate in a "gay poker night." I asked what happens if someone gets a straight...boom shakalaka!
Next, Terry Shiavo. Comon', her 15 minutes of fame is up. She's a spectacle now, a ratings bonanza, and that's it. If we have any respect for human life, which is supposedly the basis of this fiasco in the first place, we should at least unplug the feeding tubes from the TV executives who pour a very personal story into a very public drinking well. People will remember her as the butt of a joke, not a person, at least not the person who existed before the accident. Let it go away. One question however, since this is essentially a modified execution, does Terry get to pick her final meal? If she does, does everything start over? That was stupid. Hey, free association.
Speaking of death, it's been an odd last few days. An old friend of mine has a sister who lost her life in a fire. Although I was not very close to her (the sister), we have hung out a handful of times and it's hard to comprehend that I will never see her again. And just today, a friend told me about his cousin who took his own life only a few days ago. It's almost surreal to watch a friend who you goof around with almost every day, struggle to hide his tears. Jesus, what do you say when that happens? I don't know. I didn't know. What can you say? See, this isn't funny right now. Sorry.
The Beatles are the greatest band ever. It's cliched but it's true. Side B of Abbey Road has to be their best tune. No? You must not have listened to it yet. If I were in a band in the 60's and heard Side B, I would have put my guitar through a wood chipper.
Too bad the wrong two Beatles died first. Would Lennon have played the Super Bowl? How about Harrison? At one point, Paul McCartney was playing an impromptu concert on the roof of Abbey Road Studios when Let It Be meant something. His flame died with the Beatles. I know, who cares. I don't. I like Paul's music; it's just empty. Two more things about music that I can think of right now. Conner What's-His-Name (Oberst?) from Bright Eyes wrote in a song about a relationship, "I'd rather work for a pay check than wait to win the lottery." That's brilliant! Also, Sleepwalkers by Sigur Ros is, hands down, the greatest song ever.
Finally, sometimes I walk around Calvary Cemetery in Greenfield at night. There's a couple breaks in the fence. Pipe down, that's not weird! It's very tranquil. Calvary is on a hill so it offers a unique vantage point. You can see the Cathedral of Learning and all of Oakland in one tunnel of vision, downtown in another, the Waterfront in another, Monroeville in another, East Liberty, hills of just trees, etc, etc. and so many street lights. You're up there, in the epicenter of a couple million people, but you're so alone. It's like looking at the universe in a snow globe. I think that's really something. Actually, it's even more incredible that, actually, you ARE surrounded by people: the same people who used to work at the USX building or live in a ranch house next to one of the street lights. They're just names on a concrete slab now: once interesting, inspiring people just smooshed into the ground, huddled together. Wow, that's us 200 years from now when someone else walks into Calvary to admire the view. The world will be around in 200 years you know; people aren't as dumb as they're given credit for.
What I'm most interested in is the other lights, the thousands upon thousands of house and porch lights. Just look at them, each light is a world all it's own. One light brightens a room where a lonely middle aged woman is watching Sex in the City wishing she had someone to watch it with, another brightens a porch where the pimple faced girl who was rejected from the cheerleading squad is getting her first kiss from the boy who was always picked last in dodgeball, another brightens a room where an old couple play there old 45's and wish they could grow their teenage years back for just one night. I suppose I could so on and on, husbands beating wives, kids having slumber parties, a dude typing a blog...
That's all I have today.

"Get a dose of her in jackboots and kilt",
BM

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