Worlds too near

The other night, in a warm summer twilight, I wandered a few blocks south of my student flat right near the UW football stadium, clad in a Team Rocket shirt with a gray fedora on my head. Despite having spent about 11 months in this apartment, I haven't spent much time walking around the neighborhood--my feet tend to carry me east, towards campus, classes, work, and the shops and restaurants of State Street.

It's an odd neighborhood to say the least. Old University Ave. is mostly bordered by student housing of various types, mostly contained in vintage brick buildings (with a few newer blocks of flats). Upstream, to the west, it fades into more traditional apartment blocks, with a few exotic restaurants (a sushi parlor, an Arabic restaurant, and Lombardi's, which is apparently one of Madison's classier establishments). There's also an Open Pantry, which I tend to raid for milk, Mountain Dew, and Pop Tarts.

North of my apartment, across a bridge spanning University, is the west end of campus, containing the agricultural and medical buildings.

So, out of possible exits North, East, West, and South, I chose South. South is by far the most intriguing.

I'd describe it as "Old Madison"--part of the city's hundred year-old core. The trees are tall and dark, the houses big and expensive, the alleys narrow and the flowers lush in overgrown beds. Almost every house has something particularly beautiful about it--I spotted one which looked like a Chinese city mansion, another that had been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as what looked like a triple or quadruple split level, with clean right angles and balconies to spare. Another was a four-story mountain of red brick overlooking a tangle jungle of flowers, vines, vegetable gardens, and shading trees, with tall, etched glass windows pouring golden light. Place even had a round tower.

My single favorite dwelling spotted on this excursion would have to be one I found perched at the summit of one of Madison's many hills. The place's yard was essentially held in place by a wall of rough concrete painted creamy-white, and the entrance was a gate set low in the wall, with flights of steps leading up from a kind of gatehouse entryway to a veranda that apparently encircled the house behind a sculpted railing. The house itself had, again, a generous border of flowered garden and at least three stories of sweeping white wood and stone. It looked like the sort of mansion which might serve as a backdrop to The Barber of Seville.

The most feature which really struck me was a pair of glass double doors, open to the night, that opened onto a round balcony of the sort that Romeo usually howls under. I almost wanted to fetch a lute and lie in wait for some beauty to venture onto it. Too bad I can neither play lute nor sing particularly well. In these un-romantic times, I'd probably also get arrested for trespassing, home intrusion, or stalking.

Continuing my twilight adventure, I passed by a classy looking lawn party with a live jazz band and varicolored garden lights. Liquor gleamed in glasses as a shady student in dark clothing drifted past, a campus vagabond passing like a shadow through their wealthy world.

These people live barely ten minutes from campus, where cheap beer and Halo are the drink and entertainment of choice, and yet their lives and homes are a world removed. Truly, the gulfs separating people reach far deeper than physical distance alone could explain. The contrast between the two environments--the rush of campus and the shady, sweeping avenues of this upscale neighborhood--left me feeling oddly displaced, as if I had stepped into some completely different sphere of existence.

If my eccentricity can be tolerated, I might muse more deeply on this subject in the future. . .but, for now, I leave you with this post. Think of it as a travelogue in brief.

Infernal Comedy

Just a quick note, but I've been updating my other blog (Wordperfect Alchemist) regularly, and I think anyone glancing at this page would enjoy the things I've been throwing up there. Here's my latest post, featuring some hilarious videos for the v-game enthusiast as well as some ruminations on the upcoming Dante's Inferno PS3 game.

I make no promises as far as topicality or coherency, but I strive to amuse ;).

Never use that word again

Researchers discover that Disney films promote. . .hetero-normativity.

I have words to describe this, but I would never use them in the presence of women, children, men, martians, or small dogs.

One commentator describes it as "cargo-cult science": "It has all the trappings of scientific work -- a university, professors, journal publication, words like "research" and "analysis." And yet there's nothing "scientific" about it at all."

Holy herds of stinking cattle! I've heard critiques of Disney films from various angles, but this steals the seven-layer wedding cake and eats it too. Could it be that even the beauties of healthy romance are becoming cultural taboo? Of course not, but the mere fact that anyone outside of a madhouse could take this navel-mining seriously makes a man sick down all 28 feet of his intestinal tract. Uglier than Cthulu. Less informative than Mr. Withers. Dumber than your average freshwater clam.

And if I ever hear a man, woman, or ape speak the word "hetero-normative". . .any jury in the land would rise for a standing ovation upon hearing of my wrath*.

(NOTE: Actually, I'm a man of peace. But God help me, I'd be tempted to unleash some holy whupping.)

In other news, Dead Like Me is hilarious. Like Juno meets Bleach.

Peace out, all!

Totally crazy!

Your esteemed blogger has recently installed a new A/C unit (thanks to kind uncles for the loan!) in his apartment, which means he's moved beyond envying Scott's men as they died of frostbite.

Anyway, as I was basking in my newfound chill, a thought occurred to me: "Is crazy the new nice?" I've happened to hear "crazy" used as a generic compliment a few times recently, as in:

Me: "Is he cool?"
Friend: "Yeah, he's pretty crazy."
Me: "Cool."

I have no problem with that, I just think it's funny.

Which brings me to another issue: That of generic compliments, particularly the word "nice". I think of "nice" as being a compliment of very little meaning. Almost anyone can be called nice, as in, "He seems like a nice guy". To me, it means nothing more than that the described person isn't actively belligerent, malicious, or antisocial. It indicates that he meets a basic standard of civility.

But it doesn't require the committed judgement of, say, "He's a good/honest/trustworthy man" or "She's a good friend". "Nice" is safely neutral.

It's also toothless, as anyone who's ever been rejected with "You're a nice guy, but. . .." can testify (I haven't myself, thank God). There it seems like more of a stock courtesy than a real expression of "You truly are a worthwhile dude, but I don't return your romantic affections".

Heck, I even consider "He's cool" to be a step up from nice. "Nice" means nothing more than "On cursory inspection, he does not appear to be a sociopath". "Cool" implies that, in addition to that, I like them and/or find them particularly admirable in some way. "Awesome" or "really cool" is another grade up.

Or something like that. It's not a definite system.

Peace out!

A New Challenger!!

A few days ago I was helping my grandmother clean out the computer room. There was a guitar sitting in the corner-- and it looked in fairly good condition, to my untrained eyes. I wasn't aware that either of my grandparents played any musical instruments whatsoever, so I asked her who it belonged to. To my surprise, it turned out that someone had given to the guitar to them and they had no use for it. She gave it to me.

A New Challenger Approaches!!

I've decided to try to learn how to play the guitar. We'll see what happens.

Is this the beginnings of a dedicated master musician? Or a way to pass the idle hours by doing something more productive than watching South Park? YOU Decide!!

Your Author

A worthy maxim

A saying pulled from my bro, David. Where he found it I cannot say.

"I have found my calling in life. It is to spend as much time in a Jacuzzi as possible. Like Socrates, I want to live a life of reflection and virtue. I just want to be warm and wet while I am doing it."

Who can fathom such wisdom?

Also, what is the Platonic ideal of the jacuzzi? Discuss.

Ugh.

Just got my first paycheck today, lost about 1/6th of it to medicare/social security/other costs, and this is without even paying taxes on it.

That is ridiculous.

For starters, the idea that the government knows how to spend money better than any average individual is a joke. Government is almost by nature inefficient, since it deals with problems at more or less the highest possible level and has little to no real involvement or knowledge of the issue. Any individual knows what is better for himself/herself in particular, far more than the federal government simply because of the level of involvement and knowledge. And if that idea doesn't convince, just look at the evidence. Government, to generalize, mismanages nearly EVERYTHING.

A few cursory examples will demonstrate this. Hurricane Katrina should have been dealt with at the city/state level, but instead the federal government tried to handle it (which they shouldn't) and made a mess of it. The government regulations on education are laughable. The federal reserve, some would say, is irreparable. Etc.

In addition, social security is more or less doomed since the population isn't expanding like it should. As I understand it, (and if I'm wrong please correct me) we pay for the previous generation, more or less, and the next will pay for us. However, if the next generation isn't big enough to repay us (and I'm pretty sure the math says it isn't) we are screwed.

So essentially I'm losing at least a sixth of my income and I have virtually no hope of seeing it again.

Makes me think of a quote from The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (excellent book by Robert Heinlein): There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.

Adults who pay lots of taxes and so on, how do you STAND it?? This makes me almost want to be a total anarchist, and I already think government is a necessary evil, and I'm only 18.

...

Wow, I've been complaining alot lately. Suffice it to say, things in CO are going amazingly well, lots of cool people at the YMCA, love going on hikes with them, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was an awesome movie, hanging out with grandparents is superb, etc.