A Rain of Frogs

It’s still not here. About 24 hours late by this point.

To make matters worse, UPS is launching an “investigation,” whatever the hell that means. To me that means they’re damned sure they’ve lost something, and want to make sure they appear to have taken all steps before telling me I’m SOL.

If it doesn’t arrive, I’m going to be out more money than I can afford to be out.

Sick with worry? Yeah, you could say that.

While it’s true there are far larger things in the world to be worried about, it’s hard for me to get past this right now.

Here’s hoping it arrives soon.

Waiting.

Waiting for it to arrive. Waiting. Just sitting here working. I know it’s out there, out there on the street, even though I cannot see it. But it’s coming.

And I sit here and wait.

Anticipation can hurt. Physically.

Waiting.

I have come to the conclusion that I have spent the better part – perhaps as much as 25 years – of my life idling. I need to stop messing about in the bathtub and build me a big boat…

Every time I am bobbing along in my sailboat, enjoying the serenity it affords, I roll my eyes when power boaters inevitably “buzz” me. Then I make a mental note to tell them about it when I pass them and their out-of-fuel boat three hours later. Or maybe I’ll just email them…

Someone needs to find a way for me to have wireless internet access while out on the water sailing…

Apple Powerbooks are sexier than anything in the Windows world. The rest of the world needs to understand this. If I can do all the crap I need to do with a 1.5GHz G4, they can. Dr. Seuss could have…

And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street is a better book than Green Eggs and Ham...

There are solid historical reasons for pigs being considered unclean animals, and therefore unclean to eat, even the non-green variety. You want to eat an animal that frequently wallows in its own crap? Pork is bad, okay? Along with vegetarians, the Jews and Muslims are probably right not to eat it. And speaking of muslims…

Under what circumstances is it intelligent to go to war with Iran? Going to war with Iran is going to give two previously opposed militaristic nations (Iraq and Iran) a common enemy. And unlike North Americans, who insist on creating nifty little gadgets to do the dirty work so they don’t have to be intimately involved with seeing someone’s guts sprayed across their living room (unless its on television, in which case that’s okay), these people ARE WILLING DO DIE FOR WHAT THEY BELIEVE IN…

North American’s are, in fact willing to die for what they believe in. Unfortunately, it all we seem to believe in is fast food, SUVs and Baseball…

Fast food is NOT FOOD. Baseball is NOT A SPORT. SUVs do not, under any circumstances, require a V8 engine or more seats than a school bus..

We need to teach our children how to act on a school bus. It’s a perfect microcosm for real society. North Americans need to learn how to solve problems without resorting to guns, lawyers or therapists…

I have to run. I’m due in court. After I’m acquitted, I’m suing a sizable gun manufacturer for their role in the shooting death of my therapist…

A friend of mine was stunned – STUNNED – to find out he was scheduled 56 hours worth of work in a 16 hour work period this week.

Monday is traditionally his company’s “scheduling” day. They analyze their projects, look at their project timelines and available time, and schedule accordingly. And when I say “they,” I mean the boss. The team doesn’t have any input into it.

56 hours worth of work due by end of day tomorrow. It was suggested – by someone far smarter than I – that one of two things was occurring: He was being tested, or he was being set up to fail.

Both possibilities are reasonable. But I disagreed when told, suggesting that perhaps something else was going on. Upon gentle questioning, it became apparent that 25 percent of the company management is on vacation in the next two weeks, and 50 percent of the workforce is on vacation over the next three weeks.

He’s not being set up to fail. He’s not being tested. He’s probably being overworked to cover bad planning by the management. Figuring this out didn’t make him feel better, really.

Poor guy.

Painting is a visual art. People look at paintings, but they don’t see.

Some see. Some see that painting (or any visual art) is not as much about the object being painted (sketched, drawn, photographed, etc.) as it is about the person doing the painting (sketching, drawing, photographing, etc.) and the person looking at the painting (sketch, drawing… you get the point).

If we wanted to see a picture of a rustic tea kettle, we could all take that picture. And 99% of us would end up with a serviceable but boring photograph of a rustic tea kettle. And just like that same tea kettle photographed by a master photographer, the picture will tell us a lot about the way the person who took the picture looks at the world.

One of the reasons certain images appeal to us is because we recognize some small peculiarity in the way the artist sees things that matches our own way. Another reason is because the artist has done a singularly good job of demonstrating to us the way he sees the subject.

Good art speaks volumes about the person viewing it. It also speaks volumes about the way the person who created it sees the world. Curiously, good art says much less about its subject, despite the misconception that the subject is what art is all about.