Happy 4th of July
So now my Canadian ass deserves a kicking. So be it. Today's been a nice day. Lots of good food. Oversized steaks, mushrooms (the cooking method would require multiple sentences), new potatoes, gravy (excessive perhaps), corn pudding, and apple pie. What is corn pudding you ask? A good question. It's one of those "Americana" dishes. To me, "Americana (I promise, that's the last time) means velveta and jello salad. Despite its brethren, corn pudding proved itself to be tasty and delicious. Other than the requisite fireworks, there was nothing else of note.
I can't sleep. That's about all I've got to say. It's really time to go to bed. There's only one solution. It's time to let my thoughts flow onto the page.

Don't worry, I don't plan on subjecting any of you to my prose.

Sleep well.

Okay, so I need a title. No not me personally, I've already got enough of those, though an official one would be nice. But this blog thing needs a title. Anyone got any ideas? Soup has been criticized (rightly so) by two of you. And despite it's cuteness and momentary hilarity, "Mr. Cutey Pants Speaks Out" has stepped aside to be replaced by three pathetic little question marks. This is a desperate situation. Perhaps some of you have by now realized that the desperate situation is not my nameless blog, in fact I rather prefer it that way, but my idle time. I've done far too little today and now I'm trying to vindicate myself by giving the naming of my blog a sense of great import. If someone could please take care of this then perhaps I can get on to better things. Like learning an ancient language. Or perusing the declassified FBI files of famous people. Did you know that Nikola Tesla (the inventor of the tesla coil) and Albert Einstein both had FBI files? Probably not, and I'm not sure I really needed to know either. For some reason Philip K. Dick's file won't load....hmmmm...As you might surmise, today has been another day of not working. I spent a very enjoyable few hours at the Seattle Art Museum. I very much enjoyed the permanent Japanese and Chinese collections. There was also a particularly nice Warhol of Nixon. Overall, I can't say I was that impressed. Some nice things, but a lot of seconds (not so great pieces by great artists). I think it is perhaps time to head to bed. Sleep well.

A new day has fallen and, it's sort of like yesterday. I say fallen because it's now 4:15 and I've yet to accoplish anything of note. Well that's not entirely true. Kitty and I plan to head off to the SAM (Seattle Art Museum) in about 45 minutes. We spendt yesterday afternoon at the Seattle Aquarium. Dragonfish are really cool. Exceptionally cool in fact. Some of the coolest looking animals I've ever seen. Sea otters are very cute, as are sea horses. I can tell that this isn't going anywhere. Let me see, ....something interesting....well, I'm sure you all heard about the legalization of sodomy here in these united states of america. Oooh, I know, Britain got a supreme court last week (or maybe it was the week before). Yes, the old country has finally decided to seperate the judicial and legislative functions. Yeah Tony. Go Tiger. Back to something more personal, last night I decided to look into the history of the KKK. Very interesting, I can't say I've found very many sources that I trust. The first apparently reputable source upon which I stumbled (The Indiana Historical Society) turned out to be obviously biased thanks to the opinions of Mr Bondira, the society's president. A great deal of the information he presents is probably accurate, however he fits it all within his desire to vindicate the original KKK (there are many). At the very least, his bias is obvious. Some of the other sources were equally biased in the opposite direction including at least one ".edu" source (whose bias was not so obvious). I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, many american state schools are far worse than mediocre. I've babbled enough. If any one wants a good laugh (okay, perhaps I shouldn't call this funny), check out some Texas "racialist" websites.

Boddington's is good. It's very creamy. New Castle is good. It's very tasty. If only they could put the two together. Watered down Guiness perhaps. No, that's a terrible idea and it wasn't even funny. It really is time to go to bed.

Just had a very nice conversation (of the msn variety) with a long lost friend. It's not that his whereabouts have been a unknown, simply that he resides in a far off land. This post was happily interrupted by the appearance of another friend (on msn), this one not so long lost. What a wonderful night, three (the third joined the conversation with the first for a goodly chunk of time) of my closest friends on msn in the same night. I will go to sleep with happy thoughts. Please, you dirty bastards, leave your mind in the gutter and don't read anything obscene into my pleasant thoughts.

Good night.

I love you :)
-Kitty

Kitty and I have now settled into our apartment is Seattle. It feels good. First time I've truly had my own place and had to deal with all of the associated things (rental screening, lease, internet, etc). Our apartment is rather spartan, but it is very nice. We have the necessties: a large bed, a dining room table, a stereo, computers (that double as DVD players with screens), lots of food, and a backgammon board. Kitty is fast becoming an expert backgammon player. She's fond of risk taking. I'd say too fond, but her style has taught me a few things.

Before I forget. Thanks must go out to Vancouver based sailing Jewish friend, it's nice to know that someone is reading this window into my life. Good also to know that it's someone who has a very good idea of what my life is about and so can actually make some sense of the significance of what appears here. Anyways, if anyone else is reading this, feel free to send me a note (and give me the challenge of a stroked ego). Considering the (at this time... :) ) small audience, I may even take y'all into account while writing. Whoa, what was that! And that! I can't really whine about the proliferation of colloquialisms in the written word if I write stuff like "y'all". Gosh, people might think I'm a southerner or something. That was for the benefit of my beautiful girlfriend, Kitty. I like to give her a hard time (in a friendly manner) about being from the dirty south.

This past week has seen the moving of my stuff and myself from Portland to Seattle. I really did have the sense that I was moving my stuff, as opposed to moving myself and my associated stuff. It's not that I moved that much. One Volvo 240 carload and we were finished. However I didn't really arrive in Seattle until my stuff was unpacked, organized and settled in. I arrived sometime today, probably sometime while I was reorganizing the pantry. If my life were pee wee's playhouse, organization would have been the word of the day. Okay, please excuse me. Other than the aforementioned pantry, I unpacked some boxes, fixed the table, and began the job of deciding on a course of study for the next month. Lot's of reading, or should I say wishful thinking. I'm going to post my reading list, if anyone has any thoughts, please let me know.

Must read:
L'Éducation sentimentale (Gustave Flaubert)
Theory of Film (Siegfried Kracauer)
Camera Lucida (Roland Barthes)
-this one is translated, I should really get the original French
Turning the Mind into an Ally (Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche)
Of Grammatology (Jacques Derrida)
-also translated, I'm not sure whether I'm better off reading the French or the English first
The Art of War (Sun Tzu)
-second read, I've been considering picking up the new translation
Teach Yourself Sanskrit - exactly what the name says
A Macroeconomics reader - probable textbook for my macro course next year, I only intend to read excerpts
Linguistics - a textbook, again I only intend to read excerpts
The Way of the Bodhisattva
The Visual Turn (editor: Angela Dalle Vacche)
S/Z (Roland Barthes)

And that's it. I did bring at least twice that many books with me to Seattle, more because I couldn't decide what to read than because I had delusions that I would actually read them all. I don't even expect to get through all that I've laid out here. But I can try.

Okay, my bed is calling. Good night