Mile 575: Rainbow and Blackout

Yesterday was a bit surreal. There was a fairly strong windstorm that blew through Seattle and Bainbridge, knocking out power sporadically throughout the area. While on a call, I watched 4 window washers frantically trying to secure their ropes which were flailing around in the street and on the roofs of a neighboring building.

Got home and hitched a ride with mein Mutter, who had to dodge tree debris to get home. Power was knocked out at The Hovel. I didn't have any food in the house, but the nearby generator-powered Rite-Aid had a box of the Double G (Golden Grahams), which I purchased and ate too much of.

On the way out of the Rite-Aid, a hairdresser told me to turn around and look at this:

From Rainbow

From Rainbow

A full rainbow! After cereal time, I biked around the neighborhood, surveying the damage. Much to my dismay, nearly everyone had power except for in a two block radius from The Hovel. It stayed that way until one in the morning, when my iPhone woke me up with the little sound it makes when you plug it in. I celebrated my return to civilization by turning off Airplane Mode and listening to the Best Show on WFMU and drifting off to sleep to sounds of Tom Scharpling.

Mile 344: The Surfer's Lament

I just found Marvel's Create-Your-Own Comic site and have been goofing off creating this:

I love living in the future where things like this exist.

Mile 313: The Facts of Life

When I was in fourth grade, my sister announced some exciting news to me.

"Last night Mom gave me a talk about the Facts of Life".

Holy smokes, I thought, here's my chance for finally figuring this all out! All along my parents knew what the Facts are, and they haven't told me! They've left me to try and hash out this mess for myself. What is school? Why are some people mean? What exactly are all of us doing here, anyway? Mysteries heaped on top of mysteries. What are mosquitos good for? Who invented food? I looked forward to settling some of these confusing questions, now that it was clear that my parents had The Facts.

I approached my dad, and told him that Jennifer had had a talk with Mom about the Facts of Life, and now I wished him to share that knowledge with me too. He agreed, sat at the foot of my bed and told me things about penises, vaginas, various fluids, babies, love, marriage; that kind of stuff. Nothing like the Facts I imagined. Just more mystery and confusion: Who came up with all this scary stuff? Why is it so complicated? How soon before I can use my penis on a woman?

Recovery followed. I didn't have the guts to ask what I really wanted to know partly out of fear that it would let loose another torrent. This whole world and life seemed so odd to me and I wanted an explanation for all of the weirdness. Over the next few years, it would dawn on me that no one really had the answers, no matter how I put the questions.

I've come to peace with the fact that if you follow any chain of inquiry long enough, you end up back at the Old Mystery of "Just why is all of this stuff here, really? And why am I here to comtemplate it all?" I'm no closer to the big Facts of Life, and never will be.

A quote

From Jacques Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence" (page 60 in the edition I'm reading): "The book, like the bicycle, is a perfect form."


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