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SWEET DANGO
ANOTHER SET OF WORDS FOR YOU TO READ -/THEY QUALIFY AS LEAF AND BRANCH AND SEED...
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
#1159 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
http://www.bisphenol-a.org/whatsNew/20070531SanFranciscoRepeal.html.
The city has decided
that a ban on products containing it isn’t justified.
8. And, from other postings:
the influence of the Nazis
on the United States after World War II.
9. Wernher von Braun and his high rank in the Nazi S.S.
10. The collusion between
the Nazis and the Central Intelligence Agency.
11. And the serious damage to reputation
that can be done online through the Internet.
12. And Dick Gregory. Thinking about him.
13. And the Chinese space program.
14. And the dark side of Walt Disney.
15. And J. Edgar Hoover and cross-dressing.
16. The World Vision organization and the CIA.
17. Black helicopters.
18. And friends and foes among extraterrestrials.
19. And the Initiated Brothers of Asia…
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
#1158 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …and how about those Iranian nuclear weapons? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction.
2. And someone near the library gave me a pamphlet critical of the Chinese Communist Party. In particular, how it’s abused people who practice Falun Gong. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong.
3. Whoever wrote the flyer pamphlet says the Chinese in San Francisco side with the Chinese government to the extent that no Falun Gong practitioners are allowed in the annual Chinese New Year Parade in the city.
4. Worse, it says the Chinese government has had Falun Gong people “vivisected on demand” to feed “a thriving organ transplant industry.”
5. And other bad news, from the radio, interview with Charles Moore about “large agglomerations of debris” in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. See http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Moore-Trashed-PacificNov03.htm. I think he said this accumulation of the waste of “civilization” is the size of Texas and goes up to a hundred feet deep.
6. And…a friend e-mailed me something about the Akashic records. See the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashic_records.
7. And at the library, a little unpleasantness: at a bank of computers, a guy was talking into his cell phone. I gave him a good few seconds without saying anything, but he kept it up for nearly half a minute and I mentioned this to him. He didn’t seem to register much towards me. I caught the eye of the woman next to him, and she as well was bothered by the noise. I can accept a few seconds, of course, to answer a call and then hang up, but this guy was going past a reasonable limit.
8. Finally I got up and stood next to him, and threatened to get the librarian. Quite a threat. I’m not great at intimidation, but this worked well enough. Been fasting lately and I think that’s helping me not get overly upset, emotionally, as I have tended to do in my life. And, when my computer time was done, I went over and apologized to the guy for maybe overreacting. No harm. Sounded like he was from Africa – not an American black guy, I mean.
#1158 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
9. Then back to the hotel. Really losing momentum lately, geez: at the
Asian market across the street I was very bad and bought a package of cheap cookies, which I subsequently overate.
10. Interview on the radio with chess master Garry Kasparov, who’s running for some high political office in Russia. He said you cannot trust the police in Vladimir Putin’s police state. He can’t trust them totally to protect him.
11. Then…slowing down. Spending, again, a whole lotta time in bed. Recalled a time a few months ago, same situation, leaving the room just one time a day to get something to eat, this for weeks and weeks on end. Today, out at the library, then a second day of cheap Asian cookies, even cheaper than yesterday. Have got to stop that habit.
12. And on the radio, trend in sexy Halloween costumes for little girls, pre-adolescent, that is. There’s something really wrong in America, I guess, and the world. I feel overwhelmed. How do others get by?
13. And…James Fallows on the radio, discussing the growth of manufacturing in China. See http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200707/shenzhen. Industrialization...
14. He says a resulting problem is how incredibly polluted China is, due to this outsourcing from the U.S.
15. And more bad news: BPA. Stands for “Bisphenol A” – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A. Concerns about its use in so many items, most particularly ones that babies are given.
16. And then, Tibetans. Heard they are no longer allowed to reincarnate without Chinese permission. Seriously, not a joke.
17. And Dianne Feinstein on the radio, talking about the fires in Southern California. She said before humans were around in such abundance the flames would “cleanse the land” where homes are now. Not a great idea to build where fires have been happening for millions of years.
#1157 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …a few more names from The Big Book of Conspiracies: Otto Skorzeny and Reinhard Gehlen. Here’s a site to study: http://greyfalcon.us/Otto%20Skorzeny.htm.
2. And: learned that Wernher von Braun was in the S.S. See http://www.reformation.org/wernher-von-braun.html.
3. How about the CIA and Nazis? Go to http://www.bartcop.com/nazigop.htm for one relevant site out of many.
4. Also: The People of the Secret, by Ernest Scott.
5. And: Hale Boggs and Bill Clinton.
6. Out of the room the other day. Ran into Alonzo King at a taqueria on McAllister. Even a genius choreographer has to eat. Very humble person, seems like. You’d not think he was so great at having people move about on a stage.
7. On the radio, interview with author of The Future of Reputation. Here’s a link to something about the book: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300124989. He discussed how online gossip and rumor can become very permanent, like a multiplying virus.
8. And…about a third of the way through my hundred-day healthier living plan. The other day counted out the remaining number of biotin pills I have: sixty-seven, exactly.
9. And…Dick Gregory. Maybe I can turn to him for inspiration. Here’s his Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Gregory.
10. At the library the other day, picked up a requested book, the print version of William Gibson’s new novel Spook Country. Previously had gotten the CD version and have been listening to that continuously. When taking the book from the library set off the alarm, or someone else did, when I was going through at the same time. But didn’t get flustered, as I may have been if I hadn’t been fasting. Feeling more emotionally stable, less reactive to any
#1157 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
little stimulus.
11. And ran into T., guy who used to live in the hotel I’m in. Said he’d been slightly busted for a rock of crack. Slightly because the police only held him for a few hours. He was again on the search for more. He still owes me ten bucks, so I wasn’t gonna give him more cash.
12. And then a little later saw P., a front desk guy at the hotel I used to live in before the current one. We recognized each other but didn’t say anything.
13. And got in a good little walk that day. Lately, not been getting up in the morning right away. Actually, lying in a fetal position with the radio on, breathing consciously. Really don’t have much of a role in the fossil-fueled automotive world I’m living in, and that’s a problem, not finding meaning and movement in the gasoline addiction that surrounds me everywhere. Maybe I can find some meaning apart from that.
14. Then, heading south of Market, to get a food powder I’d seen at Rainbow Grocery. Through Washburn, Dore, little north/south streets. At Rainbow, paid over thirty-five bucks for the powder – called “the Ultimate Meal”, and a pound of yerba mate tea, and a carrot/beet/celery juice. (Have since read that carrot juice is way too sugary, so that’s making me reconsider it.)
15. Then over to the free computers at a California government facility on Otis – was on foot, had left the bicycle in my room. But the computers were down.
16. Then heading back north. Sign for mayoral candidate Chicken John – guess that was his campaign office. Slogan: “For a City of Art and Innovation”.
17. Then to the room, mixed up some of the Ultimate Meal. Resembled a meal in 2001. Guy in the hotel, C., ran into him on the way in – thanked him for the cassette audio book of Neuromancer he’d given me. A bit later, knock on the door. Another hotel guy, B. Basically, he just wants something from me, money for cigarettes. Gave him a John Adams gold-colored dollar coin, enough for four smokes. Why do I open the door?
Monday, October 29, 2007
DUDE #1156 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …have some millet but I’ve stopped eating that. Arnold Ehret says it’s basically “paste”, that all grains are basically paste, and therefore not proper for humans to eat since they clog the digestive system.
2. And heard news about the Chinese space program. A lot of stuff happening up there above the Earth that I don’t know about, just hear bits and pieces. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_space_program for information.
3. Also, there’s Walt Disney and his connection, supposedly, to mind control slaves. There’s a lot of material about this on the ‘net. See http://www.illuminati-news.com/walt-disney-agenda.htm for one site.
4. And finally finished the John Higgs biography of Tim Leary. Had indicated some lines I wanted to record, but when I got around to that the material didn’t seem relevant.
5. And speaking of conspiracies like that Walt Disney one, wrote some names down from The Big Book of Conspiracies. It features three or more drawings of Herbert Hoover in a dress, for one thing. (I mean J. Edgar Hoover in a dress…see http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021206.html for “The Straight Dope” about this…)
6. Other names in the conspiracy book: World Vision and the CIA. (Here’s a comic strip that came up in a search on these two names: http://www.mackwhite.com/lennon.html.)
7. Also, other names: Jim Keith, Linda Moulton, black helicopters – see http://www.alienjigsaw.com/yk2/milab.html.
8. And: George C. Andrews, Extraterrestrial Friends and Foes. See http://www.metahistory.org/NineTheories.php.
9. And: the Initiated Brothers of Asia. See http://www.hermetics.org/brc-18.html for an article from 1924 related to this by Arthur Edward Waite.
10. Also: L. Ron Hubbard, John Whiteside Parsons, and interdimensional
gateway. See
Sunday, October 28, 2007
DUDE #1155 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …don’t consider myself too technical, not great at fixing things, but did manage to improve how my little pen-shaped China-made flashlight works by pulling a little spring that secures the batteries in place. It bothered me that when I shook it the batteries rattled.
2. Tuned in an interview with some woman musician the other night. Couldn’t determine who it was. Turns out to be Aimee Mann. Have heard the name. She was with ‘Til Tuesday in the Eighties – I remember their song “Voices Carry”. And she performed a song about Columbus Avenue, the San Francisco street. Maybe a local gal.
3. And thought about astral sex. Here’s a site about that: http://www.spiritual.com.au/articles/astral/obe-astral-sex-1.htm.
4. Then listened to the BBC news, for a non-U.S. media perspective on the world. Something about mass extinction due to rising temperatures, for one thing.
5. Then later, read in a graphic novel sort of book called
The Big Book of Conspiracies. A whole lot about Lee Harvey Oswald, theories about him and the John Kennedy assassination.
6. And did my laundry later. Mistakenly ran my sunglasses through the wash. They were clicking against the glass at intervals, but weren’t damaged when they came out.
7. And finally got an answer to something I’d been wondering about: just how many of the five-hundred-12 megabytes were left on my little flash drive. Turns out only seven were used, so that’s a whole lotta space remaining. I store only text, so that doesn’t take up much room.
8. Then at the farmer’s market at U.N. Plaza. I felt a bit insulted by a woman selling grapes – she wouldn’t let me select my own little bunch, and said of her co-worker: “She will help you find a small one.” Like I was gonna start breaking up bigger bunches. So I just moved on, a little insulted. (I’ve been fasting lately, eating almost nothing, and I’m finding I’m a lot less annoyed. I can be perturbed by small things like someone standing too close to me in an elevator, for example. But things like this aren’t bothering me recently,
DUDE #1155 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
and I attribute that to the fasting…)
9. And walked through the market. Guy gave me an unasked-for sample of almond brittle. I’d skip that and just get a jar of almond butter. Seven bucks, about, for it, but worth it. The equivalent of a piece of steak – better than that.
10. And there was the egg seller. Am keeping in mind advice from the Arnold Ehret book I have about eggs having too much protein, that they should be avoided. Also, there’s the debeaking of chickens in farms, to keep them from pecking at each other in the close quarters they live in. Cruelty to animals. (Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Ehret for something about him.)
11. And a sentence about myself these days, my life: “A spiritual intellectual process, that’s it.” Then back to the hotel. Guy I know, S., was at Turk and Hyde, at the fence there, selling stuff. He still had the copy of Nocturnal Witchcraft that I’d seen a while back in his room. He’d wanted five bucks for it then, and now the price was eight. Guy next to me expressed interest and I handed it to him. S. had said there’s information about mind reading in it. The occult. Keep my distance from that, generally.
12. And, I think also due to sensitivity of senses through fasting, was noticing a faint urine smell. Was it from the pants I was wearing? Maybe a pair I’d found and not washed before putting on. I’m stopping that Tenderloin-ish habit, among other habits, of picking up clothes from the street. Also, in the hotel, front desk man W. had said to me that there was free food at another hotel, one of the weekly giveaways, and I told him that I was changing – no drinking, no going for free food.
13. Then at a local computer center. Guy there gave me a science fiction paperback from 1959 called 4 for the Future, including stories by Theodore Sturgeon and Poul Anderson. From the era of The Twilight Zone, which began airing about that time.
14. Then to my room. Changed into other pants due to the perceived odor, actual or imagined. And continued reading the John Higgs biography of Tim Leary. And also had a print-out of books for sale online at Flashback Books, including a copy of Robert Anton Wilson’s Cosmic Trigger for fifty dollars.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
DUDE #1154 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …seen for sale, Dandelion: Memoir of a Free Spirit, by Catherine James. Sixties-related. Ten bucks, original price twenty-four-95. See http://www.culturecatch.com/literary/catherine_james_dandelion.
2. And random article at Wikipedia: the Canadian weather radar network. Thirty-one of these stations, from west to east. Does this random bit of information benefit me? Or is it just more mental clutter?
3. Got back money I’d loaned a guy in the hotel, finally, after many weeks. Didn’t think I’d ever get it back. Gave it to him back when I was drinking and generous. Have changed, since then, how I use money, whatever I have.
4. New manager at the hotel, named Jesus – pronounced HAY-soos.
5. Guess the Southern California fire is abating. Thousands evacuated from their homes, and many of those homes destroyed. Soundbite from Governor Arnold, declaring a state of emergency.
6. Then after the guy paid me back, he came to my door asking to borrow another five. Had to really put my foot down and tell him no, even tho’ he was not happy with my change in fiscal attitude. I was especially withholding since he took so long to pay me back. No more lending money, no more asking for it, either. Like Polonius, in Hamlet: “…neither a borrower nor a lender be…” (Tho’ I had an English teacher once who said that in fact Shakespeare was making fun of Polonius for offering cliches.)
7. Then on the way to the lodge building at 26 7th Street for a memorial for departed Odd Fellow brother Pat. Met E. on the way, guy who lives in the hotel, invited him along, since he passingly knew Pat and is passingly familiar with the Odd Fellows as well – took him down to the lodge to meet Brother P., but he never followed through about joining.
8. On the way, bought a package of Top loose tobacco as a gift for Pat’s daughter, since Pat liked to smoke that brand.
9. So E. and I got to the lodge. Quite a turnout to memorialize Pat – two of his children, his ex-wife, friends, and maybe other relatives. Had only met the two children, and none of the two dozen and more others who showed DUDE #1154 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
up. Some Odd Fellow brothers and sisters came to pay their respects also.
10. There was Chinese food, drinks, cake. Pat was, as his name suggests, of Irish extraction, so the event was more of a wake, celebratory, rather than somber. For sure Pat would’ve liked that more. Didn’t know him all that well, but he liked to laugh and drink, tell stories.
11. And E. was going on to me about one of his usual grand schemes, one involving helping those with HIV in Africa. Not sure how he plans to manifest this noble vision. And joining E. and me at the table at which we were seated, M., who had worked with Pat on parts of the old building, which is always needing some repair. It was built nearly a hundred years ago, after the original one was destroyed in the oh-six quake and fire.
12. And E. also suggested the value of free acupuncture at Glide Church. Said it really helped him. And: M. wondered at why the television was on during this memorial, didn’t think that was properly respectful.
13. And at some point Pat’s daughter L. arrived, and I greeted her when she was near. Also, looked at a montage of pictures of Pat that had been assembled, from happier times. A specially framed one was from ‘94, him looking healthy with his three little kids. L.’s just twenty or twenty-one now, I think, so she would’ve been only seven or eight back then.
14. And gave the yellow box of Top tobacco to S., Pat’s son. Debated whether I should’ve given it to L., but thought it more appropriate that S. should have it – he’s a smoker himself. And S. showed me a Zippo lighter he’d found that belonged to his father, with his father’s name engraved on it.
16. And also sitting down at our table, a guy who’d known Pat for twenty-five years. Looked very exotic, with a necklace made of animal teeth of some kind, maybe shark. And about this time Odd Fellow “Noble Grand” Jesse made a comment about Pat, representing the entire lodge.
17. Then other family and friends of Pat stood to say various things. His ex-wife was generally in praise-mode, smiling, tho’ she commented that Pat had been pretty much an absentee father. Yet always proud of whatever his kids were doing that he’d heard about from a certain distance…
Friday, October 26, 2007
DUDE #1153 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …recently paid five dollars for Google: the Myth of Universal Knowledge, by a French man skeptical of the benefits of creating “a universal world library” through the heavy use of the search engine. In particular, he feels global use of Google, the content of which leans much toward the American and the English, will do damage to the future of European culture. Bought it for what’s for me a pretty high price, instead of just taking it from the library for free. (Go to http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2006/06/google_and_the_myth_of_univers.html for an article about this.)
2. Also paid two dollars for a jar of prepared eggplant. Am being very careful about my diet lately, keeping in mind Arnold Ehret’s suggestion – more like a dietary commandment, actually – to eat only fruits and vegetables. Plus I’m flat-out not eating at all for extended periods. I think I’m feeling and thinking and acting better because of this change.
3. Heard on the radio recently, Jonathan Kozol, educator and activist. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Kozol for his Wikipedia entry. I hear about him every so often. A Sixties-related figure, I think.
4. And looked at the Chronicle in a street box lately, just the “top of the fold”, for free. Article leading up to voting day next month – Gavin Newsom photo – the youngest mayor in a hundred years. Says he’s poised to win with ease. (Just mailed in my voter registration form, so I’ll be eligible to vote for the first time in many years. The library funding initiative, or whatever it is, I wanna see pass. And wanna see the Wireless Fidelity one not pass.)
5. Then to the library, seeking an audio book, but found nothing I wanted. Closest was Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. But I don’t like motorcycles, so therefore I’ve never read that counterculture “classic”, and don’t want to. Plus, it was abridged – I like the full, original text in audio books.
6. Then heading back to the hotel – theatre goers milling and buzzing near a back entrance on Hyde to The Color Purple at the Orpheum.
7. Radio on in my room, tuned to KQED, the only thing I listen to, for the intelligent talk, and no commercials. Something about the corpus callosum
DUDE #1153 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
Being bigger in musicians than in non-musicians. See http://biology.about.com/library/organs/brain/blcorpus.htm for something about this part of the brain. (British – tho’ U.S.-based – neurologist Oliver Sacks has a new book out about the effects of music. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Sacks for something about him...)
8. And then got into reading more of the John Higgs biography of Tim Leary. Then tuned in – after first having turned on the radio – dropping out comes later – news about Supreme Court judge David Souter. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Souter for his Wikipedia entry. Learned that he has no computer, doesn’t even like electric lights, and that he prefers, when reading, to move his chair to where the natural light has moved.
9. And then there was a soundbite from Senator John McCain about how Woodstock was “a cultural – and pharmaceutical – event”. In reference to Hillary Clinton wanting a million dollars for a museum in honor of that concert. McCain figures this is another example of out-of-control spending by the government. See http://www.hillaryproject.com/index.php?/en/story-details/hillarys_woodstock_funding_bill_stopped_by_republicans/ for an article about this. Not sure if the site is pro- or anti-Hillary – maybe anti-…
10. Then, later, at Rainbow Grocery, about 10am a recent morning. Had the Examiner and was sitting outside going through it. Article about Edward Espe Brown, ordained American Zen priest – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Espe_Brown. Associated with the San Francisco Zen Center – he’s a head resident teacher there, or was, and also at other regional temples in the S.F. area.
11. 10:24am that morning, still at Rainbow. Had printed out pages related to the activation of the Third Eye, and was reading that along with the newspaper. Other stuff in that: a page devoted to the “Plank” yoga pose. And childlessness. Also, photo of Heather Graham at some London fashion show in a very fancy garment. (Here’s a recent photo of the actress with some British actor: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topics/Heather+Graham.)
12. Then to Trader Joe’s for the green vegetable juice I like. Had only that one item and asked a guy with a shopping cart full of stuff if I could go ahead of him, and he let me do that, but grudgingly.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
DUDE #1152 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …new plan: actually buy books and not just take so many from the library. Am handling money better so this is more conceivable now. I’m not so well-placed in the financial system that this is not something to consider. Frankly, I’m suspicious of anyone who is so “successful” that they have so much money.
2. A book I did buy a while back, costing about twenty dollars, at City Lights, is a collection of Neal Cassady letters. Opened it at random the other day and there was a line about “particular Mexican t”. Took me a bit to figure out what he was referring to: “t” as in “tea” as in marijuana.
3. And another book I thought of the other day, Back to Eden, by Jethro Kloss. See http://www.herbalremedies.com/bactoedrev2n.html for a write-up.
4. Drinking a lot of yerba mate tea lately. There’s a lot of chromium, which is supposed to help with elevated blood sugar. See http://www.syndrome-x.com/Blood_Sugar_Blues.html.
5. Passed the Hastings law school the other day, not a regular school day, since there was no one at the outside seating area. Went inside to ask the guard if it’d be okay to sit at one of the tables, and he was nice and agreeable, no problem with him, even tho’ I’m not a student.
6. Then over to the farmers’ market. Have been eating very little lately, and working with trying to feel really hungry and not just eating mechanically. Somebody used the word “traveling” and that got me to thinking about a Joni Mitchell song, “All I Want”, which starts: “I am on a lonely road am I am traveling…”
7. Bought some grapes – sixty cents, which seemed a little expensive, for about twenty of ‘em.
8. And priced salmon at the fish vendor. About five bucks for a heavy amount. Asked if it was wild – no, farmed. Which is less preferable than the wild kind.
9. And read the sign for the masseuse with the handlebar moustache. A woman there praised the man’s bodywork. I could stand some of his therapeutic touch. A dollar a minute, and fifteen minutes is probably a minimum.
10. Then to an apple vendor – several different types available.
11. Then to the library – looked at titles in their little store. One with “ultimate evil” in the title, about nuclear weapons. And there was Ethan Hawke’s novel The Hottest State, about a young man’s life in New York and Paris.
DUDE #1152 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
12. And got an e-mail from a guy I knew in high school. I’m apprehensive about responding, let alone seeing him. Don’t feel successful in terms of a car, money, career, a woman in my life, let alone a wife. He sent a picture of his wife of six years.
13. Then out again, over to the U.N. Plaza fountain – dancers and drummers, a performance. Then a piece of fried fish, then up to see Odd Fellow brother P. Was there to do work for him, fold a lodge-related flyer, stuff them into envelopes. Before that, mailed a letter across the street, got him his favorite drink, a Diet Dr. Pepper. Geez, should I even be doing these little tasks for him? What does this indicate about my status in life? Guess the man’s just trying to get me money, not wanting to demean me. He also wanted me to check to see if the check cashing place on the corner issued money orders. They did.
14. And R., who was running the elevator that day. For some reason he mentioned San Quentin, anal rape. Not sure why. He has some serious drug use in the past – not only alcohol, but hardcore injection drugs. He said something about long-haired guys with butts like girls being quite fancied in prison.
15. Then other work from Brother P. He gave me a few dozen photographs and wanted me to pick the ones including Brother Pat, who had just passed away in the hospital. These might be included as part of a memorial for him. And wrote down about this time “reduced karma production”. See http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dp5/karma.htm for a discussion of karma.
16. And found only two different photos with Pat, basically the same. And got to folding flyers – for a “Day at the Races” upcoming, a lodge event at a horseracing track. Was doing ‘em one at a time before I got the better idea of doing several at once. And Odd Fellow brother K. came around to help with the task, sealing the stuffed envelopes. He told me he used to live in New York City years ago, in “Alphabet City”, in the Lower East Side. Had heard about the place – rough neighborhood. So that impressed me. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_City. The name comes from streets there named after the letters A through D.
17. Well, got that job done easily enough. Total take that day, including the sending of the letter, getting the drink and the checking for the money orders, twenty-five dollars. Really helped to have Brother K. to help. Then outside again, through the farmers’ market again. The masseuse was talking to a client, saying that “omming” (as in the Sanskrit mantra) and groaning were basically the same. To the library again. Saw one of the maintenance guys I’m familiar with, sweeping debris. He’s seen me in the daily drinking mode I’ve out of, and said I was looking better. He said he knew a guy who was a hard drinker who just died.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
DUDE #1151 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …a few more notes from my time recently with a Vietnam vet friend D. who now lives out on Treasure Island. He stopped into a Mission Street Walgreens to buy a few little items. There’s a store out on the Island but it charges so much that he never buys anything there. I walked around with the man as he did his shopping. He had a friend whose son is a soldier in Iraq, so he bought some bagged candy to send the son – an American treat that would probably be really appreciated.
2. And that day my friend D. and I made a slow walk several blocks on Mission. He’s just had his knee replaced with titanium, so any walking’s difficult, but he wanted to get that exercise. We passed by a construction site for a new Tishman Speyer building. Wrote down that name to Dogpile: go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tishman_Speyer_Properties. The group owns and operates big buildings around the world. How do people like this do what they do? I can’t imagine it. All the money, the global reach.
3. We paused several times on our way east on Mission, once near a big blow-up of Leonardo’s “Vitruvian Man” for the da Vinci exhibit at the Metreon. Thing was, the crotch of the famous nude man was at adult eye level, and there was the Renaissance male thing enlarged, up close and personal. D. joked, smiling, about how gay men passing by would be salivating. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man for an entry about the Leonardo drawing, reproduced many times over the centuries, and recently man times in various pop cultural media…)
4. So walked D. over to the Transbay Terminal and left him there – wanted to get to a neighborhood computer center well before it closed. Got a bus back to 7th and Mission. Paused in front of the Odd Fellows building at 26 7th – poster up for a lecture by James A. Eshelman entitled Initiation: New Awakenings in the Aeon of Horus. My Odd Fellow brother P. had told me this was happening, and I’d noted it down to attend, but turns out it had happened that very afternoon when I was with my friend D., so there went that. (Go to http://www.wingedearth.com/mag/archives/2006/11/james_a_eshelma.html for a link about Mr. Eshelman and his lecture.)
5. Then back to my hotel room – had a big pot of millet and nori seaweed I’d made for myself waiting for me, but the Mel’s Diner meat loaf I’d had with
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D. had really curbed my appetite. Also, D. had given me ten bucks as a gift, as well as paying over ten bucks for my (overpriced) meat loaf. Later that day treated myself to a four dollar tub of yogurt, and a twelve ounce bottle of honey – five bucks itself. And not even organic. Then continued reading I Have America Surrounded, a recent biography of Tim Leary by John Higgs. For an interview with Higgs, go to http://www.patternhunter.com/2006/11/interview-with-john-higgs-author-of-i.html.
6. And about this time, from the street, five floors down, a car with a loudspeaker blaring the name of “Grasshopper”, Alec Kaplan, suggesting that the Tenderloin vote for him as San Francisco’s mayor. I’ve filled out my mail-in voter application and have six days to get it sent in. That may not happen. (Here are comments from Grasshopper posted at the site for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition: http://www.sfbike.org/?vote07_kaplan. As expected, the material is heavily bicycle-related…)
7. Turned on the radio: confirmation hearings for Michael Mukasey’s bid for the attorney generalship. Problem because Mr. Mukasey wouldn’t say for certain whether waterboarding, the torture technique that simulates drowning, is constitutional. (See http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15436558 for National Public Radio’s article about this.) Then another story about the recall of some children’s cough medicine due to possible easy overdosing. See http://www.resource4thepeople.com/defectivedrugs/coldandcough.html. (Friend D. mentioned this when we were inside a Walgreens and passing the cough medicine section. Geez, how do people have children? Endless concerns…)
8. Then read a little bit in several books, including a Fiona Horne witchcraft one (she talked about the significance of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water), and Robert Anton Wilson’s Cosmic Trigger. (With great John Thompson illustrations, such as one for “Dutch Schultz and the 23 Enigma”. Go to http://www.flashbackbooks.com/fbb3.html for a listing for that one for sale, plus other books in the “Drug Culture & Lifestyle” section.) Then read in Ralph E. Vaughn’s Cosmic Scents One, an usual volume from the late ‘70s I bought cheap at the library. Hard to describe it – a synthesis of human potential movement stuff, and McLuhan, Castaneda, Alan Watts…
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1. …out at Treasure Island the other day to see a friend who lives out there, a Vietnam Marine. He’s just had surgery, had a titanium knee replacement implanted at Fort Miley. He said it was a very painful process. But now he’ll be getting his full benefits, to the tune of over two thousand dollars a month.
2. Caught the T.I. bus at the Transbay Terminal. I hadn’t been there in a long while. Does it always feel so deserted? Maybe it was just that it was a weekend day. Had to walk around and around in the empty concrete confines to find where the bus was leaving from.
3. And had to get change for the fare, so outside again to a Walgreens. Walked around and around there also and finally decided on a dollar bag of caramel cubes, as a gift for my friend, D. – his teeth aren’t great, so these could be something he could allow to dissolve. (Also, another friend, K., who’s very into candies, gave me just such a caramel cube a recent day, so they were on my mind.)
4. Then back into the terminal. Found the stop – glad to see that there were people waiting – that relieved the feeling of desolation. Had a small self-help book by one Willie C. Hooks on me to pass the time. Bag of caramel in my pockets – reminded of the Norman Rockwell painting of a child searching through a man’s pockets as he holds his coat open, just as the kid is just about to find the puppy.
5. The short ride to Treasure Island. Watery expanse east of San Francisco as the bus arched across the Bay Bridge. Little girl sitting on the bus with her adult – I kept checking out her blonde hair, the thickness, her face.
6. On the artificial island, wasn’t sure exactly where to get off. D. said he’d be at the bus stop – and there were a few of those. Used to be a Navy facility, housing, but now it’s just for regular folks, and vets like D. There’s an elementary school out there also. And tennis courts that didn’t look like they’re regularly cared for.
7. Finally saw my friend, and we greeted each other. He showed me around. First met him at the Tenderloin hotel I’m in – he was never very happy there, and this is a much better place for him – quiet, with the company of other
vets, a regular and decent living situation. There were geese there, a nicer
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form of avian life than the city’s pigeons. And on a wall near his house, little kids had painted a colorful mural. Also, I liked the small library in one of the garages of a house in the cul de sac D. was in. D. introduced me to a few of the guys out there with him. And then he said he wanted to get back into the city to a Mel’s Diner so he could have the meat loaf he’d been dreaming about. One of the fellas said he’d drive us, so that saved D. the effort of a bus trip – he needs his walker to get around, and even a short stroll’s a hassle.
8. So his friend drove us, as well as another vet, I guess he was. From Oklahoma originally. As we crossed the bridge we got a panoramic view of San Francisco, and the Oklahoma man said he used to clean windows on skyscrapers, as big as ones we were seeing.
9. We were dropped off right next to the Mel’s across from the Metreon. Very busy place, but we were able to get a seat. And he got his meat loaf. I had the same. Ten bucks and a quarter per, which seemed like a real rip. Can’t be a hundred percent beef – just how much of the loaf was starchy filler? Got a nondescript roll and some unexciting vegetables as well. And D. didn’t wanna buy a soda, figuring it’d be three bucks per. I added that surely it’d be watered down, and have plenty of ice as well. So we ate and chatted. Ray Charles on the sound system. The place is meant to replicate a Fifties diner, with that appropriate music. One song by Brother Ray featured lyrics about a woman knowing her place and D., who was in his teens in the Fifties, said that sentiment wouldn’t go over these days. Not likely there were many hardcore feminists in the full Mel’s house who’d object to the song.
10. Then we got up and began the walk back to the Transbay Terminal. He wanted to get in some exercise so we very slowly made our way the several blocks eastward. We paused in the sun at the Yerba Buena Gardens and he sat in his walker’s built-in seat and I stood, and we commented on the various folks there that weekend day. A father with his very young baby nearby – D. likes children. Then onward eastward. We paused again at the Museum of the African Disapora and he had a cigarette. Chalk murals being drawn on the sidewalk. He didn’t know what the place was about, and when he found out that it was black-related he made some denigrating comment. Not a big fan of black folks is he. Tho’ I have to say he’s pretty equitable when it comes to his dislike of various types of people.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
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1. ...got my voter information book the other day. Have a week to register by mail. Don’t know if I’ll get around to seriously reading about the issues, or even voting. There’s a library funding one I wanna support. And one about increasing WiFi in the city that I wanna vote against. See http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6122707.html for an article about possible dangers related to Wireless Fidelity. Also, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wifi for an overview of the technology. (That first link is about how hackers can get into laptops used in public locations – but the dangers I was thinking of are related to the increase of electronic signals in the air...)
2. And got a call from the wife of Odd Fellow brother P. – they’d just been to an event in Stockton. P. continuing to rise in the ranks – he’s just achieved some Patriarch level. His wife, B., also earned a distinction – but she told me a ceremonial sword wasn’t laid to her shoulder as she thought it should’ve been. Also, she wanted to substitute a text about yoga in place of the Bible in a ceremony, but that didn’t happen. Possibly because of her wanting to make such a substitution of books.
3. Began reading Gray Brechin’s Imperial San Francisco, a history book about the city. He emphasizes how mining was so important to its rise in the 19th century – hadn’t thought about that. But, yeah, the Gold Rush, that was a major reason for the growth of the town.
4. And the “Lights Out” energy saving event in San Francisco happened recently. People and businesses were supposed to turn out their lights for an hour on a Saturday night. Didn’t notice. Guess I was just in my hotel room with a candle on. I’m in an energy conservation mode every day. See http://sanfrancisco.about.com/b/a/000168.htm for a write-up.
5. And from the day I’m writing about, guy in the hotel, B.H., knocked on my door and I answered. He’s basically the only person I’m seeing fairly regularly these days, my last at the place I’m in. As is my habit, was generous with him: let him use my cell phone, gave him two incense sticks, and also a plastic necklace with skulls on it. He did finally pay me back money he’d owed for several weeks, a few days later, and that was a surprise – I’d written him off. Then he wanted to borrow more money, and I turned him down, and that angered him. So maybe he won’t be around anymore.
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6. And...”secular”. Was wondering about what that word means exactly. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular for the nearest entry, for “secularity”. Says it’s “the state of being separate from religion.” Eating and bathing, it says, are generally regarded as secular activities, while prayer is religious.
7. Thereafter, some religiosity on my part: read a bit in my book about the Tarot by one A.T. Mann. See http://www.tarot.com/articles/tarot/mandala/tarot-symbolism.php for an article discussing the symbols of that special deck of cards. The eye said to represent “the available higher center within the spiritual domain of humanity.”
8. And also read part of a book by mystic and spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff. Bought it at the Fields bookstore a while back. Should be moving very close to there within a coupla months, so I guess that’s a good thing. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._I._Gurdjieff for a biography of the man.
9. Also, heard a theory that we are actually living in a simulation designed by “posthumans” from the future. See http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/000080.html for something about that. Geez, what does that indicate about our life? That everything is controlled by machines? A theme of the Matrix movies.
10. And go to http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html for more about this, by someone in the Department of Philosophy at Oxford.
11. Also recently in the news, Nobel winner James Watson drawing a lot of heat for his comment that Africans are less intelligent than other people. See http://www.geneforum.org/node/610. He also reportedly said something referring to the stereotype (or truth) about Latin lovers. He’s got a new book called Avoid Boring People. See http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375412844 for something about it.
12. Also recently re-read parts of a Fifties British yoga book by Harvey Day. Interesting to read something on the subject by someone fifty years ago, before yoga was as popular as it is now. He says it’s “a philosophy of happiness”. Also, he says most males are by nature polygamous...
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1. …at Rainbow, at their bulletin board. Flyer posted for http://www.911truth.org/ - it said that apart from the fall of the Twin Towers on September 11th, there was another structure that went down, called Building 7, and that it has all the signs of a controlled demolition. Meaning…what? A conspiracy by the U.S. government. There’s http://www.journalof911studies.com/beginners.html for a “Beginner’s Guide to 9/11…
2. …in more personal news, my bicycle lock wasn’t clicking tight easily. But it was an easy fix – a spray of oil, and it was as good as new…
3. And am using a less gay-looking cloth to tie up my ankle when riding. Less gay-looking in my mind, anyway, for whatever it’s worth. The one I replaced was pink.
4. Interview on the radio with Chip Conley, founder of a chain of local boutique hotels. Liked his phrase “karmic capitalism”. Thought it was his own phrase, but there’s this: http://drbrucegoldberg.com/capitalism.htm. He also brought in the idea of how previous lifetimes can affect CEOs in this one. Also, he used the phrase “word of mouse”, instead of “word of mouth”, about how information exchanged on computers can affect a reputation. And another idea from Conley, the difference between job, career, and calling.)
5. Picked up a brochure for the California Institute of Integral Studies – costly printing job, looked like. The title was “Spirit in the Arts”, a listing of art exhibits and events for the fall. I didn’t really care much – looking at one person’s work, I thought: “just another artist.”
6. But liked the work of one Steven Siegel – twenty-thousand pounds of newspaper artfully stacked in the woods. The text said “environmental art” – a trend now, I guess. Go to http://greenmuseum.org/. I also liked a “reed bed landscape” in the U.K., called “Heart of Reeds”, photographed by Mark Fischer. I guess it was a natural landscape slightly altered.
7. About C.I.I.S. – promotes “integrative higher education”. Galleries at their two South of Market locations, on Mission, and Minna. Their
curriculum’s a little too brainy for me, I think. Go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Institute_of_Integral_Studies.
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8. Have begun getting things out of my room, in an orderly, respectful manner. I don’t have a whole lotta things, but with the sort of care I give to each little item, taking pains, this can take a while. Had a red plastic trident that I had on my bicycle for a while, letting that go. And also that “gay-looking” pink cloth. Attached the cloth to the trident and left it on a library shelf in the lobby of the hotel I’m in. Guess it can be considered a “mojo” – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo. That word in the sense of a kind of “magic charm”. The trident’s definitely voodoo-like.
9. And noted to myself to study more about Gabriel Cousens and his “spiritual nutrition”. Interview with him at http://www.newstarget.com/015187.html. And: have been leaving my cell phone in my room and not carrying it around like I had been for months. Due to concern about the microwaves emitted. Here’s one of many sites discussing this: http://environment.about.com/od/environment/a/cell_phones.htm. I don’t get that many calls anyway. Guy I met at one of the computer centers I go to says he has a cell but doesn’t carry it, so that got me thinking. Also, the original cachet of the cell phone has pretty much dissipated when just about every Tenderloin regular is talking into one. (Definition of “cachet”: “a characteristic feature or quality conferring prestige.”
10. Paused recently to look at stuff being sold on the street at Turk and Hyde: a Jennifer Beals movie, an Andy Warhol “Marilyn” on the cover of a book, and Very Bad Things, the Cameron Diaz flick. Am gradually releasing interest and attachment to things T.L., including looking at things for sale on the street – maybe by the end of the year, in a little over two months, I’ll be at my new residence.
11. Glanced at a street newspaper box. Headline for another negative about the environment – harbor seals in San Francisco Bay, not doing well, and their situation indicates a larger problem. Then had a little wait until the library opened. Felt a slight urge to my cell phone, but that passed. Weather felt humid – did that presage – that is, foreshadow - rain? Once inside, checked out the little books for sale at the store. Two self-help books by one Willie C. Hooks caught my eye. Bought one another day, but was disappointed.
Monday, October 22, 2007
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1. …”eco-fashion”. See http://environment.about.com/od/earthtalkcolumns/a/ecofashion.htm. It’s supposedly now past the “hemp sack” stage. “Sustainability”, a buzz word. A popular topic at the recent L.A. Fashion Week…
2. Gary Trudeau, The Sandbox. A blog he created so American troops in Iraq could report on themselves since, for one thing, it’s become increasingly more dangerous for reporters to cover the war themselves. The B.D. character has lost a leg in a war-related accident, and was shown in the comic strip without a helmet for the first time in thirty-nine years. Trudeau interviewed, said humor is a defense soldiers can use against insanity. (See http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/19/opinion/main2106463.shtml for a story from The Nation about the blog.)
3. Been recording lines I wanted to reinforce from books I’ve been reading. Noticed that I said too many “uhs”, so that’s a good reason to continue doing this, to cure myself of that habit.
4. And heard a recent debate about undocumented immigrants. There are confirmed beliefs for and against. And interrupting the regular radio news, an “Amber Alert” – a woman known to “frequent the Oakland area” linked to the kidnapping of a child. That narrows the search area down.
5. And a call from a friend. He’d just rented The Phantom Menace and enjoyed it a lot. Also, he said he was at the library when dozens of police showed up to apprehend someone. Also, he mentioned a proposed plan to make heroin legally available to addicts in San Francisco as part of a treatment program. He knows something about the subject himself since he was for a short while addicted to it. Also, he told me he detected the strong odor of “skunk” marijuana, from a hotel room near his.
6. 6:22am a recent morning. Called the “case manager” of the hotel I’m in, available to tenants if they’re needing some social service. There’s a “roving team” of people going around the neighborhood to provide different kinds of support. Feeling the need for more…something in my life. Am fairly accustomed to a lot of time alone, but at some times in the day wouldn’t mind someone new to talk to. Have got people I can call or see, but maybe conversation with one of the roving team members would be a good thing.
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My biological family’s not around, and don’t have a whole lotta friends.
7. Thinking of a Joni Mitchell song the other day. Thought the line was “gauging the beauty and the imperfection/to see if I’m worthy…” That didn’t sound quite right – then remembered that it’s “weighing”, not “gauging” – a better choice. The song is “The Same Situation” - go to http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1489 for a review of Court and Spark, the album in which it appears.
8. And was thinking: how is “counterculture” defined? Here’s the Wikipedia entry for the word: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture. And am reaching the final months of my “Wild Words from Wild Women” calendar. Like a recent quote from Carrie Fisher, about how she’s street smart, but unfortunately, the street is Rodeo Drive.
9. And…not sure if the woman I met at the library café – she invited me to sit at her booth since the other ones were full – will continue any kind of e-mail correspondence. No interest on her part, I guess. She sent me a message or three at the start, tho’…one included two quotes from B.F. Skinner and a Noam Chomsky line, so she’s got an elevated taste in reading material.
10. J., one of the guys who work at the hotel I’m in says a Best Buy in the Fillmore sells new DVD players for just twenty-nine bucks, so this would be an argument in favor of getting one. Maybe after I make the move to my new quarters outside the Tenderloin. He’s got a person who gives him bootleg DVDs of new movies. Currently am into a pretty intense mode of studying just books and don’t miss having cable and all that visual input.
11. J. also commented on a little statue of an eagle that’s been prominently placed in the hotel lobby. He said that in The Blues Brothers the Nazi characters had just such a figurine in their office. (I said that the eagle was the symbol of ancient Rome, not just the present-day United States. There’s the Philip K. Dick idea that Rome still exists, and everyone’s been brainwashed into thinking otherwise. See http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Romeemp.htm.)
12. Dietary change: maybe add peppermint to the two or three pints of yerba mate I drink each morning. Another little change…
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1. …various notes: the Lumiere Theatre. May before the year is over be moving right across the street from it. So therefore I’m taking more of an interest in what’s showing. At any time, there are three features playing. Currently, For the Bible Tells Me So is there – documentary about how the religious right in America is stigmatizing homosexuality. (Thanks to Dogpile for that verb and its attendant details. Not a flick I’d care to see, but it’s an important one, I guess. The Lumiere shows only independent and “important” movies. Last year, the Bettie Page biopic and A Scanner Darkly were both there, two I had at least planned to see…)
2. And also artistically in the city recently, “Trolley Dances” – dancers doing their movement thing off the sides of Muni vehicles. Missed this nearly completely – yesterday saw a performance inside the stony wetness of the U.N. Plaza Fountain. Asked a woman holding up a sign for the event where the trolleys were…
3. And saw B., a woman who used to live in the hotel I’m in. She was in the vicinity of the library ‘cause the place was showing the 1993 movie about Tina Turner. She was looking for a guy she was supposed to meet, who was nowhere to be found. She told me I looked great. Have got that comment more than once since I’ve totally stopped the beer I was doing too much of and improved my diet and mental state. B.’s a real hippie – she told me back in the Sixties in San Francisco she’d walk barefoot down Van Ness…
4. Then I swooped a bit through the artisan market in U.N. Plaza. Full-tilt Roman Catholic nuns selling odds and ends. I looked briefly at bracelets made of tiny wooden pieces with saint pictures on each. Not a thing I’d wear, but liked the wood.
5. The two sisters in their full-tilt habits were busy in their big van, arranging items and talking. French? Wasn’t English. On a mission from God in Gomorrah. There was a gruesome image of Christ on the cross. Maybe we’ve had enough of this sight, after two thousand years…
6. Back in my room, radio on. Remembrance of the ’67 march on the Pentagon by assorted countercultural types. See http://www.jofreeman.com/photos/Pentagon67.html for an article about the attempt to levitate the structure. Mention also of the famous book about the
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march, Armies of the Night, with a soundbite from the time by author Norman Mailer.
7. Then news about the constitutionality of torture being debated in Washington. Related to “waterboarding” reportedly performed on Iraqis, I guess it would be, by American soldiers. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding. The man being questioned wasn’t giving the interrogator a straight answer – the interrogator said his response was “semantic”, evasive.
8. And recent death of Joey Bishop, at 89. Last living Rat Pack member. “Multiple causes” said to be the reason. Thought that Shirley MacLaine was pretty tight with the Pack, and probably has a few stories to tell. See “Portrait of a Rat Packer” about her at http://www.porthalcyon.com/features/200411/ratpack01.shtml.
9. And Edgar Allen Poe was plugged on KQED. How many authors from a century-and-a-half ago are still mentioned like that?
10. And an e-mail from a friend. We may have lunch together once a month – sounds like he’d go for that. We had met last at Original Joe’s, the landmark restaurant, but a recent fire there has forced a change in our plans. (See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/13/BA7NSP4LG.DTL for a write-up about the conflagration.)
11. Well, the friend named as the next place to meet the Embarcadero restaurant affiliated with the Delancey Street Foundation, which helps substance abusers, ex-convicts, the homeless. (See http://www.delanceystreetfoundation.org/.)
12. Then later, another free computer accessed at a neighborhood center. Spoke with a regular, R. For some reason he got to talking about how Robert Heinlein once donated blood to Philip K. Dick, despite their political differences. (R. and I share not a few literary interests. I’d just finished a Rod Serling biography, and he also had read one a while back. He in fact said he’d watched the original airings of The Twilight Zone back in the early Sixties…)
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1. …did an ATM transaction the other day. Flashed on the Biblical “Mark of the Beast”. See http://www.tldm.org/News4/MarkoftheBeast.htm. As in: next step, everyone needs to get an ATM microchip implanted into their bodies or else no commerce can be transacted, can’t have money…
2. Then, at the Otis computer lab I go to on weekday mornings, brought a copy of the Onion to a regular I’m becoming somewhat familiar with, but he didn’t want it. He said he read the National Lampoon.
3. Done with the first computer of the day, getting my bicycle. Two little kids, one in a stroller, one walking, and three adult women entering the Otis facility. To Rainbow to get food – more quinoa, dried split pea soup. Waiting on a red at 13th and South Van Ness – not the prettiest part of San Francisco, unless you like being in heavy traffic beneath a freeway overpass. Inhumane, industrial.
4. Rainbow, got from bulk bins a little dried split pea soup, millet - a change from quinoa. Halloween theme in the store, a hand emerging from a bin of small tomatoes. Sampled a cube of blue cheese from Point Reyes, found it distasteful. A special variety of cheese that I don’t like. Not really into cheese in general. Whoever put it out hand wrote a little sign criticizing someone as a “graverobbing bastard”. Weird personal touch.
5. And to the checkout: toothpaste from India, two bucks for the pea soup, a dollar for the millet (cheaper than quinoa), a small amazake for under a dollar – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazake. And more incense, another two bucks.
6. And…activation of the “third eye”, have had that on my mind. See http://jksalescompany.com/dw/third_eye.htm.
7. 10:27am a recent morning, warm enough to sit outside at Rainbow – had a half hour until a computer reserved at the library. And had an Examiner to go through. Plastic bags of millet and the split pea soup tied to my handlebars, since I didn’t have a backpack.
8. In the newspaper, taking, as much as possible, a “whole earth view”: mention of some author and his book Cyclizen – looked into this – some gay
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man, socially active, rides his bicycle a lot. Kinduv turned off a bit by the
gayness. Guess I’m a little homophobic, or have some aversion due to my heterosexuality. But I’m less judgmental than some…
9. Also from the paper: photo of the Your Black Muslim Bakery over there in Oakland – fifth person’s involvement related to the torture of two women. A different case, I think, from the trial of the shooting of that bakery’s leader. Used to live in Berkeley and would sometimes pass that bakery…
10. And Wikipedia in the news – been consulting it a lot lately. State legislature computers being used to make changes in the online encyclopedia. For example, a 1992 shoplifting suspicion booking of State Senator Leland Yee was deleted by person or persons using a state legislature computer. (Here’s the link to an article by local newspaper columnists Matier and Ross about this: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/10/13/MN116316.DTL&hw=leland+yee+shoplifting&sn=001&sc=1000.) The significance of these Wikipedia changes is that this online reference reportedly gets seven billion views a month, so changes are likely to possibly influence millions seeking quick answers.
11. Also in the paper: photo of the Dalai Lama as he “gestures” – hands above head, palms together – maybe a Tibetan Buddhist blessing – related to his recent receiving of the Congressional Gold Medal. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama for information about the man.
12. And more from the paper: eight members of Greenpeace in the Amazon threatened by loggers and residents. They’re said to have a “scorched tree trunk”, evidence of global warming, that they wanted to take away. (Is warming happening, or another Ice Age? Maybe these climate changes can happen suddenly. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age. And this about “polar shifts”: http://www.nepanewsletter.com/polar.html.)
13. Also in the newspaper: Japan suspending importation of beef from a particular processing plant in the U.S. due to the presence of tendons not properly identified. Concerns about Mad Cow…go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy for more than you probably wanna know about bovine spongiform encephalopathy…not the pleasant topic to end this posting with…
Sunday, October 21, 2007
DUDE #1144 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …ten to five in the afternoon a recent day, to the library to pick up requested items waiting for me, a Julia Cameron text about enhancing the creative process, and a Napoleon Hill manual on personal success.
2. Before that, through the farmers’ market. Vet I sometimes talk with on the street, T., hefting a crate. He gets work here and there. Always seems to need money – doesn’t he get veteran benefits? He’s also in poor health, service-related, probably. I had time before the library opened and passed it in the market. Two dollars for a plastic bucket of grapes – liked the bucket. But didn’t buy.
3. Into the library. Five dollars for a used copy of Imperial San Francisco, by Gray Brechin. Am gonna start flat-out buying books like this instead of taking so many out from the library, really commit to independent booksellers, put money into them. But that day skipped this one. Been revamping, revising my cash expenditure process – it is a process, that takes some time to manifest. (See http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2000/01/01-20-2000.html for a U.C. Berkeley press release related to this book.)
4. Saw friend K. at the self-checkout machines before he saw me. When he looked over I said: “They let anyone in here, don’t they?” Guy I used to work for said that one to someone within my earshot years ago, and I use it occasionally. K.’s into a big moviewatching spree of late and he was taking more out then, including Midnight Cowboy and one from a BBC science fiction TV series.
5. Waiting for me on the holds carts, two Julia Camerons, and a cassette tape set of an abridgement of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.
6. Then back in my hotel room, radio on. News of the recent “Web Two-Point-Oh” event in S.F. Said to be a “bucket of technologies”, some sort of advance in computer use, in particular related to social networking – such as YouTube – and in collaborative uses, such as Wikipedia.
7. 11:26pm a recent evening, up from a few hours of sleep. Jonesing for carrot juice, went out for it. Hotel front desk fella V. doing kung fu in the lobby with a rattan stick. Brought back a Coke in a bottle for him – a buck-
DUDE #1144 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
50. But I like buying him little gifts on occasion, for his work on behalf of tenants. And finally around this time finished a biography of Rod Serling. Not much detail about his Night Gallery early Seventies phase, which I would’ve been interested in. (Link to a site about the series: http://www.nightgallery.net/index.html?title.html&0.)
9. And was thinking about Pat, a friend who’d just passed away. And only in his middle forties, I think. A lot of exposure to industrial chemicals contributed to his early passing, I’d say. Have been thinking about him a bit lately. I’ll always remember how he once ranted against Chinese-made products. Pat was a confirmed American union worker, and he had no use for all this outsourcing, and importation of shoddy goods from outside the U.S. What got him started on his rant was a bicycle tire patch kit from China that didn’t work well. I’ve got a pen-shaped little flashlight, Sino-made, from Walgreens, and when it seems to not work properly I think of Pat.
10. 3:51am, up from a dream featuring, of all people, Patrick McGoohan, smiling wryly. (Is that the word? “Dryly humorous”?) This after I’d thrown down coins given me by some man I’d help – he was excavating some big stony ancient building, had old books in his hands. I felt the guy had cheated me after I’d done a lot of work. But, maybe the coins were valuable.
11. 7:10am, the next day. A little exercise I should do more, walk around naked. And just by myself. Doing that with others or even just another present would cause at least a little anxiety. But lately I’m inhabiting my body better, getting more physically streamlined due to improved diet, so there’s less distress around this. As far as I’m concerned, most people should remain clothed.
12. And got to recording some of the Rod Serling book onto a cassette, to reinforce some of the material. Been very studious lately. And the major news of the day, from Pakistan, the return there of Benazir Bhutto – first woman head of an Islamic state back in the late Eighties. Male military leaders not pleased with this.
13. Well, Pakistan’s important, but more on my mind, studying more Marshall McLuhan. A place to start, a collection of quotations at http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Marshall_McLuhan/...
Saturday, October 20, 2007
DUDE #1143 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …received a call from L., the daughter of Pat, my friend and Odd Fellow brother. He just passed away after a prolonged hospital stay. My other O.F. brother P. had already called to tell me the news. A memorial’s gonna be held at the 26 7th Street building in two days. I was the one who brought Pat into the lodge…didn’t know him all that well, nor for all that long, but I can sure have some good words to say about our friendship…
2. And…more happily…possible new friend P.D. – may turn out to be at least an “e-friend” through exchanging of e-mails. She considers herself fairly bookish, judging by an e-name she has given herself, so we share that quality. She gave me a card for an upcoming musical performances she’s taking part in, at the Mission Cultural Center, and at Kanbar Hall out there at the Jewish Community Center. Impressive. But whoever printed the card needed to have better proofreading – a Zellerbach affiliate listed as a sponsor, but the name was spelled “Zellarbach”, the second “e” an “a”…
3. Well, this possible new friend, P.D. – not her real initials. She had a Star Trek paperback when I met her. She told me her favorite character was Spock. Wonder if she thinks my blog is too cerebral, like the Vulcan?
4. And…in the lobby of the hotel I’m in, someone had left two big boxes of dense baked goods: brownies, and a fruit kind. Had one of each myself, and brought one of the fruit kind to a friend…
5. And got a call about then from D. He’d known Pat. Told him about the death, and, well, just between you and me, D. had not much favorable to say. Won’t relate the exact words, in the interests of propriety. I knew that when last they’d seen each other they hadn’t been, to say the least, on the best of terms. Anyway, was planning a visit to see D., a Vietnam War vet, who is living now out on Treasure Island, and he was calling to verify the meeting.
6. Then to a neighborhood computer lab, did my usual thing. Unusual was checking P.D.’s blog, which she’s been adding to for about two years. Had read her latest postings, and her first ones. I’ve put her onto my e-mail list, which I’m limiting to only fifty persons. I think she’ll make a nice addition. She’s certainly literate enough, and spends a fair amount of time online. I think I can benefit from reading what she’s posted, if I choose to get to more – I’m finding her point of view interesting. And maybe she’ll be
DUDE #1143 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
benefited from my comments.
7. And…done with the computer. Called Pat’s daughter L. back. I’d forgotten to tell her that I was there to help to whatever extent my somewhat limited resources allowed. Sounded like she appreciated the gesture.
8. And ran into M., a fellow who works for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, the organization I rent my hotel room from. I’m on a waiting list for another residence outside the Tenderloin, where I’ve been for four years. Asked him about the new place. Just waiting on their call – could take a few months to get to the top of the list – and then I can have a look at the available unit. I’m okay enough as I am, but that sort of fairly major change could do me good.
9. Then back to the hotel, sitting in the lobby for a little while. Guy who lives there passed by and we chatted a bit. He’s had a bit of a criminal past that I’m not too informed about – nor do I wanna be. He asked me what good happy hours there were in the city. Told him I’ve totally shifted away from the beer-drinking mode I was in, didn’t have a good clue. Also, he’d be wanting happy hours out of the Tenderloin Zone, and that’s a little unfamiliar to me, so he was on his own. Said he was gonna spend Christmas in Las Vegas, and I said that that’d be a good place for him. Him being into The Sopranos and, I supposed, glitz. That is, “ostentatious showiness”…
10. And my notes indicate a little time thereafter, alone in my room, spent with my copy of The Best of Cheri and a pictorial involving a European porn star and some guy, them together in some office setting. The highly-sexual content of some of P.D.’s blog was in the back and front of my mind as well. But now, let’s just move right along…
11. Afterwards, somewhat basking in something of a solitary glow, picked up a book in which a theologian imagines interviews with St. Thomas Aquinas. See http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/ for something about him. The specific passage I opened to had the 13th-century theologian calling the Earth “accursed”. Not the happiest thought. Then, news on the radio. The Dalai Lama had just been honored in Washington, and China wasn’t happy with this. The Lama…in exile since 1959, I learned, mostly in India. Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. The broadcaster said China was not just not happy with America’s honoring of the Tibetan, but was “enraged”…
Friday, October 19, 2007
DUDE #1142 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
1. …trying to keep cluttering via paper down, but I kept a recent Examiner because of articles about the recently-departed North Beach nightlife fixture – makes him sound like a faucet – a faucet of Beatnik Era and Beyond history - Enrico Banducci, and one about Citizen Kane. Information about those two topics are enough to make me carry that weight…
2. Leaving a place I use free computers, mother with a little baby in a stroller, the child in a cute pink suit. “Cute” not necessary there, I spoze - pretty much anything related to the baby’s looks would be cute. The mother put a blanket around the kid, and as she did so she said things to indicate that the child didn’t like it, and it didn’t. Made a face, and began whining: “Mom-EEEE! Mom-EEEE!” I make note of this ‘cause I have so few interactions with babies, and even this peripheral instance is noteworthy…
3. Then over at Trader Joe’s for the vegetable juice I like. A woman totally zeroed in quickly on granola samples, geez, like her life depended on it. And on the sound system, some song, catchy, about Hollywood, about loving it more than the singer should. Got into my consciousness – Dogpiled…could be “Hollywood”, by Collective Soul. A label: “post-grunge”…
4. Got my juice, and an impulse buy, sunflower seed butter. Tasted just like peanut butter – spooned some out before getting on my bicycle. Steven Pratt, in his book about “superfoods”, recommends eating more nuts and seeds.
5. On the bike, heading back north. Person riding a three-wheeled bicycle with a Mercedes sign on it. Not sure what that was about – maybe the car dealership rents these out - a little, very little nod to the environment.
6. At the library, thirty minutes until I could go online. Class that day for using a computer to research genealogy. And a quake preparedness fair, with seminars, and the showing of a film about the ’89 shaker. Downstairs to the café. There was the computer for the “Shaping S.F.” historical material. Something I study on an ongoing basis, the history of the city.
7. Got a water, wanted a seat at a booth. One was empty but looked like someone’s stuff was still there. A woman in the next booth saw I was looking for a seat and invited me to share her space, which was unusual. I told her that this kind of friendliness to a stranger was rare. Liked her look
DUDE #1142 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
well enough. Had a Star Trek paperback, which was an okay sign…asked her if she was a “Trekker” – wrong word – “Trekkie” is the term. But I think maybe some fans of the series like “Trekker”. She was involved with papers and set about them studiously. I put all my stuff out on the table from my pockets, as I usually do when I’m sitting anywhere for longer than a few minutes. She noted the Trader Joe’s juice I had, seemed to like that, and I laid on information about its supposed fine properties.
8. We got into a little conversation. She handed me a card for a musical event she’ll be part of – she plays the violin. One performance at Kanbar Hall at the Jewish Community Center. Told her the place was named after Maurice Kanbar, the SKYY Vodka mogul, who has a lotta bucks to spread around into the artistic community. But she didn’t know who Kanbar was…
9. She also – she told me her name, but am withholding it here, want to protect her privacy. She said she was into quantum mechanics to a certain extent, related to The Secret, that popular book. This in terms of attraction, the law of attraction, how to bring the things you want into your life. I said something about being careful about what one asks for, in case one gets it…
10. She took an interest in the book I had just taken from the library, one of the “Mama Gena” women’s empowerment texts. I think she may have taken this as a good sign, that me, a guy, would be the sort who’d have that kind of book. Or maybe she thought it was gay. Truth is, I read a variety of different things – albeit mostly pop cultural, nothing all that deep and heavy…
11. Guess I told her I was doing a blog pretty regularly, and she said that she in fact herself was so involved, and gave me the address. So…other details escape me. Time came for me to get to my computer, and we parted then. Enjoyed the interlude. Later in the day, got to her blog. She had told me it was rated “NC-17”, and she was right about that. I took particular interest in an episode about masturbating in her car, and how she “came so hard”. Printed out what amounted to twelve pages of her most recent postings. Other personal information at her blog site: Taurus, aged 28. “Paradigm Shifter” is a name she uses for herself – or, rather, she lists it as her occupation. Says she enjoys Kraftwerk, likes the 1973 Alejandro Jodorowsky movie The Holy Mountain. We’ve exchange some e-mails. I’m beginning to like her presence in my life, even if only on an e-presence basis…
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