Random Thought #1
Happy Birthday, Mr. Vonnegut...
a few days late.
Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favorite authors, turned 84 on Saturday, November 11. I realized this last night as I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep. I know this because in his book Breakfast of Champions (great book, by the way. I highly recommend it.) he mentions that he was born on Armistice Day, which is now known as Veteran's Day. It's kind of ironic that he's made it this long, since he's been admittedly trying to commit suicide by cigarette for the vast majority of his life. But, he's still writing some (his latest book was published last year) and even creating artwork. It's featured in several of his books (including Breakfast of Champions), but on his website vonnegut.com you can purchase prints that he's done, or T-shirts with his drawings on them. I kind of want one, but $20 is a bit steep for a T-shirt, even one with a Kurt Vonnegut drawing on it. If you've never read Vonnegut and would like to, I recommend, in addition to the aforementioned book, Slaughterhouse Five (which has nothing to do with slaughterhouses, really), Hocus Pocus, Welcome to the Monkey House (this is a collection of short stories, but very good), and Slapstick: or Lonesome No More! He has many other very good books that are likely available at your local library. If not, I'm sure your local bookstore will have many of them as well, not to mention the internet. I would be willing to loan my copies to local friends, however, the vast majority of my books, including most of my Vonnegut collection, are still in Texas at my grandparent's house. They kindly offered to store some of our less essential items until we could afford to have them sent to us, and my books were declared non-essential. (I did manage to smuggle some of them with me, but most are still in Texas, where they are likely to remain until June, when my parents will drive down to visit their newest grandbaby and stop through Dallas and pick up the rest of our stuff.)
Random Thought #2
Squirrels Are Good For the Soul
This is not a new thought, really, more of a revisit of an inside joke from my freshman year at ACU. My friend Andrew declared this into his mini tape recorder one afternoon after having witnessed the ACU squirrels frolicking about, digging, attacking people, and various other squirrely things. The squirrels at ACU are among the bravest known to mankind. They have been known to charge people, run up their legs, throw things at them from trees, and one guy I know swore they were out to get him and the birds were helping out as spies. Despite his warnings to be careful around the squirrels, none of them ever attacked or threw things at me, thus I often enjoyed watching them. They're like paranoid little people, running around and hiding things from whoever might be watching, looking around skittishly every couple seconds, covering their tracks in the dirt. That was my favorite part. The frantic swishing back and forth of the front paws over their newest hidey hole. Today on my morning walk to the T (that's what we call the subway here) I saw two squirrels out and about. One was climbing the tree in front of our front walkway. They're so funny! He sort of jumped a couple inches every time, pulling with is front paws quickly and throwing himself up, to get another grip on the bark. The second squirrel was in someone's yard a block away. It had apparently found something to munch on, because after I spotted it, it sat up and scurried over to hide behind a ceramic donkey. (Why anyone has a ceramic donkey in their yard is beyond me, but it makes a good squirrel hiding place I guess.) In any case, every time I see a squirrel it makes me smile, thus reaffirming that squirrels are indeed good for the soul.
Random Thought #3
I Am A Slacker
I'm at work, and I'm posting on my blog. Need I say more? In my defense, my job is pretty boring and I don't have much else to do right now. Fortunately, I only have four more weeks at this job, and in exactly one month from today I am moving back to Coeur d'Alene.
Hey, Slacker! Actually, you don’t need an excuse to post on your blog. If you boss catches you at it, just tell him that you’re bringing the company up to date with cutting edge communications paradigms by presenting the human face of business to the community through blogging protocols. Blogging is the dynamic new trend in free trade.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I’ve never read Kurt Vonnegut, although I’ve heard of Slaughterhouse Five, of course. I’ll have to check him out, as I love book recommendations from friends.
Finally, I have to tell you that I have personally witnessed a homicidal squirrel attack. Just this year at Farragut Family Camp, a bunch of us were sitting around in lawn chairs when a tremendous thud on the ground behind me made us all jump. It turned out to be a pine cone, one of those heavy, densely packed ones. We thought it had fallen by accident, until a second one, and then a third, came crashing down after it, each perilously close to nailing someone in the head. A tiny black squirrel finally ran out along a branch and started chattering furiously at us. I could swear he was shaking a tiny fist.
Make that *your* boss. :P
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