The dry spell
I don't know how exactly to spell this out. It is probably something obvious (by now) to long time day loggers,
but new day loggers and
noders might benefit from my realization. I've wanted to write, but I didn't feel like I
had anything to say, so I didn't. But yesterday on the train I opened up
Temporary Internet Files (note to
self: I might have to node that!) and finally got around to reading some nodes I had stored there but never read
(can someone direct me to an E2 offline node reader?). That got the juices flowing and here I am. That's
basically it. Reading good stuff from the rest of you inspires me to write more.
Thanks.
I've wrestled with the reward-for-good-daylogs issue before, and sometimes it stops me from daylogging. But I
finally got around to reading the
4-C!'d March 30 daylog and realize that there really are at
least some people that enjoy life more becuase others write daylogs. I once read a node (I think it was a user's
homenode) that expressed a bit of shame for the sizeable portion of daylogs that made up that noder's writeups.
Such shame is bad. It is counter-productive and could be viewed as egotistical since the sentiment that "my
writeups get high reps without being daylogs!" is a mere
bragging right. The audience for
daylogs is obviously a bit larger, and therefore daylogs are a bit more valuable. I say it's
egotistical only to
help - not to attack. What I mean is that daylogging is good, and if the
shame gets in your way, you can look at
it as egotism and make it stop getting in the way. Daylog without shame my friends, daylog without shame.
I woke up at 2:30 this morning. I rested til 4 but didn't sleep, I don't think. Then I got up and answered
email til 4:30 and then went back to bed. I still didn't sleep, but I did think through a node that I'm trying
to remember...
I think it was about an evil I see.
Plurality voting. I think
Plurality started the same way a flaw starts in
a
diamond - it was just easier to build
democracy that way. But it has opened democracy up to its
nemesis, the
concentration of power. Plurality leads to a two-party system. Power structures have learned to feed the two
parties, making them beholden. With a two-party system, the power structures have twice as much work to do, but
they do it, shoving their crowbar deeper into the flaw and widening the crack. It disturbs me.
Maybe it was about
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I watched the episode last night in which, for the first time,
nobody went along with Buffy. I recognized the value of democracy - that there are usually enough smart people
around to stop the leader(s) from doing something stupid, like beheading Iraq the rabid chicken. "Rabid
chicken"? Yeah - you know a chicken runs around willy nilly if you chop off its head, and its blood spills all
over the place. Despite the quick death and safety to be had a few minutes later, the violence has done its
damage, only to be suffered later by those who come near the scene unawares. Well anyway, I think it was a bad
idea, and even if it wasn't, this administration has plenty of bad ideas that are being acted upon partly due to
the power that has been amassed in one political party. I think if democracy was working the way it ought to,
more of us would appreciate our leaders, and our leaders would be better.
This morning, my thoughts were far more interesting. I wish I could recall them better.
My wife has been taking care of an awful lot of stuff since we decided to move to Riverside. She packed nearly
everything in our old house while I was at work. She took care of the weeds that posed a fire hazard. She took
care of our three kids. She took care of our five-year-old daughter who went through eye-surgery, and gave
antibiotics to the other two while I stayed at her aunt and uncle's house. Maybe someday she will read my
writeups here and know how amazing I think she is.
We bought our third house in Riverside. We still own the other two and my wife is the
property manager. She
cobbled together a great lease from ideas she got from other leases. It's a great savings plan, if you are good
at following the property manager formula - screen your tenants well, treat your tenants well, and don't be
greedy, but protect yourself because you never know.
Now I am sitting at the Cask and Cleaver in
Orange, waiting for the next train because the bus I took took 10
seconds too long for me to catch the 4:16. I rode a different train up here, but it doesn't go to where I'm
going. Home. A man and a woman are singing on the speaker, and as I wrote "home" they sang it. Together. I'm
so... in this mood that I have no idea if my writing is putting you there. Lucky you if it is. This is a nice
seat, shaded, dark enough that I can see my laptop screen. It's why I got on that wrong train - to find a better
station to wait at than Tustin where everything is sunlight. An ambulance just drove by, siren wailing loudly.
I wondered when I sat down here if a server from inside would come out and expect me to order something.
Apparently not. Whew. The wind is cold but my jacket keeps me warm. Is it always this cold near LA at the end
of April? Seems to be colder than it ought to be. This is Southern California.
Back to Plurality. It's one of the few things that really pain me about the world. Some shortcut in the
creation of something beautiful that can end up destroying it. Perhaps the saddest thought I ever had is that
a few brilliant people get together and create something wonderful and beautiful, and when they pass on, those
left to care for it don't understand all it's
nuances, and they
neglect certain aspects, and the beauty fades and
is lost, perhaps forever, perhaps to be rediscovered when we've evolved some more. We must
learn to prevent such a terrible loss.
Now I remember. It is my identity that I was thinking of this morning. Thanks for reading this far. I think
the rest will be worth it, but it's too raw right now.