Aortal - Thymewise and The Gamer's Nook

Happy Samhaim, Kim and Scott! Today you are my Aortal harvest offering to my readers!

Weighty Affairs

Could it become the fashion of the future to travel places where TB remains at large as a weight cure?

A Pax Nortona Exclusive

I know why the seagull has only one foot Click here

Followup on Comments

I'm standing aside now, to make way for the deluge of pigeon horror stories...."rats with wings" -- there, I said it!

Equal Time? Hell yes!

Equal time? You're offering equal time? Hell, yes, on behalf of all liberals and progressives I accept!

Instant Diagnosis

I've been putting myself out lately. But you should see the number I've been doing to my fingers!

The Day of the Dead Approaches

Perhaps this year I will also develop a virtual altar where you may see the names of those family members and friends who have gone on before us.

Huntington Beach 4

Two Dreams

I woke up between genders....

Sexual Perversion Quiz

Well, at least I don't do Dan Quayle with a plunger.

Huntington Beach 3

Guest Map Gratitude

danelle rebuked me for not thanking those who had signed my Guest Map.

Huntington Beach 2

Huntington Beach - Seagull Meme

Rupture and Reflection

Poor Blaz. He left just before things got good here.

Roaches (Insects)

Barbara Fletcher wrote about facing her first live roach. The occasion caused me to rhapsodize upon one of my own favorite roach horror stories.

Why Pacifists Don't Support War?

"Duh!" is the most succinct and apt response.

Paul Wellstone Dead

Just two weeks ago, Wellstone put his political future on the line by saying "No" to George W. Bush's war.

Blaz on the USA

American readers should note the comparisons he makes between the United States today and the communism he used to live under.

Irvine Spectrum Center

Guest Map
I'd seen this around on a few blogs, so I decided to add it to my own for kicks and...

Srebenica, the Sniper, and the Right Thing

Now that the sniper has turned out to be a black muslim, what's next? Insistance that we should never have freed the slaves?

Rule 17

Whoever posted the topic in Dalnet #politics the other day needed to apply Rule 17 from Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, which is "Omit needless words."

John Allen Muhammad et. al.

Americans have more to fear from our well-armed homegrown sociopaths with a cause than from Saddam Hussein.

Aortal - Cunningly Prosed

Cunningly Prosed offers brave vistas into the mind of an intelligent and compassionate woman trying to live in the 21th century.

Uncool Me

It embarasses me that I turned into a burden because I hadn't been observant of my need for tagamet following the habenero-spiced lunch treat, but aside from that, a lot of good things happened and we parted friends.

The Other Life

I thought a lot, read over some pieces by other writers for critique, and buried myself deep under the comforters while Ambrose purred into my ear.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Thanks Glowhost for getting on top of the problem!

Crystal Cove 3

Home from the Writers' Group

I glanced up into the branches, hoping for a glimpse of a Cheshire Cat.

Sound-bytten

Poor Chris Rettstatt. A victim of sound bytes....

Name Change

You may have noticed that I am no longer referring to myself as Emperor Norton on this blog.

Clunker of Madness

Any wings I've grown in the course of being sick are about as high flying as those of the derelict jetliners parked out in the Mojave Desert.

Time to get Professional Counsel

First thing in the morning, I get myself a local shrink.

Not So Humane Society

Would they have rather that he do what many others who have homes do and dumped the cat and three dogs out in the country somewhere or maybe on a busy expressway?

Hard Truth

They see the older pacifists marching and think it cute, something to photograph. But have they talked to those who made genuine sacrifices for the cause? Have they considered what their showing up may mean?

Slovenia 1991

Wouldn't it be wonderful, we laughed, if all wars were fought by lines of men who just mooned each other?

Travels with Blaz

It's odd to think that I was in Blaz and Boris's country in a time of war and that Blaz is now visiting me here in mine in a time of war.

Cassandro 2

I already dwell in the prison whose walls are the ignorance, the forgetfulness, and the apathy of others around me.

Man's Best Friend...

Ambrose leaped atop the two mattresses, approached me noiselessly, and placed his piebald face close to mine.

Sounds of Silence

I contributed a few observations and ripostes to the chat, then realized that though my words were heard, no one seemed to be talking to me.

Aortal - Electric Bugaloo

Women taking up a relationship with Mikey should expect minimal privacy.

Glenn Ranch Road

I saw a stout woman, wearing a grey sweatshirt, pushing a shopping cart full of groceries with one hand and the yellow-topped red plastic car that bore her son with the other.

A Cold

I woke up sneezing, convulsively.

I am my xanax?

I am barbituates.

Dream

Curious man-beasts with the heads of moles and mice stand next to them: a voiceover tells me that the Dukes loved moles and mice.

Chinatown

In your face

Old age has worked its wispy magic on the old cat's mind.

Country Joe and the Fish

Remember Country Joe and the Fish? The anti-war anthem they sang at Woodstock?

Profiles in Courage

Stop the Bush Men.

Cassandro

Last year at this time, we worried because we felt that we could do nothing to stop terrorists from attacking us. This year we fret that we can do nothing to stop our government from doing whatever it pleases.

Griffith Park 4

Writing Group

As I struggled to keep in my chair, I realized why the LA bloggers and the Quakers had not seen my shyness.

Posted at Techfluid

What destroys self-confidence is the constant living in fear, of expecting something horrible to happen, of expecting people to be cruel or exclusive.

Spam Email Review

When I was in Los Angeles' Old Chinatown the other day with Lynn, I dropped a coin in the begging bowl of a gigantic Buddha of prosperity. Then I wondered: does he use spam email?

Not Gratuitous Gratitude

I have removed the bits I have been wearing for last month's omissions, but if there are new ones or if I have your site information wrong, I will apply one piece of ash and wear one square inch of sackcloth for each person who has linked to me without receiving a link back.

Griffith Park 3

An Awful Thing for a Husband to Do

I submitted two pictures of Lynn to Statue Molesters.

Cat Box

Did Orwell hate cats?

Dream

One of the dogs is pregnant.

A Phone Call

"I'm in Los Angeles."

"Oh, when are you coming back?"

"I live down here now."

"You live down there? How long has that been?"

What's Your Fascist Score

According to this test, I'm "a liberal airhead" (2.033333333333333), a mere third of a point better than "a whining rotter".

Xanax

This stuff unties the stress knot that coils in my chest for a few hours and then ties it back in a new way if I take too much of it.

Griffith Park 2

Slovenian Invasion....

Just got email from Boris Horvat to the effect that a mutual friend from Ljubljana is in town.

Griffith Park 1

Underwhelming Support

The Iraq Adventure happens without a second thought from us. It's something the Washington government is doing, far and away.

Violence

Chief Jingoist George W. Bush cries that Sadam Hussein tried to kill his daddy. It is true. But George Bush Sr. directed the armed forces to find and kill Sadam Hussein during the Gulf War. Here we have the petty politics of personal feud taken to the global level.

Aliso Beach 6

Silly Google Results

capybara+sister-in-law+adultery+"what's+the+big+deal"

Chat Room
I'm fiddling around a lot this evening, I'll admit! I just set up a chat room for my guests. I...

Logodaedalus Version 2.0

I'm planning to rename Ganesha's Logodaedalus as, simply, Logodaedalus....

Dream

I rush down and find myself next to a gigantic moose without antlers. It must be twelve or more feet at the shoulders.

Aliso Beach 5

Meetup

Weblogger

John Barleycorn and Me

Am I so boring that I cannot charm when I am sober? Do I cause such pain that some kind of anesthesia is called for? Some drinkers never seem to think how insulting their attitudes about who is worthy of their company can be.

On Dental Misadventures

It's hard to be going through this stuff. People don't realize how different we all are, that each mouth gets wired in a different way.

Just "someone"

It's such a great feeling to be just "someone" and not a person with feelings and opinions that he has conceived for himself.

Thomas the Child Redux

I don't believe that we should bomb and I don't believe that everything is OK, even as a tool for momentary solace. I believe that things can be OK if we work to effect them so.

The Earth Shall Quake

They were and they remain fearless in the face of oppression, strife, and war: indeed the only thing that Quakers quake about is God the Almighty.

Aortal - The Homeless Guy

Read Kevin for his insights, for his unfamiliar and yet entirely human vantage point. This guy writes. Long may his words "linger on in the printed light, for thousands to see."

Aliso Beach 4

Pity

Such idealism!

A Gift of the Public Largess

[The] unintentional generosity of the system has given me the company of two books by Flannery O'Connor and The Annotated Huckleberry Finn for an additional five months if I desire it.

Why Women Ache

There was no Original Sin or crime scene where sufficient forensic evidence was found to convict not only the First Woman, but all her descendants.

Guilt-Provoking

"Use Mapquest," I grunted and pulled the blanket up over my neck.

Aliso Beach 3

The Scream - Network Dissolutions

Shave my head. Color me jaundiced. Put me on a bridge. Hear me wail.

Aliso Beach 2

Oh dear

Somehow, the intent of the constitutional amendment is thwarted by substituting the sick for the sick.

Writer's Search

I would number these years as the most severe of my depression, when the world encased me within a blank cube and seemed to offer no alternative. I could call this time by many names: the Silence, the Paranoia, or The Pain.

Comment on a Sign of the Times

"As long as waters are troubled, they cannot become stagnant."


- James Baldwin

The Key to a Cipher

A grizzled chin betrays the dotage of a dog. The hair of a cat keeps the secret of its age.

Aliso Beach 1

Modjeska Canyon

Send me to Iraq if You Dare

The deal is this: if I raise $5,000 by January 1, 2003, I will go to Iraq. Expect blogging like I did back in 1992 when I went to Croatia and Serbia. If I don't hit $5,000, I will keep the money for myself. If I raise $10,000, I'll invite Thymewise to accompany me. Fair deal?

The Litter King

I doubt that Tony Kanoa would link to my page, this other voice from Portola Hills.

Dorothy Day's Temper
Once, a holier than thou told Catholic Worker Movement founder Dorothy Day that she should control her temper better. Day...

Name Game

Others complain that the descriptions don't fit them or the people they know with the names, but the laws of random chance enabled these New Age pundits/racketeers to strike pretty close in their description of me. Perhaps they have been reading my blog?

Untreated Mental Illness

Paranoia is a mental illness. I open the news web sites and there it is, resident in the White House and spreading down to the population.

Too Tall to be a Hobbit?

A Milepost

Mom said "You know what? Your Aunt Marion has now been dead for longer than she lived as of today."

Home of the Brave?

if war is about courage, why so many expressions of patriotism that suggest that the thing we should do is hide?

Counter Suggestions to Thomas the Child

The problem is not anger, frustration, or despair: it is what we do with it. Do we shut it away and act as if it is not so? I think not.

Aortal Link - Reconstructed Mind

Bobbi's writing is worthy of modeling in that she eschews the use of InterNewSpeak for intimate inner portraiture.

Valyermo - Stations of the Cross (4)

A Caption for wKenShow
I suggested this as a caption for a picture posted by wKenShow: Jeremiah 14: 14-16 "Then Yahweh said to me,...

I do not support this adventure, regardless

The blame for the evil that this adventure is sure to bring rests on its promoters. I am prepared to forgive, but they shall still be held accountable. I shall strive to see them removed and forever prevented from holding office in our future nation of the free.

Roach Motel

I need a something like a roach motel to catch them when they scuttle in under the cover of sleep to discredit my thoughts.

Valyermo - God's Country (3)

Editing Photographs

It's like having children and telling some of them "I thought you would show some promise, but I'm afraid you're not pretty enough: I'm going to have to slit your throat."

Gooden Infirmary

The nurse said that she was "really worried about Frances. This morning her appetite was not good. She just wanted to sleep. And when I woke her to take her medicine, she spoke to me in a language I didn't understand."

A Different Mirror of the White House and Elsewhere

The language only made it sound more like what the average beer nuts-chewing American had been saying about Hussein for a long time.

Valyermo - God's Courtiers (2)