Robert (gurdonark) wrote,
Robert
gurdonark

a jumble of things

reading Dickens' Christmas story "The Chimes", while flying over the desert; talking to a Texan transplanted to Rancho Palos Verdes on the plane, and commiserating about the cost of living in CA, stunning to all Texans; riding in first class for coach fare because I am a more frequent flier than Icarus; renting a Ford Focus ZX3, like a station wagon compacted into a really hip tuna can, and rain-driving; listening with incredulity as the desk clerk at a Howard Johnson explains that the reason my long-distance is not working is because she unilaterally decided to authorize my credit card for less than the amount necessary to turn it on, and I would have to walk through the rain to get her to run it again; eating Indian food alone in a fast food place in Claremont Village--when I asked for chicken tandoori, the fellow heard chicken tikka masala, but things all work out fine in the long run; driving in the early morning down Foothill Boulevard--on my left, Mount Baldy, covered in snow, peering out above deep purple thunderhead clouds

Sitting in a conference room with Buddha decor everywhere; noticing that the muffin at continental breakfast halved the calorie count by claiming that one muffin is 2 servings; getting to a Kinko's to rent a computer, to find that all the computers are off due to flooding; foregoing Rancho Santa Ana public garden in order to rush to catch a plane--missing the plane, and the garden; picking out chapbook competitions to try to enter "legit"; knowing myself as not "legit" and yet inspired to enter anyway; chuckling over the Spin Magazine Best of 2004 issue, and thinking of a future LJ post about 100 songs I love; reading in the Economist about tsunamis and the ghost of Tony Benn; watching video of California coast mud-slides that slid where slides slid before, tragically for all; landing at 2 in the morning, alternating between a CD and the BBC; December is the time people add one as an LJ friend; January is the time people drop one as an LJ friend; working hard and then getting home and thinking of more things that need doing.
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  • 10 comments

  • The Misplaced Bishop and the Dropped Queen

    Today one of my postal chess opponents committed a blunder, losing a queen. He resigned a few moments later, leaving a note that he accidentally…

  • The Rain After the Cold

    This morning I finished reading Edith Wharton's novella "Bunner Sisters." I found the story compelling. The rain fell solidly last night.…

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    I got out this morning to take a walk, to get my exercise in before a storm moved in. I walked an hour in our neighborhood Glendover Park and the…