I am one of those people for whom the light literally comes on above my head once in a while.
I mean by this that I have moments of insight which are conscious, clear-headed, durable, and meaningful. In many ways, I suspect this marks me as somewhat simple-minded, in just the same way that many presidents come from small towns because only in a small town can one have sufficient optimism to imagine becoming president.
I suppose it might be better for humankind as a whole if my mind situated itself sufficiently to permit me Eureka moments which cured cancers or gene-dated proto-avian bone fragments. Sadly, though, to alter and paraphrase an old Broadway show turn, 'when I figure out the things I figure out I figure myself out as well". It's rather like having one's own wikipedia--not entirely reliable, but darn useful for A-Ha moments ("Take on Me", by the way, is the best Sparks song the Maels never recorded, in just the same way that "Tell Me When it's Over" by the Dream Syndicate really should have been a Lou Reed song.
Sometimes I am amused when I realize that two facts I knew actually go together in a rational way. Let's take the Todd Rundgren song "Love is the Answer". It's a lovely song, because it posits the theory, with which I rather agree,implied by its title. In my mind, I knew that Todd had done this song, and knew its melody, its words, and even the curious backing vocals and chorus studio effects used to sing the song. I also, simultaneously, knew that a song called "Love is the Answer" had been a hit for pop duo England Dan and John Ford Coley (certainly the best reasons known to humankind why the afternoon television shows of Dinah Shore and Mike Douglass should never have gone off the air, as bands like this deserved an afternoon-talk-show place to make gentle song).
I knew, therefore, that both Todd and England Dan had recorded songs with identical lyrics, melody,and chorus, even if Todd's version had a khnd of Utopia art-rockerishness about it, and the hit single was late-night-Holiday-Inn-lounge smooth. Yet I never thought, despite having enough evidence to convict even without DNA, that the hit single was a cover of the Todd Rundgren song. Today the light flashed on for me.
I see as I type that I originally referred to the piece as a "snog" rather than a "song" entitled "Love is the Answer", and I feel within me, sophomorically, that this adds to the trans-atlantic cachet of my insight.
Today I took things quite easy. We first drove to pick up my wife's car from the Toyota dealership, where it required repairs after its noble first 135,000 miles of service. Then she went off to shop, having decided to actually get the jump on the holidays, in hope of setting a new world Olympic sprinter/shopper record. We did get a chance to go to the post-office, where my eBay digicam/binoculars, bought for a song, waited for me at the post.
Alas, although the ad said they were "new",they look less than new and did not come in original packaging or with the CD for the software. I will have to remedy this matter.
Today I played with Windows Movie Maker a bit, and also watched on television as my beloved Arkansas Razorback football team struggled, rushed, stuttered, and sighed but nonetheless eked out their eighth win of the year over a fine but unfortunate South Carolina team.
I also took my dogs out in the afternoon light chill for a walk around small Glendover Pond,
where the ducks have seasonally returned. I thought to myself how the wildlife sanctuary fifty miles to the north no doubt has snow geese now. I like to see a lagoon field of pure feathery snow, so perhaps I'll drive up tomorrow to see it.
We were going to see a film with friends tonight, but we elected instead to stay in
and rest after what proved to be a busy week for both of us. I seem a bit weary these days, but I suspect it is just staying up too late on the weekends.
We did stop by my nephew's house, where we served as subjects for a science project experiment, which involved playing an edition of Zelda and her ocarina (I am not much of a gamester, but I do consider it a major flaw that I have never gotten far enough in this game to see the ocarina in action). I do not know if we proved or disproved the hypothesis, but I did manage at last to hit a spider with my magic slingshot.
My dog Bea never tires of her tennis ball. I am beginning to wonder if it is time to plant the blue Dutch iris bulbs I got at the 99 cent store. I got a myspace messages from the fellow who runs the admirable small ambient label--50 copies per release, run by a non-profit. I suspect I could advance more culture through buying CDs there than a half dozen bond issues to build auditoriums at which show tunes may be heard. For the record, I rather love show tunes, but I have seen the "best minds" of my particular generation run stark raving mad through the auditoria of "higher culture".
By coincidence, they are turning the main road by the new arts center (still in open field state) into a multi-lane toll road. We pay for our government these days with spare quarters, so that people can run ads about "tax cuts".
I like the word "fractal". I also like "fuzzy science". I am not so keen on "Your mileage may vary", nor the "new atheism" (which, unlike the older,rather principled atheism, seems to me to want to invade belief rather than protect disbelief), but I am still almost positive, that, be it saving, tribal, herbal, herd-al, herbivorous or herstory, love is nonetheless the answer.