Wednesday Random Ten

This has been an odd sort of week. Not bad, especially, although I'm already weary of the cold and rain, and especially the early-falling dark. When I was in college these short winter days (especially what seemed like the endless early part of the second semester in February) were known as the "Dark Ages", and campus dorm life in the cold and rainy Lancaster winters was punctuated by the outbursts of frustrated rage announced from an opened window with profane intensity. Last night was rough, with children up at all hours, crying, icebags, sippies and medicines for near-fatal boo-boos...sigh... So my thoughts are sorta all over the place.
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How do you gently direct a little boy away from whining? Words don't seem to work, bribery just brings more whining, while punishment - though effective in halting the immediate whining - hasn't stemmed the general condition. Is this a "phase" that he'll grow out of? He's such a sweetie when he's not whining; if only he'd choose to take the long and whine-ding road less often...
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Watching a pet grow old is always difficult; these little souls don't see their own fate, so they simply live each day as best they can. But we do know, and to see Miss Lily sleeping more each day, to watch her struggle up the bedclothes where she used to leap without effort...every day a little death.
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I'm my father's son, and for me pets are pets, not "family". They're animals, friendly, companionable animals but animals all the same - I've always gritted my teeth at the term "furbaby". Having lost a real baby, the idea that these pets are "like a child" is...well, obscene is the term that comes to my mind. It's not that I don't understand how others can feel this way - I just don't share it. And that extends to the degree to which I consider pets "part of the family". I care for these small charges, but I would no more spend thousands of dollars for veterinary surgery than I'd fly across the Willamette by flapping my arms.
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And yet - as I grow older, I realize how many of these small lives I've outlived and regret the passing of every one a little more each time. I'm not sure, since I've lived with pets my whole life...but I wonder if there will come a day when I won't be able to live with a pet, simply because I won't want to outlive it?Honestly. Was there ever a more idiotic display of civic incompetence that Portland's tragicomic "Let's Rename Interstate Avenue" folderol? I can't imagine. The only thing I can think of worse than breaking all the rules of the process and pissing off the bulk of the stakeholders involved is breaking all the rules of the process, pissing off the stakeholders and then accomplishing exactly nothing. "City that Works" my ass: these people would make twelve monkeys fucking a football a miracle of orderliness and sanity by comparison.

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I see that the national political campaigns are busy hitting all the usual moron buttons: abortion, gay marriage...have we sunk so far that we no longer have a sense of what is important to look for in an elected official? More and more I think so.

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Well, they didn't quite manage to win Big Casino. But here's to the Grant boys' varsity soccer team, 2007 edition: two goals away from the state title. Great run, gentlemen. Well played.
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And speaking of soccer: also on my mind are the University of Portland Pilots women's soccer team. Again (thanks, NCAA!) forced to play UCLA on the road to the semifinals. It's like having the U.S. women's national team as your neighbors only without getting to see Cat Deeley mowing the lawn in an old wifebeater and torn-up boxer shorts. Good luck to this years' gals - GO PILOTS!
How can I be a good father to my son and daughter, a good husband to my wife, good teammate to my company, good citizen to my country and good person to the world around me? What if I have to choose one before the others? Who, and how, should I choose?
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Don't know why I've been thinking of this lately: this operator was killed when his excavator slid off a logging road in Tillamook County.I just remember looking down at what remained of his last moments on earth and wondered what it must have been like, a falling madness of noise and confusion, descending like Lucifer, towards the earth below..?
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On the other hand, some things on my mind are just purely fun; fluff, utterly impractical but fascinating. The lovely and useless display of the Third U.S. Infantry on parade; butterflies; hairribbons. "Girl Genius" is one. So is "Spirited Away", which I watched again last week and marvelled at the magic you can create with your hands, a brush and an imagination.
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Why is it that sometimes a seemingly minor task or obstacle seems immovable, while other times you find the energy to burn the topless towers of Illium? The samurai used to say that death was lighter than a feather, while duty was heavier than a mountain. To whom - and what - do I owe my duty? And, while we all owe time and the world a death, what should I do in life to make that final nightfall feather-light and silent, parting the veil of death like eiderdown wafted from an upturned palm, drifting up and over and beyond into the bourne "from which no traveller returns"?Who watches "Girl Meets Cowboy"? And is this the sort of thing that H.P. Lovecraft meant when he talked about what happens when you meet the Elder Gods in the face? Is it the Apocalypse? And does this mean that there won't be another season of Stargate: Atlantis?
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Something has been bugging me at a very low level for a long, long time. Why does it seem that our friends never just call us to suggest we do something together? We know lots of lovely people who live right around us: Millicent/Floyd/Thor of Different Dirt, our friends the Wilsons (Oscar the Ginormous Fish's family), just bucketloads of friends. But its like we never just get a call out of the blue from them asking us to go snowboarding, or to go to a Wiggles concert, or anything. Is it us? Okay, to be egotistic, is it me? Am I too much of a jerk to be around? Mojo? Are her teeny-tiny social needs an excuse for friends to sheer off? Are we no fun? Have we lost our dainty freshness; do we offend? What? For whatever reason, it kinda sucks, and I try not to dwell on this because to do so would be seriously depressing. I wish I could figure out how to change this.
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If love is all you need, what about chocolate?
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Vizzini: You only think I did, that's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned. Ha ha, you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" Ah ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha! Ah ha ha-- [Suddenly goes stiff and falls over dead]
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Update 11/30: Far from being "all over the place", rereading this post I seem to be fascinated by death. Wassupwitdat? One more thing to think about...