J.D. Salinger was right. There are many nice people and places. In fact, they are the reason we make an effort. We do it for the good guys and the kind ladies, especially for the “fat lady”. We do not do it for ourselves, to bolster our ego, for money, or for selfish gain.
I love a train ride. It’s a great chance to curl up with a book and lose myself. Yesterday my treat was “Franny and Zooey” and at times I almost could not stop myself from laughing out loud. Salinger throws out classic lines like a prize fighter, punch after punch. Here’s one: Franny, a cute college co-ed, is having lunch with her young gentleman, Lane. Lane is a real loser, snobbish and self-centered. Franny stares at his plate. He is eating snails and frog legs. Suddenly she blurts out “Eat them snails”. Lane, completely oblivious to everything except his own greatness, continues pontificating about his own selfish concerns.
Skip ahead to the second section and you will be treated to an extended scene in a bathroom where Zooey’s (Franny’s older brother) Mother is an uninvited visitor. He entreats, threatens, and begs his mother to get out to no avail. Using biting, hilarious sarcasm, he debates his mother while chain smoking and soaking in tepid bathwater.
I’m watching swans in a pond. Crusty ice sheets form floating ice continents. The big white birds are amazing. Sitting and standing on ice, sliding off into the icy water. Plunging their long necks into the water to grab precious pond weed in their beaks.
Briny, salty and delicious.
I was in a quandary today. I needed another name server and didn’t feel like forking over big bucks for another machine. And then it hit me, what would “Ordinary” do? He happens to be a computer geek and one of the main characters in my novel “Force for Good“.
I rummaged in a canvas bag and dug out a small plastic box. It was my beloved Raspberry Pi. I rushed down the stairs to the basement and took a deep breath while gazing at the blinking blue and amber lights. The soft whir of the fans whispered in my ears and I was trapped. The Raspberry Pi would take its place in the Muggington pantheon of silicon this day.
In case you aren’t familiar with it, the Raspberry Pi is an ultra-cheap but perfectly functional computer. A few minutes later I had the little beast connected to the network and after a few more hours it was a new web and name server on my small homegrown network. In fact, that $35 dollar Raspberry Pi might have directed you to this blog post.
What a strange, odd life we humans lead.
Read a good book.
Bundle up and take a walk.
Savor a delicious meal.
Warm your hands on a steaming hot drink.
Baby pictures of our universe …
Check it out:
Swirls in remnants of Big Bang may hold clues to universe’s infancy
All organisms must cope with an absence of heat. Only humans use vast amounts of energy to do this. Look at any animal or any plant during the depth of winter. Even on the coldest day, unconcerned ducks paddle through icy water in a pond and green needles of evergreens absorb golden photons with nary a shiver.
Increase in entropy is inevitable and inexorable. Accept it and thrive.
Today’s world is full of distractions. Take time each day to do absolutely nothing. Turn off the television, get off the the computer and take out your ear buds. Sit quietly or walk aimlessly.
