Today on the bus-May 28, 2009

...anyway as I was saying it has been a while since I blogged ( is that a word i.e., a verb [blog:-read, write, or edit a shared on-line journal] again the problem of a digression within a digression, I digress) A couple of things-my favorite faux diner car restaurant has this sign:
Vienna is the Rolls Royce of hot dogs.
Not Paris, New York...(is anything ever something but the Rolls Royce, for example, Ford Taurus, Yugo, Honda Civic, etc. I digress).

Second-We can call this overheard on the bus. Two (mature women) were discussing the long line in front of a kitchen (a Dorothy Day) that feeds homeless people. Did you know that anyone can get a free meal? The "soup kitchen" doesn't ask for any identification. As we passed the Salvation Army kitchen...well you can get a free breakfast...they don't ask for any identification (now I am wondering what does "identification" that proves you're homeless look like...but I never violate the bus rider code, i.e., never ask questions or indicate that you are listening...but I digress).
Thirdly, I was the only one (well obviously the driver stayed on the bus and yes I know I said a couple of things... I don't know how to make editing changes...I digress) on the bus after we turned at the liquor store. I asked my favorite driver if she could just run by my house. She said I would but this expletive deleted GPS would tell them (later identified as big brother) I was off the route. She would have...

Gosh, all of you who commute by something other than public transportation (OK-- if you walk, bike, ride a horse, or canoe) eat your hearts out (or should that be heart and why don't we say eat your liver or kidney but I digress)...

A Dalkey Archive Press --Camera

Camera by Jean-Philippe Toussaint

Very good...not sure if I would call him the 21th century comic Camus. However, the book is simple, complex, amusing, withdrawn...and did I mention the camera on the ship

Worth reading

Today's Rant- Palin 2012 May 22, 2009

I saw my first Palin (the spelling dictionary for this blogging software offers pain as a correct spelling for Palin...hmm... but I digress) 2012 bumper sticker today.

You can keep the change

Palin 2012

You go girl!

Definitions of rant:

• harangue: a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion
• talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
• bombast: pompous or pretentious talk or writing

Ah poetry --Mary Oliver

Evidence: Poems by Mary Oliver

I think that you understand a poet through their words. I offer the following words

A couple of quotes-
from Li Po and the Moon
There is the story of the old Chinese poet:
at night in his boat he went drinking and dreaming
and singing
then drowned as he reached for the moon's reflection.
Well, probably each of us, at some time, has been
as desperate.
Not the moon, though.

Landscape in Winter
Upon the snow that says nothing,
that is endlessly brilliant,
there is something
heaped, dark and motionless.
Then come the many wings, strong and bold.
"Death has happened," shout the carrion crows.
"And this good for us."
and from Yellow
There is the heaven we enter
through institutional grace
and there are the yellow finches bathing and singing
in the lowly puddle.

Today on the bus-May 18, 2009

So the man got on and sat down next to the driver (not a good sign). He proceeded to tell the driver about the peregrine falcon that tried to land on his shoulder. He said it went bumpy, bumpy, bumpy... He asked the driver if this had ever happened to her. She said no. He said are you sure. She said, I think I would remember. He then asked her if she had ever run over a "domestic" animal. No she said. A wild animal? No. She asked him if he had ever run over an animal. He said no, he didn't even have a driver's license. When I got off the bus...the driver said to me...whatever he was on probably wasn't a prescription drug.

Either listening to people or Bikini Kill on the Ipod.

Today's Rant-Sex in a public place May 19, 2009

So, while I was earning my living today, actually between "livings" I was killing some time in a parking lot. This parking lot is part of the public access for a lake on the edge this metropolitan area. A silver SUV (actually all SUVs are either silver or black) pulls in many parking place from where I was . The driver moves his seat all the way back and reclines the seat all the way. The young woman (now I am sure she was a woman but am not sure about the age but young is always assumed, right...but I digress) then bends over the man slight below where I imagine his waist was. Her head then moves up and down. Now, I quickly looked away.

Why am I ranting about this? Public sex is OK in the "city" but not in the exurbs. I mean, you move to those awful place so you won't see public displays of sexual behavior. I mean, suppose I lived out there...heart palpitations, or certainly a cerebral vascular accident waiting to happen!

The blank space above is for you to visualize the scene as described by this observer. Now I know that many of you would say I could find such images on something called the Web...by using something called Google?

But I wouldn't know

Definitions of rant:

• harangue: a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion
• talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
• bombast: pompous or pretentious talk or writing

Ghosts, angels, and talking dogs

The Ghost in Love: A Novel by Jonathan Carroll

"Death interrupted" with talking animals (wink, wink, nudge, nudge [how do you set aside a further parenthetical within a parenthetical] that was an English majors not too subtle reference...). The male hero's Asian female ghost falls in love with his girl friend (thus our hero can only reflect-that his ghost a lesbian loves his girl friend named German from Minnesota...anyway I digress)...and when his girl is talking to their dog...She says (to the dog) you speak English, no, the dog replies you understand "dog". And then there is the episode where the dog puts out an emergency call to cats and rats to help him break into this apartment building...now this is only done in the most extreme emergency because the animals don't want humans to know that they can communicate across species!

It is a story of what might have been...choices made or not made, demons we carry with us...all that good existential stuff (i.e., about the meaning of life). Is there a critique of unreasoning?

Today's Rant --Zelda's Cafe closes

Well it closed (and yes it was named after "that" Zelda)...the coffee shop/cafe in the downtown public library.

So this is my Zelda's story

A couple of years ago in the spring...a woman came into Zelda's (located right off of the main entrance) with her dog (Irish Setter). The cook came out and asked her what she wanted...she said she wanted the soup and salad of the day. The cook said and the usual for (he pointed at the dog). She said yes. The cook said...no lettuce, but he likes the tomato, mayo, cheese,and no need to toast the bun. She said yes. Oh, said the cook, he likes the hamburger well done, right?

Yup...

So it is with sadness that I note the passing of Zelda's

Definitions of rant:

• harangue: a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion
• talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
• bombast: pompous or pretentious talk or writing

Today on the bus-May 12, 2009

So, this really cute little girl about four or maybe five sat up near the driver. She and the driver had this conversation about 'xactly what the driver's [job] did... As the little girl and her mother and siblings got off the bus; the little girl said thank you to the driver. The driver said well thank you. You are a special little girl and I was very lucky today to have you on my bus today...well the little girl's face...a Kodak moment (I guess if you are old enough to know what that means...you probably don't read weird blogs that talk about riding the bus...I digress). I think that what was especially poignant about this moment...well having an adult speak kindly to you was an exceptional experience for this girl

Today on the bus-May 9, 2009

It is Saturday no bus ride today...sigh

Today on the bus-May 8, 2009

Friday...just me, the driver and the other two people who work on Friday...sigh

Today on the bus-May 7, 2009

Today the ride was just a bus ride...sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

Today on the bus-May 6, 2009

This morning as the bus went by a restaurant ( the building is a faux dining car that recently began serving food...previously it was alleged that this was a place where you could go and place a wager on what ever it is one wages on...now this maybe an urban legend...why urban certainly there could never be a suburban legend but surely a rural legend...but I digress in my digress) I noticed that their portable sign said--
Eat here
we serve beef
wow!
So this is where a hamburger could bring their standing rib roast date.

deaths takes some time off

Death With Interruptions by José Saramago


Book reviewers always (not always...not all book reviewers...some) start with the quote "The following day, no one died"
For this to make sense you must know that death is a female and towards the end of the book she speculates about a dog
"...if his death, the other death, the one in charge of all other living beings, animal and vegetable, were to absent herself as she had done, giving someone the perfect reason to begin a book with the words-The next day no dog died."
death (she is adamant that her name is not capitalized). Suspends death for several months. After she decides that people will die again. She also realizes that people are not prepared to die. So gives them a week's notice..by mail (violet colored paper). She speculates about not using "regular" mail but having every one use Outlook express...I can't imagine the support issues
The book is serious but humorous discussion about death.
Although some of my favorite parts were the dog and its owner. The dog doesn't "poop" when they are out for walks, because he doesn't think that the human should have to pick up his "poop". The owner is cellist and the dog has concluded that Bach didn't pick up dog shit.
I don't want give away anything but it does have a surprise ending.
Did you ever think about all the folks that count on people dying? Not just funereal homes, but nursing homes, hospitals, etc.
The insurance companies losing money when folks think that they will not die...


View all my reviews.

Today on the bus--May 5, 2009

Do you suppose the twenty something who had her Ipod cranked up...well we could hear the music...was hurting her hearing?
Because bus riders are tolerant...and she was on her way to work...no one said anything
or they all like Franz Ferdinand

Today on the bus--May 4, 2009

So the driver waited for the rider to buy some beer at the liquor store. Now, I only mention this because no one said anything...hey bus riders rock (is that the right word I digress) or something

This bus like most big city buses has a device in the front for your bike-
So our next rider puts his bike on...gets in and begins to read aloud sharing...now if you could only have understood him