And historians will debate whether the Bushes were more puppets of Middle East oil sheiks than the Obama administrative staff members – Geithner, etc. – were puppets of China.
Long live the corporate era.
Where’s a good, interesting technology storyline to keep this ol’ boy occupied? The economic and political news is boringly easy to predict.
= == === ==== === == =
Waiting for the Virtual Birth
Getting ready to leave St. Charles.
We’ve “played” with our nephew Nicholas,
Meaning keeping him occupied so he won’t cry.
Yesterday, Janeil and I went back to Chicago
To see the exhibits at the SIGGRAPH computer graphics
conference —
We saw a couple of dozen virtual reality displays
Where people could put on goggles and gloves
Electronically controlled to give the wearer
The sense of being in another world.
– 31 July 1992
= == === ==== === == =
Unexpected News
Every day is an adventure and…
(But what is a day?
A day is the collection of experiences
Between two long sleeping periods.)
Today’s adventure was once again exciting.
Around 8:30, Janeil answered the phone
And heard the disturbing news from her parents
That her aunt, Irene, had died yesterday.
Irene had a heart attack not too long ago
And spent a few days in the hospital.
She had returned home.
Janeil’s parents called Irene earlier yesterday
(Or the day before)
And got no answer.
Irene’s granddaughter Kathy drove to Irene’s house yesterday
And as the news was reported to me,
Kathy said, “She was dead. Cold.”
The crocus bulbs are blooming
And one daffodil has opened up.
The dwarf crested iris (hybridized) are blooming,
And so are the pachysandra.
– 20 February 1994
= == === ==== === == =
Fortes Fortuna Juvat
To be
[Empty of all but the desire
To survive in a middle-class lifestyle]
Or not to be?
I already solved the puzzle of “to be or not to be” —
I know I want to live,
But living in which environment?
Today I am full of questions to which
I do not want answers.
Too many opinions of others
Wait in my head to give me answers.
I do not want to choose their answers.
I want my own
But do not have the strength
To provide my own answers.
Therefore, I lay in squalor.
Instead, I will concentrate
On providing input to my company
Since I already feel I am making
No other contribution to life.
That says something right there, doesn’t it?
– 12 August 1993
= == === ==== === == =
Vacations Are Like Perfume Bottles
Sitting in the Village Vanguard,
An underground jazz club;
I sit listening to the Billy Childs Trio,
A classic trio jazz group,
And I think back to the past few days in NYC.
I remember the smell of horse manure in Central Park,
Disinfectant in a subway station
And body odor
And musk incense while crossing a street near Times Square.
Not a lot of street people around…
They must be on holiday in the suburbs.
In fact, all the people here seem to be tourists
(It takes one to know one!).
Last night,
while we were standing on the 86th floor
Of the Empire State Building,
I was busily trying to figure out
Which buildings were which
When I suddenly realized,
“Hey! I’m in New York City,
Not some classroom on identifying the landmarks of NYC.
Enjoy the moment for what it is.
Don’t compartmentalize it.”
So here we are in Greenwich Village
Trying to capture the essence of the place.
Something about the chords in this song
Make me feel melancholy.
– 5 September 1993
= == === ==== === == =
Chicago-bound
Just stepped on the 2:05 Metra train in St. Charles
(Anne dropped me off with seconds to spare),
On my way to Chicago to meet Janeil.
Rolling through little unknown communities,
Finally stopping at West Chicago depot.
The rolling of the train on the tracks reminds me
I haven’t fully recovered from the drinking spree
That Kevin and I enjoyed last night.
We started after dinner with our wives.
I drank two half-yards at a place called Scotland Yard,
Then had one beer at some blue-collar dive
Where patrons played/gambled on a game
Using five dice thrown on the bar counter
[We just stopped to pick up passengers in Winfield].
Then Kevin and I went to the Silverado
Where I told him to buy me a beer.
I headed to the bathroom as he called out,
“We aren’t leaving until you finish your beer.”
I get back and he’s bought us a pitcher.
We began a game of darts
[Now picking up folks in Wheaton] called cricket
(Which he wins with a bull’s-eye)
When some fellow walks up to join us.
We then play double out,
And three games of double in-double out,
The “double” meaning the dart must hit an area
On the board which counts for double points
[Now stopping at College Avenue —
Cute woman standing outside the window
And drinking flavored water].
Several people marveled at my ability to slam
The darts into the board with the accuracy
And speed of a baseball pitcher
[Now picking up folks in Glen Ellyn],
Bending tips and replacing them
Like they’re going out of style.
Kevin won three games while I and the other fellow
Won one a piece.
So this is the Midwest?
Highways, high tension wires,
Kids playing hide-n-seek in the backyard,
Golf courses under construction,
Dilapidated house smelling of history
[Just stopped in Lombard].
Kids on the train have heavy Northern accent —
Mom takes their picture — conductor says,
“They uh free cawz theyuh unduh tweluhv.”
[Villa Park]
Road construction workers stand in sun
With hands on hips and orange hardhats
Hiding their bald spots.
Clouds remember dinosaurs and laugh
At our attempt to immortalize ourselves.
Like a bad film in high school health class,
Scenes flash past the window,
Scenes full of potential car crashes, drug deals,
And sites for making love without contraception.
[Elmhurst]
Two teenagers of the female-who-adore-men persuasion
“For sure” “No way”
“I take it day-by-day; you know, college is worse,
I’ve got to find my own place.
I’m just like…you know.”
Idle gossip — boyfriends
“He went out with a friend a couple of times —
I was so-o-o-o hurt. I don’t trust anybody.
I mean, I have friends and a best friend.
I only have two friends who’ve been best friends
For years. I don’t trust anybody, I really don’t.”
[Bellwood]
One looks through her purse.
“I’ve got 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 dollars.
You’ve got to be careful when you step off the train…
One time in Miami…I mean, I’ve got two jobs…
They took everything.”
“What about your boyfriend?”
“There are so many people I hang out with.
You mean he
[Melrose Park]
Was supposedly my boyfriend. What about you?”
“Whatdya mean?”
“I go to a lot of parties.”
“Have you ever…”
“No, I’ve never puked. I’ve passed out but I’ve never puked.”
“You know how people’ve bragged.”
“Have you tried pot?”
“Yeah, once, but nothing happened.”
“Really?”
“Well. I was high for a little while. My boyfriend tried heroin,”
Shocked look from friend,
“But I didn’t try it.”
“Do you smoke yet?”
“A little bit.”
“I smoke those little thin ones, you know, Capri, and all that.”
“Whatdya
[Oak Park]
want to do when we get there?”
“I don’t know. I guess Sears Tower.”
“Yeah, and drink some beer somewhere.”
“Great. We’ll have to head back to Michigan after that.
You shouldn’t have brought all that money.”
“You never know.”
Who are these two rising sophomores?
They don’t have any obvious past experiences in common.
They continue to
[We must be in Chicago — rundown buildings run
Into each other — warehouses, factories, abandoned depots]
Discuss the difference between when to drink beer,
Mixed drinks and shots. Attend college in Florida?
Institutional public housing no different than jails
Or public schools — family living in a welfare net —
Filters out the mediocre while perpetuating mediocrity.
Media today, MTV, for instance, apparently
Promotes a California accent.
-28 July 1992
= == === ==== === == =
Time Slows Down In A Garden
Chirping like soldiers marching down a dusty Southern road,
Frogs keep time in this quiet backwater of the Florida panhandle.
Insects make my legs look like the surface of Mars —
Red and pockmarked with bites.
I sit on the shoreline of a lake.
I sit on the edge of Eden State Gardens,
The former home of some rich person
Who left the house and gardens to the state of Florida.
They say some movie about frogs was filmed here.
Well, I was sitting underneath the shade of a live oak tree
Draped with Spanish moss
But the insects and a bit of rain
Have pushed me back into the comfort of a car.
The Eden State Ornamental Garden
Sits on the edge of the Choctawhatchee Bay.
I came here about three years ago
When my grandmother’s garden club national meeting
Convened in Sandestin.
The gardens haven’t changed all that much —
Still slightly overgrown.
– 23 July 1993
= == === ==== === == =
Waiting To Run
-3°C, 26°F — bright, sunny morning –
I sit in my Ford Ranger waiting for
The 11th Annual Engineer Run
To begin on the Redstone Arsenal,
At Building 7120 (Redstone auditorium)
Near the former Goddard residence.
I will run in the 5K (3-mile) race.
I’m not sure why I’m doing this
Except I have been exercising nightly
And only ran 3 miles last night,
The first time since last summer.
I guess I’m also in the Olympic spirit.
Nancy Kerrigan got
The silver medal in women’s skating last night.
The Norwegians swept
The men’s combined downhill skiing yesterday.
I will let go of my fear and give Janeil
My full attention and consideration.
I mean, really, who do I love?
– 26 February 1994
= == === ==== === == =
treetrunkdings 