Happy "Festival of Giving"!

I was walking past the Wal Mart today (is that one word or two?) and had a vision of a depressing post modern metaphor for how commercialism and big business have ruined the Christmas spirit.

'Tis of course the season for the Salvation Army (is buskers the right word?) to stand in front of drug stores ringing their bells for donations. Now while some of these (does it seem like they're always women?) are the friendliest people you could hope to meet, most are rather unhappy seeming folks. I can't blame them, if my job were to stand out side all day ringing a bell and being nice to people I'd get pretty bored pretty quickly, and I am sure they are not the best paid people either. The woman outside Wal Mart is down right truculent looking.

As I passed her station today and looked up I noticed a Zebra Dove (the dumbest birds alive) which had managed to get itself inside the store and was beating its wings against the windowed area above the automatic doors in an attempt to escape, while the truculent santa-be-hatted Salvation Army woman gazed up blankly at it, ringing her bell irritably.

The metaphor immediately entered my head "Dove of peace trapped by Wal Mart, Santa does nothing."

. . .

“Well doc, you know those tiny birds that clean our teeth. Lately I’ve been eating those guys like popcorn”

There are these tiny little birds here called common waxbills. They're ridiculously small. Where I come from birds that size would freeze solid within 15 seconds. As I oft observe, I want to take three or four of 'em, pop 'em in my mouth and start eatin' 'em like popcorn...

Not really... I mean... that would be kinda gross, not to mention the serious hygienic and social issues that arise from that sort of behaviors.

What is particularly impressive about the little guys is their numbers. All the individuals on campus seem to roost in the same bamboo hedge in the art building. The pure volume of tiny bird is incredible, it brings to mind both Hitchcock and the scene in The Mummy with the flesh eating scarabs.

Anyway... I'm gonna go make popcorn...

To blog or not to blog

I have decided to blog.

Why?

1. Well, obviously I'm insane.

2. I need practice communicating my thoughts in writing.

3. I believe it is healthy to explore dead end ideas for the sake of exploration. Especially in a discipline where I am required to explore certain cerebral trails out of necessity leaving others unexplored.

4. The world is really really awesome and my brain is really really full and I want to share.

I don't plan on updating frequently, who knows I may hardly update at all. I certainly don't expect most of what I post to be interesting or relevant. I intend this to be a sort of thesis grave yard for dead end ideas and observations on the world, nature, story, art, the way the spine connects to the neck, palm tree (still can't get over 'em), the human ear, etc. etc. so don't expect it to make much sense.

So without further ado...

Onward and upward!