Social evolution. Houseplants and gardening. Magnets and gravitation. Undistilled life, complete with its uneventful hours...days...and years. Computering, sewing, landscape and skyscape digital photography and picture modification for various special uses, and of course cooking. I cook well, and can do wonders with only flour, salt, vegetables and some meat and oil.
Houseplants, bicycles and sunny Autumn afternoons in the back yard, near a stand of walnuts that scent the air with their olivelike ripeness.
Ratios and proportions. Relationships. Personal and group dynamics.
Nutrition. A quick list of substances I've avoided all my life includes: MSG, sodium nitrate (lunchmeats, corned beef, hot dogs, ham, bacon), Olestra, phosphates (the carbonating agent in soda pop), high fructose corn syrup (found in soda and many sweetened foods), heavier plant fats (solid at room temperature), egg yolks, sloe berries, rosemary, hemlock.
Elements I've always sought in my daily intake are: milk, adequate water and (100%) juice, a daily multiple vitamin, minus iron, plenty of carbohydrates, animal protein and vegetables.
..If either it has no words, or has words which say something coherent. For instance, opera holds little interest for me. Even if the words were in English, the divas' voices are above my easy hearing range. The rock band, "Yes," is about my limit of tolerance for "arty" music. I don't enjoy engaging my appreciation for tonality for a socially insignificant or outright nonsensical presentation. In general, as media go, I strongly prefer realism over escapism.
Movies
..So I screen mostly documentaries or geographical explorations. Most of todays' currently running films don't represent any corner of the world I know. Some are even animated, which is doubly alien to my experience.
Sweet and sour propaganda, that's movies. I prefer to take my Party Line in its natural and more palatable form, over a cup of java at the local eatery....
Television
..Between the talking heads and breakneck commercials, it does have its moments. Those moments, for me, are usually either in newsreel footage or expanded event coverage, like the morning of 911 or the days of Hurricane Katrina. But NASCAR? I see that stuff every day, during my 1.3 mile walk to work.
I like to keep notes on what news I hear. This is easy with the daily paper. But television (of course deliberately) moves far too fast for notes.
On Keeping Informed:
..nice tabula rasa word, "informed." I prefer to think of my personal newsgathering as "doing a refresh on yesterday's view of the world around me."
Unless teevee slows its pace a little and ditches the background music on the sportscasts, they won't have me in their audience.
And I won't patronize their sponsors. Phhhhhhhhbt !
Books
..Ah, here we go! Yes, books are patient.
They do not require batteries.
Heroes
..Henry Miller, Arthur Miller, Lite ..Miller.., Phyllis Diller
It's time to turn up the garden! Let's go, let's play in the dirt. See what changes winter's brought. Thatch the herb patch. Dig out the dandelions, buckthorn, etc. Let the sun bake out the 500 pounds of dried cow dung you've tilled into the soil.
Hi, people. If your kids are raised and you still think the world could be improved, email me.
But if all's right and complete in your life...what are you doing here on MySpace?
S'matter? --cat got your tongue?
HowManyOfMe.com
There are: 665 other people with my full name in the U.S.A.
Who I'd like to meet: People who have learned to rein in their own pretentions, keeping them stowed for when they're needed. People who can drop the act and get things done.
Billy Joel, Ian Anderson, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, a few select news columnists, and anyone in the building trades who may need an apprentice with a driver's license, no points, insurable.
I'd rather avoid:
Cokeheads, people working in sales, "my way or the highway" controllists, and people who push on others their unfounded beliefs. That's about it. A tiny but vocal percentage of a big world.
