For a Moment of Forgetting... (Musings on Materialism)

To paraphrase Glenn Phillips, we've all got a lot to be thankful for. Some mornings you don't wake up feeling too thankful. Isn't it odd then, that an icecream cone and a chocolate cookie can suddenly make you feel better when you're feeling low? Conversely, eating an icecream cone and a cookie can ruin your chargrilled chicken sandwich. Had to eat the cone before it melted...

I listened to Peter Gabriel on the way into work this morning, and got hit by these lines. We're all so alike...

I caught sight of my reflection, I saw it in the window
I saw the darkness in my heart
I saw the signs of my undoing, they had been there from the start

And the darkness still has work to do, the knotted chords untying
The heated and the holy, oh they’re sitting there on high
So secure in everything they’re buying

I can hear the distant thunder of a million unheard souls
Of a million unheard souls
Watch each one reach for creature comforts
For the filling of their holes

... To paraphrase (more like read into) Chris Cornell, I can have the Wooden Jesus of materialism and "spend all my money on a future grave" or the real thing and be satisfied. I shouldn't quite be so much like everyone else.

I Had A Dream...

Do people still read this thing? We'll find out I guess.

So I had this dream last night with Dr. Sachs, the chair of the Belhaven music department, in it.

There was a record shop (they sold actual records) that I frequented. It was similar to Beebop on 55, only it was around the other side where Blockbuster is now. Apparently, it was owned by Dr. Sachs. Well, one night when I went to the store, it had been replaced by a Barnes and Nobles. The only records they had were these Shel Silverstine records (don’t know if Shel Silverstine ever made a record…). While I was brousing the store, I got a call on my cell phone, which turned out to be Dr. Sachs…

Dr. Sachs was very upset. Apparently he went out of business on the account that I didn’t buy enough records. He felt that I owed it to him to be his friend, since it was my fault the store got bought out. I decided I better get back home before he showed up. He started following me around, and I got really creeped out (he was wearing a light blue cardigan the whole time). After I got home, I was really paranoid. He came and knocked on my front door, and I locked the door. Then somebody knocked on my backdoor. I let out a tremendous “NOOOOOO!!!!” and then I looked out the window. It was not Dr. Sachs, but Danny and Jon Aaron. I opened the door and told them to hurry up and come in, because Dr. Sachs was hanging around and I didn’t want him to get in. They stood there like complete morons, smiling and making Danny and Jon Aaron hand gestures. Just as Dr. Sachs started to force his way in the door, my alarm went off, and I awoke from my dream.

Pretty weird huh?

Earlier, I had dreamed that due to some sort of impending military strike in the area, which was somehow connected to the current conflict in Lebanon, Grant was organizing a militia (consisting of He, Page, the young-marrieds, and I) and was going to use the event as a foil to take the local Wal-Mart by force. It was his assertion that 1.) If we controlled Wal-Mart, we would have everything we needed to survive the war (or nuclear attack or whatever it was, can’t remember), and 2.) because it was the middle of a war, there would be no retribution for our actions. At first I went along with it, then I realized there was no way Grant and a bunch of us pencil necked geeks could take a Wal-Mart by force (although we were heavily armed for some reason). The whole thing fell apart in the end, but I can’t remember why…


All your spirit rack abuses
Come to haunt you back by day
All your Byzantine excuses
Given time, given you away

So don't be surprised when daylight comes
To find that memory prick your thumbs
You'll tell them where we run to hide
I'm already dead, it's a matter of time
- Marillion