Something That Happened.

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Stories by Harold, in a variety of formats - including text, audio, video, and podcasts.

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Thursday, September 11, 2003

Regrets...
I've had a few.
But then again,
Too few to mention!

--"My Way",
written by Paul Anka

When I hear that song, I think of Frank Sinatra, and sometimes Elvis or Sid Vicious -- all of whom have been known to perform, in their own unique manner, that wonderful song. Wonderful because -- though I don't always enjoy hearing it, I've heard it so much -- the song is a wonderful personal anthem. That's something we all need: a personal anthem. A song that praises our individuality; a mark of devotion to oneself. After all, they say you're going to have a helluva time loving anyone else unless you've first learned to love yourself, right?

This is not to replace your love for your God, or your spouse, or your family. I'm simply saying that we all need to give ourselves a bit more self-love at this time of year. (No, not that type of self-love !) Too many of us beat up on ourselves throughout the year, and then nearly destroy ourselves at year's end. No wonder there are so many suicides during the Holidays; the messages bombarding us are to Buy Buy Buy and to Give Give Give -- but what if you have nothing to give but love? If you have a dearth of that good stuff, then you'll have a bitch of a time spreading it around to your neighbors.

So be good to yourself, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Wiccan, Athiest, Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, Podcastin, or otherwise. Don't take the pills, they won't do you or anyone else any good; you'll simply miss out on the Next Big Thing (which may turn out to be Your Next Big Thing). Just do things your own way, singing that little hymn as you do so:

For what is a man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has naught.
To say the things,
He truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels.
The record shows,
I took the blows
And did it my way!

Thursday, July 03, 2003

It's hotter than hell in sunny Southern California right now. Great days for the beach, or entire days spent kicking back in the library, which is exactly what we did yesterday. There's nothing like curling up with a good book, such as We Blog (oh no, we're not going to blog about blogs here, are we?) or The Road To Wellville, which is turning out to be a really fun read. I remember writing a parody (satire? I often get them confused, but I believe this was a parody) of T. C. Boyle's short story Greasy Lake some years ago in a city college course. I had enjoyed Mr. Boyle's story, and I thought my version turned out well, but I never read another of T. C. Boyle's stories until this year, after catching him at the Festival of Books in Los Angeles. After enjoying him read from his latest, Drop City, I simply had to pick up something by him, so the library turned up a collection of shorts, After The Plague, and the aforementioned Wellville.

I'm a slow reader, so you won't be seeing any reviews of Wellville any time soon, but I will say that After The Plague was a pleasure to read, and certainly demonstrates the range of Mr. Boyle's imagination. I don't have any marker besides Greasy Lake to compare to, but the stories collected in this book ranged from funny to frightening, and although most demonstrated a brevity of words, there certainly wasn't a shortage of ideas. Stories covered territories such as voyeur websites, an author's superstardom, and the end (and rebirth) of civilization. Some stories compelled me more than others, of course, but every story was a delight. I'm enjoying Mr. Boyle's style and looking forward to reading more, which I shall do as soon as I have the time.

posted by Harold 7/03/2003 03:42:00 PM

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I once posted, in this space (this right column), the following:

If I had friends they would be listed here

That particular bit o' text, that silly and idiotic phrase, was repeated a dozen or two dozen or so times and was intended to be temporary. I had been working on a project -- a new layout for this blog -- and had intended for that text to be placeholder content. That is, the text was supposed to temporarily replace the content that had previously occupied this column (which was a list of links to friends -- that is, other blogs and web sites I linked to). I didn't know what content I was going to place into that (this) space, so I placed a bunch of duplicate phrases here as a placeholder so that I would remember to fill in this space again later.

At the same time, I thought I was being cute with the heading:

NEW & IMPROVED FRIENDS!

The fact remains: I still don't know what content to put here, in this column. Links again? Pictures? Video? Audio? ~~Ads? Oh, hell no!~~ It hasn't come to me yet, but I'm sure it will eventually, and when it does it'll come quick and (as usual) with consequences.

*Basically, this indicates you may do whatever you like with the content on this website except profit financially from it. However, if you are from one of the poorer nations of this world, particularly Nigeria, please contact me with as much e-mail as you possibly can detailing financial offers I may take into consideration. I am particularly interested in the transfer of large sums of money. Please also keep in mind the fact that my penis is quite tiny.