Random Notes 1.0

Franz Kafka, Stevie Wonder, Al Gore and the New Food Groups

Aug 22, 2024

“WHAT EXCUSE DO I HAVE for having written nothing yet today? None. Especially since my disposition isn’t the worst. I constantly have an invocation in my ear: ‘If you would come, invisible tribunal!’” – Franz Kafka, Diaries

I received good news in today’s post: I’m pre-approved!

Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie on Reggae Woman” is not a reggae song. It is, however, an all-time great funk-pop tune.

I’VE GIVEN IT some serious thought, and I have come up with my own version of the Five Major Food Groups:

1. Chickpeas

2. Pitted black Kalamata olives

3. Feta

4. Anchovies

5. Pretzels

What is “seafood-forward cuisine”?

Never mind; I do not want to know.

I don’t want “share plates” for the table. I will order what I would like to eat. If something I order is really good and if I love you, I will offer you a bite or two. And no, thank you, but I don’t want to taste your food. Nor your “share plates.”

“NOW I HAVE taken a closer look at my desk and realized that nothing good can be done on it. There’s so much lying around here, forming a disorder without regularity and without any compatibility of the disordered things, which otherwise makes every disorder bearable.” – Franz Kafka, Diaries

Is there taxation in the marketplace of ideas?

My father was a CPA. Is that why I always loved the Beatles song “Taxman” the best?

“Every night on the network news is like taking a nature hike through the Book of Revelation,” former Vice President Al Gore – author of An Inconvenient Truth -- once said regarding reports of environmental devastation and extreme weather events.

I don’t examine the human condition. I seek to understand the anti-human condition.

When I am stressed or overwhelmed or just have too many things to think about, I feel claustrophobia in my brain.

I also get claustrophobia from being in tight, crowded spaces. Or just thinking about them.

I can’t even think about peering over the edge of a rooftop or looking down from a window on high. When faced with such a scene in a movie, I have to close my eyes until it’s over (please tell me when).

Spiral staircases are not my friends.

Let’s go, Mets!

On Friday, September 20, I will be spending the entire day listening to the new 27-disc deluxe CD box set featuring all professionally recorded shows from Bob Dylan’s 1974 tour with The Band. All 431 tracks. I guess that might bleed into the weekend. Clear the decks.

This week of staying up past midnight every night watching the Democratic Convention is wreaking havoc with my brain and my life.

“I DON’T HAVE enough strength for another sentence.” – Franz Kafka, Diaries

Everything Is Broken

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