Idea

I have an idea. It is a really great idea. I have had this idea for a few years always there hovering on the edge of my consciousness. It is the kind of idea that makes people look at you, mouth agape, and say "That is a brilliant idea, how the hell did you ever come up with it." I am not sure if they are shocked that it is a good idea, or appalled that my goofy ass came up with it. Either way it is an idea that makes you smile everytime you think of it because you think to yourself man that is a great idea, and not only it is a great idea, but I came up with it all by myself. I mean this is the kind of idea that people build societies around. The kind of idea you can be put into history books for. Squares in towns you have never heard of in countries that you never knew existed will be named for you just because of this idea. This idea is something that even your friends, once they get over the horror of not coming up with it themselves, use as a way of introducing themselves to other people. They go to parties and say you know the guy that came up with (inserting your idea here), I know that genius. We used to hang out and drink lots of beer, honest to god. No one will believe them of course, because this idea is so damn good that they will think your slug friends could never have hung out with the mind that came up with this idea. This idea gets your name on the top of the letterhead. Children will have to read books about this idea, parents will struggle to work this idea into their day to day lives. It is a really good idea. There is only one small problem. As I mentioned earlier this idea has been hovering around for a while. It is like a shadow that you sort of see when you cut your eyes really fast in one direction. It is a fleeting idea, an idea that is so good that it makes you want to really work to have it. It is not some cheap ass idea on maybe trying Korean food, it is an idea thtat will ring down throughout the centuries. Which leads us to the problem with the idea. The fundamental flaw that makes this idea like every other idea I have ever had (that is to say a generally bad idea). I have not had it yet.

Death comes for the Archbishop

Ok so my friend B_____ is not an Archbishop, and Death did not come for him he went to it, I just thought it was a snazzy way to title a blog entry. In fact, the poor fool in question was an agnostic of many years. I guess that does not stop Death from coming it may just make it a little less or more painful, or maybe it makes it more complicated. I am sure that a conversation between B____ and Death would have had some interesting moments, and probably was sprinkled with a few words that should not be repeated lest they ruin some people's moral fiber. Anyway, Vegas buried poor B______ in style or, at least in as much style as our little band could muster. Most everyone kept their dignity, but certainly did not keep their money. B_____ had his maudlin moments, but for the most part he seemed resigned to his fate, as only those who know it is futile to struggle against fate can. He is/was not a morbid fellow, except maybe morbidly obese, and he seemed to be, in the words of the Mayor, "jubilant" near the end. That may have been because he could not be bothered to walk a straight line, or finish a coherent sentence, or it may have been because even though his sand was about to run out of his hourglass, he was amongst pals and was having a very good time. I did manage to catch him in a reflective moment, he had just tottered out of the bathroom, and asked him what he thought about the world now that he was about to leave it. He valiantly tried to focus his redshot eyes, snorted, and said "in the end there is no Justice just Death" then, turned and put another one dollar bill into an entertainer's G-string.

Circles

Sorry but this is what Tidy would call a "random mind dump." When we are born we each enter into a world full of possibilities . This is what I would call our circle of possibilities. Granted we are all born into different sets of circumstances. I would not be so foolish as to believe that a Borgia or a Bernadotte's circle is the same as some child born to dirt farmers in Alabama, or one born in Zambia. Thus, before we even began to scream for air on the planet which we are going to inhabit for our entire lives our circle of possibilities has been narrowed (or maybe widened). Throughout childhood this circle is pretty much totally beyond our control. We are young, and people feed us, bathe us, and wake us on their schedule not ours. However, during this time circles are opening and closing to us, and we probably are not even aware of it (if we ever are aware). Hopefully, one day each of us wakes up or staggers out of whatever pub they have been in for the last 8 hours, and makes the decision that, as far as we are able, we are going to attempt to take control of the circles that lie before us. Not a whole lot we can do about the circles that lie behind us except to try not to let them close (sorry got distracted by a pretty girl walking past my window) any of the circles in front of us. From that moment on, each decision we make hopefully is part of a plan. Although, I truly wish I had a plan, I am not so sure that I know what that plan is. I sort of think that we make our decisions which close or open circles to/in front of us, and then in a reflective moment or in a drug induced haze, adjust ourselves to the decisions we just made. No matter how small a decision is, to go left or to stay right for example, circles open, shut, widen, or narrow in response. Getting out of bed 10 minutes earlier or later may put you at that red light some knucklehead runs through, and off you go to the hospital instead of going to work to sleep through some important meeting or to send some insulting e-mail to your boss (quite by accident of course). I guess my friend B_____ who's funeral date is fast approaching made the critical decisions that lead him to Death in Vegas. I tried to ask him the other day, but he seemed to be just a little too calm to provide me an adequte answer. All he said was "do you think I have got anything figured out?"