The Daily News

Love reign o'er me...
                                   --Pete Townshend, Quadrophenia 

1  Once upon a m'time, in a faraway land, nowhere near here, a cartoon show called King Leonardo and His Short Subjects was shot across the galaxy and into the Saturday morning living rooms of millions of malleable, cross-legged children.

2  Leonardo, a lion king, alongside his sidekick Odio Cologne, a rather dapper skunk, would spend most of his time defending his kingdom from his evil brother, Itchy and his evil friend Biggie Rat.

3  That was the basic premise, but the short subjects portion of the show included a little jewel called Tooter Turtle (sometimes spelled Tudor Turtle, or Tutor Turtle) who constantly dreamed of being something more than he was.

4  His mentor, a lizard named Mr. Wizard, had the power to allow Tooter to experience being something he wasn't, but he also was wise enough to know that what looks like a lot of fun and excitement oftentimes is chock full of dangers and potential disasters.  

5  Each segment would begin with Tooter entering Mr. Wizard's lair with something like a squirt gun or some other prop that would get Mr. Wizard to ask Tooter what it was he wanted to do this time.

6  Tooter would respond that he would want to be a private detective, or a fireman, or anything else he clearly wasn't.

7  Mr. Wizard would then send Tooter to his fantasy destiny, where Tooter would begin with utmost enthusiasm.

8  Inevitably, however, the job would prove too much for Tooter, who would scream, "Help Mr. Wizard! I don't wanna be a ______________anymore!" at which time Mr. Wizard would magically return Tooter back to his own world with a brief commenary followed by the words, "Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle drome; time for dis vun to come home!"

9 Tooter would then spin back to reality where Mr. Wizard would ask him if he learned anything. Tooter would always realize that being true to yoursef was the most important lesson to be learned.

10  Mr. Wizard would follow with the advice, "Be jest vut you is, not vut you is not; folks vut do zis iss da happiest lot!"

11  Truer words.

12  We all have those moments, and what Mr. Wizard used to advise was pretty good, although it does rule out the concept of what you may be turning into.

13  I don't know about others out there, but there are times when I would love to be able to yell, "Help Mr. Wizard!!!! I don't wanna be a_______________anymore!" and hope to be turned and spun back to a safer place.

14  Sometimes we stray from who we are at heart. Sometimes we just don't have Mr. Wizard's out there to wave a wand and turn it all around.

15  2008 seems to be a year when a lot of people are looking around for some sort of rescue from where they are. It might be because times suddenly have become a bit tougher, or just stranger, or that their very worlds have suddenly placed them in a world they just don't know.

16  It's times like those that finding a home inside one's own soul can be them most important thing to hold onto.

17  Polonius advised Laertes, "And this above all: to thine own self be true."

18  Truer words.

19  Live it.

20  I fully intend to. I've had enough.

21  Live life, love life.

22  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

 The Daily News

1  So...Arthur C. Clarke walks into a bar...

2  Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do...

3  The reference is, of course to...

4  But we've been through all of that already.

5  I'm interested in a couple of other things this fine day.

6  So let's just move on early here.

7  So...

8  Is it just me or is Barack Obama beginning to look like the real deal?

9  I haven't seen a politician this graceful and intelligent since John F. Kennedy.

10  In fact, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that Obama is the greatest "black" leader since Martin Luther King.

11  Bar none.

12  I put the quotes around the word "black" for a couple of reasons.

13  For one, I just think he's a strong, intelligent and talented leader black, white, or purple with pink polka dots.

14  That is SO white.

15  White guys always say that about black candidates. I don't care if he's black, white, or even purple with pink polka dots.

16  Yeah you do.

17  The last guy you would ever vote for would be a bloke who is purple with pink polka dots.

18  Read my lips: un-e-lect-able.

19  Anyway, I watched some show last night that pulled me in. They were hammering questions at Barack, and he consistently moved things around, and still maintained a winner's pose.

20  For a brief second, I actually felt that I was watching  a genuine winner, an amazing leader, beyond anyone who has come down the pike in over thirty years.

21  The guy is smart, witty, and eloquent,  AND he is quite winnable.

22  Never mind democrat/repub whatevuh. This guy has smarts, and has shown complete  grace in answering the hundreds of questions shot at him. Contrast to the incumbent.

23  The second reason for the quotations around the word "black" is that he isn't 100% "black" anyway, not that it matters. He certainly has the entire black experience, family ties, experience and heart in him, but he is beyond any label, and makes race both relevant and irrelevant. I for one would be proud to be of the generation that elected the first "black" president. I'm proud of how he handles all of it; many politicians would have folded by now.

24  What begins to emerge is one of the strongest, most intelligent leaders in our nation's history. Maybe THAT is where the focus should be. And if he become our first black president, it will be monumental. And it may finally serve to build a bridge among all the races, at long last.

23  I like Oback. Er...Barack. Obama...

24  I think in historical perspective, this guy will prove to be the real deal.

25  Moving on: Sir Paul. Taken to the cleaners.

26  You really have to question what the heck happened there.

27  Ah, vilderness...

28  I'm just gonna stop right here. I really don't want to hear Heather Mills' side of things,even though with a settlment like that, there may be some smoke.

29  She still comes off as a golddigger.

30  But yeesh...time will tell. Truth will out, sadly.

31  Time to bow out gracefully.

32  Barack is amazing to me. I'm proud to stand up for him.

33   Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

I did the dragon's will until you came
Because I had fancied love a casual
Improvisation, or a settled game
That followed if I let the kerchief fall:
Those deeds were best that gave the minute wings
And heavenly music if they gave it wit;
And then you stood among the dragon-rings.
I mocked, being crazy, but you mastered it
And broke the chain and set my ankles free,
Saint George or else a pagan Perseus;
And now we stare astonished at the sea,
And a miraculous strange bird shrieks at us.

William Butler Yeats

The Daily News

Yeats.

1  So I messed up yesterday because I thought it was March 16, got to school and realized it was St. Patrick's Day!

2  I'm half Irish and always loved St. Patty's Day, always celebrating with some corned beef and cabbage, but good Corned Beef, not that fatty stuff they sellya in most stores.

3  I love the magic of Ireland and the Irish people, not to mention the poetry of Yeats, the drama of Shaw and the music of U2.

4  So I got to school totally embarrassed that I had the wrong day, all week last week thinking it was today.

5  I guess it didn't matter that much because word on the street is that the Pope canceled St. Patrick's Day this year.

6  Interferes with Holy Week.

7  Huh?

8  That's what the students told me all day so technically I didn't miss the day.

9  I had a huge problem with that, despite my own idiocy of not being on top of my own heritage.

10  I just thought that if they had canceled anyone else's holiday, they might have a huge fight on their hands.

11  I don't really KNOW what happened, just that for some reason my father's entire side of the family was snubbed for Easter by a Pope whose name sounds like something you'd order at Denny's.

12  Nothing against Easter, mind you, but who is some Pope to come along and do that?

13  I guess it's not really that big a deal to get all worked up about, but every year I've kept that day as just a fun day and always did an annual Irish meal, complete with rye bread, potatoes, and sometimes even a wee touch of Irish whiskey.

14  Two years ago I had one of the most magical St. Patrick's Days ever, just fun, and a celebration day.

15  This was a bit of robbery. And the fact that I had the day wrong made it even more of a drag.

16  I felt like someone took the green apple outta my lunch.

17  Two years ago I had the best day of 2006, just a day when we had done service to Fiddler on the Roof's song Sunrise, Sunset, and I just had a magical, mystical day. Here's the link to my DN of that day, which also makes mention of The Ducks, my first band and favorite band, and who I certainly hope I can re-unite with sometime this year:

http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=bharrington&nextdate=3%2f17%2f2006+23%3a59%3a59.999

18  It was as though I had the luck of the Irish that day, and it was just an enchantingly memorable day, and it totally made my St. Patrick's Day a grand one indeed.

19  Well, good ol' Maggie (ah, a nice Irish name now!) sent me some thoughts and a bit o' the Irish with a you tube connection to this fellow named John Whelan. Ah, it worked, and it worked wonderfully. Thanks lass, it took a wee bit o' the sting outta the day. 

20  I've enjoyed my Irish side since I was a little lad.

21  In fact, I attribute my love of theatre to the Irish.

22  I was around five or six years old when we went to this church party that was at a bar. My dad had taught me George M. Cohan's Harrigan, changing the name of the celebrated Harrigan to my own last name. Dad used to play piano and I'd join him in a song or two.

23  I learned it and sang it with a perfect brogue, and on the night of the church party, I was asked to step up to the mic and sing the Cohan classic with the twist that I sang about my own family name.

24  I remember seeing rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes, and a great roar when I finished. Every Irish Catholic in San Francisco drew me in as the toast of the town that night, or so it seemed in my Irish eyes, which were smiling.

25  Their eyes were also smiling when I had my first experience with a live audience.

26  The rest as they say is certainly history.

27  Happy belated St. Patrick's Day, finally.

28  Turned out to be plenty o' fun!

29  And thank ye Maggie. You're a fine lass.

30   And to the rest of you, have a beautiful day.

31   Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

 The Daily News

1  Ever just sit in a retaurant and goof on the people at each table around you?

2  I always pretend that I'm not looking, or that I'm even remotely interested in what they they're talking about, or eating, or whatever, but I always seem to meander to various faces that are chewing, talking, sipping or otherwise engaged in regular eating.

3  I always goof on the fact that we have to eat anyway.

4  I goof on the fact that this is how we are all invented.

5  And then I always glance around to see just how people do that with manners and all.

6  On Saturday morning I went out to breakfast and noticed this one family sitting directly across from me, in the corner of the place.

7  I noticed instantly that both the husband and the wife were almost religious about keeping their mouths completely closed while they ate, which most people do anyway.

8  But I also noticed a huge slow-down in how fast I was shoveling food in. I thought to myself that I am a notoriously fast eater, just because given what I do,  I normally don't have the luxury of eating at a nice slow pace.

9  I'm conditioned to getting the meal over with so that I could get back to whatever important thing it is I have to get done.

10  So watching that couple chewing with their mouths sewn shut seemed almost comical to me. I also goofed on the fact that absolutely none of them had their elbows even close to being on the table.

11  I just began goofing on the wife's chewing. My mom once told me that the proper way to eat is with your mouth completely closed, and that you should chew exacty 27 times before swallowing.

12  I tried it once or twice in my life, but 27 times is an awful lot of chews before whatever you are eating is ready to swallow.

13  I say that because I put the lady at that table to the test.

14  I glanced over, since you don't wanna stare, and watched as she forked a piece of sausage into her mouth.

15  I began counting...

16  By about sixteen, she still hadn't swallowed, and I naturally guessed that she was going to chew all the way to 27.

17  Now you can't just stare at one lady, so I looked at the table next to us and saw this kid who had ordered a plate of bacon, eggs, toast, and a huge stack of pancakes. The waitress was just setting it down before both his eyes, which lit up completely startled with delight.

18  He was your classic kid with a horizontal-striped t-shirt, freckles, and who looked like a pillow.

19  He gave some gestures that screamed, "Gimme, gimme!"

20  At that moment, in a dazzling display of multi-tasking, my head had counted up to 23 for the lady chewing the sausage! She was beginning to fork some scrambled eggs and another piece of sausage when the waitress set the plate down for the kid with the freckles.

21  I watched the lady slow down, and exactly 27 chews, she swallowed, delayed around five seconds, and then shoveled in the next forkful.

22  I began deliberately checking out different people, just one or two at a time, some of whom would look back pretending they weren't watching me.

23  I figured that I'll bet everybody is doing the same thing, glancing at the various tables and singling out certain people, watching what they ordered, seeing if it corresponded with their size, and hoping nobody would suddenly come over and say,
"Excuse me sir, but didn't your mother ever teach you that it's impolite to stare?"

24  Nah, I was pretty slick, mixing it up from one person to the next.

25  But the sewn-mouth couple was sorta my morning focus, even though they had no idea.

26  It was tough to count the second round because I really needed to keep my eyes moving to everyone I was with, back to my own plate, around the horn in the restaurant, and finally back to that lady, but I got really good at it.

27  I was watching everyone else for elbows on table, orders-to-physical size ratio, goofy tractor hats, annoying children and all the rest, but I managed to count once more the amount of chews the lady did before swallowing. Her kids ate the same exact way. They were all pretty quiet, except for the husband, who had a voice like Jimminy Cricket. But the interesting thing about all of it was the amount of chews.

28  It was an even 27, exactly.

29  Later on the waitress came by, got my card, and disappeared. I was impressed with my own ability to get a wallet out, slip a card on top of the check, and have nobody at my own table notice. I like doing that. It's nice to be good at least at one thing in this life.

30  In the end, I had decided that the lady's mother probably used to smack her when she was little, and that she trained her husband to keep his elbows off the table and to chew like she had her teeth sewn together, and to chew exactly 27 times, and that after HE was trained, they both teamed up on their kids.

31  Don't get me wrong, I don't just stare down everybody else's stuff all the time, just noticed that I do pay attention to other tables whenever I'm out, and that there have been many times that someone I'm eating with will give an aside to me about someone at another table.

32  I'm guessing that everybody sort of does that with everyone else, but that nobody ever says that they do, so the theory amused me, and I just laughed out loud.

33  When asked, I just waved everyone off saying, "Nothing..." and finished chewing my own breakfast.

34  I chewed it 27 times.

35  I then doubled the tax on the receipt and got my card back into my pocket before anyone could even guess what I had been up to.

36  On the way out, I glanced at that entire family and mentally thanked all of them for a great show, and for all the entertainment, and went off to enjoy the rest of the day.

37  You enjoy the rest of your day too.

38  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

 The Daily News

1  So no sooner to I see a glimmer of hope when I gander through the headlines yesterday.

2  The first thing that struck me was that Little Saigon knucklehead who is starving himself because people won't do what he wants.

3  If the guy was standing on the Golden Gate Bridge about to jump, authorities would see to it that he keeps himself safe from himself.

4  I understand the guy's sentiments, and a large part of me agrees with him.

5  But yeesh.

6  What a horrible thing to do to people who know and love a person, or the children in his family. D00d, demand a vote, go democratic. Petition. But killing yourself publicly is not getting any sympathy from this guy. Sorry.

7  Anyway, I was just having lunch goofing on that guy. You have really to ask yourself: Is Story Road really worth killing yourself over? Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo...

8  I turn the page and staring right at me while I'm eating is the following headline:

Woman
perched
on potty
2 years

HER SKIN HAD GROWN
 AROUND TOILET SEAT

9  Her boyfriend had this to say: "She is an adult; she made her own decision. It was my fault, I should have gotten help for her sooner."

10  Uh...do ya think?

11  Evidently it's okay to watch other human beings self-destruct these days, even when they're clearly not playing with a full deck.

12  She was sitting on a toilet for two years! It didn't occur to the guy that there just might be something wrong with her?

13  She had to wear the seat to the hospital.

14  The sheriff who was on the case was ironically named Mr. Whipple.

15  Ya gotta believe.

16  And then this gem: 800 dogs found in mobile home.

17  How does NOBODY notice that? Fathom that number. Some adults are just incapbable of making decisions.

18  Ah, I was just goofing on all of this at lunch today.

19  Moving on: I hear Brian Sabean was scouting Billy Crystal the other day.

20  Ah, you can run but you can't hide.

21  Moving on, Part the Second: There's stil a modicum of hope. I went up to the Chill last night to watch our wind ensemble's last performance before departing for Carnegie Hall, and they completely blasted all of us right through the ceiling. They just rocked the house and received a hometown standing ovation.

22  That's as it should be. Sometimes that happens.

23  As it should be.

24  Governor Spitzer apologized for getting caught.

25  As it should be.

26  Never trust a moralist, I swear to you.

27  Sort of why I relish being the worst role model in the history of education.

28  Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

29  I better go; too much grousin' today.

30  Y'all keep it moral, willya?

31  And if some adult is showing signs of being a knucklehead, hey help a brother out.

32  Have a great weekend everybody.

33  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1  So...I get home reasonably late last night, but with reason.

2  We had the District Band Festival at our place last night, and Ponch brought his guys over.

3   It was a musical hoot.

4   It was nice, all cooped up in The Booth.

5   Got home reasonably late though, to a couple of computers that needed some disk space cleaned up.

6  So I actually got on the puter at around 10:30 last night, and it took almost an hour and a half to get hourglasses and arrows to move a bit faster.

7  That's late, d00d.

8  Took almost all night to finally get going.

9  I chucked all the pictures that were taking up space, and compressed files 'til I grew old as a March Hare doing so.

10  Ah, it happens with puters.

11  The one I'm using is a laptop from work. It's around a hundred years old and needs administrator approval to defrag.

12  La-dee-dah.

13  Meanwhile I had a million things to say about school funding, and how real this entire thing is beginning to look, and about moralist politicians with million-dollar hookers, and the Giants' pitching and hitting and all, and how I wanna quit a job I'm actually pretty good at, and how even I'm scared for my job.

14  I was going to give y'all this year's pictures of Shakespeare, along with some of the guesses about him.

15  I wanted to celebrate Shakespeare. And Reno. And maybe not being able to do a thing successfully on a job that I feel very successful doing.

16  All that and Guitar Hero too.

17  Yeesh.

18  Instead I'm just gonna boogy along here and give you something to motor with, and then I'm gonna go.

19  Funny because I have two laptops side-by-side, both cleaning up, but naturally the one I'm NOT using is cleaning up twice as fast.

20  The good news, I imagine, is that we've started in on Romeo and Juliet, and only two kids in my class have ever read it.

21  Whether you're an older teacher or someone new to this amazing profession, teaching people about Shakespeare is probably one of the greatest rewards every single year.

22  I won't go into a lot of detail but knowing that a few of these guys are going to "get it" is the ultimate gift to a teacher. Watching students turn on their lights, appreciating true magnificence, and crushing a cup o' Shakespeare is worth every unfulfilled wish in our arsenal.

23  I begin with writing "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks..." and teach the music first.

24  I get around to teaching them what an iamb is, and they always notice "But soft..."

25  And they're drawn in...

26  Well, with the exception of that class two years ago. They thought "But soft..." was a brand of toilet paper.

27  Hey, it's a livin'.

28  They got it yesterday, totally. Almost every single student.

29  Nothing is better.

30  Anyway, that's the news.

31  Think I'll turn in and dream about that beautiful gift.

32  Makes it all worthwhile.

33  See ya.

34  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1  Has anyone seen the Wendy's commercial where Wendy suddenly comes alive and starts wolfing down a bacon burger?

2  Creeeeepy.

3  Like I don't think it's bad or anything, it's just that Wendy is not supposed to animate suddenly.

4  It's sort of like finding a finger in your chile.

5  Oh, all right, all right!

6  This was not intended to disparage their fine products.

7  In fact, Wendy's gave away free ice cream a couple of years ago, even though it wasn't their finger, and was completely the work of someone unrelated to Wendy's.

8  They do own the animation though.

9  And then some girl started talkiing and I was WAY afraid they were going to give Wendy a voice.

10 I don't know that I could deal with that one.

11  Moving on: Are kids smoking a drug called salvia all of a sudden? First I've heard of it. Evidently people are buying it like crazy online before it becomes illegal.

12  Here's your big chance, America!

13  For whatever reason, everybody has to get themselves somehow into altered states in order to get through the day.

14  Gettin' high.

15  Ya can't beat it.

16  The new marijuana.

17  Supposed to taste horrible and last about twelve seconds.

18  Gettin' high.

19  What's wrong with the old marijuana?

20  M'bad.

21  It helped me experience senility at a very young age.

22  Now I'm just silly and giddy all the time.

23  The new marijuana. Fancy that. Salvia.

24  I swear.

25  Why would you even name it that?

27  At some point I'm thinking that people might try a normal state. A good night's sleep.  A balanced diet. Exercise. All the things I don't do.

28  I guess as you move through life you come to realize that putting all that crapola into your body is going to give you terrible health, bad teeth, bedsores, and hemorrhoids.

29  Pretty romantic, huh?

30  And it isn't like you don't get all sorts of warnings. If each morning after a night before you awaken and the image in your mirror looks back at you like a bad bank loan, it might be time to slow it down, partner. 

31  Waking up with iodine mouth and the beer stinks isn't doing much for your love life either. That stuff comes outta your pores, ya lug. And you just get more outta shape and tuckered.

32  Yeesh. I'm not trying to be preachy, I swear to you. It's just that I really like knowing when I awaken that the day can get better and better. It's pretty nice to live life and to love life without the latest thing that could make you high.

33  I honestly think the guys in charge WANT everybody in a zombied state. Keeps everyone at bay and hopelessly unmotivated. I'm thoroughly convinced. Six billion people will be doing salvia or whatever within the next year. I won't be one of 'em.

34  Well, I think I'm gonna go to Wendy's and celebrate the day with a Frosty. I'll even pay for it. Meanwhile, take care of your health.

35  Have a good one.

36  Peace, yo.

  ~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1  Howdy.

2   A winter's day. Something like that.

3  Some updates:

4  For those of you interested in the YB Theatre, I think I forgot to mention that Debbie Rocha is teaching dance at YB now.

5  Debbie is Paz's wife and has been a choreographer for years, so it's nice that YB has dance.

6  I honestly don't remember the last time I was in the Theatre at YB. I understand they have a  new stage floor, new curtains, and mirrors on the back wall.

7  You heard that last part correctly. Not sure how that works out, but it probably works great for dance.

8  I don't know how it works out with plays. They may have a black traveller, but I don't know.

9  I've driven past YB and even been to a Camp Everytown party over there earlier this year, but it's really difficult thinking about going back into the Theatre.

10  I hope everything is okay over there. Last I heard they had a Fall show, a resident director, and are in between shows as of now.

11  That may have changed, but my info is sketchy at best and I've been a bit too busy up at the Chill to see too much of anything these days.

12  And it's not looking good for lots of things these days in education. Suddenly there's a huge 10% cut and everyone is scrambling around worried about their jobs.

13  Yesterday, Steve Barnhill, who has 18 years in, asked me if he thought we were safe.

14  I don't know. Honestly. I like to think so, but any time there's cuts it's nerve wracking.

15  I get to help set up a huge district meeting tonight up at the Chill.

16  Suddenly my nickname for the place has become ominous.

17  They're expecting over 500 people in our cafeteria, which has a fancy name, Cougar Hall. That's my realm, and they're invading tonight.

18  The beauty part of working up there is that it's pretty easy to head for the hills.

19  I'm hoping I can set up and jet outta there.

20  I'm just not the sort of person who can take time to go to a Board meeting and shout and scream and cry about things.

21  Years ago I did that and pointed fingers at a District muckety muck and called him a bold-faced liar, right in front of God and everybody.

22  I remember Ocamb-Winters on one side of me and Galindo on the other, and they were almost pulling on my sleeve to get me to sit down. I was ready to go for some guy's jugular, I swear.

23  Metaphorically speaking.

24  That was a million years ago. I found out that due to a lot of politics and lying that my poor little Language Arts classes were going to be dissolved in mid-March, taking some wonderful students suddenly away from their teacher. I saw the entire thing as a political move, but they didn't understand.

25  It had to do with the District getting even with the Union over class-size issues, and I suddenly saw how ruthless those things could get. I managed to schedule something in the Theatre that involved my Language Arts classes, which prevented them from making the changes so they couldn't use the "we've already made the changes" argument at the meeting.

26  When they used it, I stood up and told them that the changes HADN'T been made yet and that they could still stop the changes from occurring.

27  When I called a District guy a liar, he pointed at me and shouted, "You're way out of line!" I shot back, "YOU'RE out of line, lying to everyone in this room. You can prevent the move TONIGHT and everybody in here knows it!"

28  My, oh my. I had some cajones back in those days. They never DID change from their strategy, but it was a bit of a moral victory for all the people in the audience. Galindo thought I was going to have a heart attack that night.

29  Tonight is totally different. There will be changes, that's for sure, and I'm quite certain that much of it will be political. Those things never change.

30  But I think I'll just throw a stage out there, and a mic or two, and then I'm gonna head for the hills.

31  This one is going to get really ugly. It will give new meaning to the epithet Chill-on-the-Hill.

32  Layoffs.

33  I'll keep you informed.

34  B-r-r-r-r.

35  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1  Well, it's Monday. You know the rules.

2  I slipped in to the Olinder Center yesterday and completely enjoyed Northside Theatre Company's Arsenic and Old Lace.

3  Some fun.

4  I really wanted to stay and chat with the members of the Company but alas! Senility and old age attacked me almost instantly and I flew home in the TOOOOOONDRA.

5  So much to do, so much to do.

6  It was nice to get back into some great theatre. I've had times this year when it just feels like I've been kidnapped, stuffed in a trunk and told that I have to do things.

7  I guess that's just the 21st century under the Bush dictatorship.

8  Sometimes I really feel that I've spent the past 25 years ignoring life completely.

9  Well, avoiding it.

10  The only things that make any sense are my family and my friends. The rest of it seems like a crock of boushit.

11  I include DN fans as friends by the way.

12  Kinda scary though.

13  Do you ever feel like you're losin' it?

14  I don't mean that in a bad way, just in a sort of CRS way.

15  It's affecting everybody.

16  Something in the drinking water, I'm being told. At least on AOL, where you can get whatever news they wish to tell us.

17  The latest gig is that there have been traces of drugs in our drinking water.

18  How does that affect anyone in the 21st century? Nobody drinks out of fountains or taps anymore. Unheard of. It is the nature of the human being in the 21st century to drink water from plastic bottles. We had a school dance earlier this year and people were telling me they were dying of thirst.

19  I pointed to three different water fountains, and they looked at me like I had twelve heads.

20  Maybe they know something I don't.

21  Maybe it's the water that's giving everybody CRS.

22  If you're unsure of what CRS is, then I apologize.

23  Ah, coincidences. I just glanced up at the teevee and there's a Brita commercial on.

24  This just continues to amaze me. Ferris Beuller is on, and it just had a commercial for Brita.

25  It's the middle of the night once again. I saw the play, came home, ate, and then conked out. I just woke up, took a look at a response to an e-mail I sent out last week.

26  I sent it to some close friends. It was a plea for them to stop working and to start goofing off. I sent a series of pictures I had taken in Tahoe a few weeks ago, as well as some DN esque goofy pictures.

27  Saturday night I went to a party at my sister's house and someone had made reference to the pictures.

28  I had utterly no recollection of having sent them, but I did remember sending all of them an e-mail.

29  (Twilight Zone music plays.)

30  Wasn't that long ago.

31  CRS.

32  Can't Remember Shit.

33  Pretty well-known nowadays, but some guy said that to me in a bar around twenty years ago. I put it in a one-act play I wrote, borrowing from life, but I think CRS is pretty well known by a whole bunch of people.

34  They just can't remember it.

35  Happy Monday.

36  Fly low.

37  Live life, love life.

38  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington