No matter; they're both really amazing and inspirational. Just an observation.
~~
I've been visiting McDonald's lately...not because I have any great love for it, but because I want to take a stab at their big Monopoly game. Pathetic, I know--but what are you gonna do when you're as poor as me, yet with so many goals that require big bucks? Anyway, I order my customary iced tea today, and the girl who rings up my order--who has already struggled for what seems an endless amount of time to find the key for hot fudge during the previous customer's order--makes me think, "mine will be easy for her." But no. She manages to give me a large iced coffee instead--and after having to wipe off the drenched cup (apparently, she can't fill a styrofoam receptacle, either) I literally gag on the first sip. I hate coffee. I can't tell you how much I find the taste disgusting. The two worst things on anyone's breath, in my opinion, is coffee and cigarettes, and I avoid both. It took a literal hour to get the funky aftertaste to go away. Why didn't I notice it was coffee, you ask? Well, I was thinking of sex or something (as was she, apparently--not paying attention to where she was headed with the cup), and you have to admit coffee and tea share the same color, when they're coming from the mass dumping spigots of a place like McDonald's. Perhaps I should stay away and just put my dollar into the lottery, if I'm gonna jettison my earnings into the big vortex of chance. I make better tea, anyway.
~~
All of my new tattoo work is itching so bad, I feel like I have scabies. I always forget between tattoos how annoying the healing process is. Not only did I get the new ouroboros image on my arm, but I had Donald touch up my old sacral tattoo from '91, plus add a little shading to my ankle piece. Jesus, I'm scratching at myself like some homeless person. It has become such an absentminded act that my Metaphysics instructor mistook my grimace while digging away at my arm during class as frustration over a particularly complicated explanation of the bundle theory. Eeyah, I'll be glad when these things heal and I can relax.
~~
Valerian Root=bad for Alexandra. I've gotten into a habit of staying up really late to study (or just to toss and turn with insomnia), and then coming home after school (on the days I'm not working) to sleep for a couple of hours. This has, of course, created a vicious cycle, and I'm exhausted during the day. The other night, I remembered I had purchased some Valerian Root that was on sale last year in anticipation of the insomnia I have when I'm under stress. I took it at about 2 in the morning, and woke up in a cold sweat at 5 am, after just having a series of dreams that were beyond disturbing. It was if I was in some sort of Lovecraftian otherworld, where the walls were made of flesh that exuded macabre organ music that somehow had a scent, and all the inhabitants were chittering, psychologically threatening entities. During those terrified moments in the dark, I recalled I had read somewhere that Valerian sometimes causes bad dreams in some people.
Yeah, no shit. Guess I'll pass on the next dose.
~~
I know it's no longer cool to like Bruce Springsteen, but I find merit in his work. Plus, his politics are awesome. I just ripped The Rising and am currently listening to it. His writing is very simple, but it's very good:
"Lonesome Day"
Baby, once I thought I knew
Everything I needed to know about you
Your sweet whisper, your tender touch
But I didn't really know that much
Joke's on me, well it's gonna be okay
If I can just get through this lonesome day
Lonesome day
Hell's brewin' dark sun's on the rise
This storm'll blow through by and by
House is on fire, viper's in the grass
A little revenge and this too shall pass
This too shall pass, yeah I'm gonna pray
Right now all I got's this lonesome day
Lonesome day
It's alright it's alright it's alright
Yeah
It's alright it's alright it's alright
Yeah
It's alright it's alright it's alright
Yeah
It's alright it's alright
Better ask questions before you shoot
Deceit and betrayals bitter fruit
It's hard to swallow, come time to pay
That taste on your tongue don't easily slip away
Let kingdom come I'm gonna find my way
Yeah through this lonesome day
Lonesome day
Lonesome day
Lonesome day
It's alright it's alright it's alright
Yeah
It's alright it's alright it's alright
Yeah
It's alright it's alright it's alright
Yeah
It's alright it's alright it's alright
Yeah
It's alright it's alright it's alright
Yeah
It's alright it's alright
Lonesome day
Lonesome day
Lonesome day
~~
I find Leonard Nimoy's voice incredibly soothing. Perhaps it's all of the early childhood viewings of Star Trek and In Search Of... that have wormed their way into my brain to create some sort of subconscious response, but the timbre of his voice is so incredibly peaceful to me. I've been watching a bunch of episodes of A&E Mysteries that he narrated, and I just feel so good, afterward. I want him to record all of my reading assignments.
