"Meanwhile, I couldn't stand the sight of him-in print or on TV.  He
was a man of talent and ability, to be sure.  I recognized that much.
He knew hot to knock his opponent down quickly and effectively with
the fewest possible words.  He had an animal instinct for sensing the
direction of the wind.  But if you paid close attention to what he was
saying or what he had written, you knew that his words lacked
consistency.  They reflected no single worldview based on profound
conviction.  His was a world that he had fabricated by combining
several one-dimensional systems of thought.  He could rearrange the
combination in an instant, as needed.  These were ingenious-even
artistic-intellectual permutations and combinations.  But to me they
amounted to nothing more than a game.  If there was any consistency to
his opinions, it was the consistent lack of consistency, and if he had
a worldview, it was a view that proclaimed his lack of a worldview.
But these very absences were what constituted his intellectual assets.
Consistency and an established worldview were excess baggage in the
intellectual mobile warfare that flared up in the mass media's tiny
time segments, and it was his great advantage to be free of such
things."

...if there was no death and people lived on forever...you think there would be an end to philosophy, religion, science and basically all deep thought?  and in that same tangent, what if you tried to live your life counting backwards and celebrating an approximate subtraction of lifespan...in that case would you be living a more gutsy lifestyle?  if you weren't gutsy....could you replace that with curiousity? 

Egad, this book is tearing me apart.  Been doing tons of reading....driver is sick....jakarta isn't a place to be wandering the streets by foot...even if you thought you were a gung ho backpacker...this isn't the place to be showing off.  so as the resident tourist, i'm on my 2nd go around in indonesia and i'm actually not quite convinced it will be my last...i get this feeling bali deserves a 2nd visit and maybe not alone...just a hunch...The shock value has dissipated and i'm learning the roads and routes.  I can make meal time decisions and re-visit those divine (but not necessarily hygienic) dishes....and best of all....3 months later, my stomach lining might have developed a higher tolerance for 1. chilli 2. scum 3. miscellaneous. 

Magic number - $9.00.  ice cream on me! - extremely close to buying my 2nd piece of art...an indonesian piece...anyone with anyone info on gallery and auction advice...let yourself be known. 

hope everyone enjoyed the MLK weekend...in that same spirit, i'll be celebrating less in the MLK spirit and more of a Farrakhan type celebration....Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha this friday as they slaughter goats in their backyards...very disturbing to be seeing small packs of somalian goats every quarter mile chained alongside road fences for sale....i'm going to have to inquire on how they go about killing these animals in their backyards...and yet they talk about epidemics in aceh....

heading to jogja(yogjakarta) tomorrow...temple at borubodor...

lax- i just watched supersize me and could think of nothing but the glory days of wrestling...fetal lunged and a frigid tiger tony...you give me one call to re-create this bet and you're on....PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER now has new meaning....and while other people are witness to this text...HAS ANYONE READ SHOGUN?? I'm going to need a 2nd opinion before the book is purchased (have i gotten that pathetic for u to be recommending this to me?).  this larger than life jew claims his love for asians through clavell's love for asians....nice....admit it buddy...u wish u were one of us.

hi ann!