March 31, 2006
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Topic: eyes, ears, mind
Staring at a computer screen, I can look outside and see it’s warm out. Office full of construction noises from outside. David Sedaris book, “Me talk pretty one day,” on my desk, next to a yellow note pad I use for taking messages. Beside that a BBC article I printed about the French protests.
Excitement bubbles over-me, as I read an article quoting a European economist who blames part of the unemployment crisis in France, as well as the precarious feeling that the working world is an unstable place, on higher education. It drives me to want to learn so much more about this topic, and to keep searching out these people. Like an artist, I am craving recognition.
Reading David Sedaris’ memoir, I get a sense that the want of recognition is one of the great struggles people face. For David, he turned to conceptual art, doing speed, and scoffing at anyone who couldn’t appreciate his efforts as an artist to capture life in his display of himself shaving his head on stage.
I consider myself fortunate to not be that much of an artist, but it is a constant struggle to capture the absurdities of culture. I would laugh more if I did not find myself suffering from it, but I do believe that the environment is not fully responsible for my mood. My mood can fluctuate in 5min. based on a co-worker simply stopping by to have a discussion about a topic that interests me, and slam shut when things seem like a Dilbert cartoon.
Then, I just turn off the thinking part of my mind and see and hear what is real. Black computer screen, black telephone, world map, metal mail slots, gold door stop with the grey button sort of thing that keeps the doornob from smashing through the wall.
Yes…it is Friday. Awaiting me is a cold beer or two, possibly a hike, reading, writing, phone, calls, movies. Lazy in my own way.
Comments (2)
Do you like “Me Talk Pretty One Day”? Sedaris came to speak at UGA one time, and I remember there being a big fuss over it. A lot of the English majors liked him. Yesterday I was at the bookstore debating on my April read, and that book was one of my choices. I ended up getting something else, but that’s still on my list of to-reads.
Xanga bookclub perhaps? That might be interesting.
There wasn’t much controversy that I remember, there were a lot of excited fans making a din about him.
I ended up picking up The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon. I haven’t cracked it yet because I still need to finish One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest first.