"How many long years he had spent without any lofty goal, without any thirst, without any exultation, content with small pleasures and yet never really satisfied!"
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
This last week, I've been consumed with preparing samples of accessible web design to use as demonstration pieces. It's been long and painstaking work, but it's also been exhilarating. Nothing is as energizing as working to realize a dream, especially when it's within your grasp.
And then, this weekend, like the ones before it, went so quickly that I hardly realized it was here before it was over. But things are getting more or less back to normal after having moved in with my mother for the tail end of the summer. I am now getting the sense that I might actually be able to reclaim my life.
It's getting colder; the forecast is calling for snow this week. And still, we don't have a clear winner in the presidential contest. It's amazing...people seem to be coming out of the woodwork with stories of election fraud and vote tampering. I think that the powers that be think that the results of this election might inspire those who don't normally vote to get out there the next time. But if they're not careful, the horror stories will end up turning off more people than are attracted.
"Too much knowledge had hindered him; too many holy verses, too many sacrificial rites, too much mortification of the flesh, too much doing and striving."
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
A dreary and dull day, full of November rain and gloom. But I remembered that a painter friend of mine once told me how he loved such dark days, often going out on them to take photographs from which to paint later. He said that because of all the duskiness, that colors were exponentially more vivid. I saw glimpses today of what he meant. Some of the colors in the woods along the Thruway were almost incandescent.
We went to Westchester today to do a presentation on accessible web design. Although I'm not a stellar presenter, it seemed to go fairly well — although I did offend one audience member that I'm aware of. I really must learn to self-monitor a little better! And today's quote was chosen because, as I began my part of the presentation and asked the audience how many of them were actually involved in web design, I realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'd been involved in the minutae of this movement for so long that I had no idea how to frame the discussion for an audience, the majority of which, was not involved in web site design.
Yes, I'm still reading Siddhartha. Things have been so hectic that I've not been able to finish it, and frankly, I'm not rushing. There's a lot of food for thought in this book and I want to savor it. And I've yet to select my next project.
I actually went out tonight, to dinner at a nice restaurant. What a pleasure! I really must find time to do it more often.
"Close enough for government work."
- Anonymous
Unbelievable! I'm an incorrigible cynic and even I am having difficulty digesting just what a debacle this presidential election has become. What's even more astounding is how blatant the attempts to prevent any attempt to straighten it out have become!
If I was a Floridian, I believe I'd be livid at the gerrymandering going on. (Yes, I am aware that the term "gerrymandering" refers to a different form of political skullduggery, but I like the word, okay?) I can't imagine how powerless and frustrated they must feel. And to add insult to injury, they not only lost any sort of empowerment in the voting booth, but they have to foot the bill for this fiasco as well.
If you're a Floridian, and you're reading this: my condolences. I can't really claim that any state in the union has a voting system that I'd call efficient and confidential, but really ... punching holes in a piece of paper? The legalized gambling system (a.k.a., the lottery) is more well organized!
And the incessant posturing on behalf of and by the candidates is truly sickening. I propose that we simply give each of them two years as president and let them try again in 2004. At least then we'd know how they'd handle the job, and in only two years, neither of them could do much harm.
Of course, my mother feels that they should be forced to govern together. They'd probably end up either killing or maiming each other, but at least that way we'd have some closure, and at least that way someone would win — us!
NO ENTRY
"The past now seemed to him to be covered by a veil, extremely remote, very unimportant."
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
Obviously, if anyone has been reading these pages, it's apparent that I didn't have much time to write this week. The problem was that I got a huge project with a very tight deadline dumped in my lap on Thursday and spent all of my spare time — including my weekend — working on it. You can see the resulting Spring 2001 Public Service Training Program catalog.
Each section of that document was delivered as an ASCII text file
At any rate, I wanted to explain that my truancy in providing journal entries wasn't willful but demanded by circumstances.
