Category: Life

Fuck

John Winkelman

Well, the lovely and talented R****** done r.u.n.n.o.f.t. So much for that.

In other news, I am sitting here watching the Gregory Peck version of Moby-Dick . This story has some interesting things to say about the nature of obsession, revenge, hatred, and self-destruction.

No. I want to discuss these things meaningfully, but right now…I’m just pissed.

Alone With My thoughts

John Winkelman

There is a particular freedom to being offline for a while. Writing becomes more personal as there is an implied distance from the audience, strengthened by the fact that I won’t be able to post this for at least eight more hours.

I have noticed little talk lately of the ironically named “citizen’s brigade”. There are two possibilities: either it exists, or it doesn’t exist. If it doesn’t exist, then has there been any pronouncement that it was, after all, a miserable and stupid idea? If it does exist, then has there been any official pronouncement that it has been created?

When I first heard this idea I discounted it as the slightly justified but paranoid reaction to the terrorist attacks of 2001. But still, a stupid idea. Anyone who agreed to this idea would be a traitor to the constitution, and anyone who disagreed, a traitor to the country.

So in a time when the government… no. Not the government. The administration. When the administration was trying to unite all Americans behind a common cause it introduced an idea which, if enacted, could very well have started a civil war: “Hey! You three million over there! Why don’t you keep an eye on everyone else and, if they do something a little more, you know, red, than white or blue, why don’t you tell us?”

Hitler committed suicide in a bunker. McCarthy died alone and insane. Ashcroft is trying to send us to war with Iraq.

The continued searching for demons on other soil is distracting us from problems on our own. The members of the Administration have enough reptilian-brain survival instinct to not openly advocate the revocation of the constitutional amendments but close attention will reveal that they are whittling at them, slowly paring them away until the letter and the spirit of the law are at odds with one another.

As with any other prison, the Big Bull has it’s bitches: The entertainment industry (RIAA!), in order to maintain it’s profitability, is happy to take white-out to the amendment that created it. To prevent us from copying music, they want us to not have access to it in the first place. Somehow, that makes sense.

The real danger of terrorism is not that another country will destroy us, but that we will destroy ourselves in order to deny our enemies that pleasure.

And the Administration would call this a victory.

The Ancient of Days

John Winkelman

Today I RSVP-ed for my 15-year class reunion at Springport High School. Why? Ummm… err… why not?

Fifteen years. Egads. That means I graduated from college nine years ago. I have been out of school for almost as long as I was in school. Revelations like this make a man take stock of his life. Lessee… Since starting college I have moved around fifteen times, had over thirty room-mates, about a dozen girlfriends, four cars, four jobs (other than work-study slavery), published one poem, been to India, been to Russia, never been rich, never been married, no kids, many friends.

I am happy more often than not, and I am seldom bored. I guess I have it pretty good.

A Day in the Life

John Winkelman

5:45am Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.
6:00am Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.
6:15am Alarm goes off. Contemplate ceiling. Hit snooze.
6:35am Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.
6:50am Alarm goes off. Get up. Go to bathroom. Crawl back into bed. Hit snooze.
7:10am Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.
7:25am Alarm goes off. Listen to Grieg on radio.
7:40am Get out of bed. Get in shower.
8:05am Walk to work.
8:50am Arrive at work, by way of cafe.
9:00am – 10:00am Read email, news, etc.
10:00am – 12:00pm work on studio website.
12:00pm – 12:30pm Lunch (Tuna on whole wheat, cheddar lettuce onion tomato, pickle on the side.
12:30pm – 1:00pm Walk down by river. Watch ducks. Contemplate chaos and entropy.
1:00pm – 2:00pm XSLT, baybee!
2:00pm – 5:00pm Discuss big client. Contemplate, in no particular order, ceiling, navel, suicide, homicide, money, the client, games, magic, Magic, this, that, the other, the Other, the “other”, The Others .
5:15pm Leave for home.
5:20pm Take cool pictures of praying mantis.
6:10pm Arrive at home.
6:30pm Cook dinner (New Orleans style wild rice).
7:00pm Buy cleaning supplies.
7:30pm Mop kitchen, bathroom, hallway. Contemplate homicide.
8:00pm – 10:00pm Play Serious Sam II.
10:00pm – End of Time Get stuck in infinitely recursive loop updating website about the events of my day.

Sifu Day

John Winkelman

Today is Sifu Day, a sort of Asia-wide Teacher Appreciation Day. My Kung Fu instructor, Master Ly, invited myself and the other assistant instructors over to his house for a small celebration. We lit incense in honor of his instructor, Sigong Chiu Chuk Kai, then meditated briefly, then Sifu Ly and his wife stuffed us full of the best home-cooked Chinese food on the continent.

Being a teacher on a day when I honor my teachers made me think about what it is, that makes a teacher…

A teacher imparts knowledge.
A teacher shows you a path, and lets you decide to walk it.
A teacher understands there are many paths up any mountain.
A teacher says “this is how I did it”
A teacher learns from his students as he teaches them.
A teacher criticizes students instructively, never as punishment.
A teacher takes responsibility for the ways his students use his knowledge.
A teacher will not hold your hand, but may help steady it.
A teacher rewards improvement with more instruction.

The greatest moment for a teacher is when his students take on students of their own.

Happy Sifu day, everyone!