[BlisteredWhippet]

A day in the life…. Or actually an hour…

A trip to the post office


I downloaded my mail
Started to write, then stopped
Copied the addresses and desc. to a word file
Put them in theta,
Tried to ftp it to site, but would not work
So copied them to Olivia,
ftp from cmd line to comcast
printed labels downstairs
packed 6 boxes
loaded up the motorscooter
tied them down
stashed everything away and took off.

Cars everywhere- almost rush hour.
I look like a freeeak with huge packages
Get to the Post Office, fly by some doofus in a car in the parking lot.
Carry all 6 boxes in
The automated machine was slow
And had its own line.

Got in line.
Everyone is silent, figeting statues.
The air is dead.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')hil collins “in the air tonight” starts low.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Hey, BW. That's a cool song. You made me remember it. The one I like from that era is Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants To Rule The World.

[NEOPO]

Pen - you locked those memories in their with drugs - try drugs to get them flowing again

I am not being sarcastic and saying drugs are bad - try them - again - really!!

[BlisteredWhippet]

I notice that whereever you go in any commercial setting, there is always music piped in. I find it kind of creepy. Who controls the "soundtrack to our lives"? Nobody, its totally random. In most of these situations, no one has a choice NOT to hear it. They don't even get to decide WHAT to hear. If you're an employee of one of these places you're subjected to a continuous barrage of this stuff.

I'm not saying psychologically well-adjusted people go psycho, but there is an effect. Stores play it because "research" has proven it makes people spend mroe money. What about people not spending money? Supposedly it has a sedative effect. Music for people waiting in lines.

While your life ticks by, listen to Phil Collin's dark tale of revenge... loaded with brain-scrambling embedded commands like: feel it coming alongside waiting... then keep your silence... don't worry... and of course, hysterical trembling evocations of faith over and over, Oh Lord ad nausem as if he is begging for forgiveness for some sort of revenge.

It just struck me as beyond bizarre to have a dozen or so people, all disconnected, in a room, desperately wanting to leave, and being forced to listen to this song. It was background, but in a silent room, it becomes foreground. Its the music, we're the video.

If we didn't have something to listen to, we might break out of the consensus trance. We would stop impulse shopping. We would pay attention to other people more. We would talk to each other. We could exercise more free-will. The music means we don't have to do any of these things. The music, expertly crafted and delivered clobbers the part of our mind that was momentarily out of reach. Inside the zone, every brain's "Phil Collins" synapses are firing. Every time the song is played it gets inscribed, associated, wired in.

What is the effect of carrying around the equivalent of a jukebox in our head? Air Supply. Hall & Oates. Whitney Houston. Duran Duran. Easy Listening. The effect is simple: the music keeps playing long after we're out of earshot. Even when we're free and clear, and able to hear the more subtle sounds of nature, a stirring guitar solo rises up, and Phil screams out,

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')I can feel it coming in the air tonight...."

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ho controls the "soundtrack to our lives"?

[smallpoxgirl]

Cool post BW.

As for whether my fantasies are good or bad, its hard to make that break. More and more I'm deciding there is no such thing as good or bad. They are really just a part of eachother. Clearly a big storm brewing: wind, hail, tornadoes, lots of destruction. But after the rain, things bloom again. Was it "bad"? Was it "good"? Maybe it just was.

I really think Kafka was on to something. "There is hope, but not for us."

[Atlantean_Relic]

I say bring it!!!