Overheard at Table 2: The Post-Truth World is Messi

Argentina wins the World Cup and Messi goes out a hero, and, of course, suddenly on social media there is speculation that the whole thing was somehow fixed by the Saudis, and I'm left thinking it's no wonder we're in a post-truth world.

Overheard at Table 2: Matrix for Christmas

The report came out today that consumer spending was down for the month of November, so all the stock markets went down as investors get skittish, which basically shows you that if YOU ARE NOT BUYING SHIT, THEN RICH PEOPLE FREAK THE FUCK OUT!!!

We know this.  We have grown up with this.  We have lived with this all our lives: the simple fact is that each individual American exists solely for the purpose to consume.  

We buy buy buy what they sell sell sell ... and when we don't buy THEY have a conniption fit.

Every aspect of our existence is geared toward this consumer economy.

The Matrix hit it on the head: we exist to feed their them while we live in a fantasy world.

Overheard at the Counter: Insomnia at Least Churned the Creative Juices

2022-1214
Things thought of between 12:11 am and 4:30am

Couplets:
 

    Shooting blanks into a barren womb
    The only thing we’re making here is love

    How is 2022 treating you?
    Slightly better than 20 and 21 … how about you?

    Two couplets gazed into each other’s eyes
    and asked, “Are double-minded people always Geminis?”

 

#Horrorprompt:

    
He called himself the #promptmaster.
    (With the hashtag)
    He threw prompts onto Twitter like food into a fishbowl
    and all the little writers nibbled, and they wrote

    and they wrote, and he savored their glorious words,
    fed upon their prose, and the more he feasted,
    the thinner they grew;

    and when they started to die off and flake away,
he created new prompts,
    looking for newer, fresher, more hearty
    talent.


    
    Martin scrolled through her TL
    looking for clues: a streetsign in the background
    of a selfie, or a comment about the weather (he
    cross-referenced with local reports), a name drop
    of a restaurant she’d been,

    until one day, he found where she lived.

    So, he got himself ready to meet her.

    Stuffing his duffel bag, he said to himself,
    I’m not some snivelling soyboy.
She’ll learn not to call ME “Incel.”
    She’ll learn not to block all my accounts
    and most important,
    she’s gonna learn what love is!




Song:
    The Long and Winding Road
    The percussion is a piledriver.   Metallic clanging.  Hammer on anvil.
    Pauses at the beginnings of new verses can have wind sounds and/or risers.
    Acoustic guitar, played hard.
    Vocals like Tom Waits
    Perhaps a distorted bass guitar, perhaps just a few chords on meaty electric
    toward the later verses, a little snap of a mandolin, just to give that tiny bright offset
    
    The main version of this song is syrupy, and all covers have been wishy washy.  
Making it like a Tom Waits song will give it some real grit!


Post:

    Me [waking up at 1:18am]: No worries, I’ll be back to sleep in five …
    
My Insomnia: Hello there!  Glad to see you’re up!  Hey, remember that offhand snark you made to the VP of Sales yesterday?  Let’s go over all the ways that’s gonna come back to bite you in the ass!

    Me: Fuck you.

Insomnia: More like ‘You’re fucked!’  … because you also have that big project you haven’t even started and year end is in like, what? TWO WEEKS!  Better strap yourself in, pal.  It’s gonna be a looong night!


    
All the other things that were on my mind were just thoughts about work and what I need to do today.

Overheard at Table 2: A Few Quotes for your Daily Devotional

 "Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations. "
— Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

"He who is plenteously provided for from within, needs but little from without. "
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even murder, with the truth."
— Alfred Adler

"The greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between giant organized systems of self-righteousness."
— Herbert Butterfield

Overheard at Table 3: Rohatsu, December 8, 2022

 “It is Bodhi Day today!  Happy Rohatsu!” Paolo grinned.

“You remembered!” Helena smiled back at the screen.  “And you’re off today too, right?  L'Immacolata Concezione?”

“Yeah, everything’s closed today,” he said.  “My grandmother wants me to take her to Mass.”  He rolled his eyes.  “I think she’s the last one in all Italy who still goes!”

Helena laughed.  “Traditions can be good, they can be healthy and give focus.”

“The only traditions I follow are my friends watching the World Cup Quarter Finals tomorrow.  If Netherlands wins, I’ll probably call you crying, and if Argentina wins, we’ll all call you screaming how much we love you and miss you!”

Helena said, “All of you will probably be too drunk by that time to work your phones!”

Paolo agreed, “E posible, sí… So, how are things in Nebraska?”

“Cold,” she said, “But I’m brewing some tea, home-grown chamomile and some anise that Claire sent.  And … of course, some panettone”

“UGH!  Not that shit they sell in America!”

“Well, if I were in Milano with you guys, then I could buy fresh from the corner bakery, now couldn’t I?”

“You can always come back any time, mi amore!”

“I will … someday,” Helena said, even though she knew that “someday” often remains forever elusive, somewhere in a distant, merely possible, future.

“Cazzo,” Paolo said, “Sorry, that’s my grandmother calling.  I need to go.  Call you later, OK?”

“OK,” Helena said.  “Ciao!”

“Ciao!”

And Paolo was gone.  And like each time of him being gone, with each phone call becoming more increasingly brief, he always seemed like a kite, flying higher and higher in the air, and she kept letting out more line, until that kite was completely obscured by clouds.

But, that is the way of many things, she thought, and so she took a sip of tea, tucked her feet underneath her on the couch.  Her cat came and curled up beside her.  She picked up the book she’d been trying to find the time to read (Idle Hands, by Cassondra Windwalker), and as she turned the page, she wondered if, 

at this specific moment, 
on this specific day, 

if this feeling of quiet, gentle absence, 
is shared by Yoko Ono.

 

 

 

 

 

Overheard at Booth 1: The One Who Puts on His Armor Should Not Boast Like the One Who Takes It Off

While I know it's cool these days to make fun of the Bible, last night a preacher gave a passage that's pretty badass:

    And the King of Israel said, “Tell him: ‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes     it off.’”

    - 1 Kings 20:11

 

The sermon was about boasting, and the pastor was talking about the people who talk about "OH I'm going to do this and OH I'm going to do all this wonderful stuff and OH people are going to be amazed at all the stuff I'll do!"

Essentially, stop bragging when you've got nothing to brag about.  Don't talk about what you are going to do... DO IT.  Then, once it's done, you can talk about it, critique it, test it to see if it was a success or not.

The guy going out to the battle shouldn't say he's going to win the battle.  The guy who has come back from the battle, alive and still strong enough to take off his armor, that's the guy who gets to tell the story.

Overheard at Table 2: Notes for Deacon

NOTES FOR DEACON

Tense of Aser

Advent Fasting

1 of each thing and no more

Simeon and Anna

Bm G D A

D

Pastor Cyrus in Chicago

12/3 KSBJ Saturday Night 9-10

Colossians 1:27

JEWS ARE NOT SAVED

Luke - researched everything

Cope Jay Pure Land

Story came from May

1Peter 3:9

Efesos 1:13

Lucas 1:30 - Eyes sscan the suhation