In a college psychology course (twenty years ago), I read about behavioral experiments performed on birds. They were taught that hitting a button would dispense food. Once this behavior was in place and the expectation set, the food was with-held. The initial response...
I recently told a co-worker that when you start wishing the place you work would burn down, it's time to find a new job. And then there are those of us who fantasize about the entire human race and/or planet being destroyed. I don't know what productive task we're...
Okay, I know I need to actually create a legal document that would give details about what I'd want done in various circumstances, but let me at least pound out a draft here (the following written instructions are to be superceded by any instructions, written or...
Like everyone on the planet except us Americans, a European friend of mine pays attention to the rest of the world. Tonight he sent me a link to a NY Times article about the Kyrgyzstan government being taken over by the people. The link included his personal message...
I'm like a relationship research project that never rests: a part of my brain never stops working the angles, exploring viewpoints, testing hypotheses, dwelling on failures and gathering data (written and fieldwork). Okay, so here's my theory at this point, influenced...
Okay, tonight I returned the video of Napoleon Dynamite -- but bought the DVD before I left the store. I've found yet another way to be a geek...
To those of you who have seen this movie:Did you notice there isn't one nighttime shot in the whole movie? Even Napoleon's journey to the school dance - for which he picks up Trisha at 6:00 p.m. - happens in broad daylight. For a little while I wondered if the action...
On Wednesday I rented the 2004 movie Napoleon Dynamite. (I like this website, too.) On Friday I watched it. On Saturday and Sunday I watched it again. I might watch it once more before I return it. I wish I had seen it in the theater because this movie TOTALLY...
I decided to go further into that nostalgia experience that happens when a song takes me back. Here's the moment I referred to in my last post, “slo-mo”:I’m sitting in a northside café with a man who’s in love with me but with whom I’ve failed to fall in love. I’m...
Today I heard a song that reminded me of being 12 years old, when I believed my life would be fun and exciting when I got older. I strain to hear such songs, as if remembering and recapturing that 12-year-old sense of anticipation might somehow straighten out the past...
The Newsweek article "When Does Autism Start?" makes me think about my family. My sister Judy has an almost nine-year-old daughter named Julia. Julia is mentally retarded and autistic. I think she can speak in sentences, or at least fragments, but it’s not always easy...
BTW: Who's out there reading my blog? I can tell my site gets a dozen or two hits a day and I'm floored by it. Some of my readers are friends of mine, but there are obviously lots of people I don't know who keep an eye on my blog. Who are you? How did you find my...
In the Feb 28 2005 Newsweek article "Precious Suffering" the pope's delicate health is described in horrifying detail. I was most disturbed by reading that on February 1st, Pope John Paul spent four hours “essentially choking to death” because of mucus-build up in his...
Thanks to everyone who responded to my Divorced Vs. Never-Married anguish. My friends DeShawn, Lon and Kenn particularly helped me see "So, why are you still single?" as a question that could be more about my first date's fears than about my defects. Lon (a guy)...
Thanks to Jackie for sending me the link to an article called "Society's stigma jumps from divorced to never-wed". To Jackie's friend, Tina, from whom Jackie received the link I say, "Yes, we're doomed, screwed, f**ked, and fated to look like losers wherever we go, me...