NPR non-sequitors

I'm at work, actually working (woo!) but I'm listening to NPR. There was a segment on the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush. (What sounded like) an Arab woman called in, peeved and insistent, and rather certain throwing a shoe at someone in any culture would be an insult. The host basically told the woman that that was crazy talk and that shoe-throwing was special for Arabs. It reminded me of a similar comment on the inscrutable nature of the Arab honor system. Sure, notions of propriety and disgrace vary across culture, but I could understand why an Arab might be sensitive to 'expert' parsing of a blunt act of protest. I guess shoes may have been the most rhetorically pointed projectile the journalist could have chosen, but that seems a mere side benefit to the fact that they were the largest objects he could have brought into the room without raising any suspicions.

our love is all of God's money

Via my mother, in relation to my job, which I can only describe as a waste of time: "God does not waste his time."

Data entry doesn't feel like the 10.000 hours I'd want, but they're the ones I've got.

firecrackers on the front lawn

Sorry about yesterday's sentimental post. Sometimes I've got to affirm the orthodoxy of The Moaning Christian with a trenchant and perfunctory confession.

Last night was shaping up to be another shitty reflective minddirge. We were heading out to what seemed like sterile grounds for a party, the Olympic complex. To make matters worse, we paid four euro each to head up to a Space Needle-like tower, where one hapless bartender was making people lattes and pouring mediocre beer. I put on my usual affected silence and my I'm-not-pouting pout, complete with terse and unfunny quips. My mom and sister had a good chat, and eventually my sister and I did too. The fireworks were the most memorable since my July 4th in DC four or five years ago, though. I don't think there were any city fireworks; it seemed like everyone had bought a thirty minute supply, and just before midnight the entire city erupted, a show in every neighborhood. I have never seen anything like it in the States. Literally every part of the city was drinking and shooting off fireworks.

[Think deep thoughts about democracy and peace;
End Scene]