I can haz a pentagram.

The pregnant nurse practitioner asked me if I was a Wiccan because of the pentagram on my chest. I replied I was an atheist. After the moment of confusion faded from her face, she asked me, more or less, where I got my set of values. It's always confused me when people ask me this, because I feel as though it's asking me to watch very far away stars, or subatomic particles (given, you know, the equipment) - I have a loose idea, but when I look too close, I don't seem to be able to see it all that well.

I mean, don't you feel something is bad just because it's bad and not because you think a master creator told you it was bad, too?

I suppose it really lies in that a decision is bad or evil (or has evil merits, such as war) because of the suffering of another. And it's never made sense that people would get their set of values from a deity, since these, too, have changed over the course of civilization.

I get my values from the same place you do, miss. I just don't choose to attribute them to an invisible being.

You know what?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

Only in a more bloodcurling and ear-deafening way.

oct.

Songs have new meanings.
now i know
and i listen to words that once meant so
much
and once meant so very little
they have meaning once more
october has come and shall pass
i have rediscovered october
i hope they have too...
i'm too alive

you know what i think? Fuck you. Thats what i think.

Latin has words for cellphone

I've always wondered how mobile to blog handled two texts at once. I'm sure it will probably have it as two posts so lets see what happens. It would suck if it was two posts cause There's very little i'd say in one text.

Hayak and You

God damnit, all of this economic theory shit is giving me a headache. But I would say if anyone wants to understand the reason why any amount of a socialist government can't work, read Hayak. Road to Serfdom is such a common sense-based book that as long as you understand the individual sentences (he can be kinda difficult to understand the first time through a sentence), you've got no problem understanding the individual points.

Now on to Hazlitt and then who knows what. I do know that if my dog doesn't stop nudging me with its nose I'm going to break her neck off. :D

I can't keep things at all in my inbox anymore

So I'll put them here. Time means nothing.



1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Hands-down probably the best book I've read. Presumably it's just because I can identify so much with both Nick and Gatsby; I can really identify with both of them. Read it. It's not called "The American Novel" for no reason.

2. Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

This one is also here because it's so sheer awesome. I love the way it's written, it really manages to keep suspense. Be sure to read it unabridged, though - I should re-read it, last time I read it I was just thirteen. It's also one of the purest Gothic books in existance, needless to say.

3. Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Not here because it's particularily awesome, but I recently read it. It *is* good though, and well worth reading, especially if you have an interest in Soviet. The moral ambiguity it carries is also interesting contrasting religious "good" with empathic "good". Is it worth selling your soul to the Devil in exchange for love?

4. Perfume, by Patrick Süskind.

Yeah, you know this one. Beautiful work of art about a beautiful but inhuman artist. I also love the underlying symbolics - what is love? What does it require? Can you be loved if you cannot love yourself? The language is also awesome, but I think it might lose some if translated to English.

5. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons.

This is a massive piece to recommend, consisting of four books - Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and Rise of Endymion. I've even yet to read the fourth book, but I have to say this is *the* sci-fi epic. It marvellously treats all the philosophical conundrums popular in science fiction, and it has a lot to say about the human condition. Besides this, it contains time-travelling assassins, temporal shift combat, the coolest ideas ever about space travel, and lance ships capable of blowing up entire solar systems.

6.Song of Kali, also Dan Simmons.

While it's not as awesome as many other books I've read, it's here because it has such a great sense of setting. The depiction of Calcutta is marvellous, and how it illustrates a culture crash is another good reason to read it.

7.The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan.

No, it's not just here because it's got awesome Chinese stuff in it. It's also a marvellous book when it comes to parent-child relationships, and illustrating stories from more than one perspective. Switching the narrative between mothers and daughters, and the beautiful structure mimicking a mah-jong table, it unfolds into one of the most multifaceted books I've read.


8.The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde.

Perhaps the ultimate satire of Romanticism and Realism rolled into one. Wilde questions ideals and contrasts them to the real world – and most importantly, questions which of our ideals are worthwhile and which are just hypocrisy. The aristocratic society it mocks exists no more, but the relentless chase for beauty still is.

9.The Witches Trilogy, by Terry Pratchett.

Really, I'd just recommend everything he's written, but that'd be a little pointless. The Witches Trilogy is my personal favourite here, mainly because of the witches' pragmaticism and their lovely way of genuinely caring for people by insulting them. It's a very warm set of novels. (There are more books about the witches, but the Trilogy consists of Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, and Lords and Ladies).

10.The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Addams.

Duh.