I’m writing this on the Bolt Bus to Boston. On the good side, I finally got a $1 fare, I have a seat to myself, and both the power outlet and Wi-Fi are working. On the downside they now limit the free Wi-Fi. I started listening to music on my computer and used 20% of my data before we got out of Manhattan. I’m now listening on my phone. I paid no attention to my route. I’m on the Cross Bronx now but have no idea how we got here. I suspect we took the Mid-Town tunnel but can’t say for sure. I’ve been absorbed with my computer and phone.
I’m making my annual pilgrimage to VanMerc Hill for Thanksgiving. What says Thanksgiving more than being a pilgrim in Massachusetts? I need a hat with a buckle. I know the real pilgrims didn’t wear hats with buckles. This has nothing to do with pilgrims. I think everyone needs a hat with a buckle, it’s stylish.
I was very much me this trip. I didn’t start packing until an hour before I planned on leaving. I didn’t shower until after I packed. I tried showering last night to save time but there was no hot water. With all that I still got to the bus stop thirty-five minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave. They moved the bus stop to someplace far more convenient that the far west side, now it’s right in midtown two blocks from the D train stop. I got there in something like 45 minutes.
I’m going to use the trip to listen to NERFA music. I listened to Annie Sumi, now I’m on Tragedy Anne. They will both be featured on Gord’s Gold on Folk Music Notebook. I’ve fallen behind. I have a lot to record when I get home. I might try writing some of the scripts on the ride up. More likely I’ll just listen and read. I have to finish A Storm of Swords before it’s due back at the library. The temptation I have to fight is to sleep.
My bus driver just committed a mortal sin. Instead of getting into the exit lane he used the thru lane to pass cars and then crossed the solid white line right before the exit. I’d have never had let him. This is why we need an afterlife. All drivers who do that should have to wait an hour for someone to let them into the exit lane to heaven, for each offense.
When I was a kid, I would watch anything that was on the TV early in the mornings. That meant watching the Modern Farmer at 6 AM on Saturdays. It meant watching stations play the National Anthem when the signed on in the morning. I especially enjoyed watching the ones that featured fighter planes and rockets. I of course watched Davy and Goliath even though disliking the religious messaging. I even watched a show that might have been Maryknoll Story Time which was even more blatantly religious. One episode that confused me dealt with the evils of mixed marriages. The one they used as an illustration was between two different Christian sects, they might have both been Protestant. To this young Jew’s mind that was not a mixed marriage. Not that I thought there was anything wrong with any mixed marriage unless it was between different species. That’s not why I brought this up. It’s because there was one episode I really did like. It was about Hell starting a modern advertising campaign and doing great business. There was a visual of a traffic jam on the interstellar superhighway to hell. I always had a thing for stories with the Devil, the first opera I watched on TV was Faust and I’d watch the Devil and Daniel Webster whenever it was on. When I was a little older, I discovered Damn Yankees. The only reason I’m not going to hell is that there is no such place.
I could write about religion every day. I mock myself and call myself weird but, in most ways, I see how my mind works the same basic way as my fellow humans. Not religion, I can’t see how it’s even a thing. People base the way they live their lives on what someone said someone said that someone said, [insert pages of repeats] someone said that God said. I do understand that we are socialized to just accept that as natural. I certainly did when I was very young. And I do accept as natural that people accept what “everybody” believes.
I’m not saying that religious people are stupid, I’m not saying they are naïve. I’m not even saying they are irrational, except about this one thing. I know many brilliant rational people that are religious. It would be naïve and irrational to not recognize that. I just can’t put myself in their place, it’s too alien. God knows what creates the difference. Well he would if he existed.
How did I get into such deep philosophical waters? I hope I can swim back to shore. The music will help. Now I’m listening to Alice Hasen. No, now I just finished listening to Alice Hasen. That was quite different than I expected. Being different is a good thing.
I’ll finish this and start reading. My soundtrack has been Annie Sumi, Tragedy Anne, and Alice Hasen. I might switch to radio, so I don’t have to make more decisions while I read.
Wise Madness 