Because the thought occurred now and it might be gone tomorrow
It is monday and we have no school because yesterday was Easter.
It is very windy So windy that there is a tornato watch on TV. So windy that the tip of my pen gets dirty and if I dont write fast it will all cover with dirt and my pen will go out. A perfect day for a kite.
–Simon
About this time a year ago, I lamented my lack of office space, and while making due with the old dinner table in the basement, I prophesied my future workstation. And like all prophesies I make regarding things I’m resolved to do, it came true. Imagine that!
Desk space gets allocated quickly, but my primary irritation over the years has been the trend towards smaller and more mobile technology. That’s cool and all, but there are ergonomic limits–a point at which a device is too small for a human to use comfortably. Laptops struggle with this.
But I’m all about maximizing productivity, rather than convenience, so I don’t want a tiny laptop. I want a big machine with multiple monitors. I want a permanent station for my computers, but without the restrictions of a desktop. Basically, I have my own specific preferences and nothing was accommodating them to my satisfaction.
And I was sharing the table with the kid, and the growing mess directly correlated with my growing irritation, and when the glitter made an appearance (resulting in my workstation appearing as if someone had taken a 12-gauge to Tinkerbell), I had had it. I started looking for desks.
My goal was to convert the far corner of the basement into a work area. As of late, it had become a temporary trash heap of cardboard boxes awaiting proper disposal upon the city’s annual unlimited trash pickup event. So, there wasn’t any competing demand for the space. With pocket knife in hand, I reduced the mess to a pile, vacuumed the space, measured some options, and began researching.
Sadly, the oak executive desk was beyond my price range. But more surprising was the lack of mere available options. I wanted a large L-shaped desk, so that I could load it up with my personal/company computer and peripherals, but apparently no one else had that idea in mind. I searched Amazon and Office Space with limited success. Then Liz suggested IKEA.
IKEA, despite its reputation, has surprisingly sturdy furniture. Unlike its competitors’ products for the given niche, IKEA doesn’t bow and break within the first couple years. And besides their quality, their stores are just plain exciting to visit. When we do, I suddenly feel the need to rent a shitty New York apartment and maximize its function for the tiny space.
So after some perusing, I bought two generic desk/shelves. And after an evening of assembly, I had the L-shaped desk area that I wanted.
It’s minimalist, granted, but fits the unfinished basement theme. More importantly, I haven’t had a desk in 7 years, and can finally sit down to an actual workstation–my command center. Damn that feels good.
–Simon
The night encroaches, bringing dark
Leaving one to ponder life
For when He comes to bring the knife
One might stop to ponder, yes
For when the light cannot be seen
People think what could have been.
And in the end, repentance, yes
Always easy in the end
Yet life is taxing to defend
For when the time has caught the Man
Man stares up into the sky
Yet always fails to grasp the why.
This year’s trip to St. Augustine. It’s more effective to communicate a vacation through pictures, and so I say:
–Simon
A colleague recommended the Netflix original Black Mirror. So far, it’s be an incredibly disturbing set of Philip K Dickian-type stories involving humanity’s failures with using their own technology responsibly. And “disturbing” might be a bit of an understatement. I find them to be haunting, like the stuff my subconscious latches onto in order to feed me back nocturnal hellscapes.
So I found the show’s title to be aptly named, as I assumed it was an allusion to “through a glass, darkly”. Despite my growing aversion to organized religions, I can’t escape my exposure to it during my youth, and I had remembered the Bible verse.
Of course, I didn’t remember where exactly, so curiosity won out and I resorted to the Internet to fill in the information gap. Turns out it’s from Corinthians 13:12. I walked to the bookshelf and retrieved a bible (something we’re certainly not short on–there were 3 (why do we have 3 Bibles?)).
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face…” Wait, what? That’s not right. I shelved the Bible, scoffing at its translation. The power of culturally-significant prose can invoke strong contempt when modified, just as my copy of The Divine Comedy pissed me off when I realized it was a more contemporary translation. You can’t do that!
So I pulled out my copy of the Oxford Study Bible, complete with the King James’ omitted texts:
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; but then face to face…” That’s not right either. What the hell? The mystery deepened, and out of stubbornness, so too did grow my resolve.
Eventually, I found a site with the translation I was looking for, and as it turns out, the verse so well-known had been King James’. Go figure, that the version everyone knew was that of the most ubiquitous translation. But this begs the question: why were there so many different translations? The site I found offered over 20. I compared them:
My problem is that a text so important to people that they use it as a moral guide, maybe shouldn’t be translated so lightly. I realize that the attempt is to give an ancient writing modern context, but in so doing, we modify its very meaning. Stop it!
Maybe the glass was just dirty and needs to be Windexed.
–Simon