Trab

I still have a pair of pants from 1971, but frankly, I'd have to catch a terminal abdomonal disease in order to loose enough weight and waist to get into them.I love your idea for the local street art. A neighbor had a white van which became graffiti painted with "Bitches from Hell" and was totally pee'd off. I suggested something similar, suggesting he add a sign that said, "Freestyle artword donated by the girls living at ......." (They knew the girls and the address). He declined, opting to have them pay for repainting the vehicle instead. Oh well.

I read it. I almost didn't. The pounding of my heart as I started to read it almost stopped me. The terror it evoked was almost overwhelming. "Why?" you ask. When you have AS, like I do, it becomes very obvious very early in life that people are seeing things in and around them that you yourself cannot. There seems to be a hidden agenda that you cannot see, nor follow. There are rules that are inexplicable and no amount of explanatory attempts can make you understand. You have to follow the mysterious rules in order to survive, but it seems almost completely arbitrary in many instances. People look at you with suspicion, since you don't act the way they do; you don't react the way they do, and yet you are powerless to know how to change what you are doing, since you cannot see the way you are behaving yourself, and cannot understand and duplicate the way they want you to behave. People talk about you, but even if you hear their words, their meanings are cloaked, inexact. They speak to each other on a level that is forever hidden, about things never comprehended, on an agenda never to be discovered. That is the world we see, and we have to come to an accomodation with it. We need to learn to live with that continual scrutiny, the puzzling language with missing information. We become better at duplicating expected actions, to a limited degree, but it is always an act. THAT is why this story terrified me, right from the beginning. I wish there were a nice ending to our AS stories for all of us.

The Blood Brothers video is excellent too.

What impresses me though, is that they showed this, without bleeping or anything, on the national news on all networks at 6 pm. and 11 p.m. Talk about freedom of speech huh.

I didn't see it yesterday, but caught a repeat today. This was an awesome show, and made me cry. Although the impact of looking at the website won't be as much, it is probably worth checking out. http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200611/20...9_284_101.jhtml Bart

All over the news today: Ralph Klein degrades women in speech at his retirement roast. Background: Belinda Stronach was trying to become the leader of the Conservative Party. Peter MacKay was her boyfriend, also high up in the Conservative Party. More recently: Belinda didn't get to be the leader, and she changed allegiance, joining the Liberal Party. Last Night: Ralph Klein states that it is a good thing Belinda joined the Liberal Party, since there's never been a conservative bone in her body.......well, maybe one. The audience roared with laughter, after they realized what he'd said.

Awesome story, and awesome conclusion. Jason, I truly hope you yourself feel as above, because at times I think maybe it slips out of your mind for a while.Thank-youBart

You know, there is one interesting thought I just had (my one and only): They (the big unknown they) should multiply the wages of politicians by the percentage of voter turnout. As people become more disenchanted with politicians, they get paid less. As people get more enchanted and vote, they get paid more. There's probably some inherent flaw in this, but I'm too tired to think of it right now, not to mention that I've already had my one and only interesting thought.

Note to President Bush, You could reverse the direction of this election, by declaring the Democrat winners as "unlawful enemy combatants" and rounding them all up. Apply repeatedly until done.

Okay TR. Thanks for the post, but now I, and countless others who are not privvy to US news 24/7, need to know if you posted this as a joke, or if it is true. Did that really happen? No joking around, please. I want to know. Bart

I'm overly paranoid. (Is that possible? Like partially pregnant?) I think that the drug cartels are actively involved in keeping alive the 'war on drugs' to bolster their own profits, and I think that the ever expanding virus base has some nefarious connection with those expensive anti-virus program companies. They seem just entirely too symbiotic to me.

While I was using AVG, free version, there were daily updates.

Wow. It makes me glad to be a Canadian.

I gave up on Macafee (at a financial loss too) several years ago, then I had to do the same thing with Norton. Thank god for young nephews is all I can say.

Beat you by one minute Camy. LOL. I'm on Chat, BTW, but nobody seems to want to go there but me.

We had this discussion on virus on Codey's World forum a short while ago, and many liked the AVG programs. http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1

OMG. I can sooooo relate. I'm on cablemodem, and every once in a while something goes wrong. I don't know what, maybe a car hits a pole and breaks the wires. Who cares? I don't. All I know is that when my e-mail program samples my server for incoming messages (every minute) and it comes up with "Error. No Connection" I just about lose it. I reboot, I turn the modem off and on, and I'll wait 20 minutes on the line to the server, only to have service come back on before I ever get through to a human being. It's pathetic. It's modern life.

You know, it's strange, but I don't recall having any dreams in my youth. I just sort of plodded along, taking one step, then another, probably steps of security and certainty, but I'm not sure. I flew to the other side of the country for a job, which only lasted 11 months, then again across the country, to another job which I didn't find until I got there. I went from academics to technician to manual labourer. I'm not sure I even made a conscious decision. Maybe sometimes one simply makes a choice by not making a choice.I think I've actually gotten more bold as I've grown older. Understanding some of the mechanisms of my own existance has allowed me to know I can prevail upon myself even if I throw myself into uncertainty.Good story, and very thought provoking.

Jason, could you tell me why you posted a segment of your short story as a blog entry? When I started to read it, I said to myself, "I know I've read something like this before." but I was done before I clued in. Are you saying that this is truly your own story, and not something you created for your readership?

This discussion reminds me of the disaster known as potato chips in the US and Canada, and potato crisps in Britain. Have you noticed that some of them are 'real' potatoes, and others are that extruded mush? Makes like Pringles are formed into perfectly shaped pieces which taste much like salted cardboard. What bugs me more though, is that when they add ANY flavouring at all, like vinegar, black pepper, BBQ, etc., they don't just add that, but completely change the formula so that it is formed mush and/or about 10 other artificial ingredients are added. You'd think they could simply sprinkle vinegar on it, but nooooo...

I've put in FF2.0 and it is truly awesome. I added that CoolIris preview, and that's incredible.

I just got some spam, and it made me laugh. I take things quite literally, and I'd just posted that I prefer more direct and less flowery descriptions. I couldn't help but visualize those poor little easter chicks, just hatched, being beaten on the head by my head. Sorry, but the visual was too funny. AND, if you've ever seen those little day old chicks, they are ravenous little peckers too. They'll take a chunk out of anything that gets near.

I know what you mean, but I honestly prefer the more accurate, albeit simple, first method of description. All the second one does is make me think of Picassoesque cows melting into something else; and since Sunday is 'family day' with us, it is the least lonely day of the week. Sometimes getting too 'flowery' can lead to further 'issues'.

Geez guys. I'm not sure if I want to go eat, or just barf. Some of those foods sound great, and other sound quite horrific. I like my fries plain. I don't even like the curly fries. The first time I tried them curly I thought they were cute, until I tasted those vile puppies. OMG. I didn't know how to get the taste out of my mouth fast enough. There are markedly different ways to make them though, with temperature being of critical importance. To get a nice fry you need to use LARD, not oil, but this is so politically incorrect nowadays that I may be arrested for even saying it here. I totally hate it when they sell you fries that haven't been peeled and you get bits of skin. Sure, the skin tastes okay, but it is usually crunchy (ugh) and sometimes has sand imbedded in it (double yucky). My father grew up in the Netherlands and he always had to stop at street vendors to eat pickled herring and/or salted eel. (I'm just about heaving now.) He would also go into the Chinese sections of towns we'd visit on vacations and each whole little fish. They're dried and supposed to be a delicacy. They look a bit like those black goldfish you sometimes see in aquariums. He tried frying up his own batch one day, and we couldn't force ourselves back into the house for several days. (retch, to the power of 10) One sad thing for me is the tendency is to put onion into those potato patties you can get at places like McDonalds. I love the patties but cannot physically handle the onion. Oh yeah. In Silverton CO we found a place which served real buffalo, not that stupid hot chicken shit. Very awesome.

Des, you may start to read them shortly, but take my word for it, you won't read them shortly. Each section is massive, running into the hundreds of pages. It is a worthwhile adventure, but if you are not careful you won't get any sleep at all: just read, read, and more read. I've had to deliberately stop printing out more than 2 chapters at a time, or I'd end up reading through the night. (I had the same problem [if you want to call loving a story a problem] with Graeme's Falls Creek, and Jamie's Scrolls, and WBMS's Alone By Myself. Others have captured my heart too, but some are just simply not put-downable [not to be confused with down-putable].)