"Inferno" by Dante Aligheri

Canto XXXI

"For when the power of thought
is coupled with ill will and naked force
there is no refuge from it for mankind."

"Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins

"One thing you can say for the inscription, it makes you want to rush to the pantry, seize a box of Cheerios, rip back its tab (bering careful not to tear it off lest there come a time to send in the boxtop, which must be entire), part the waxed paper inner bag with both hands, dispatch a significant minority of the Cheerio population head over heels into a bowl, douse them immediately with a quantity of milk (presumedly, they do not perform when dry), sprinkle some white sugar on top, and then, crouch, face close to the bowl, watching, evaluating, as the tiny, tan, lightweight oat doughnuts, irregular in size, tone, and texture, begin to soak up the milk and the sugar granules dissolved therein, growing soft and soggy, expanding somewhat as liquid is absorbed; and you may be thinking all the while about the toroid shape, the shape of the cyclone, the vortex, the whirlpool, the shape of a thing made of itself yet mysteriously distinct from itself; thinking about rings, halos, men overboard, the unbroken cycle of life, the void as nucleus, or, best of all, bodily orifices; thinking about whatever the trove of toroidal trinkets might inspire as, center holes flooded with sugary milk, they relax and go blobby in the bowl; but appraising, testing, criticizing, asking repeatedly: do Cheerios measure up to Wheaties with beer, would they mix well with batshit in times of strife, would Ed Sullivan have signed them, would Knute Rockne have recruited them, how well do these little motherfuckers perform?"

"God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" by Kurt Vonnegut

"When he reached Noah Rosewater Memorial High School, which was closed tight for the summer, he paused before the flagpole, indulged himself in shallow melancholy. He was taken by the sounds of the hollow iron pole's being tapped and caressed despondently by the hardware on the empty halyard.

He wanted to comment on the sounds, to have someone else listen to them, too. But there was nobody around but a dog that had been following him, so he spoke to the dog. 'That's such an American sound, you know? School out and the flag down? Such a sad American sound. You should hear it sometime when the sun's gone down, and a light evening wind comes up, and it's suppertime all around the world.'

A lump grew in his throat. It felt good."

11/16/09 10:55AM PST

I can't do white bread, for some reason. I think bread should be super chunky.

I can take it both ways (that's what she said). Sometimes I'm in the mood for a Man's Sandwich, and other times I could go for finger food

haha. What makes for a Man's Sandwich?

Ingredients that are too large.

haha like, a steak?

sure lol
A Man's Sandwich requires a little toothpick to keep it together, because it is so manly that it wants to BURST APART like a plaid shirt off the Brawny Man.

Ok I laughed like a tard at that.

lol I knew you would

I just have the best image in my mind of a plaid top ripping off a huge sandwich
Facebook status: CHANGED. Twitter status: TWEETED.

That's how it should be delivered. Carefully by a French waiter. The sandwich is wrapped tightly in flannel. As you go to reach for it--BAM!--the flannel bursts off and your sandwich is sitting there with it's toothpick standing straight up, looking at you with an expression that says "Whaddup?"

A little sign erupts forth and it literally says "Whaddup?"

Yeah, kinda like a BANG! sign, except the sandwich is banging your tastebuds.

Banging your tastebuds like a sportsbar conquest.

It's going to bang them so hard you'll have to sit in the shower with your clothes on just to feel clean again.

It's going to bang them so hard you'll need a carton of cigarettes afterward.

You might have to purchase Plan B, just to be safe.

11/14/09 4:22PM PST

Sometimes I wonder if I subconsciously just make things harder for myself

How so?

Choosing to convert to Judaism and try and pursue the arts, then moving across the country where I didn't know another living soul, and proceed to alienate myself from the rest of the student body by beginning a long-distance relationship with a girl I met over the internet, then marrying her before I could legally drink, only to end things with her once I've gotten out of college and not made any connections, and then from that point potentially changing career paths AND moving to the center of the country where I have to start it all over again and find a girl who can tolerate/empathize with everything above.
lol

lol ok
I gotta hand it to you, you have an amazing backstory there.

"Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius: Book Five

1. "...You don't love yourself enough. Or you'd love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for the dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they're really possessed by what they do, they'd rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts."

1/27/09 4:36PM PST

i still have no idea how i managed to get those tickets to marquette for only 250

Me neither, that seems like an expensive airport. Small = expensive

i am shocked that there are no bathrooms at the gate. you have to leave security to use the bathroom

lol really?
that's awesome

that freaking airport is smaller than a walmart, that's what's freaking awesome

haha sehr true.

yo dawg, i herd you like airplanes and shopping, so i put an airport in your walmart so you can fly while you buy