New sonic annoyance - a boy who lives towards the
rear of the building opposite is trying to learn
that weightless skateboard trick, where they jump
up and the board follows along, like it's glued to
their shoes. I don't know how they do it, and this
kid hasn't figured it out yet either, even once he
does, wotta racket. I think his mother limits him
to this concrete apron between our two buildings, that
shared driveway we all use to access our covered
parking spaces.
What a pleasure riding my bike has become - went for
several short rides - the sunny daytime air warm like
springtime here. Completed the restoration by taping up
the handlebars with black, covering the once-white
beneath. New cloth tape feels great. The ride is now
absolutely quiet and practically steady, much more so
than what I've been used to. That's the trouble with that kind of
erosion - it creeps up on you so slow you don't
realize it's happening - you'll tolerate amazing
things when they change slowly. My health right now
is dubious; this cold is lingering with congestion
but I did manage to run at the gym this morning.
Certain appliances are rebelling:
- The Technics discman won't play unless I keep its lid firmly shut. For a weight I use my bottle of Pachinko balls - quarter-inch steel spheres from the Japanese game parlors. There's always a few on the floor; I made a game of collecting a bunch.
- The button on this new LED bike-light is on the fritz - I can only switch between steady and flashing; have to take it apart and pull batteries to switch it off.
- The car's speedometer, blessedly quiet for weeks, even in the cold, is announcing its presence again. (Cold weather, speeds above 25, loud rasping noise)
New Chris Ware at the comics shop, Acme #11. The bleak life of Jimmy
Corrigan continues to fleshed out in intricate detail. Nothing else of
interest on the newsstand for quite a while.... Just heard
a public broadcasting thing of radio history. I thought Jack
Benny had the distinction, but they said it was Amos & Andy who was
most popular in the Golden Age. Said the black press of the day was evenly
split in reaction: half loved it and the other half hated it.
"If something can't go on forever, it will stop."Herbert Stein of the American Enterprise Institute