bookworm, all kinds of worm

Hmmm. Not quite the weekend of action that I had hoped for. I got to the library yesterday and wound up with a nerd's ransom in comics-related books. I had stopped in just to pick up Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975, but noticed several other books on the shelves around it that interested me, too. Plus, the copy of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time that I had reserved had come in.

I also checked out a copy of Ted Rall's My War With Brian. I don't really like Rall, but thumbed through the first couple pages out of curiousity, and saw it chronicled his school days in Huber Heights, OH. I used to live near there, so that got me interested. Holy crap this book is nuts! It tells the story of this bully, "Brian", who picked on Rall when Rall was in Junior High, and Rall's 'passive aggressive' (so he calls it) counter-campaign. Man. Rall drops a brick off the roof of the school on the kid's head, and sabotages a drill press in metal shop class, which winds up practically disemboweling "Brian". Crazy. Rall never did manage to kill his foe, but still dreams of doing so today. Geez. Have to say I don't think I ever saw anything this extreme while growing up... I think we all know some kids can be real shits, but, well, I knew of one person who wound up killing a high school bully, but it happened before my time. Anyway, wild book, very disturbing. After reading this the Ted Rall - Danny Hellman lawsuit doesn't surprise me at all; if anything I'm amazed Rall didn't hunt Hellman down and gut him.

I stayed up late Friday and Saturday night reading, then wound up napping this afternoon. I had big bad anxiety dreams - losing my job, moving back into my mom's basement, all lost and ruined, that kind of thing. I'm pretty negative all the time anyway I guess but this was really depressing, and I woke up feeling lousy. I wanted to work some today but that hasn't happened yet. I have watched Spirited Away again though. I wonder, if I had kids, at what age would I let them watch this? Hmmm. I would want them to see it but wouldn't want to freak them too severely. Anyway I need to get up early tomorrow so I really wish I hadn't taken the nap. Lazy. Need to get lively. Gonna take out some trash and stuff here shortly.

Hrmm, on the topic of action, had e-mailed Mike P. commenting how last weekend I spent too much time just being lazy, and noting how often I have some "strategy of inaction", which has not served me well. He agreed with me that action is required. Part of his response:

'Zen: No thought, just intuitive action. Strategy slows one down to much, Myomoto Musashi would have his sword right through his enemies necks even before they knew the fight had started. In this case the enemy is the demon that tears at our souls with negative thoughts and tries to slowly kill us that way, if not take our lives outright, just take our days, one at a time. I remember still when you were in TX with Lia and I, and you went swimming over your head in the ocean. It is one of the few times in our life I've seen you laugh with pure joy. Of course there are sharks out there that will tear our feet off or even kill us, there is drowning. These things are very real. But I do not think they are as dangerous as the evil strategic thoughts in our own heads.'

There were sharks out there? And who is Myomoto Musashi? Google will know. He sounds a little like Ted Rall.