Shut the fuck up Tasha Yar....

You were a blight on science fiction history.

Critical Mass

I'm never sure what kind of experience the rest of you are having. To that end, it is wonderful to have a friend like Mab, with whom I can discuss my experience, and she hers, over a delicious meal. We recently partook of a gourmet dining experience during which we had a discussion about the things we would like to see one another accomplish. I think it may be something we as humans take for granted--that others see the potential in us that we may have once (or frequently) pondered but ultimately declined to explore for one reason or another. It's that passing thought we have that never quite comes to fruition; someday I'd like to such and such.

During that feast, Mab and I collectively decided that such and such should happen, and that someday could be today. I present to you, dear Beginner, our Accountability Partner series. Mab's first mission, at my request, is to write a series of food critiques and to submit those to various publications. And, of course, to share her progress here. You may not know this about my darling Mab, but she has a finely tuned palate, and oh, Sweet Baby (Ray's) Jesus, she is a revelation in the kitchen. Bon Appétit!

Memento Mori

Happy Birthday to our dear Avis. May she never die!

<3 Mab

Campbell's Mmm, Mmm Good

"By monster I mean some horrendous presence or apparition that explodes all your standards for harmony, order and ethical conduct... That's God in the role of destroyer. Such experiences go past ethical judgments. This is wiped out... God is horrific."

-Joseph Campbell




"Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand alloys and compositions and things with... molecular structures."


-Bruce Campbell


"There's been a load of compromisin', on the road to my horizon, but I'm gonna be where the lights are shinin' on me."

-Glen Campbell

Happy Holidays....

...to you and yours from Time Travel for Beginners.

Insane in the Membrane

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

-Benjamin Franklin

Actually Benny, the definition of insanity is: 1 : a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia) 2 : such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility 3 a : extreme folly or unreasonableness b : something utterly foolish or unreasonable

And, to be quite frank dear Travelers, our dear Mr. Franklin couldn't have been more wrong had he a degree in psychology ala S. Freud. In fact to do a thing over and over and (in most cases) expecting different results (as a means to motivate repetition) is quite possibly the single sanest thing a person ever did in the history of humanity. Why? Well readers, for one, because it is the very first thing (I imagine) a person ever did, and its the very last of our most basic remaining human instincts to have survived evolution. And on that note, we wouldn't be so inclined to repeat our actions, so fervent and frequent, were we not able to convince ourselves that this time, THIS TIME things were going to turn out different... better. It seems to be the one sound argument that Orderists have against Chaosists. I guess Ole Ben didn't know as much as he liked to think.* But not many of us do know much about insanity. If sanity, at its simplest is repetition, then I suppose insanity is to be fitful... from Webster: convulsive, sudden, violent; broken, disconnected, fragmentary, interrupted; desultory, haphazard, hit-or-miss, random; changing, fluctuating, unstable, varying, wavering; changeable, fickle, variable.

*Note that time he deliberately got himself struck by lightning.