CHILLY PIKER IN A NIGHTGOWN

Yesterday was more about fighting off a cold than just about anything else. Taking it easier, taking some zinc, taking a nap and getting into bed at an early hour seemed to have warded off the immediate symptons. Now, if I can just remember to stay away from alcohol at the Kids Media Salon meeting tonight. I could still use some sleep, as it was a bit fitful. When I hit the wake-up state, however, that is that.

Mind you, I am not planning on this, but times could become even more challenging. For instance, this morning the skies are utterly grey and dripping. Now that the trees are naked, the dismality fills the eye's sky. When out on the streets, particularly in downtown Manhattan, the faux-cheery Xmas decorations are a constant reminder of the state you are not in. Not cozy. Not in the bosom of your beloveds. Not cavalierly shopping for the very best present for your very best people.

And, for me, of course, there is a more than a drop out outrage at the "babe-ification" of Christmas, sexy Santa girls. C'mon boys! Open those wallets. Does walking the streets really have to be like walking into a toned down version of a strip club? Mind you, I would not be AS annoyed if there were similarly hunky guys and people of color in the photos. But then again, I was in Herald-effing-Square, the belly of the beast, the home home home of Macy's.


Back from editing Occupylive.org. I do so so so so so want to crawl into a hot bath and finish Julian Barnes' new book, The Sense of an Ending. Not very long. This year's Booker Prize Winner. And, besides being quite nicely written, I am not sure what I think of it.

I liked this though:

"Is the application of logic to the human condition in and of itself self-defeating? What becomes of a chain of argument when the links are made of different metals, each with a separate fragibility?"


This ties in a a more meaningful way than I have time for at the moment with the lecture I attended with Iris last night. It was a talk, hosted by David Brooks, with Daniel Kahneman, Princeton psychologist, Nobel Prize-winner for economics. I admit to not knowing too much about him, but he has out a new book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, which relates to the Barnes observation about decision making and logic. If I were a proper essayist instead of a slightly chilly piker in a funky nightgown about to be late for therapy, I would connect the two. Instead, I leave it up to you.