Saturday

Pi says, "It doesn't look like you are really enjoying your Schopenhauer this morning." Looks are not deceiving. I am starting to wonder if this is the best use of the remains of my day. There are some good lines, though. He really does have a bit of the writer in him. And seeing how I have already bought the second volume, and the people that praise the second volume to the skies (such as Thomas Mann), I am inclined to stick it out. However, I do find myself skimming through more of the material, albeit a thoughtful skim, looking for the sparkly gems, or Easter eggs, in all that thick text. I'll probably also read only smaller chunks at a time. For instance, I intend to break away into Lincoln this afternoon, giving Schopie only one single session this time. Pi says, "I'm sure he won't be offended." No, I'm sure he'd say the loss is all mine. "He'd probably be happy to know that people are still reading him at all in the 21st century." Uh, I don't know: I think he kind of expected that. He is still a specialty interest, I think, and not quite the name that Plato is, but he didn't do badly for himself. ... ... Hmm, it's funny how the smell of burnt tortillas makes me think of mother. ... ... BBC in Moscow: "A Russian paper has compared what happened in Washington yesterday to the 1917 Russian Revolution. Today's Russian press review." I am sure that this is not in celebration of what Trump means for America's working class but for what it may represent in expanding Russia's opportunities in this scary, uncertain new world. ... ... Abraham Lincoln: "Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite." ["Abraham Lincoln: A Life" by Michael Burlingame] If I had money, I'd buy the Kindle version of my Burlingame books in order to make life a little easier on my wrists: pretty heavy books, rather large-size to make handling that much more awkward. As it stands, I will have to save the 40 dollars and just exercise my wrists and maybe make them stronger. ... ... Pop is sitting outside next to the window talking on the phone. I have to crank up the fan and put on the YouTube aquarium video to block him out. However, I am reminded how we were talking about houses a couple of days ago. He mentioned how much he loved the Bay Horse house. Sure, it was bigger and the neighborhood whiter. He also mentioned the bigger, longer portico of a front porch we had. That did bring back key memories. Mother and Pop had a nice couch-size seat there, and you could sit there in practically all weather. Mother must have particularly missed it when we moved here to Hill Street. She probably spent endless hours sitting there smoking her cigarettes. Big bushes effectively walled it off from easy common view. On the other hand, as far as mother is concerned, she got the patio when we moved here, and I don't see why she wouldn't see that as a fair enough trade. The want of that portico does make this house seem a lot poorer, and I fancy that if we really wanted, we could have built one here. I imagine that would have cost less than putting in the two windows on the garage-door side of the house when they bought this house. The portico was not a big point in my life. I didn't used it much. I do miss it, but only because, having gotten used to that one, I appreciate how it makes a house seem fuller. I mainly miss not being in that more middle-classy neighborhood, though I suspect it has been getting darker too over the years. ... ... The Women's Protest March in Washington succeeded in its mission of dwarfing Trump's inauguration crowds yesterday. Ann Coulter cannot let that go, of course: "White Women of Privilege March ended in a stream of vulgarities, Trump is Hitler, etc ...Looked more like a Cure PMS Telethon." ... ... When I go to the bathroom, I overhear Pop on the phone: "Trump financed his own campaign. Ain't that something!" His tone is so adoring, worshipful. That why Trump can succeed. A lot of Americans are like my father: they will swallow anything that man spouts. All the critical reports, including those about his lies, never seem to reach his ears. Why? Trump is such an obvious clown. His con is so obvious, you would think.