mushinnoshin

[ Figured I might as well join in the fun ]

DEAR NASHVILLE,

REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND ‘TOP SECRET’. I AM SURE AND HAVE CONFIDENCE OF YOUR ABILITY AND RELIABILITY TO PROSECUTE A TRANSACTION OF THIS GREAT MAGNITUDE INVOLVING A PENDING TRANSACTION REQUIRING MAXIIMUM CONFIDENCE.

WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORATION OF GOODS INTO OUR COUNTRY WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN NIGERIA. IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS BUSINESS WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TRANSFER INTO YOUR ACCOUNT THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS.

THE SOURCE OF THIS FUND IS AS FOLLOWS; DURING THE LAST MILITARY REGIME HERE IN NIGERIA, THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SET UP COMPANIES AND AWARDED THEMSELVES CONTRACTS WHICH WERE GROSSLY OVER-INVOICED IN VARIOUS MINISTRIES. THE PRESENT CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT SET UP A CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL AND WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A LOT OF INFLATED CONTRACT FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY FLOATING IN THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA READY FOR PAYMENT.

HOWEVER, BY VIRTUE OF OUR POSITION AS CIVIL SERVANTS AND MEMBERS OF THIS PANEL, WE CANNOT ACQUIRE THIS MONEY IN OUR NAMES. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE PANEL TO LOOK FOR AN OVERSEAS PARTNER INTO WHOSE ACCOUNT WE WOULD TRANSFER THE SUM OF US$21,320,000.00(TWENTY ONE MILLION, THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS). HENCE WE ARE WRITING YOU THIS LETTER. WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS; 1. 20% FOR THE ACCOUNT OWNER 2. 70% FOR US (THE OFFICIALS) 3. 10% TO BE USED IN SETTLING TAXATION AND ALL LOCAL AND FOREIGN EXPENSES. IT IS FROM THE 70% THAT WE WISH TO COMMENCE THE IMPORTATION BUSINESS.

PLEASE,NOTE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND WE HOPE TO COMMENCE THE TRANSFER LATEST SEVEN (7) BANKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THE RECEIPT OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIOM BY TEL/FAX; 234-1-7740449, YOUR COMPANY’S SIGNED, AND STAMPED LETTERHEAD PAPER THE ABOVE INFORMATION WILL ENABLE US WRITE LETTERS OF CLAIM AND JOB DESCRIPTION RESPECTIVELY. THIS WAY WE WILL USE YOUR COMPANY’S NAME TO APPLY FOR PAYMENT AND RE-AWARD THE CONTRACT IN YOUR COMPANY’S NAME.

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THIS BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSATION. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER USING THE ABOVE TEL/FAX NUMBERS. I WILL SEND YOU DETAILED INFORMATION OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

DR CLEMENT OKON

NOTE; PLEASE QUOTE THIS REFERENCE NUMBER (VE/S/09/99) IN ALL YOUR RESPONSES.

Sometimes serendipity is spooky. Shortly after posting the previous piece, I left for “church”, e.g. weekly dharma study and meditation with the Tibetan Buddhists, and what was the topic but impermanence, and even more specifically, suffering through attachment to memory.

And if that wasn’t enough, on the way home a guest on NPR was speaking about the need to constantly reinvent ourselves, especially these days as we increase our lifespans. This is of course something I’d been contemplating much myself lately, seeing as I have just recently started my own “adulthood, take two”. A fact of which I have to remind myself as I’m humbled daily by the smart motherfuckers with whom I work — who are behind me in age, but years ahead of my skills.

It seems that my Friday night adventure has unlocked some more memories. At one point in between bands, the DJ served up the Skinny Puppy song “Death“. Now this is a pretty choice song and I listen to it frequently, but I don’t often hear it played in clubs in this part of the world. So I flashed back to the last time I did.

It was the first time I knew for certain that I loved her. It was also the last time I saw her. It was the song she played when I saw her sliding down the pole in a Pompano strip club.

It’s not quite what you might be thinking. I mean it is factual, I’m not about to pull the rug and say it was a gag or a private party or something innocent — no, she really worked there. What I mean is, I don’t frequent those establishments, and I didn’t “fall for a stripper”. No, she and I went back much farther.

She was 14 when we first met. I was maybe 18 or 19. I found her absolutely beautiful, and she was brilliant to boot. We became dear friends, but I knew she was too young for us to be anything more at the time. And that age difference I guess is what doomed us over the following years. We always wound up in the same places but at different times. I was down when she was up. She was down when I was up. The timing just never felt right.

So there we ended. Where she landed, I do not know. And so I suppose we were not “meant to be”, as the saying goes, at least not in this lifetime. But she’s as close to a soul mate as I could ever hope to find. If I work to cultivate good karma today, it is in the hope that we might be more lucky the next time around.

Of course this whole train of thought led me to reflect on my other regrets, which always leads me to Kati. This post has run long enough already so I’ll stop here and save her story for another day. I’ll just say, she just might have been the one I was meant for in this life, and screwing that up is probably the biggest of all the mistakes I’ve made.

“I used to rock and roll all night and party every day. Then it was every other day… now I’m lucky to find half an hour a week in which to get funky.” — Homer Simpson

Last night was a doubleshot. First I went out to see a play called “The Underpants” at the Darkhorse Theater. If you get a chance to go tonight, do so! It’s hysterical. I’m a huge Steve Martin fan, so when I saw that he had a hand in adapting the play, I had to go. Plus I’d been meaning to check out tha Darkhorse for a while. Good diggs, apparently an old converted church.

From there it was straight to The End for an EBM/Industrial show featuring Psyclon Nine, Helltrash, and Omen Machine, hosted by wrvu’s DJ Starr. (Christ what’s with all the myspace? I agree with Cory – STAB TOM!!!!) Anyway the show kicked ass. Live industrial is always a sketchy proposition but these guys all really pulled it off. Mad props.

But I’m paying for it this morning. There’s a reason I don’t drink like that anymore. I slept right through yoga. Damn.

Oh, I wanted to record the memory of the really (drunk|stoned|tripping) girl who stumbled up to me, looked me in the eye and said something to the effect of “you’re the only one here besides me that’s not a vampire”. I was touched. I think. It’s a shame she was so fucked up, ‘cuz she was really beautiful. Damn me and my sense of honor and decency.

Chris sums it up well, not much more I would need to say here.

But here’s an odd litte thing I’ve noticed. As he mentions, liberals & conservatives alike are finding fault. But what is interesting to me is that of all the people I’ve encountered who feel otherwise — some liberal, some conservative, most libertarian or libertarian-leaning — the vast majority have been computer programmers.

Just a curious observation that aligns well with this piece I’ve encountered today regarding the link between programming & libertarianism. I’ve only skimmed it & I’m not necessarily endorsing it, just seems interesting. The whole issue also links well to this study which suggests that most people make political opinion first, engage brain second.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention, Tom Knapp does his usual bang-up job, looking at some reasons why this is not just “not a bad thing”, but potentially a good thing.

Break The Chain And Burn In Hell, he sez. Well, I ‘ve spent my whole life thumbing my nose at Hell, I suppose I shouldn’t stop now. I’ll go ahead & answer since I feel like it, but I won’t tag anyone — y’all can take it and do, or not, as you please.

Here’s how it works:
Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot. (1) Hits from ‘da Blog (2) Rex L. (3) Aunt B (4) Huck (5) mushin-no-shin.

Next, select 5 people to tag.
Well I lied, I’ll go ahead & tag Nathan since I think he likes a good meme. Anyone else that wants to jump on, go right ahead.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Feb 1996? I would have been in Ft Lauderdale, living in a tiny rat-infested hovel with the three other guys who made up a gothic-industrial band called Acid Fist X, for whom I played keys and did about half the vocals. This actually would have been just about the peak time for us, right around the time that we were playing out with bands like Load and Jack Off Jill at the Pompano & Miami punk clubs, while we were prepping for our Squeeze showcase that would be coming up in March.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
One year ago I was still working in the export department of a monolithic auto parts corporation. I was caught somewhere in between finishing my classes & receiving my degree, and was in the middle of a period of a near abstinence from computer use. I was a white belt just about 2 months into karate, and I had not yet started yoga. I think I was reading Doestoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” around this time.

Five snacks you enjoy:

• graham crackers
• bananas
• triscuits
• reeses cups
• does coffee count as a snack?

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
You mean, by-heart-could-sing-a-capella? I don’t know if there are any anymore. 85% while singing along? There are probably hundreds. Well, here are songs my band used to cover, so at least I knew these at one time:

• Dead Kennedys — “California Uber Alles”
• My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult — “Days of Swine and Roses”
• Motorhead — “Ace of Spades”
• Bad Religion — “The Handshake”
• Alien Sex Fiend — “Now I’m Feeling Zombiefied”

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

• invest enough to ensure an income
• pay cash for a house
• build a dream recording studio in that house
• Find a way to feel depressed, insecure, and inadequate because I’m not a billionaire
• pay someone else to come up with #5

Five bad habits:

• not going to bed early enough
• watching too much tv
• not keeping in touch with people
• turning simple tasks that would be easy to do into grand projects that never get done
• arrogantly making fun of dumbasses when I should be practicing compassion for their ignorance : )

Five things you like doing:

• going out for live music & theater
• reading
• meditating, and practicing yoga & karate
• seeing films at the Belcourt
• like I said, tv junkie

Five things you would never wear again:
Well, I’ve learned never to say never. But I don’t imagine I’ll have much call to wear fishnets again…

Five favorite toys:

• Roland XP-30 keyboard
• HTPC (home theater-PC)
• breadmaker (yup, I make a mean loaf)
• collectively, my library of books/music/movies
• my talking Professor Chaos plush. “Now, this puny world will bow down to ME!”

Army Of Identical Scientists Demands Legislative Support For Cloning

Heh, cool. I finally get around to checking out last.fm, and out of curiosity I plugged in the old name, and sure enough:

Minor Procedure – Last.fm

20 Fans, woo-hoo! Rock on. Granted, it’s just the Shai Hulud remix I did, so probably not one of the 20 really knows who I am, and maybe only about 5 of ‘em actually like the track, the rest just have it because the have the Shai Hulud disc. Still it was a fun suprise.

On a related note, I just discovered from the Amazon reviews that Chad went off & became the guitarist for New Found Glory. Good for you man! Your new band sucks, but I can’t argue with your success : )

PS: for you ipodders, you can now subscribe to my podcast to automatically grab songs as I post ‘em. Or so I’m told — I haven’t tried it myself…

FOXNews.com – Politics News – Al Franken Inching Toward Senate Run

Help to carry momentum for Tennessee medical marijuana bills

Two medical marijuana bills that failed to move through the Tennessee Legislature last year are still alive, and they need your active support to make progress this year. Last year, both the state House and Senate introduced medical marijuana bills, but seriously ill Tennesseans need you to voice your support to build on this momentum.

Please support S.B. 1942 and H.B. 968 by e-mailing your state representative and senator. After you choose your favorite pre-written letter and type in your address, our site will automatically e-mail your letter to your legislators ¿ all with the click of a few buttons. The whole process takes less than two minutes, but it makes a world of difference. Alternately, you can print the letters and send them to your legislators through regular mail.

After you e-mail your state legislators, call them and express your support for the bills. Each call only takes a moment but can make a world of difference in pushing the issue forward. Follow this link to find the contact information for your legislators.

Please take action today.

Last year, Senate Bill 1942 was introduced by Sen. Stephen Cohen (D-Memphis) and House Bill 968 was sponsored by Reps. Shepard (D-69) and Briley (D-52). Following a tie vote in the Senate, Senate Speaker and Lt. Gov. John Wilder (D-Mason) agreed to establish a commission to study the consequences of the legislation. Unfortunately, this commission never convened, but Sens. Cohen and Wilder still support the legislation. With your help, we can continue to make progress toward making Tennessee the 12th compassionate state with medical marijuana reform.

S.B. 1942 received a 3-3 vote in committee last year, resulting in a no-pass and a carry-over of the bill to this year. The bill is still alive and will be heard and voted on again this session. H.B. 968 did not receive a hearing last year, and another year cannot go by without this important legislation being considered seriously. The success of reform will depend on your help and whether patients and activists in Tennessee can show their legislators how much they support these bills.

If you would like more information or would like to find out how you can get involved, please contact Adam Horowitz at adam@mpp.org.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass this message on to your friends and family around the state so that even more voices for reform can be heard.