dying young

so wayne state university (where the heck is that?) did a study and found that people whose name starts with the letter D die earlier than other people. obviously this is ridiculous. and stupid. but the most embarrassing part is the reason they give for this finding. hahahahaha. read it here. it's only one paragraph so i think you can manage it.

isn't it ironic...don't you think?

technology has created quite a few social phenomenons in recent years. one of them being that texting has become many people's main form of communication. this has resulted in a myriad of impersonal personal relationships. i must admit i love texting. i mean, there are so many good uses for it. for example, yesterday i sent a text with one question to someone i don't talk to often enough. and she sent me back the answer. simple as that. i didn't have time at that moment to have the necessary conversation filling each other in on the going-ons of our lives. i will soon, but just not yesterday. another good use is when you've already talked to the person twice that day and having to say all the "how are you"s and the "okay, talk to you later"s over again becomes awkward. in this case you can just continue your conversation through texts. quite useful.

it is, of course, illegal to drive and text in utah, but there may be a possibility that i still flipped open my phone occasionally and got out a text. of course, if i had done this i would never have taken my eyes off the road. no need, you see, because i could feel the buttons and would have had them memorized. however, with the recent acquirement of a touch screen phone, it is no longer possible to text while driving. not that i would or anything...mmhmm. this situation has caused an interesting anomaly. as i drive through a city i'll feel my phone vibrate and i find myself wishing for red lights. red lights so i can stop and read my text and answer and continue my impersonal but useful conversation. of course, when i wish for red lights they always seem to be green...but then, that's not the ironic part now is it?

to write of love

w.h. auden wrote about love like this:

As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
'Love has no ending.

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

'I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

'The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.

'Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.

'O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.

'The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

'Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.

'O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

'O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.


my favorite line is obviously "time watches from the
shadow and coughs where you would kiss."  it's great.
the second to last stanza is really beautiful though.
really.