Dreams Metaphor June 30, 2005
Posted by Phineas in : Irrelevant , add a commentJulie was wondering how come dreams seem to disappear so easily when you wake up.
I decided a metaphor was in order, and this is what I came up with. It’s like a TV screen. When the TV is off, you see the reflections of the room, the windows, the lamps, the furniture. When you turn the TV on, all that suddenly disappears and you immerse into the world of the TV. Sometimes, when the scene goes dark, you start to notice the reflections of your living room again.
It’s like that. TV-land is like your waking consciousness (ironically). When it’s off, the reflections of your sub-conscious are more pronounced. When it’s on, the conscious mind totally obliterates that other image source. At certain quiet or off moments during a waking day, you might suddenly remember a dream, which is analogous to the scene on TV going dark.
In this metaphor, TV land is waking life, and dreamlife is the reflected “reality” of the room. This of course is ironic, since TV-land is all illusion, and the reflections of your living room are “reality”.
But anyway. There’s the metaphor, OK?
Mt. Diablo Grand Loop June 26, 2005
Posted by Phineas in : Outdoors/Travel , add a commentPix
Video (turn on audio on your computer!)
Topo Map
Aerial View
The trail is better described here, by professional trail describers.
But in short, it’s a 6.5 mile loop around Mt. Diablo summit, trodding to the summit as the eventual goal. Lots of great vistas. Cool for me because I had done a hike up from Clayton via Back Canyon to Murchio Gap and Eagle Peak a few weeks ago, so this hike connected with that and gave me a lot of cool vistas of that other hike. It’s nice to be able to say, “I was there.” when you’re looking at a dramatic ridge or a peak.
It’s mostly fire road, painfully steep up to Prospector’s Gap — I can take elevation gains, but a nice sauntering hiker’s path would have been preferred to a really steep grade fire road. Weather was mostly sunny, although a lot of clouds and haze washed out some of the panoramas. But that meant it was cool, and a nice cool breeze is a good thing when you’re slogging up some of these shadeless inclines.
Anyway, the evidence of my genius I shall enumerate presently:
1) the night before, I froze my water pouch so it was a frozen brick in the morning. This guaranteed me ice cold water for the duration of the hike. Brilliant!
2) I bought a sandwich at Togo’s on my way out, which I packed up. So I had this little picnic at the summit to motivate me up the hill.
3) I brought a cooler with gatorade and 7-up so cold beverages awaited me at the truck.
There are many, many more proofs of my genius which I shall enumerate another day.
Thank you.
The Onion 2056 June 24, 2005
Posted by Phineas in : Irrelevant , add a commentThe Onion has taken a seriously unfunny turn for the worse. The design looks like last year’s hottest Winamp skin, and the jokes are weak.
The Usual Rues, Boulevards and Jardins June 22, 2005
Posted by Phineas in : Narrative , add a comment
Con dolcezza Rice June 19, 2005
Posted by Phineas in : Irrelevant , add a commentWhy the fuck does she sit there and smile when she says things? She smiles when she says how the people of North Korea are starving. She has this bizarre habit of smiling when she says horrible, horrible things. I don’t understand what she’s smiling about, the freak.
Who Cares? June 17, 2005
Posted by Phineas in : Irrelevant , add a comment
More Stuff To Throw Away June 9, 2005
Posted by Phineas in : Irrelevant , add a commentCNN.com - Video cameras go disposable - Jun 9, 2005
That’s what was keeping me from buying a digital video camera — I was waiting for one I could throw away.
Eagle Peak Hike June 5, 2005
Posted by Phineas in : Outdoors/Travel , add a commentWell I broke this season’s hiking cherry with a nice hike to Eagle Peak:
It’s hard to see the exact trail from this topo map, but basically I follow Back Creek Trail all the way up the canyon to the top, cut west across this hairy hogback ridge trial to Eagle peak, from Eagle Peak to Twin Peaks, then back down the switchbacks to Back Creek trail and out.
About a 4-5 hour hike, 2000′ elevation gain. 84 degrees with a nice cooling breeze and plenty of shade, so the only real difficulty was the sheer effort of lugging my 200 lb. Frame up the hill and then keeping it from sliding down the gravelly trail on the downhill sections.
I loved the hogback — it was this ridge between two peaks, nothing but scrappy chapparell on either side, and 2000′ drops either way, and the trail was just a few feet wide. Thrilling. I definitely had feelings of vertigo there and at the peaks.
With a lite day pack and mellow temps, it was not too terribly hard. I mean there were many sections of pure misery, and it was a little jungly in parts. But I came home not feeling like a train wreck.
