Wednesday 15 September 1999
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Pic of the day: A new issue of the wonderful comic book
Strangers in Paradise.
Also there is this website which is a meeting place for nice guys -
sensitive young men - and the women who like them. (Which ain't all
that many, but there you go.)
And this one is one of the most surprising comic book issues I have
ever seen.
Am I literally allergic to rain? I have to wonder. Today as I jumped off the bus on my way home, there was a light rain falling. It grew heavier as I walked home, and I arrived some ten minutes later with my hair drenched and my face dripping with suprisingly cold rain water. And my nose was like totally stuffy. But it grows stranger. I removed my wet pullover and toweled my face and hair. But there remained a kind of burning sensation on the skin of my face, some places more than others. I can still feel it, especially around my eyes.
You'd think the rain water was laced with some really suspicious
chemicals, from my reaction to it. But I doubt that. This is not
an industry area. I guess I may already have been developing an
allergic reaction to something else, perhaps something I had eaten,
and this just set it off. Though how this would happen, I have no
idea.
I have not commented on the local elections in Norway because, frankly, nothing happened. The major opposition party, Labor (social democrats) did their worst poll for more than 70 years, which made many happy. Especially those who dislike the party leader and former prime minister, Mr Jagland. Those are many: Even within his own party, many prefer to not have him in that seat again. I shall not comment further on that now. I shall instead point out that the election result for Labor was like 2 percentage points lower than the previous local elections. Labor is kind of a centralist party, so tends to underperform in local elections. They did so again. In reality, there are small differences between the parties and they have little room to experiment. All counties have the maximum tax rate on income, and in later years most of them have also increased the property taxes, garbage taxes etc etc as much as they dared. There are laws restricting what they can and cannot do with much of the money. So you are unlikely to notice much difference even when there is a change of leadership.
And furthermore I think politics is opium for the people. You may
cheer on one political party and hate and despise its opponents, and
the neighbor may have it the same way with football teams. The net
effect is much the same. You get friends and enemies of a sorts, but
really very little changes. It all occupies the borderline between
reality and entertainment. So you prefer Pepsi over Coke, Star Wars
over Disney, Conservatives over Labor. You may have your moments of
triumph or loss, but the world goes on. It's not like falling in love
or going to war or losing your virginity or getting your own e-mail
address. It's like the weather: Whenever there is sun, you know there
will be rain; whenever there is rain, you know the sun will come back.
Nothing is changed.
I am pretty much baring it all, am I not? If you've managed to keep reading for a while, you probably know me better than your family. (Except those of you who are my family.) You know of my health and sickness, my love of life and fear of death, my meaningless but sometimes funny job, my lack of a sex life and a social life (these may well be connected), my platonic loves and my wet dreams, my favorite foods and philosophy. And the color of my boxer shorts. I guess I should be happy. If this wasn't what I was trying to do, chances are I would not be doing it! I am served. Enjoy what you want, and just leave the rest on your plate! |
This evening I did not find any of my bookmarked sites on the Web. I guess it is a name server error. Hopefully it will be fixed soon! |