Two minutes

To whom it may concern:

I feel as though it is time to start a new tradition, mostly to whip myself back into shape to carry on where I left off with my "spontaneous prose" experiments (Thanks Mista Key-roo-ackylacky). To do this, the goal is to set a timer for a few minutes and just type. Anything and everything.

Two minutes on the clock. Ready, steady, g-o- GO:

Still think I might be falling for an Asian girl. Never had found myself too attracted to them in the past...just the way it was. But boy, them thar Persian girls really had me going for a while, what with their mysterious, silky brown hair and those who had exploding green eyes.

I sometimes still wish that my lectures would be interrupted by the roar of jets taking off, just as it was for me in middle school and high school. I wonder just how many folks out there might be able to say that part of their scholastic experience involved such frequent happenings. I'm so glad for it.

...and that was two minutes. Went by in a flash.

Other things on my mind, not timed:

Still reading The Dharma Bums. A thought occurred to me yesterday, and it was that if my friends and I were the characters in the book, I'd be Japhy Rider. Then again, I have a good bit of Ray Smith, as well...and have always wanted a good Japhy Rider in my life. Silly.

"This American Life" today was amazing. The introduction was a Harvard physicist calculating the numbers behind finding a suitable girlfriend in Boston. Funny, interesting, etc. Then, the first part told the story of an American man who ended up in China, doing Chinese opera, and it was there that he met a young lady. They went on a few dates, he moved back to the US, they didn't really keep in touch. He went back to China a few years later and went all over Beijing, I think it was, trying to track this girl down...and he found her! It was an amazing story. They ended up marrying, but it wasn't a "happily ever after" sort of thing. I guess they'd thought about splitting up, but did manage to stick it out. The next part was about transgender children, which was really fascinating. Such a thing never really occurred to me. The kids were really sweet and while they did talk about some of the torment they receive, that wasn't really the focus. I wondered, though, how many times those kids, and ones like them, have gone home crying...cried themselves to sleep, and that sort of thing. The very idea of such things has always eaten away at me, even as a child. I knew, and was sort of friends with, some kids who got picked on and, looking back, I can't recall ever seeing more sincere sweetness and all-around goodness than I did in those kids. Almost all of them still tried to be friendly to their tormentors, but it wasn't in a, "Hey, I'm not so bad, don't beat me up," kind of desperation. It was honest-to-goodness kindness and willingness to set junk aside and just try and get on well with people. I hope all of them grew up to have the kind of things they so rightfully deserve--the love of a good partner, good family, good friends; a meaningful and happy existence.

Talked to some nice folks who work in the campus bookstore as I was getting some tea this afternoon. Quite friendly, talkative, and happy. They made me leave grinning and feeling good about the world.

Pardon me, but I have a date with some physiology notecards, dinner, and then visitation with friends.

All the best,

J.O. Morris