Spicy Food Can Answer Many Questions

If you're ever in doubt, throw a pepper in the air. If it fails to come down, you have gone mad, so don't trust in anything.

- Gregory Maguire, "Mirror Mirror"

Illumination

My lamp broke the other day. First, it blew the circuit in my room. Then, I replaced the light bulb. The lamp then proceeded to make a disturbing number of popping and sizzling sounds. I disposed of the lamp, and bought a new one just like it, but grey, instead of the original's white color. The old lamp now lies dead on my floor. I'm wondering if I should have a funeral for it. I'm not sure who would be an appropriate speaker, though. Thomas Edison is dead, so maybe I'll have someone speak from behind a picture of him. I don't think it would be appropriate for the new lamp to be there, though.

The Past

I sometimes wonder why I wasn't born in the 19th century. I would have been great as some sort of idle member of the British gentry. I could have lived off of investments worry-free and spent the bulk of my time pillaging archaeological treasures from other countries. The Tromphlin wing of the British Museum, anyone? Although I probably would have died of cholera before the age of 30, so maybe it's a good thing that I'm here and now. I'll just have to do my pillaging somewhere else.

The Eleventh Month

I'm never sure how to feel about November. I get nothing from it other than a sense of blandness. It's not threatening like say, April, (cruelest month, anyone?) but still, unsettling. Maybe it's because November itself doesn't know if it belongs to Fall or Winter. Or maybe a pilgrim killed my favorite childhood pet.