Pseudo-semi-regular excretions from Bill's Brain. Professional driver on closed road - do not attempt!

 
Banned Books are the Best Books
This is Banned Book Week - September 21st - 28th. Read a banned book today!

In fact, read it in public. Let people see that you're reading it! Show them that you're a freethinker, and that you do not let others decide what you should read. Maybe one or two of them will start to think for themselves as well!

Right now, the most commonly banned and challenged books are those in the Harry Potter series, but you can never go wrong with a copy of Huck Finn or Catcher In The Rye. If you're hard pressed for choices, worry not - there are always books out there that some emotionally unbalanced person wants to pile up and burn. Check with your local freethinking bookstore. Waldenbooks usually has a good display this time of year, or you can visit the American Library Association's Banned Books site at www.ala.org/bbooks.

My choice right now is the fourth Harry Potter book, Goblet of Fire. I'm also reading Gerard Jones' Killing Monsters, which challenges many of the misconceptions we have about violent play among children. It's not banned or challenged yet, but I suspect it will be some day soon.

Oh, and don't stop when the week is over. Banned books are required reading every day.


posted by Dr. Awkward at 11:28 AM

 
Identity Crisis

What do you do?

This is the most irritating question for me. I realize it's not something that people ask with the intention of pissing you off, but it irks me nonetheless. I just don't jive with the concept of a person's career as their primary identity, the thing that makes them who they are. Sure, there are people like that. And to me, they're very sad, shallow people. They're the people who talk on their cell phones in the bathroom and miss their kid's violin recital to go to an emergency meeting that accomplishes nothing other than making the boss feel more like the boss.

It's just a simple conversation starter. I know. I understand. But why do people need to identify you with your career? Why must I be a tech support guy? Am I happy with being that guy? Do I like him better than the record store manager guy, or the website content developer guy, or the rent-a-wedding-DJ guy? Which of me was my favorite? What happens when I change jobs again? Will I even like that guy at all?

I am not what I do for a living. I am what I do for a life.

There are other questions we could ask as a conversation starter, but most of them are too personal. "What do you believe?" sounds too much like you're trying to convert someone into your cult. "What do you like?" sounds like you're trying to pick them up. "How do you feel about life?" sounds like you're trying to sell them insurance or a burial plot.

The answer is in the answer. From now on, when people ask me what I do, I'm not going to assume that they want to know what my career is. Instead, I'm going to tell them what I do for a life.

I am a father, and a damned good one.
I am a former small-town rock star.
I play games, and when I do, I really don't care if I win or not. Really.
I cry at sad movies and feel like a moron afterwards.
I am a mediocre bowler, but it doesn't stop me.
I am a Pez collector, and I'm very comfortable with that.
I am an internet addict.
I am a caffiene addict.
I draw portraits of rock stars. In Crayola crayon.
I pretend to be other people for brief periods of time, and call it a hobby.
I dance when no one is looking, and when someone is looking, I dance the same way.
I am an amatuer astronomer.
I play the guitar. I also try to play the banjo, mandolin, violin, and lap dulcimer. Sometimes I succeed.
I paint little plastic and metal men and monsters and then pretend that they're fighting each other.
I am an expert on old-school funk and Ronnie James Dio.
I am a lousy chess player, but it doesn't stop me.
I'm rather good with a yo-yo.
I'm a writer.
I'm an artist.
I'm a thinker.
I'm a dreamer.

This is what I do.

Of course, most of these answers will only make people think that I'm unemployed. But that's their problem, and they can deal with it while they're talking on their cell phone in the bathroom.


posted by Dr. Awkward at 11:17 AM