Because living is in the way we die...

And a good death requires just the right last-action-inducing soundtrack. Sometimes I think life would be simpler if it ran at Bond-speed, robbing us of the time for leisured contemplation. To jump from one corner to another, fueled by animal instinct-- to live at the end of a joy-stick. There's no point in living if you can't feel alive. If I can't have it all, then at least I can set the soundtrack for those who will.

1. The World Is Not Enough Garbage
2. Never Met a Girl Like You Before Edwyn Collins
3. Talk Show Host Radiohead
4. Everybody Knows Concrete Blonde
5. Witch The Cult
6. Real Cool World David Bowie
7. Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me U2
8. Goldeneye Tina Turner
9. History Repeating The Propellorheads
10. Strip tease Hawksley Workman
11. Break My Body Pixies
12. FraKtured King Crimson
13. She Moves On Paul Simon

So says Dr. Richard D. Swenson in The Overload Syndrome

"Despite most people's abundant personal -- and painful -- experience with activity overload, it is interesting to see how we have normalized such a state. We have come to believe that activity is all that counts, everything else is being sloth. If we are not busy, we are not of value. Where did this notion come from? And why is it so strongly resident with in us?"

Inspirations.

In his essay, Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote :"People measure their esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is.... Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." On this note, nothing can help those who love you deal with your potential death better than your own ability to deal with it. Bharati Mukherjee's ability to confront her own mortality in the public eye is a mark of true integrity and personal strength.

Self-exploration.

How wonderfully rotten to be able to spend the afternoon in reckless, self-indulgence, otherwise known as "contemplation" or "introspection"! Of course, the lack of events in my life certainly increases my tendency to have second-rate thoughts-- a problem quickly relieved by the numerous web sites which allow you to examine yourself without having to think too much.

For example, today I learned that sleeping positions are the key to personality. The fact that I always sleep on my stomach or my side is suggestive of "hidden aggression", and "often a precursor to dramatic and sometimes detrimental shifts in the sleeper's emotional life". Sounds hopeful.

After making sure that I did not win the world's ugliest toes contest, I decided to take a look at this website translated into Redneck dialect, which opened a world of new possibilities, including the Elmer Fudd dialect, known to be accorded handsome respect on The Hill.

I then went on to create my own cult; invitations to membership are open, though I understand if membership in the Church of the Blind Chihuahua poses a conflict of interest.

Enough. Everything I learned about myself today added up to a grand total of nonsense. Like the big button that doesn't do anything, I have exhausted my entertainment options. So please excuse me if I move on to something more stimulating, like, for example, the cases against physical exercise.