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Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Alien Occurrences and Other Rainy Day Affairs


Holy Cow! Rained hard all night, and continued to rain hard throughout the day until about 1:30, at which time it turned to a sprinkle rather than a downpour, and so I rushed over to Starbucks just to get out of the house. Cabin fever! Of course, when I got here, I discovered at that last moment that I had forgotten to bring my laptop (the point of coming here in the first place, other than to drink coffee), and so it’s back to the house to retrieve the laptop and then back again to Starbucks, just about the time the rain begins to pick up again. Whew. But at least it has been cost-effective so far, as it turned out that my coffee today was free (having accrued the necessary points), and I received a planner with leather bag as well, also free (after 20 points, I guess). This is the second planner and bag I have received. The first I gave to Hendra, who had coveted it since the beginning of the promotion, and this second one I gave to Iadi, who will now give me a second latte without cost. Good deal.

It seems to me that the big fat brown believes, of late anyway, that she actually lives in my house. I have been unable to convince her otherwise, and actually had to push her out the door last night, along with a sausage treat. Where is the dog’s family? I don’t know. I had previously folded a large blanket and placed it on the floor beneath my chair, such that the chair won’t slide around on the tiles, and the dog has decided it has been placed there mainly for her benefit, as this is where she camps out all day, lying by my feet as I type or read or watch a movie. Although she smells pretty bad, I have to admit that it makes kind of a nice Norman Rockwell type picture. All we need, I guess, is a crackling fireplace and snow falling outside the window.

It may be that the big fat brown dog is pregnant. She certainly did her best to get that way during her recent period in heat. It may also be that the big fat dog intends to give birth to her puppies in my house, which may be one reason she has planted herself so firmly. What is definite, however, is that I do not want her giving birth to any offspring in my house. What would I do with a half dozen little dogs running around? There’s barely room enough for the two of us to begin with. And, anyway, SHE’S NOT MY DOG!!!

Not my dog, not my problem.

She, however, is not inclined to agree with this view.

So, at the house, it’s another day on the internet (whenever I’m not just staring at the wall). One popular story is of the strange, Tic-Tac shaped aircraft observed by air force pilots off the coast of San Diego. We may not be alone, they say. And many folks are very excited about this. But there are a couple of questions in my mind. One is whether a highly advanced alien race would require big clunky vessels for transport, especially through hundreds or millions of light years. Might they not rather have discovered a form of transportation unknown, unimaginable to us—like what the car is to the horse, or the jetliner to the stone wheel? I wonder, also, why it seems encouraging to think that there may be alien people who live and die just like us. How does that change the essential condition of mankind? Or how is it that we have felt lonely in the company of our own billions? And if we have such a difficult time living with one another, as it would seem we do, given all our troubles and hatreds and wars, how would we hope to live with a truly alien people?

Aliens do exist, to be sure—and they are us: aliens in our own broken world,, sojourners, anticipating a promised land to come, and peace on earth, and good will among men.


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