A blast from the past

4th of July 2009

It ended up raining here in Nashville this 4th of July. Josh, Susie, and I met up at Caroline's house. We were going to go to the baseball game and later see the fireworks, but then the rain started to come down. Well, no fireworks pictures this year, folks...

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson died today. I heard the news at work when someone IM'ed me the breaking news. Then I get a text from my friend Josh, "Michael jackson just died... Wtf?" Then I go online and sure enough, it was all over the news. People all over the office suddenly talking about it. When I got home it was all over the networks: CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, E-TV... I haven't seen such widespread coverage of a single event since the election of Barack Obama.

There has never been a time in my life when there was no Michael Jackson. I'm not a big fan or anything, but I remember his picture on the cover of a children's record player I had when I was a kid. This was back in the Thriller days, when he was larger than life. I remember the first time I heard Billie Jean. I thought the song sounded so cool. And the sick dance moves. The man was the King of Pop, even in Africa.

And then there were the 90s, when he got whiter and weirder. The plastic surgeries. How he ever got to that point I'll never know. Then there was the whole child molestation thing, which was just disturbing. It was unbelievable to see what the guy was doing to himself. Still, people loved the guy.

Michael Jackson was a phenomenon. For better or worse, the guy was probably the most famous person on the planet in my lifetime. Definitely weird, though.

Percy Priest Lake

Skipping stones at Percy Priest Lake on a Sunday afternoon.

Independence

"Independence is for the very few; it is a privilege of the strong. And whoever attempts it even with the best right but without inner constraint proves that he is probably not only strong, but also daring to the point of recklessness. He enters into a labyrinth, he multiplies a thousandfold the dangers which life brings with it in any case, not the least of which is that no one can see how and where he loses his way, becomes lonely, and is torn piecemeal by some minotaur of conscience. Supposing one like that comes to grief, this happens so far from the comprehension of men that they neither feel it nor sympathize. And he cannot go back any longer. Nor can he go back to the pity of men.--"

- Nietzsche

That is me, totally. No one fully understands me, nor do I expect them to. The important thing in relation to other people is that you find common ground where you can understand each other. In those other deeper, darker corners of your brain: you're on your own, kid...

L'Étranger

« Il avait l'air si certain, n'est-ce pas ? Pourtant, aucune de ses certitudes ne valait un cheveu de femme. Il n'était même pas sûr d'être en vie puisqu'il vivait comme un mort. Moi, j'avais l'air d'avoir les mains vides. Mais j'étais sûr de moi, sûr de tout, plus sûr que lui, sûr de la vie et de cette mort qui allait venir. Oui, je n'avais que cela. Mais du moins, je tenais cette vérité autant qu'elle me tenait... »

What I am

What am I? A piece of meat that supposedly has feelings and stuff. That's what I am.

Front door

The front door to my building.

Charlotte, NC

On Memorial Day weekend I made a trip to Charlotte to see Robert and Charity. We went downtown to eat and got to see a bit of the city the first night.

Robert and me

The headquarters of Bank of America (center).

World-famous shawarmas at the Middle East Deli

The next day we went to eat shawarmas and drink Turkish coffee at the world-famous Middle East Deli.

Me and Charity

It was really good. I hadn't had a shawarma since I left Africa.

Then we chilled in the backyard. We had some good conversation and Robert and Charity got a break from the kids.

Backyard

A view of the backyard from the balcony of my apartment. Everything was intensely green.