Where have all the journals gone? -- 01/27/00

What I've been reading:... Noir by K.W.Jeter -- a darkly dystopian cyberpunk science fiction novel -- hell, just look at the title -- Jeter, who I always think of as someone who writes "literary" science fiction, is also the author of a series of novels based on the BladeRunner movie (which was, in turn, based on a Philip K. Dick story...) and this book, although not a part of that series, is set in what seems to be essentially the same fictional setting. This is a cyberpunk pulp private eye book... the protagonist (named McNihil) is a sort of private investigator who has had his vision surgically and electronically altered so that everthing around him appears to be in the world of a 1940's black and white film noir. It is difficult reading... he keeps things murky in many ways... but there is some really interesting writing here. Yes, I know, this is the same thing I said about it a couple days ago, but I am still reading it... it is a slow read, very dense writing (I'm not sure how else to describe it)...
Still need to finish:... 8.4 (that earthquake disaster novel)... Got oil change, etc. done on my car this morning before work, so read some of 8.4 while waiting, but they were too efficient so I only got in about twenty minutes of reading, very near the end, just need some time to read...
COLD! It is cold again... almost as cold as the last bitter cold snap... in the teens on my way home from work but with a wind chill factor of minus twenty to minus thirty.
What I'm wearing: walking shoes (i.e., sneakers), jeans, blue button-down oxford shirt, sleeveless Polartec vest with company logo on (the one I work for)
Multimedia time -- need mid or late 60's vintage female folk singer, long straight blonde hair, dressed in black jeans and black turtleneck, seated on a wooden stool on an otherwise empty stage, houselights off, just a single overhead spotlight, accoustic guitar, singing (to the tune of Where Have All the Flowers Gone) "Where have all the journals gone? Long time passing... Where have all the journals gone?"... etc.
No?
Okay, then think of the medieval French poet, Francois Villon... Où sont les neiges d'antan? "Where are the snows of yesteryear?"... only make it "Where are the journals of yesteryear?"
Hmmm, c'mon, people, work with me here...
So around 1914 (1915?) or so, British foreign secretary Lord Edward Grey watched lamplighters dimming London's gas street lamps and made his famous quote "The lights are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." Hmmm, thus I might say "The journals are going out all over the Internet..."
This was prompted by the fact that just a few days ago I had to adjust my page of online journals to remove a couple that had stopped posting. Then Eleanor posted a question on her discussion forum: "What journals do you miss."
Dave Van took his page down last week. Immy has essentially put up a closed until further notice sign. Left on Red hasn't been updated since early December. And so it goes....
I know, I know, I shouldn't complain... there are so many journals out there, more than I can keep up with... It's just that I sometimes feel as if my bookmarking a journal triggers the urge to stop writing in the author...
Mileage on my car... I will hit 3500 miles on the way home from work today... this was the "3,000" mile checkup today... I bought it exactly three months ago... and during those three months there were periods of little driving, such as when I was in New York City for a week and the car never left our garage or Christmas break when I took a week and a half off and only drove around town. (I would guess that I probably drive 16 or 17 thousand miles a year.)
I didn't post an entry yesterday because I was busy updating my list of URLs. Take a look... there are some useful and/or amusing links there... and I need to get back to add some more... real soon now...
Did it again today... meant to go to the Y at noon to workout but got involved at work and the next thing I knew it was 1:30 and I was getting hungry... so I ate a sandwich at my desk while checking journals and typing some of this entry, figured maybe I would split at five o'clock and dash home and do Tae Bo with Nancy... Had a 4:30 telephone conference call meeting -- really someone giving a speech over a telephone line while discussing some charts and graphs we had received earlier in the day via email -- and this lasted almost until 5:40. Thus, by the time I actually got out of the office and drove over the bridges and stopped at the supermarket for milk and juice, etc. -- the cash register reader was not accepting debit cards -- oh, but the ATM machine is near-by -- oops, it has a sign on it: "Temporarily out of order" -- but the bank branch office is still open, wave my card at them and say I need some money and your machine is out of order -- and they tell me the ATM is working, they just forgot to remove the sign -- sigh -- so by the time I get home I have to get right into fixing dinner. Sean is at a wrestling meet, so I suggest soup and salad. Yeah, just open cans, etc. But I did make nice salads (just iceberg lettuce, carrots and onion for Jennifer; spinach and red leaf lettuce, red and yellow peppers, onions, sugar snap peas for Nancy and me), and I had picked up a nice loaf of crusty five grain bread.